We make a giant leap from Creation to the procreation of Abraham and Sarah. We will need to fill in the gap here for our people, but that should take less than five minutes.
God creates the heavens and earth. Humanity—the crown of God’s
creation—is given an amazing garden to work and enjoy...and they are given the
gift of free-will. Free-will—that which allows us to choose, to love and hate, to do and
undo. Adam and Eve decide they know better than God, and through the gift of
free-will they sin. Through their sin, all of creation is
marred...stained...broken. God in God’s goodness opts not to scrap it all and
start over, but there is the flood-thing with Noah. But, humanity is
humanity—sin and brokenness remain when the flood-waters recede. So, God
decides to call one person through whom God will bring about the redemption of
humanity and all of creation: Abram.
1The Lord had said to
Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to
the land I will show you.
2 “I will make you into a
great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:1-3)
So, the blessing, redemption, healing, making-things-right
will come through Abram. Not without a fair
share of drama, Abram—later renamed Abraham—and Sarai—later renamed
Sarah—conceive and have a son: Isaac. The promise of making this one person
into a nation is being fulfilled.
Today’s reading continues the unfolding of God’s story and our
story. Let’s see where the Scriptures take us today.
1Some time later God
tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
2 Then God said, “Take your
son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of
Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will
show you.”
3 Early the next
morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his
servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering,
he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On
the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He
said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over
there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”
6 Abraham took the wood for
the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried
the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac
spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”
“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.
“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the
lamb for the burnt offering?”
8 Abraham answered, “God
himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And
the two of them went on together.
9 When they reached the
place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and
arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on
top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand
and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the
angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham!
Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
12 “Do not lay a hand on the
boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear
God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”
13 Abraham looked up and
there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and
took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So
Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day
it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
Genesis
22:1-14 (NIV)
Wow. What do we do with this passage filled with horror
and hope? Where do we begin?
“Some time later God tested Abraham” (Gen. 22:1). This
passage has always left me feeling a bit uncomfortable. First, I don’t want to
think that God tests us—that God, who sees our hearts and knows us completely
already, would lay out a plan to see if we are faithful or true. After reading
this, I immediately dove into the Scriptures to find that passage in the New
Testament where we hear that God does not “test” us. It’s not there. James
writes that God does not “tempt” us (James 1:13)...but that’s about as close as we get.
Evidently ‘testing’ is a thing.
The Hebrew word in this passage is nasa and in most
cases this ‘testing’ is something designed “to prove character or faithfulness.”[1]
But, doesn’t God see our hearts? (I Sam. 16:7, Ps. 44:21) Doesn’t God already know? So why test Abraham?
Second, perhaps this passage leaves me so unsettled because I
don’t know if I would pass the test. I have a son. I have one son, Andrew. He
is part of my joy in life. Andrew is funny, thoughtful, kind, and loving. He is
our third child, so I wasn’t waiting around like Abraham for a first and, as we
later find out, only child of promise. But, if God were to ask me to sacrifice
my son, to give him up.... I would probably fail the test. I would run like
Jonah in another direction and try to hide my son from God. If God tested me using this "Abraham test," I'd probably fail....
But, Abraham does not fail the test. He gathers what he
needs—including his son, Isaac—and heads out into the wilderness to sacrifice
his one and only son to what he understands God’s will to be. Of course, we see
foreshadowing here of things to come—we get hints of another “one and only son”
who will be led to sacrifice...and who actually dies.
Abraham must have been thinking a thousand things as he walked
those three days. He must have been wondering and questioning and turning past
prayers and conversations with God over and over in his mind. But, he kept
walking. And then he builds the altar—stone by stone. Then he binds his
son...and lays him on the altar. He pulls out his long knife. With goats and
lambs, the process is easy: the legs are tied so the animal cannot run, and the
neck is slit from side to side, and the blood drains quickly from the body as
the arteries are severed. The animal trashes a bit to no avail and then goes
still. Abraham has done this before. He has never done this to a human...and
never imagined he would do this to his son.
He pulls out his long knife...and the angel of Lord appears.
“Stop!”
Have I done this wrong? Did I misunderstand? What?
You have passed the test. You’re good. Untie your son. That’s
it. Good job.
As I reflect on this narrative, as I wrestle with the idea of
God testing Abraham and us, I come to a simple conclusion: perhaps this test (and any test from God) is not for
God to see if Abraham is faithful; perhaps the test is for Abraham to see that he is
faithful. Perhaps Abraham needed to see that he was being faithful...?
Today, in a Christian world, on the other side of Jesus’ life,
death, and resurrection, I do not know if God puts us to the test—at least like
this! Paul seems to be fairly convinced that we are ‘tested’ (I Thess. 2:4) and
there are other mentions of testing (though usually not by God) throughout the epistles of the New Testament.
Perhaps we are tested from time to time—not for God to see if we are faithful,
trusting, believing but for us to to be reminded that we are faithful,
trusting, believing.
Abraham is willing to put everything on the line--his whole reason for being. How far are we willing to go in order to live out our
faithfulness? Are we willing to endure a bit of discomfort? Are we willing to
sacrifice some of our precious financial resources? Are we willing to give up
toxic situations and relationships? Are we willing to say “yes” when our usual
answer is “no,” and are we willing to say “no” to something we’ve too long said
“yes” to? I don’t think God will ask us to sacrifice our first born child. But,
if God puts us to the test, I do believe it is more an opportunity for us to
find out how faithful, trusting, and believing we are than some arbitrary act for God to find out if we're faithful or not. And, if we fail a
test, I’m pretty sure we’ll have a re-take opportunity along the way. That's part of the grace we find in Jesus' message.
In the end, this is a jarring, unsettling account from the life of Abraham. Yet, when we stand back and hear the story again, afresh, we hear and see the hero of our story moving slowly, intentionally...purposefully...trustingly and faithfully. Though he may not have understood the why behind God's call, Abraham was willing to walk forward. That is the writer of Hebrews' very definition of faith: Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see (Heb. 11:1). Abraham lived with confidence in God, certain that God would somehow make a way. That’s the other piece of this story—God will make a way. After all, this is the Lord who provides.
[1]
John R. Kohlenberger III. The NIV Exhaustive Concordance, 3rd
Edition. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan (2015), p.1441,
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