7Then he said to him, "I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess." 8But he said, "O Lord GOD, how am I to know that I shall possess it?" 9He said to him, "Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon." 10He brought him all these and cut them in two, laying each half over against the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. 11And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
12As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a deep and terrifying darkness descended upon him…17When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,"
Luke 13:31-35
31At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, "Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you." 32He said to them, "Go and tell that fox for me, 'Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. 33Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.' 34Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! 35See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, 'Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.'"
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Our passage from Genesis reminds us of God’s covenant with Abram and takes us back to the beginning of God’s relationship with Israel. God called Abram and told him to take his wife and his nephew and leave his home and family. God promised that he would be with him and that he would make Abram into a great nation. Amazingly, Abram picked up his things and followed God’s leading into the great unknown.
In today’s reading Abram seems a little discouraged because at this point he doesn’t have any kids at all, so his prospects for becoming a great nation are looking pretty shaky. He voices his frustration to God and God reaffirms the promise. Abram believes God, but he still asks for some confirmation, which God provides through a classic animal sacrifice to confirm the covenant.
That covenant with Abram was reaffirmed with Abram’s descendants: Isaac and Jacob and was renewed powerfully when God led Israel out of slavery in Egypt and made a covenant with them at Mt. Sinai to be their God forever. That covenant continues with the Jewish people today, through many twists and turns.
As Christians we look back to that same covenant for our relationship with God. We can’t trace our genealogy back to Abram, but we can trace our faith back to him. Through faith in Jesus we become part of the covenant God made with Israel; that covenant to be our God as we will be God’s people. Israel’s history with God becomes our history as well; we are heirs to all the twists and turns of faith that Israel experienced as well as new twists and turns of faith the church has lived through over its nearly 2000 years.
