Wednesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
The way of faithfulness involves a certain darkness, because it is not always obvious to us human beings—limited and prone to sin as we are—that God’s promises will be fulfilled. And in order to teach us, God will bring forth fruit in unexpected places, as in the case of Abram and Sarai in today’s first reading. Old and childless as they were, it is not clear to Abram how exactly God will give him many offspring. Yet the Lord makes a promise, and so the Scripture tells us, Abram put his faith in the LORD, who credited it to him as an act of righteousness.
By faithfully trusting in God’s word, even when a deep, terrifying darkness enveloped him, Abram stands in right relationship to God; in this moment, he could have easily fled God’s presence out of fear. But through the gift of God, this faithful trust of Abram will bear fruit in Isaac, and after him, Israel and his sons, from whom Jesus Christ is descended. God proves that Abram is a good tree that bears good fruit, as Jesus says in today’s Gospel. Ultimately, of course, the tree that bears the greatest and most unexpected fruit is the tree of the Cross; in the life of the Son, the Cross also involves the greatest darkness, that of death and abandonment. But through the Cross comes eternal life.
As Christians, our paths to God will necessarily take unexpected turns and involve some share in the darkness of faith. Let us pray, then, for the light we need now to sustain us in those moments of darkness, and for the Spirit who guided our Lord through darkness to guide us home to the Father as well.