Genesis 18:20-32, Psalm 138, and Luke 11:1-13
Today’s reading from Genesis is an episode that is very familiar to us. This is a scene of conversation between God and Abraham regarding the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. At that time, many people suffered injustice because of the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah. We need to remember that God hears the voices of the victims. The perpetrators were sexually depraved and spiritually corrupt, which led many to think of Sodom and Gomorrah as representative of cities of sin. So God says in verse 21 that he will visit this place. God wants to determine the cause of the outcry of the people that He has heard. I want to meditate on three points together through the conversation between Abraham and God.
First, there are people who advocate on behalf of others. Ordinary people rarely encounter judges, lawyers, or prosecutors in their lives. They play a vital role in forming and maintaining society. Moreover, it was a new learning experience for me that in Canada, we have to meet with a lawyer when doing real estate transactions. In fact, in Korea, real estate agents handle most of the work from start to finish. However, since the realtor and the lawyer divided the work among themselves, I felt a sense of security because they handled the work responsibly. A lawyer represents the accused or the victim in the prosecution’s argument, and thus tries to get a good verdict from the judge.
Here Abraham plays this role. God is going to judge the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. At that time, Abraham raised the issue that it was unfair for a just God to punish the righteous and the wicked equally. “If there are fifty righteous people in that city, will you destroy it?” he asks. God answers that he will not destroy it. If there are 45 righteous people again, will you forgive them? God says. “I will not destroy it.” Abraham dares to ask God again. God says that if there are 40 righteous people, 30 righteous people, 20 righteous people, or 10 righteous people, God will leave the city alone.
But the important thing is that Abraham minimized the number of people needed for forgiveness from 50 to 10. It is challenging to haggle down the price of goods at a farmer’s market, but he reduced it by a whopping 80%. The subject of negotiation is not the people of the world, but God. Abraham had nothing to lose. Of course, Abraham would have been worried about his nephew Lot. And he might have expected Lot’s family to live righteously. However, it would have been possible to send a messenger to inform Lot of the news. But instead of taking this easy way, he decided to convince God. He may have risked his life here. Even if they are sinners, please preserve their lives. Have mercy on the righteous. Perhaps he represented the people of Sodom and Gomorrah with this mindset. This leads us to contemplate whether maybe we, too, can play this role. In this age, many people live forgetting God. They go out and find what they think is right and good. A generation accustomed to life without God may become mainstream in Canada. But we can pray to God for them, saying, “God, please give them one more chance.”
Second, there is a God who waits for the righteous. Conversely, from God’s perspective, God is still looking for righteous people today. He found 50 righteous people in Sodom and Gomorrah. And he is looking for 45, 40, 30, 20, or 10 people. Can you sense the heart of God revealed through these numbers? I even feel like there was an intention not to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. “If possible, I do not want the way of judgment and wrath. And I am looking for righteous people who believe in God and fear Me, even if they are few.” Of course, it wasn’t a large city with hundreds of thousands of people living there, but it was a situation where the two castles around the Dead Sea could disappear. Not only people, but also livestock, may disappear due to judgment and disaster. I believe that in the conversation between Abraham and God, God is seeking a reason not to judge the city. That is how much God waits for the righteous. Why is that? Because through them, others can come to God. Because that righteous person becomes the channel of life and blessing. We are familiar with this principle through Jesus. Even if thousands or millions of people sin, they can still be saved through Jesus Christ. Today, hundreds of millions of people have found salvation through Jesus Christ. You can enjoy a life of blessings. Through Jesus Christ, we can enjoy the peace of God. And today too, God calls the righteous. We hope to be those who respond and say Amen to that call.
Finally, there are those who pray. Just as our faith is our life, Abraham’s conversation is deeply rooted in religion. He prayed earnestly to God in his heart. And Jesus tells us very clearly about this prayer. That’s what we confess every Sunday morning. Jesus asked his disciples to pray to God first. He prayed that God’s name would be hallowed and that God’s kingdom would come to this earth. He taught us about sin, faith, and forgiveness for the daily lives of His people. He instructed us to pray for our daily bread, our most urgent need. Like Jesus, like Abraham, some people pray for us. And when we pray, the things God wants will come true. Even in suffering and disaster, we can still pray. Even in the face of judgment, we can pray. Let us live like this as people of prayer. Let us pray for Vacation Bible School this week, for our patient members, for those in need in Red Deer, and for our neighbors in need across Alberta, Canada, and around the world. We believe that God, our parents, will fill our needs with good things and bless us. Amen.