Detachment

Today’s reading for the Jesse tree tradition is Genesis 12: 1-3 – Abraham’s call to leave everything behind including land and family. The idea that God would call this one human being to leave everything behind to travel to an unknown place speaks to me of detachment.

This verse also reminds me of the Gospel reading for the second Sunday of Advent (Matthew 3:1-12). There we read about John the Baptist warning the Pharisees and Sadducees to not presume to say “we have Abraham as our father. For God can raise up children to Abraham from these stones.”

I think it’s easy sometimes to view the Bible as a novel with interesting characters. Most of those “characters” seem so un-relatable. Take Abraham for example. He left every familiar thing behind and almost sacrificed his son for God. Can we honestly say we’d be willing to do the same thing? While he may seem un-relatable, Abraham was not some fictitious character. He was real and his faith was real. In fact, God calls us to a deep faith like Abraham’s as well. A faith that calls us to step out of our comfort zone and attachments in order to realize our purpose and God’s plan for our lives.

PURPOSE

This weekend’s Gospel reminds us that we were fearfully and wonderfully made ON PURPOSE! Therefore we cannot claim Abraham’s deep faith and accomplishments for ourselves. We have to put our own faith to work and that work must be focused on bearing fruit for the greater glory of God! Purpose and detachment – that’s how today’s reading speaks to me. Can you relate? God bless you!