PROPER 14, YEAR C

Sunday, August 10, 2025

Saints Matthew and Mark, Barrington, R. I.

 

Genesis 15:1-6

Psalm 33:12-22

Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-17

Luke 12:32-40

 

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things unseen.” Today’s readings highlight an important aspect of faith, which we might call trusting in God’s promises.

 

It’s one thing to have faith in the sense of acknowledging that God exists, accepting Scripture as God’s revealed Word, or believing the Church’s teachings as expressed in the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds. We clergy often see it as part of our duty to “teach the faith.” But here, we’re mainly using the word “faith” to mean assent to a system of teachings about God, the world, and humanity that we might alternately believe, question, or doubt.

 

Valid and necessary as that type of faith is, today’s readings take us farther and deeper. “By faith,” the Letter to the Hebrews tells us, Abraham “obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going.” That kind of response to God’s call goes far beyond faith as assent, taking us into the realm of trust and obedience. As Psalm 33 concludes: “Let your loving-kindness, O Lord, be upon us, as we have put our trust in you.”

 

In all three of today’s readings, this quality of faith as trust arises in response to a promise made by God. In the reading from Genesis, God appears and says to Abram, “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” That marks the beginning of the promise. When Abram protests that God has given him no offspring, God takes him outside and invites him to try to count the stars in the night sky, which are, of course, uncountable. Then God promises Abram, “So shall your descendants be.” When Abram believes the promise, God credits his belief to him as righteousness.

 

The reading from Hebrews highlights another aspect of God’s promises to Abraham—the promise of land as an inheritance. Trusting in this promise, Abraham sets out and dwells in that land as a stranger, living in tents, just as his offspring Isaac and Jacob do, who also inherit the same promise.

 

But the author of Hebrews adds, “All of these died in faith without having received the promises …” Nonetheless, the reading concludes, even in death, “they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one …” And God, indeed, “has prepared a city for them.” So, there we see the ultimate promise that God makes to Abraham— not merely descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, not merely a land to be their inheritance, but eternal life in the City of God, in the heavenly country.

 

It's the same promise that Jesus takes up and makes to his disciples at the start of today’s Gospel reading. Just as God once told Abram, “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield, your reward shall be very great,” so Jesus tells his disciples, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

 

The rest of today’s Gospel simply explains the results of complete and perfect trust in that promise. If we truly believed in God’s promise to give us the kingdom, we wouldn’t hesitate to sell our possessions and give to those in need. We would focus on making for ourselves purses that do not grow old and storing up an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.

 

Similarly, the parable of the faithful servants waiting for their master’s return shows what perfect trust looks like in action. If we truly trust God and believe his promises, then we’ll stay alert and ready, always prepared to open the door when we hear the Lord knocking.

 

The parable also teaches us something crucial about the kingdom of God. When the master returns and finds the slaves waiting to greet him, he will “fasten his belt, and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them.” That mysterious detail suggests to me that the social and economic distinctions that separate us are only for this life. In the life of the world to come, everyone will be equal, and all will serve one another.

 

Today’s readings encourage us to trust in God and believe His promises. This trust allows us to respond with faithful obedience to God’s call, as Abraham did, and to stay alert, ready to open the door to the Lord, like those faithful servants in the parable.

 

The key questions for us to think about and pray through are these: What has God promised us? What has God promised each of us individually, and what has He promised all of us together? We would do well to spend some time reflecting prayerfully on these questions. 

 

And then: What difference would it make in our lives if we truly trusted in God’s promises and acted on that trust? That’s a question I believe each of us must ask and answer for ourselves. I can’t answer it for you, nor you for me, even though we might learn a lot from discussing and discerning the answers together.

 

Where do we find this trust? I believe that faith in God ultimately comes from God Himself, as a gift. For me, one sentence in the reading from Hebrews sums it all up: “Abraham  …  considered him faithful who had promised.” In other words, God’s prior faithfulness to us is what enables us to be faithful to Him in return.

 

Jesus concludes the parable by remarking, “If [the master] returns in the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.” Likewise, if the Lord returns and finds us so—waiting faithfully in trust and hope, ready to serve him in whatever way he requires—then blessed are we as well.