The ideals of Abraham
are missing in our world

Speaking of Religion
The Rev. Dr. Tim Griffin

Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous who are in it? And the Lord said, "If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will forgive the whole place for their sake." …Then [Abraham] said, "Oh do not let the Lord be angry if I speak just once more. Suppose ten [righteous] are found there." [The Lord] answered, "For the sake of the ten, I will not destroy it." Then the Lord went his way when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place. (Genesis 18:23-33)

Abraham is considered a father by Jews, Christians and Muslims. All three traditions trace their origins and their most fundamental convictions back to Abraham. The passage above provides some insight into why this is so.
The Lord has paid a visit to Abraham, and he has shown the Lord the hospitality for which he is famous. He has bid the Lord to stop to rest and eat and to find refreshment and shade away from the hot sun.
Upon taking leave, the Lord indicates to Abraham that the Lord is journeying to the villages of Sodom and Gomorrah, where there is great injustice, and the Lord intimates that the cities will be destroyed for the evil of which they are guilty. In particular, they are evil because they treat others unjustly and in sharp contrast to Abraham. They manifest no hospitality. They care only for themselves and the satisfaction of their own appetites.
But Abraham’s sense of justice and hospitality is so great that he intercedes for the cities. He implores God to have mercy on the cities for the sake of any righteous people who may be found there. He begins with fifty and through a series of requests secures from the Lord the assurance that the cities will be spared if only ten righteous may be found there.
Of course, we can speculate that God would have spared the cities for the sake of the righteous without Abraham’s intercessions. I suspect that is true. But the point of the story is not about what God would do. The point of the story is about Abraham and his sense of justice and mercy.
Indeed, we can readily conclude that qualities of the sort Abraham is manifesting here — his sense of hospitality, justice and mercy and his willingness to defend these principles even to God — that explain why his relationship with the Lord is so intimate. Abraham realizes that the lives of the innocent righteous are more important than punishment of the unjust.
It is a remarkable story, and it explains very well why those of us — Jews, Christians and Muslims — identify Abraham as our spiritual ancestor. Abraham manifests the qualities we all assent to — the qualities that we believe God assents to as well.
I could not help but recall this story as I read some of the news items last week. For while we so readily pay lip service to Abraham’s ideals, our actions belie our words.
Consider: the U.S. Senate last week was unable to gather the number of votes necessary to re-establish the right of habeas corpus for prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. Many of those held in this facility have been there for over five years without having had access to a trial or a review of their case. And the military tribunals established by the current administration are, even according to some who were members of the tribunals, a sham. How should we act towards these people, since there may be some righteous among them?
In Israel and other places throughout the Middle East, Islamic fundamentalists launch explosives into civilian areas, and suicide bombers explode devices killing scores of innocent people, including children. How many righteous lives are lost through these senseless, stupid and evil acts?
Meanwhile, the government of Israel has vowed to cut off electricity and fuel to the Gaza strip, which threatens to create an even deeper humanitarian crisis there and which the humanitarian agency Oxfam has condemned as "collective punishment." Are there no righteous people in the Gaza?
The world is a dangerous place now. There is no question about that, and the sense of many is that extreme measures are now called for. Perhaps that is so. But what comes of punishing the innocent?
Can we continue to claim that we are children of Abraham when we indiscriminately punish the righteous in order to punish the wicked? Isn’t that the opposite of the justice Abraham sought? ••
Father Tim Griffin is priest-in-charge at the St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, at 1946 Welsh Road in Bustleton.