Sermon for July 9, 2023 – The Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67, Psalm 45:11-18, Romans 7:15-25a, Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

Over the past few weeks, we have accompanied Abraham on his journey with God; from childless Abram to the father of Ishmael and the promised Isaac. We have been part of his conversations with God, with his wife Sarah and her servant Hagar, and with angels. Today we transition to the next generation. Though still important, our story shifts in focus to Isaac and the finding of his wife Rebekah.

As you will notice in the Genesis reading citation, our lectionary jumps around a bit, skipping over details of the story for the sake of brevity. One line that I found particularly strange to leave out is Genesis 24:50 “This is the Lord’s doing. We have nothing to say about it.” For me, this verse sums up this entire passage, but before we tie up the story with a bow, let’s take a closer look.

Our reading today includes all the elements typically found in a betrothal type-scene of the time. A foreign man travels to a distant country to find a wife for himself or his master. Upon his arrival, he goes to a well outside the town where he happens upon a young woman. The scene concludes with the foreigner returning to the home of the young woman where arrangements are made for the betrothal.

Against the backdrop of these common elements are some rather striking features. In particular, what stands out is the explicit trust and recognition of God’s leading and guiding presence in all of this. While not part of the lectionary selection, the story begins with Abraham commissioning his servant to find a woman from Abraham’s homeland and bring her to Canaan to be a wife for Isaac. The problem, however, is how will the servant accomplish such a weighty task? How will he find the right woman? And how will he know she is the right woman when he finds her? The answer? The angel of the Lord will go before the servant, guiding the servant’s way and even preparing the heart of the right woman so that she is willing to come back with him.

As the servant starts on his way, he prays that the Lord would make him successful in this task, as if alerting God that he is ready and eager to attend to God’s guidance. This is particularly striking because we don’t actually know if Abraham’s servant believes in God.

Predictably, his journey takes him to a well outside the town of Nahor. There the servant prays again, this time detailing the sign by which God would lead the servant to the right woman. She will be kind and thoughtful, offering not only the servant a drink but his camels as well. The sign itself is nothing out of the ordinary. It was common for women to take on the responsibility for fetching water and watering the flock. Yet the servant repeats twice, that Rebekah’s offer at the well is a sign from God and an indication of God’s leading. “Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his steadfast love and his faithfulness toward my master. As for me, the Lord has led me on the way to the house of my master’s kin,” the servant proclaims in verse 27 and again similarly in verse 48 which was included in our reading.

God led him. In Rebekah’s ordinary actions, the servant sees the extraordinary, the hand of God. Rebekah follows suit. Certain that Rebekah is the wife for Isaac, the servant sets out to leave the next morning. Laban and Rebekah’s mother urge the servant to stay around and give them time to get used to the idea of losing their sister and daughter. But when the decision is put to Rebekah, she herself responds with clear and decisive action. She will go.

The faith of Rebekah and Abraham’s servant is truly inspiring. The challenge for us today, however, is how do we know we are discerning the voice of God correctly? How do we know it is the voice of God?

This is no small problem. There are a couple of different camps Christians tend to fall into when trying to solve this problem.

The first is like agnosticism. Because we can’t know for sure, we function as if God is not a real agent active in our world or in our lives.

The second is to align too closely our own thoughts and impulses with the voice of God. In this case, we risk lending the authority of God to our human impulses. This is extremely dangerous.

Like most things in life, there is a third way as well. So how do we become wise discerners in hearing God’s voice and determining God’s leading? For one thing, we are blessed to have the Scriptures that teach us God’s character and God’s will. Whatever leading we discern from God, it ought to be consistent with what we see in the actions and teachings of Jesus.

This story, however, gives us another tool for discerning the leading of God, that is, the community of faith. Every single person in this story seems to recognize the hand of God in this, from Abraham who commissioned his servant to go to the land of his kin to Bethuel and Laban who recognize that this is the Lord’s doing to Rebekah who acts with courage and faith to go with the servant to a new home.

And perhaps this is the encouragement to be had from this story—to avoid both agnosticism and overconfidence about our ability to discern God’s leading in our lives and instead, lean heavily on the community of faith, past and present, to help us discern the voice of God. We do this together, sharing our burdens with each other, lightening the load as we follow God together. And when, with this community of faith surrounding us, we do finally recognize God’s leading, may we, like Rebekah, respond eagerly “we will go.”

Amen.