If one considers and
accepts that the Genesis narrative does allow for this account by Stephen, then
any supposed difficulties or contradictions vanish. It would be incorrect
to assert that Stephen somehow got the account of Abraham and his call wrong or
that he was simply mistaken in his telling of the story, or that Luke was
mistaken in his report. This is especially important if when considering
that Luke, as the author of Acts, clearly presents Stephen as speaking “under
the inspiration” if you will, as Luke intends to make the point that it is
Jesus Himself that has given Stephen the words he is to speak.
Luke knows what he is
doing in his writing, and would naturally have in mind what he has previously
written, which was “But before all this, they will seize you and persecute you,
handing you over to synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before
kings and governors because of My name. This will be a time for you to
serve as witnesses (martyrs). Therefore be resolved ahead of time not to
make your defense. For I will give you the words along with the wisdom
that none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict” (21:12-15). This plays out in Stephen’s trial.
Obviously, Jesus, if
He is indeed speaking through Stephen (presumably via the Spirit of the Creator
God), which appears to be the conclusion that Luke desires his hearers to
reach, is going to get the story of Abraham correct. That said, it is
interesting that Stephen, when recounting the history of Israel, omits the
portion of the call in which Abraham is directed to leave his father.
This is probably a standard bit of smoothing out of the Abraham narrative,
since it is clear that, though the call came at an earlier point in his life,
according to the Genesis narrative, Abraham did not leave his father until
after his father had died. The point is, the call came to Abraham while
his father was still alive, not after he is dead, as one might presume if
simply reading Genesis and contemplating a straight chronological progression
from the end of chapter eleven to the beginning of chapter twelve, which, if
read in such a way, makes the call to leave his father make little sense.
So yes, Abraham is
given a difficult choice. Will he stay with his father or will he leave
his father, as the Creator God has directed him to do. Clearly, Abraham
chose to stay with his father. In a sense then, and it is okay to point these
things out because Abraham is not to be deified, it can be asserted that
Abraham failed in this area. Of course, Abraham failed in other areas
too, so it’s not as if this is groundbreaking news. Where Abraham failed,
in that he did not undertake the journey in response to the Creator’s call
until after his father had died, these disciples succeeded in their response to
the call, leaving their father when called.
Painting a big picture then, where Adam, Abraham, and Israel had failed,
Jesus and those that follow after Him will succeed, with this demonstrated in
these disciples (leaving their father when called by Jesus (the second Adam/the
one that will complete Abraham’s mission/the new Moses/the embodiment of
Israel/the incarnate Creator God).
Though there is no
reason whatsoever to take a dogmatic stance here, thinking about the call of
the disciples in conjunction with the call of Abraham, along with the
similarities and differences to be found, gives a new twist to one of Jesus’
most provocative statements, as recorded by both Matthew and Luke. Using
Luke’s treatment, one reads that “Jesus said to another, ‘Follow Me.’”
(9:59a) This, according to this particular theory of engagement with this
Gospel, is going to have brought Abraham’s call to the minds of Luke’s
audience. What is the response to Jesus’ call? “He replied, ‘Lord,
first let me go and bury my father.’” (9:59b)
Might this rather
standard excuse for not taking action be an oblique reference to Abraham?
If Abraham, the progenitor of the covenant people, didn’t do something that the
covenant God had commanded him to do until after his father died, surely his
descendants should not be expected to do so. To this, Jesus responds,
“Let the dead bury their own dead, but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom
of God” (9:60). Perhaps Jesus is here insisting that His countrymen go
beyond the example provided to them by Abraham? For Luke’s purposes (and
Matthew’s), the audience that is hearing his construction of a Jesus narrative,
has already seen two disciples respond to His God-to-Abraham-like call by
leaving their father, and here, with the addition of another story from Jesus’
life, he builds on that premise.
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