There is an old saying – if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans. In our Old Testament reading today it seems that the opposite has happened. Three visitors – 3 angels – some have suggested the Triune God – 3 persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, have come to visit Abraham. Abraham is nearing 100 – Sarah 90 – and the visitors said that they will return in due season and Sarah will have a child. God has told Sarah his plan and she has laughed. She laughed because all these years she had wanted a child and now when she is too old to care for and enjoy childbirth God has decided to honour his promise that he had made to Abraham – to give him a child and heir by Sarah. But, despite what Abraham and Sarah might think about this promise and their age, as the visitors have said – Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?
It’s almost the opposite to the situation with God and young unmarried Mary. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son and shall call His name Jesus. Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the one who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Also, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible.”
I love these 2 comments from the angels: Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? With God nothing is impossible. Understanding God’s plans is not always in the realm of human understanding and sometimes we might laugh if we were to discover God’s plan for us.
Just look at God’s plans that have brought disbelief to his people and maybe not laughter but skepticisms. Just think of St Paul, converted from being a murderer and persecutor of Christians to become a Christian – the very ones he was attacking. The Lord said to one of the disciples. Ananias, “Go and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.” Now, this plan seemed strange to Ananias: “Lord, I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.” I mean, even Paul recognized how ludicrous God’s plans seemed – Here is a true statement that should be accepted without question: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and I am the worst of them.
But what Paul saw as a ludicrous plan of God was actually a demonstration of his love, as he said in today’s reading: Rarely will anyone die for a righteous person– though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. God’s plans for us can sometimes seem unconventional. Even if we look at what Paul says today about suffering – does it make sense? That we boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us. Or even looking at what Jesus says about what lays ahead of Christians as we go throughout the world spreading his message of love and peace; Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; and you will be hated by all because of my name.
You can understand when someone is reading things like this out of context that Christianity can seem rather strange. But, we need to look in context of all of these situations and it really boils down to a battle between good and evil that we face as Christians as we go about doing God’s will. When Jesus sends out the 12 disciples he warned them about what lay ahead of them: I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you; and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me. But when they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit speaking through you.
St Paul also acknowledged this reality that what might seem as a worldly battle we undertake is far from that: Paul says: For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. So what we see happening with Abraham and Sarah fits into this context.
Firstly, God is a God of promise and he cannot break his promises. Which is what Paul later says in his letter to the Romans when he encourages his Jewish brothers and sisters so they don’t lose heart. He says – “For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable” (Rom 11:29). So, God made a promise to Abraham and Sarah that they would have a child and that through that child – Isaac, not Ishmael – they would have descendants more numerous than the stars in the heavens, if you could count them. Sometimes those promises are challenging. Like when Abraham and Sarah believed that God had forgotten or changed his promise so took matters into their own hands and Abraham had a child with Sarah’s maid, Hagar. So even though Abraham had a child it was not God’s promised way.
Sometimes we might feel as if God has lost his way and we take matters into our own hands but that’s fraught with danger. We see examples of that with Peter who had in mind the things of man rather than God when he rebuked Jesus for saying that God’s way for him was through suffering and death. Jesus showed that even though it was tough to sometimes accepts God’s plan – he trusted and said – your will be done even though the plan seemed wrong – my God, my God, why have you forsaken me.
Maybe at times you’ve questioned God’s plan for you when you go through times of suffering. But remember that suffering is not a sign of God’s absence or failure but somehow, mysteriously, it’s is part of God’s hidden blessing in which Paul boasts.
But the 2nd part of the context in all this is that God remains in control despite what our eyes see. Abraham and Sarah looked at their age. Sarah laughed at God’s ridiculous plan. Me – 90 – giving birth. But, as the angels said to Sarah – Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? As the angel said to Mary – nothing is impossible with God.
Being a Christian does not mean our life will be perfect without any obstacles or hardships. Being a Christian means trusting in God and his promises and especially what Jesus says in response to the world hating Christians – But the one who endures to the end will be saved. God is in control and will always be in control. And when God desires something to happen it will happen in God’s timing. It doesn’t matter what anyone says or thinks about us as Paul reminds us that it’s what God thinks that matters: Since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.
It can feel quite lonely in times of struggle but Jesus reminds us that we are never alone. The Holy Spirit is with us. And Paul also affirmed that in times of suffering which leads to hope in God and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. So let us stand firm in our faith at all times and trust God’s plan with the assurance that the one who endures to the end will be saved.
