Home » February 7, 2021 - Pastor Message

February 7, 2021 - Pastor Message

03/28/2024

THE YEAR OF ST. JOSEPH RIGHTEOUSNESS (cont.) “Abram put his faith in the Lord, who credited it to him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:6).

We continue our reflection this month on the theme of righteousness flowing from the biblical description of Joseph as a “righteous man”. While a working definition of righteousness might be the fidelity between God and the people with whom he enters into covenant relationships, it can be helpful to develop a fuller understanding of the concept by looking more closely at some of the important biblical figures who exhibit righteousness throughout the history of salvation leading up to Joseph.

The first such figure is Noah in the book of Genesis. In the creation story of Adam, sin enters the world and quickly begins to multiply until God regrets creating human beings and resolves to wash the stain of their evil from the earth with a great flood. Noah, however, is “a righteous man, blameless in his time, for he walked with God” (6:910). God enters into a covenant relationship with Noah, calling him to build the ark in which to save the seeds of a new creation after the flood, and in righteousness, Noah “carried out all the commands that God gave him” (6:22). Notice the simplicity of Noah’s righteousness. He possesses no great knowledge and follows no elaborate body of laws. He simply “walks with God”, listening for his voice and responding with trust and obedience, placing himself completely in God’s hands. By simple, I mean that his righteousness is uncomplicated, not easy. Noah lives in a world so full of evil that God feels compelled to destroy it. No doubt it must be terribly difficult for Noah to remain righteous, surrounded by so much depravity, but he does, and for this, God blesses him and makes him the father of his new creation.

Perhaps the preeminent figure of righteousness in the Old Testament is Abram, whose righteousness leads God to enter with him into the defining covenant of the entire Bible, changing his name to Abraham, “father of a host of nations” (Genesis 17:5), and establishing through him and his descendants the People of God. When we first meet Abram, in the book of Genesis, he is a wandering nomad with a barren wife, and therefore doomed to have no land of his own and no children. God calls him to leave the land of “your kinsfolk and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you” (12:1). Abram obeys, taking his entire household on a series of journeys, following the promptings of the Lord, until he reaches the promised land. There God makes a covenant with Abram, promising him that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars of the sky and that he would give them that land as an inheritance. Despite the seeming impossibility of God’s promise (Abram is 99 years old and his wife is barren), he “put his faith in the Lord, who credited it to him as righteousness” (15:6).

God begins to fulfill his promise to now Abraham by granting him a son, Isaac, but he then tests Abraham’s righteousness by commanding him to sacrifice his son. If Abraham kills Isaac, could God work a second miracle and give him another son? Would Abraham keep faith with God and trust him to fulfill his promise? Abraham does, preparing to offer Isaac in sacrifice. Seeing the true depths of Abraham’s righteousness, God saves Isaac and renews and even expands his covenant with Abraham: “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you acted as you did and did not withhold from me your beloved son, I will bless you abundantly and make your descendants as countless as the stars of the sky...and in your descendants all the nations of the earth shall find blessing all because you obeyed my command” (22:1618). Abraham, like Noah, shows a simple but profound righteousness, long before the coming of the Law and its multitude of requirements and prohibitions. God calls Abraham into covenant relationship and Abraham responds, entrusting his entire life to him, even when God’s promises seem impossible or don’t seem to make sense, and, because of his righteousness, God makes Abraham the father of his own people and, through them, the salvation of the world.

Fr. Marc Stockton

-

Current News