Promises Made, Promises Broken

It was a hard lesson for me to learn when I was a child, maybe harder than most children. The lesson was that people don’t always keep their promises. Although I may not be as alone in this as I think, as a child I believed (and probably still do) that if a person makes a promise they will keep it. And I never learned. Even after someone broke their promise to me, I would still believe them the next time. I suppose that is why many people accuse me of being naive. 

I have been thinking about promises because of our lessons for today. We heard several promises made by God. Abram, soon to be Abraham, heard God’s promise, believed it, and left the security of home and traveled to a promised land. The twist in the story of Abraham is that it isn’t God who breaks the promise. It is Abram who is impatient and cannot wait for the promise to be fulfilled. Remember, when Sarai’s womb was barren she gave Abram her Egyptian slave-girl Hagar and she bore him a son Ishmael. There is a lot more drama in this story (If you haven’t read it recently you should – Genesis chapter 16). Drama that came about because Abram and Sarai were impatient while waiting for God’s promise to be fulfilled. I suppose being in their eighties would make them think the promise may not happen.

While Paul uses the story of Abram and Sarai to talk about faith – they were willing to leave home based on a promise. He does gloss over parts of it to make his point. That point is the promise that God has given to us through Jesus. The promise of faith. Faith is knowing that God will not abandon God’s people. Like Abram, that is a promise that is often forgotten. Think about the many times the Israelites were impatient with God, forgot the covenant, and took things into their own hands.  All they got from their initiative was trouble and even exile. 

It is not difficult to see how this can happen. We are impatient creatures and forget the message of the Psalmist who tells us that, “A Thousand years are like a day to God.” We also forget that all we have is God’s and claim it as our own. We see the grass on the other side of the fence and desire it. Or, more appropriately the things on the other side of the television screen. We are being constantly bombarded by the promises of countless others. Promises of beauty, youth, influence, security, and even wealth. Yes, from the financial advisors on television to the street pharmacist on the corner we are constantly hearing promises that they can make our life better. But when the money's gone all the promises disappear.

Nicodemus was not much different than you or me. He had forgotten the promise of God. He had bought into society's norms and desires. That is why he went to Jesus at night. While he wanted to see if Jesus could be the Messiah, he was hedging his bet by visiting at night. If Jesus was not the one he certainly did not want his curiosity to destroy his self-made world. In his attempt to walk a narrow line between worldly things and Jesus, he was unable to understand Jesus’ promise. 

The promise of God is not one about beauty, youth, influence, security, or wealth. It is about love. Love so strong that God sent Jesus so that the world would live through him. The next time you are tempted to take things into your own hands remember the sacrifice of Jesus. Instead of deciding what God should do for you, decide how you will share God’s love with your family, friends, neighbors, and enemies. “Indeed, God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:17 NRSVuv). Be the part of God’s promise that God has called you to be.