Day 5: Genesis 17-19

Day 5: Genesis 17-19

All in the wording

In today’s passage Abram again encounters God. This time, however, a transformation happens. Not a large transformation, but a significant transformation.

To review, Abram was told by God to leave his home and that he would have more descendants than the grains of sand. In fact, even his name, Abram, meant exalted ancestor. To many of us, and to Abram, to be an ancestor would involve the actual parenting of a person, or multiple people. In today’s passage, Abram’s encounter with God changes the definition, and his name. Abram becomes Abraham, which means ancestor of a multitude. Particularly, God says that Abraham would be an ancestor to a multitude of nations.

Often in our society we place value on being a parent, namely the actual people who gave birth to a child. Yet, even throughout history, the definition of parent has been redefined. Later in the Biblical text we will here of a child raised by a princess as his mother. Later in history, families will include step-parents, grandparents, adopted parents, and those special people in our lives that we call mom and dad even though they have no defined relationship. As nations we will speak of our ancestors as those who paved the way for our government. As cultural and ethnic groups we will talk about ancestors who gave their lives, raised their voices and made a difference.

The lesson to be learned, at least for me, is that words can limit our understanding. For instance, take the word God or even church. People define these words all the time to fit their needs, yet, many still harbor resentment from the words that have been defined by others. Such loaded words can influence our interest and ability to explore. God still works and redefines and renames, we just have to listen.

Sodom and Gomorrah

Let’s set the stage for this story. First, in Genesis 18 we see Abraham greet three guests that come to tell of the birth of a child (wow, does that sound like some other story we know). Abraham welcomes them, washes their feet, provides them food, treats them as honored guests.

To parallel this encounter, Genesis 19 brings us to Sodom, where Lot, Abraham’s nephew, resides. Lot welcomes them into his home, washes their feet, feeds them. The community of Sodom, however, has another reaction. The people of Sodom, seeing this people as a threat, an alien in their land, pushing towards the guests to dishonor them, even rape them.

As gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, we have heard this story told to us as a means to tell of God’s hatred for gay men. One line in the story reads that the crowd of men demands to “know” the male visitors, or rape them. Based on this one word, communities of faith have gleamed that this passage is about sex. Interesting how people focus on one word rather then the entire package of text, including the framing of Genesis 18.

Isn’t it interesting that our country suffers from the same hatred of “aliens” that we see in Sodom and Gomorrah. Whether referring to those who cross the boarders into “the land of the free” for refuge or those who are here that are different than the “mainstream,” we see fear of the other. Where is the judgmental interpretation of Sodom and Gomorrah then? Where is the lesson of hospitality?