Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Abraham gave all he had to Isaac. But to the sons of his concubines Abraham gave gifts, while he was still living, and he sent them away from his son Isaac, eastward to the east country.”
NL Daily Devotion for Monday, January 2, 2023
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
All of this week’s readings follow from yesterday’s genealogy of Jesus. We will hear over and over about God showing up in the lives of God’s people to ensure their continued survival through births miraculous, challenging, surprising, and even subversive. Each of the stories highlights a different descendant in Jesus’ line. Remember that genealogy was incredibly important to the Jewish people, who were tasked with being able to recite their lineage all the way back to Abraham.
And here we start with him. Abraham is considered the father of the whole Jewish people through his son, Isaac. The Bible is clear that Abraham had other sons—first Ishmael by his slave Hagar, and through whom the entire Islamic people also claim Abraham as their father—then others with his other slaves, as this reading lays out. But time and again, Abraham ultimately rejected his other sons as candidates for his inheritance. He gave all he had to Isaac, the son promised to him by God through his wife, Sarah. It was Isaac’s descendants, and Isaac’s alone, who would grow and thrive and become the people Israel.
One could read this story (and most of the Hebrew Bible) as one of playing favorites. It would be easy to pull out the elements of injustice and question who this God is, who would raise one people above another. But one could also read this story as one that satisfies the very human need to belong. The Jewish people were forever moving about, being subjugated to slavery or being conquered by various nations and empires; encountering cultures whose practices went against all they believed. Knowing that this origin story that goes back to Abraham is ahistorical, one can see a people, so often rejected, needing something to bind them together in loving solidarity. This heritage connects all Jews everywhere to this day—and all Christians, too, for we, too, are the offspring of Abraham, and beloved children of God.
What different communities do I belong to? What helps me determine my identity?
