The reason Abraham is considered our founding father is, he
discovered a breakthrough concept of what it means to have peace with
God. Although he did a ton of good deeds, just like most of us, they
weren't a requirement to have a relationship with this God. If they
were, then he might as well have gone on a lecturing circuit to show
everyone how he figured it all out. But it turned out this God was
different from all the other gods. All this God wanted was a
relationship. With us. Our oral traditions support this by saying that
Abraham believed that God had confidence in him. And, it's obvious to
all of us that any healthy relationship requires confidence on both
sides.
When we work, our paychecks aren't a gift. We had to work for them. That's the way the system works. On the other hand, this God isn't handing out paychecks for all the work we do. This God isn't evaluating how many good deeds we do every week. This God is taking an incredible risk in placing confidence in us, and yearning for us to do the same.
Our ancestor David also spoke of this. He asked, "Isn't it amazing when a friend forgives us when we've wronged them? Isn't it refreshing when someone our past mistakes? And so, why should it be any different with the God who wants relationship and not sacrifice?"
Now, is this breakthrough concept just for Jews, or is it for everyone? Well, we've been saying that Abraham had confidence in God as a result of his belief that God had confidence in him. But how did that happen? Did this shared confidence pivot around whether or not Abraham followed certain rituals or not? No! God's confidence in Abraham was independent of religion or belief system he aligned with.
The reason Abraham got circumcised was, that was the tradition he aligned with. The circumcision was merely a symbol Abraham used to make sense of the confidence he shared with this God. And so, Abraham is so meaningful to us today because he represents the vast majority of us who recognize this relationship with God, but aren't so sure about all the religious bells and whistles that people have attached to it. And, Abraham is also the father of all the folks (you know who I'm talking about) who can't seem to live without religious structure, but who know their dogmas aren't required.
Legend says that God promised Abraham and his children the whole earth as a gift, but it had nothing to do with how well Abraham performed or believed. In fact, Abraham was about as idolatrous as anybody. However, God was confident in Abraham solely out of God's sheer love for humanity. If God's confidence in us was connected with all sorts of strings, then both ours and God's responsibilities would be meaningless. Besides, we've all experienced how well we do when we're loaded down with rules and regulations. They end up breaking us apart and we can't ever seem to do everything right.
So, God's trust and confidence in us is a free gift. We're all gonna wake up to it at some point, regardless of how good or bad we are. And Abraham is the founding father of what it looks like to be awake to the unconditional love God has for us. That's what one of our oral traditions alludes to: "I have made you [Abraham] the father of many nations." This story was told because it couldn't be kept silent. For the first time in history, someone woke up to the reality that there was a God who believed in him, and the dude couldn't keep quiet about it. Out of the deadness of the oppressive, cyclical sacrifice systems arose a Power that could love, and care, and trust a rag-tag group of radical nomads. In a sense, something was created out of nothing.
Even when it seemed like hope was pointless, Abraham kept on pushing. He believed that God's confidence in him was enough to keep him going. God's faith fueled Abraham's faith, and he was rockin' and rollin' even at the age of 100!
When Abraham had this spiritual experience of realizing how much God loved him, his faith in God only grew stronger, and the shared love between God and Abraham ignited their relationship. Abe was convinced to his innermost self that God was on his side. God's trust in Abraham was met with Abraham's trust in God, and because of that, Abraham lived a life that went down in history as one of the greatest. The story of Abraham shows us that there is a God who actually trusts us, loves us, cares about us, and wants the best for us, and it's all independent of what we do or what we believe. It's free. And when we wake up to this reality, we'll start experiencing things that we never thought were possible.
And, I believe, that through Jesus Christ, God created a movement that helps awaken people to the reality of God's love. What Jesus did was smash the old, dead way of sacrificing to the gods, and reveal a radical, breakthrough promise of God's independent love for all of us.
When we work, our paychecks aren't a gift. We had to work for them. That's the way the system works. On the other hand, this God isn't handing out paychecks for all the work we do. This God isn't evaluating how many good deeds we do every week. This God is taking an incredible risk in placing confidence in us, and yearning for us to do the same.
Our ancestor David also spoke of this. He asked, "Isn't it amazing when a friend forgives us when we've wronged them? Isn't it refreshing when someone our past mistakes? And so, why should it be any different with the God who wants relationship and not sacrifice?"
Now, is this breakthrough concept just for Jews, or is it for everyone? Well, we've been saying that Abraham had confidence in God as a result of his belief that God had confidence in him. But how did that happen? Did this shared confidence pivot around whether or not Abraham followed certain rituals or not? No! God's confidence in Abraham was independent of religion or belief system he aligned with.
The reason Abraham got circumcised was, that was the tradition he aligned with. The circumcision was merely a symbol Abraham used to make sense of the confidence he shared with this God. And so, Abraham is so meaningful to us today because he represents the vast majority of us who recognize this relationship with God, but aren't so sure about all the religious bells and whistles that people have attached to it. And, Abraham is also the father of all the folks (you know who I'm talking about) who can't seem to live without religious structure, but who know their dogmas aren't required.
Legend says that God promised Abraham and his children the whole earth as a gift, but it had nothing to do with how well Abraham performed or believed. In fact, Abraham was about as idolatrous as anybody. However, God was confident in Abraham solely out of God's sheer love for humanity. If God's confidence in us was connected with all sorts of strings, then both ours and God's responsibilities would be meaningless. Besides, we've all experienced how well we do when we're loaded down with rules and regulations. They end up breaking us apart and we can't ever seem to do everything right.
So, God's trust and confidence in us is a free gift. We're all gonna wake up to it at some point, regardless of how good or bad we are. And Abraham is the founding father of what it looks like to be awake to the unconditional love God has for us. That's what one of our oral traditions alludes to: "I have made you [Abraham] the father of many nations." This story was told because it couldn't be kept silent. For the first time in history, someone woke up to the reality that there was a God who believed in him, and the dude couldn't keep quiet about it. Out of the deadness of the oppressive, cyclical sacrifice systems arose a Power that could love, and care, and trust a rag-tag group of radical nomads. In a sense, something was created out of nothing.
Even when it seemed like hope was pointless, Abraham kept on pushing. He believed that God's confidence in him was enough to keep him going. God's faith fueled Abraham's faith, and he was rockin' and rollin' even at the age of 100!
When Abraham had this spiritual experience of realizing how much God loved him, his faith in God only grew stronger, and the shared love between God and Abraham ignited their relationship. Abe was convinced to his innermost self that God was on his side. God's trust in Abraham was met with Abraham's trust in God, and because of that, Abraham lived a life that went down in history as one of the greatest. The story of Abraham shows us that there is a God who actually trusts us, loves us, cares about us, and wants the best for us, and it's all independent of what we do or what we believe. It's free. And when we wake up to this reality, we'll start experiencing things that we never thought were possible.
And, I believe, that through Jesus Christ, God created a movement that helps awaken people to the reality of God's love. What Jesus did was smash the old, dead way of sacrificing to the gods, and reveal a radical, breakthrough promise of God's independent love for all of us.
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