In Isaiah 51:2, the great prophet of hope says, “Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you; for he was but one when I called him, but I blessed him and made him many.” (NRSV) If you’re familiar at all with the formative narrative of the Hebrew Bible and its story of Israel, you might know that this Isaiah text is the only other place in the entire Hebrew Bible where Sarah is mentioned – other than in Genesis. We learn of her death at the ripe old age of 127 years in Genesis 23:1,2, and a passing reference is made to the burial place of Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, and Leah by Jacob as he anticipates his own death and burial in Genesis 49:29-33. It was the field of Machpelah near Mamre, in the land of Canaan.
Interestingly, Jacob is in Egypt, having been rescued by Joseph’s influential role in that pagan land. He has not forgotten his heritage. Isaiah is writing from the world of the Babylonian Captivity and all its multi-faceted story lines – and he urges Israel not to forget where they came from.
I understand the patriarchal world in which the Hebrew Bible was written, but it seems a little unfair that Sarah gets such nominal mention. After all, there would have been no Isaac without Sarah! Truth be told, if we judged Abraham and Sarah by our own faith experiences, we’d likely suggest Sarah was a bit saintlier than Abraham. She at least didn’t lie multiple times about him being her good-looking brother! Sarah is mentioned in Romans 9, Hebrews 11, and 1 Peter 3, but that’s it.
What would cause Isaiah to say “Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you . . .?”
In my personal Bible reading, for nearly the past 30 days, I’ve been reading through Psalms (and Proverbs). Five psalms a day, one chapter of Proverbs, a little adjustment with the very long Psalm 119, and in 31 days you read through both books! I’m always struck by the rather lengthy Psalms 78, 105, 106, 135, and 136 – which are focused on Israel’s remembering God’s role in their past. It almost seems like a bit of a partner to remember “Abraham your father” and “Sarah who bore you.”
Could it be that there is some inherently godly, even spiritual blessing in remembering where we came from?
Well, we are some 4,000 years past the time of Abraham and Sarah, perhaps 3,500 or so years past the Exodus – which seems to be so present in the minds of the psalmists. Is there value in remembering such moments? If we say yes, is that all we need to remember?
Quickly we would want to say – “No! Remember Jesus!” There’s a great line in Hebrews 3:1, 2 – “consider Jesus . . .” This, of course, would require that we let the words of the New Testament describe Jesus. One of our challenges these days is that we have made up our own Jesus – I call this one “Civic Jesus” – who tends to confirm our every thought about how the world should function these days. It is more than merely unfortunate that we easily assume that Civic Jesus is the same Jesus believers have followed since Pentecost in Acts 2.
The real Jesus said, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30, NRSV)
Civic Jesus seems to say, “let’s build walls.” Or “jump through these hoops, and then we can talk.” Or “mimic my cultural preferences, and we can be friends.” Or pass the right laws, or go to the Supreme Court. Or . . . well, you know – we could go on here forever.
Oddly, the promise to Abraham and Sarah was breathtaking in its inclusion of people from all over creation. “Remember Sarah who bore you” sounds so weird in a world where we think only men have real value to God and the promises of God are fairly restricted in application. Those “remembrance Psalms” seem to suggest that we should never forget that God rescued Israel from slavery to a world shackled by addiction to power, wealth, elitism, and the like – so that one day, a redeemer could come in the name of “God so loved the world . . .” – the whole thing, not just people like those He rescued or like us. Is that something we should remember?
We need not stop with the Bible’s historical narrative. The history of the people of God and how our western cultural ideals have been influenced by authentic biblical ideals is well worth studying. In education we call that the humanities. Unfortunately, in our STEM-focused, how-can-I-make-lots-of-money-driven approach to education, we often dismiss the humanities as nonsense.
But I’m confident the Bible is telling me that if I don’t know where I came from, I can’t possibly understand where I am. And without that bit of awareness, there is no way to be confident I’m headed where God wants me headed.
As I am writing these words – which have been floating around in my head for quite a while – I’m wondering how a good dose of “remember Abraham your father and Sarah who bore you,” and “God’s rescue mission for Israel” and the “Jesus story as the Bible tells it” – along with a good dose of humanities, might quiet the argumentative, nasty, accusatory world in which we are currently living.
Wye Huxford 
Great thoughts!
My favorite Sarah moment is picturing her post menopausal laugh behind the tent flap when Abraham is told that she will be pregnant within the year. Then, when questioned about laughing, she responds, “I did not.” That leads to the “did too/did not” argument. The eavesdropping and her laughter cause me to remember her and love her!
Also, why am I now so preoccupied with the people who settled and built life in a tint little speck called Russellville? Perhaps it’s truly a gift to remember where you’ve come from!
Love you!❤️
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Exactly – I think had I been Sarah I might have laughed to keep from crying! Especially in light of Paul’s comment in Romans 4:19 -“He (Abraham) contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb.”
Knowing where we came from is more important than our culture thinks. The common thread of “no age has gotten it right” is a good reminder that we might not either, whether we are “progressives” or MAGAs!!
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Wye,
You’re getting “heavy” (or should I say “heady”?) here…lots to digest!
So I’ll restrict my comment to you to a reflecting on a recent “conflict” that I managed to instigate with my only sibling – my 14 mo younger sister – RN who married a (second generation athesist) successful money-wise dentist, a union based on both not wanting to be bothered with children, but choose surrogates – raised Arabian horses…
Back to our”conflict” / “difference of opinion”, which sprang from talking about our grandson who is a Senior in HS this year, and who has lettered each year in Soccer and Football (as the primary kicker for the JV and Varsity Football teams). I indicated that he hopes for a sports scholarship, as do his parents and grandparents! Further, that we are all excited that he is college bound one way or another! My sister, who is from the era of diploma nursing programs, well before BSN’s were the standard, immediately launched an aggressive monologue about how most kids needed to be in technical programs not colleges running up loans balances (she doesn’t speak the jargon of “STEM”)! I made the mistake of defending the days when colleges required a strong background in the humanities for every student as part of their obligation to graduate “well rounded” individuals who knew “how to make a life, not just a living”! This of course went over like the proverbial “lead balloon”! Needless to say you and I would also add the need to have at least a rudimentary understanding of world religion’s and philosophy!
I’m appalled at the narrow minded judgmentalism of so many of our so-called-Christians! No wonder we are in a post church/Christian nation! Salt with no savor! Forgive my fatalism! I really don’t want to be so focused on “when you see these things coming to pass, lift up your heads for your redemption draws nigh” (my KJV!). The how quickly can You Lord just yank us out of here!!!???
I really do believe that we have a big role to play in – “When this Gospel if The Kingdom is preached as a witness to all the world then shall the end come!” As I’ve heard preached in concert with “all of creation groans for the manifestation of the Sons of God” being indicative of what not just “hollow worded preaching” but “witness preaching” is all about! Thank you for being the latter!
Thanks for your “conversational” blogs!
May the Lord continue to speak through you! Thom
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Hey Guys & Gals,
Kevin Riggs is really needing our emotional support these days! Barbara and I went to take him for lunch in late August (his B-day was the 11th – turned 60 this time – we have only seen one another for the last few years for this annual occasion & he asked if we couldn’t make it sooner next time!)
Evelyn (his “care-giver”) is still living in Mark’s old room and now her amazingly gifted musician son Jordan has started at Columbus State College. Regrettably Jordan’s absence has left the Condo very quiet & lonely! Also it seems that Evelyn & Kevin have never really developed much of a relationship beyond that of Evelyn acting as a “hireling”😢! So little or no chitchat or real socialization!
Further it seems that his new church at Avondale Estates Baptist was hit heavily by Covid and now is even considering a merger with a predominately African American church which has been renting space from them! Amazingly George and Felicia Green are a part of that congregation. Although Avondale Baptist is carrying no debt now (as to Kevin’s knowledge) but it seems that facility and ministry expenses are well beyond their income/giving now! But like the MCCC’s old crowd’s resistance to MC3 and a new vision, it sounds like the proposed “merger” has yet to gain traction…???😵💫 They, as a Southern Baptist church, are a pure democracy and a full vote is slated for year end! In the mean time they are ”trying to sell the merger”…
All this to say, Kevin has had a periodic blog for quite some time, but over the past few months he has really poured himself into it – see below! So if you could check it out and subscribe and comment periodically I believe it would be a real morale boost to this guy whose reason for living (in many respects) was taken from him during Covid when FODAC reorganized him out (at least that’s the way I understood it!!???)
Also, if you have the opportunity to go by and get him for any sort of outing he would be thrilled! He has a great van with automatic everything on it now and you just leave your vehicle there and load him up and drive him out and about!!! Here are his vitals in the event you need them:
(404) 284-6342 (home- no longer has a cell)
kevin.riggs@att.net
11 Sutton Pl
Avondale Estates GA 30002-1535
Please feel free to share this email with anyone who I may have missed that had a relationship with Kevin at MC3.
Blessings! Thom
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Begin forwarded message:
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