Inspired by Genesis 18:1-14, Romans 5:1-8, Matthew 9:5-10, Psalm 116
It is wedding season once again. According to one source, 76% of all U.S. weddings occur between May and October each year. I know this to be true because all four weddings that I’m officiating in the next 11 months fall into this timeframe. Wedding season is the time when couples look at each other and make promises that they will be faithful to one another for the rest of their lives. This is a covenant promise; one made out of love and in full view of God and witnesses, and one that the couple and all their supporters are hoping will last. Over time, however, 41% of first marriages, 60% of second marriages and 73% of third marriages will see those promises fail to be kept.
Promises made and kept are important parts of relationship building. We learn how to trust one another and build character when we make and keep promises. Bonds are forged and strengthened through such exchanges. On the other side of this equation is that promises made and broken will severely damage or end relationships – some of long standing. When we say “Promise Me” as the preface to an earnest request, we are asking the other person to take our request seriously and with due consideration to answer that they will follow through with their promise. I’m reminded of a couple of old aphorisms – the first is that people are only as good as the word they keep; and the second is you should never make promises you can’t or won’t keep!
Our scripture readings today are full of God’s promises to us, and we are called to reflect on whether we are living into our promises in the same faithful manner as God. Paul is writing to the believers in Rome, and he is teaching about the blessings that come from the promises of God. God promised Abraham that he would one day be the father of a great nation and become a blessing across time. We Christians believe that Jesus was the fulfillment of that promise to Abraham and Sarah. The promise of God to continue the blessings of Abraham bear much fruit in and through Jesus. We are promised that even when times are difficult and we are suffering, God is with us through the presence of the Holy Spirit to help us persevere, to develop strong character and to live in resilient hope that one day Jesus will return. The promise of God that Paul points to is that “when we were powerless, Christ died for” all of us – and so we are set free from our sin.
Jesus is following up his call to Matthew by eating dinner at Matthew’s home. The dinner party was populated by tax collectors and sinners along with the disciples. The Pharisees noticed and asked why any reputable rabbi would not only be seen with these unclean people but would actually break bread with them! In response, Jesus repeats the promise of God for all of us. He tells the Pharisees to “go learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice’. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” All God wishes from us in return is to promise to do our best to keep from sinning and to love God with all that we have and all that we are and to love our neighbors as we are loved by God.
Abraham and Sarah are camped near the Oaks at Mamre. Three men come into view and since it was the heat of the day, Abraham offered them the hospitality – knowing there was neither shady rest nor food nearby. The three men accept his hospitality and Abraham, Sarah and the servants wait on these men as honored guests – giving them the best that they have. The men were well cared for and made a promise to their hosts that in one year’s time, Sarah would bear a son (to fulfill the promise of God made to Abram many years previous). Sarah was incredulous but was reminded by the promise maker that nothing is too hard for the LORD.
Throughout the Bible, the people of God are the beneficiaries of many covenants – of many promises made by God. Promises like never again wiping out almost all of creation through a flood, of watching over us and delivering us from oppression and forced servitude, of bringing God’s people to a Land of Promise. God hopes that God’s people will respond to these covenants with joy and will likewise make promises that they will honor. Yet, God never coerces humans – God always gives us the opportunity to make the free will choice to live into our promise.
Unlike God’s open-ended and non-coercive promises, ours are usually case dependent. We pray to God “Please deliver me from this situation and I promise to never…to always…to be more or less”…and on and on. When or if the situation resolves, we often forget the promise we made to God. We go back to living our lives in a similar fashion and then wonder why similar things keep happening! The Bible gives us an inkling that God is hoping that we will follow through on our promises to God in the same way that we hope in the fulfillment of God’s promises to us. God knows that if we would just live into the promises we make that we would experience a bit of heaven here on earth!
Promises kept open us up to the possibilities inherent in God’s love. Episcopal priest Evan D. Garner writes about the Apostle Paul’s take on faith and hope as a way to live in God’s kingdom promise now, noting, “…Paul…encourages his readers to have confidence in an outcome they cannot yet see. Paul writes, ‘Since we are justified by faith…we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.’…Justification by faith means being declared righteous by God not because of what we have done but because of our confidence in what God has done. Our hope, therefore, depends not on the fruit of our own labors but on the fruit of the resurrection. This enables us to see, in Christ, what the world cannot see - that even in the midst of struggle our future is assured…
This brand of hope and faith is not easily found, however. It is produced through the agonizing process of suffering, endurance, and character-building. In Christ, God has given us every reason for confidence, but those who hope in God place their faith in something that cannot be seen. We are justified not merely by agreeing with the blind prospect that things will get better but by trusting - by knowing - that God will bring us to glory….”
When we hope as Paul instructs then we are saying to God, “Promise me that you will be as you have always been.” “Promise me that you will abide with me and never leave me – especially when life gets hard and I am suffering.” Promise me that you will always love and cherish me as your child.” What we are asking God to promise us is similar to what we ask our spouses to promise…that we will live with God as God lives in us, that we will love and be loved by God, that we will be kept by God in sickness and in health, and that we will promise to be as faithful as God and forsake all other worldly gods that seek to wreck our covenantal relationship.
“Promise Me” we say to one another many times over the course of our lives – expecting that they who promise will live into what they say. However, human promises often fail to be fully and faithfully lived out – it’s just one of the frustrating aspects of being human and trying to live in beloved community with other humans. For we all sin and fall short of the glory that is God’s steadfast faithfulness and abiding love for us and all creation.
How are you doing with living faithfully into your promises? Not just promises you made to family, friends, employers or associations, but the covenant promises you made to this church when you became a member? The truth is, we can all always get better at keeping our promises fully and well. Promises to serve God and the church with your prayers, presence, gifts, service and witness. Promises to do all five of those things as consistently as you are able for as long as you are able. You made promises to the congregation, and the congregation in turn promised to do all in its power to “increase your faith, confirm your hope and perfect you in love”. We said to each other in hope “promise me”…it’s probably well past time to assess how we are doing! Blessedly, we have a God who will love us even when we fail to keep our promises. Thanks be to God, amen!