In Matthew, it says: No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. (Matt 11:27). But what happens when he doesn’t? What happens when the Son doesn’t reveal God to us? What about those moments when God feels unknowable, distant, absent even?
A lot of the Bible uses binary opposites: light vs dark; flesh vs spirit; law vs grace. We can read this in much the same way: those who know God vs those who don’t. But then when God feels unknowable, where does that place me? Does that then shift me into the wrong side of the ledger? If it’s true that no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him, then does that put me with the unchosen? Does it mean that I am alone, an odd one out, an unchosen among the chosen whenever I come to church, an imposter among these true Christians?
When I look at our Old Testament story for today (Genesis 24:34-67), we get this story of Abraham sending his servant to find a wife for Isaac from among Abraham’s own hometown. One of the things that I notice in that story though is the relationship between Abraham’s servant and God. This servant isn’t part of Abraham’s family, isn’t part of God’s promise or God’s covenant with Abraham. We don’t know how this servant or slave was acquired, where he came from, or what gods he grew up being taught to worship. But he has been a servant in the household of Abraham for a long time and he has probably seen firsthand the relationship between Abraham and God.
So, when push comes to shove, when he’s arrived at his master’s hometown and he now has to find a wife for Isaac but with little idea how to do that, it says he prays to the God of his master, Abraham: Then he prayed, “Yahweh, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. May it be that when I say to a young woman, ‘Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels too’—let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.”
He sets a test as a way of finding a worthy wife. Now I don’t speak from expertise at this point. With my own relationship with Michele, I needed her to let me know she was interested before we started dating. If she hadn’t taken the lead, I’d probably still be a single man. So I don’t know much about getting a wife, and I know even less about finding a wife for someone else.
But remember that marriage then is not the same as marriage now. A wife back then is simply someone who will keep the house and bear children, preferably sons. That’s the main point of biblical marriage. Love and romance aren’t necessarily part of it. So this test seems to me to be a reasonable way to find a good potential wife for Isaac: ask for a drink of water and see if she also offers to water the camels.
He’s still flying blind, but he first prays to his master’s God for success. He places his faith in a god that he doesn’t know personally, but in a god in whom his master believes. He places his faith in that relationship; he places his faith in Abraham’s faith.
I think that’s where I’m often at with God. I confess that there are times when God doesn’t feel close or obvious. There are times when God feels hidden to me. In those moments, I often have to lean on the faith of others. Rather than putting myself down for not having enough faith or for not being spiritual enough or Christian enough, I instead lean on the faith of others and am inspired by the faith of others.
When it comes to our own congregation, I am inspired by Jan’s constant trust in God. I am inspired by Denise’s care for others. I am inspired by Chal’s prayerfulness, by Margaret’s willingness to wrestle with God, by Barbara’s honest vulnerability before God, by Helen’s passion for God’s church, by the way Gaye puts her faith into action, by the authentic groundedness of Yvonne’s faith, by the joy that Joyce’s faith brings her.
In those moments when God feels unknown or absent, this is how I know God. I see God through those relationships between God and God’s people. I look around this congregation and I don’t just see people of wonderful faith; I see God present in my midst.
Earlier in the worship service, we talked about the need to go beyond our walls and to hang out with people who aren’t like us. There are times when I need to be out in the world with people who might not believe the same things I do. But there are also times when I need to be alone with God. And there are times when I need to be with other Christians, to be inspired and refreshed by our shared faith. And I call it a shared faith because sometimes I might need to borrow some of yours.
Now as good as that vicarious faith is, I know it won’t sustain me forever. At some point, I need to experience God firsthand. At some point, I need that faith to be more than vicarious. My relationship with God can’t always be via someone else. Otherwise I’ll start putting that person in the place of God. And that’s dangerous. But in those moments when God feels unknowable or absent, then I know I can turn to the faith of others. There are many times when I have turned to people here for wisdom or discernment, when I haven’t known the right thing to do.
I look at the stories of Jesus and it sometimes feels like he always just knows – that God is always present for him, telling him what to do, and I get incredibly jealous of that. I don’t have that. I don’t have God always telling me what to do.
But then, that not knowing is what drives me deeper making me yearn for God the more, but it also teaches me to lean on others, to trust not just in my own faith but in the faith of others as well. Maybe that’s why in one of his letters, Paul talks about us, as a whole, being the body of Christ.
So now I look at that verse again: No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him… and I realise that sometimes that revelation comes through the people all around me. Thanks be to God.
Amen.