A Thought For The Week Of October 5, 2015

"Then [Abraham] said, 'May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?' He answered, 'For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.'" (Genesis 18:32) It's a difficult story, this account of the fate of Sodom. It's a story we prefer not to think about because it holds up to us the fact that our actions carry with them consequences. But however much we may shy away from the literal details of the story, that's the basic message. But that jumps ahead in the story. I'm struck in the whole passage (Genesis 18:16-33) by Abraham debating with God; seeking to change God's mind; pushing God to essentially lower His expectations. When people are in grief, one of the stages is bargaining. We often portray that as something that people should move through and get over, and yet here it seems to me that Abraham is engaging in a form of bargaining. A lot of our prayers are in the nature of bargaining, or trying to convince God to do "this" instead of "that." Maybe the biggest lesson I take from this story is that if we're going to bargain or debate with God we should do it for others and not for ourselves - just as Abraham bargained not for himself, but for Sodom and its people. That's in keeping with the gospel. Which brings me to Jesus. I see Jesus in this story, even though it was written long before Jesus was born. How do I see Jesus? Well, Abraham bargains God down a lot. Finally, all it takes is ten righteous people to spare Sodom. But we know how the story turns out. There aren't ten righteous people. Truth be told, there aren't any truly "righteous" people. At best we can be faithful; at worst we fall into self-righteousness. But true righteousness is beyond our ability and the natural consequence of not being righteous isn't pleasant to say the least! Enter Jesus! The one human being who was truly righteous and whose righteousness is imparted to us! Even in this very early story I see clearly both the human problem and the divine solution to it.