2nd Monday of Lent (February 26). The father of nations

​Prepare to Listen.  The promise came through the righteousness of faith.
 
Prayerfully Read Romans 4:13-17a
13For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith.  14If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void.  15For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation.  16For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, 17as it is written, ‘I have made you the father of many nations’).
 
Prayerfully Wonder and Reflect
The promise to Abraham, Sarah and their descendants wasn’t a promise to justify sinners and pop them into heaven when they die.  But that’s what I was taught.  How about you?
 
The promise to Abraham, according to Paul, was that “he would inherit the world.”  As proof, Paul quoted Genesis: “I have made you the father of many nations. Note, it’s nations plural not singular.  This may come as a surprise to some, especially those who, like me, grew up with a heaven-when-I-die mentality; a belief that salvation was this other-worldly thing that we would only fully experience after death.
 
Such a teaching lends itself to Christian nationalism.  I grew up with a version of that too.  South Africa, that is ‘white’ South Africa was God’s chosen race to save the world.  I now live in the U.S. and I hear the same thing.  This time it’s conservative America that has been chosen by God to save the world.  Both versions are dead wrong, and both versions fail to read Genesis and Romans thoughtfully and honestly.
 
Lent is a time for repentance, changing our minds and living differently.  Long ago I changed my mind about God’s promise to Abraham and Sarah, and also to me.  I let go my narrow-minded, heaven-when-I-die belief and took on the broad promise of God’s salvation that is for all nations, all creation.  A promise that rests, not on anything any one nation does or doesn’t do, not Israel, not S. Africa, not the U.S., but on God’s grace, God’s free and generous bounty that extends to all peoples.  And what must we do?  Faith.  Trust God to bring in salvation God’s way.
 
What challenged your thinking and faith in this passage?
 
Prayerfully Respond
God of grace, your reach is global, your salvation is for the now.  Increase my faith to live as a global follower of Jesus, welcoming all people from all nations.  Amen.
 
Live obediently.  Nurture a faith that includes the world.