Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
Romans 7:15-25a
In September 1814, during the War of 1812, American lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key traveled to Baltimore on a truce ship. His mission, authorized by President James Madison, was to negotiate the release of Dr. William Beanes, an American civilian who had been captured by the British. While Key successfully negotiated Beanes’ release, he and his companions had overheard the British planning their upcoming attack on Baltimore, so they were detained for their own security.
On September 13, 1814, the British Royal Navy launched a massive assault on Fort McHenry, the military stronghold guarding Baltimore Harbor. For 25 hours, Key watched in captivity as rockets and bombs rained down on the fort. Because of the heavy smoke and the darkness of the night, Key could not tell if the fort had fallen or if the Americans had surrendered. The only proof that the fort was still holding was the occasional flash of the “rocket’s red glare,” briefly illuminating the skies.
At the break of dawn on September 14, the smoke began to clear. Through his spyglass, Key looked toward Fort McHenry and saw a giant American garrison flag waving triumphantly over the ramparts.
Elated and moved by the fierce American resistance, Key pulled a letter from his pocket and began crafting a poem that would later be set to music and become our national anthem.
O say, can you see
By the dawn’s early light
What so proudly we hailed
At the twilight’s last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars
Through the perilous fight
O’er the ramparts we watched
Were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red glare
The bombs bursting in air
Gave proof through the night
That our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
– Francis Scott Key
During the dark night of September 13th, 1814, while watching the continuous violence of the British naval bombardment of Fort McHenry, it must have seemed impossible for the American defenders to survive. Only brief flashes from the exploding shells gave occasional hints that the American flag still flew over the fort until, finally, the dawn revealed that twenty-five hours of sustained British bombardment had been unsuccessful in dislodging the defenders.
That, I think, sets the tone for the theme of today’s message. When have you witnessed the impossible unfold before your eyes? In my career as a pastor, and even before we went into ministry, Patti and I have witnessed quite a few impossible events that I cannot help but describe as miracles. And while we might not describe all the stories contained in today’s scriptures as miracles, certainly they all describe God working to bring his people through impossible situations… including you and me. We begin this morning by returning to the story of Abraham as he seeks to find a bride for his son Isaac. Not wanting his son to be misguided and led astray by a Canaanite woman from their new home, Abraham sends a trusted servant to his father’s family in search of a bride in Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67, he finds one, and this is how he explains his search to her family:
34 So he said, “I am Abraham’s servant. 35 The Lord has blessed my master abundantly, and he has become wealthy. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, male and female servants, and camels and donkeys. 36 My master’s wife Sarah has borne him a son in her old age, and he has given him everything he owns. 37 And my master made me swear an oath, and said, ‘You must not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live, 38 but go to my father’s family and to my own clan, and get a wife for my son.’
42 “When I came to the spring today, I said, ‘Lord, God of my master Abraham, if you will, please grant success to the journey on which I have come. 43 See, I am standing beside this spring. If a young woman comes out to draw water and I say to her, “Please let me drink a little water from your jar,” 44 and if she says to me, “Drink, and I’ll draw water for your camels too,” let her be the one the Lord has chosen for my master’s son.’
45 “Before I finished praying in my heart, Rebekah came out, with her jar on her shoulder. She went down to the spring and drew water, and I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.’
46 “She quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels too.’ So, I drank, and she watered the camels also.
47 “I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’
“She said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel son of Nahor, whom Milkah bore to him.’
“Then I put the ring in her nose and the bracelets on her arms, 48 and I bowed down and worshiped the Lord. I praised the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me on the right road to get the granddaughter of my master’s brother for his son. 49 Now if you will show kindness and faithfulness to my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, so I may know which way to turn.”
58 So they called Rebekah and asked her, “Will you go with this man?”
“I will go,” she said.
59 So they sent their sister Rebekah on her way, along with her nurse and Abraham’s servant and his men. 60 And they blessed Rebekah and said to her,
“Our sister, may you increase
to thousands upon thousands;
may your offspring possess
the cities of their enemies.”
61 Then Rebekah and her attendants got ready and mounted the camels and went back with the man. So, the servant took Rebekah and left.
62 Now Isaac had come from Beer Lahai Roi, for he was living in the Negev. 63 He went out to the field one evening to meditate, and as he looked up, he saw camels approaching. 64 Rebekah also looked up and saw Isaac. She got down from her camel 65 and asked the servant, “Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?”
“He is my master,” the servant answered. So, she took her veil and covered herself.
66 Then the servant told Isaac all he had done. 67 Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he married Rebekah. So, she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.
Think about what happened. Abraham’s trusted servant, a man who does not share Abraham’s faith, is sent to place he has never been, to find a woman among a people that he has never met and, out of respect for his employer, prays to Abraham’s God that he would be led to the right woman, and specifies the conditions so that he might know that God had chosen that particular woman. And everything unfolds, exactly as he prayed that it would. What Abraham asked was difficult. What the servant prayed for was impossible. And yet, God moved through the impossible and the servant meets Rebekah in exactly the way in which he had prayed.
In an entirely different way, Jesus addresses a crowd of people who are likewise faced with impossible and insurmountable problems and many of these problems are still faced by the people around us today: Poverty, hunger, unemployment, sickness, violence, uncertainty, difficult employers, and more. On top of these daily worries, religious leaders piled on mountains of rules that made life even more difficult and more expensive. And Jesus speaks these words of comfort in Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30:
16 “To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others:
17 “‘We played the pipe for you,
and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge,
and you did not mourn.’
18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved right by her deeds.”
25 At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. 26 Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.
27 “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 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. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Jesus said that this generation was just like the children who played games in the marketplace and made rules that found fault no matter what choices you made. Life was already difficult, but Israel’s leaders, instead of making things easier, chose instead to make things harder in people who were already struggling. And Jesus calls to these hurting people and declares that he will help them to move through the impossible, saying, “28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 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. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
And finally, in his letter to the church in Rome, Paul describes a struggle that every Christian has faced throughout history. No matter how strong our intentions are to do better, we always seem to fall short of our aspirations, and often our failures are even more dramatic. In Romans 7:15-25 Paul writes:
15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature, a slave to the law of sin.
Paul admits that he simply cannot help himself. As much as he intends to do what is right and good, as much as he intends, and desperately wants, to do the things that he knows that he should do, he cannot. Worse, the things that he knows, and wants not to do, despite his best efforts, he does those things anyway. “I desire to go good, but I cannot carry it out.” And in this, Paul describes not only his inner being that delight’s in God and in doing God’s will, but also his inner human sinful nature such that good and evil live side-by-side inside of him. His point is that we fall too easily into temptation, and even when we try to do good, we often fail. But as discouraging as that may sound, Paul’s conclusion is to give thanks to God who delivers us through Jesus Christ regardless of our sin and failure.
This is the miracle that we see every day as the followers of Jesus Christ. Just as God made a way through the impossible so that Abraham’s servant could find the bride that God had chosen for Isaac, God continues to make a way through impossible circumstances for us today. No matter how hard life can get, no matter what difficult circumstances we may find ourselves in, no matter the struggles that we face, Jesus calls to hurting people and declares that he will help them to move through the impossible, saying, “28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Likewise, when we are tempted to criticize and beat ourselves up because of our failures, Paul reminds us that our failure only reminds us that we are human. The good news is, as it has always been, that this is why we follow Jesus and why Jesus gave his life to save us, because despite our failures, despite the drama, despite our overwhelming shortcomings, God delivers us through Jesus Christ our Lord.
No matter what we face, no matter how impossible, God always makes a way.
Please LIKE and SHARE!
Click here to subscribe to Pastor John’s blog.
Click here if you would like to subscribe to Pastor John’s weekly messages.
Click here to visit Pastor John’s YouTube channel.
*You have been reading a message presented at Christ United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first page. Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Christ UMC in Alliance, Ohio. Duplication of this message is a part of our Media ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you. Letters and donations in support of the Media ministry or any of our other projects may be sent to Christ United Methodist Church, 470 East Broadway Street, Alliance, Ohio 44601. These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership. You may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at secretary@CUMCAlliance.org. These messages can also be found online at https://pastorpartridge.com . All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.comThe “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
Pastor Partridge 