Genesis 22: 1-14, page 17
After these things God tested Abraham. God said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
God said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you.”
So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; he cut wood for the burnt offering, and set out and went to the place in the distance that God had shown him.
On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place far away. Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the boy and I will go over there; we will worship, and then we will come back to you,”
Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”
Abraham said, “God will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.”
So the two of them walked on together.
When they came to the place that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order. He bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son.
But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, and said “Abraham, Abraham!”
And he said, “Here I am.”
The Lord said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”
And Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
Sermon
This week anyone who watches the news has witnessed the Casey Anthony trial has wondered: how it could happen, if she did it? Could it even be possible? Interesting that this passage should come up in the lectionary, and all the more troubling that while we don’t know Anthony’s motivation, nor do we know if she is guilty of the crime she’s accused of, we not only know that Abraham bound his son and raised the knife, we know Abraham’s motivation – God was testing him.
It’s no consolation that the ram was provided in the end. The ram doesn’t clear things up as though they never happened, doesn’t keep us from wondering how God could put someone in such a position – how God, our God, could even fathom such an idea much less say the words, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you.”
For three days they walked together – who can even imagine the thoughts, the dread, that went through Abraham’s mind, each step brining him closer to the place he never wanted to reach?
When the two began the last leg of the journey together Isaac must have noticed that something was wrong, his father brooding and weighed down by something, but thinks that the problem is that they have forgotten the most important part of the sacrifice, “Father!” he says to Abraham, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”
Abraham said, “God will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.”
In the mind of Abraham, God had already provided the lamb to him and his wife who had long passed the age of childbearing. His wife Sarah named him Isaac, which means laughter, and said, “God has brought laughter for me; everyone who heard will laugh with me. Who would ever have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
Laughter must have seemed so far away when Abraham looked up and saw the place, dismissed the servants, and loaded down his son with the wood that was to be used to burn his body, a sacrifice to the Lord.
God will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.
That’s exactly what he believed and the only way I can understand it, the only way I can come to terms with such belief, is in imagining Abraham’s only alternative. Abraham’s choice is between faith, faith in the God who has provided, and doubt. More than any other that I can think of, this scripture lesson puts us squarely in the contest between faith and doubt, and for me and most of you I assume, doubt on the surface appears to be the more attractive option.
I know what I would say to myself if I heard the voice of God telling me to do such a thing. I would explain it away, chalk it up to indigestion, and doubt what I had heard.
But not Abraham.
I have already lived my life doubting, born into a culture of doubt where doubt, questioning, and caution are fundamental tenants of belief.
In pursuit of the best possible option high school seniors make innumerable college visits, college students labor over declaring a major, college graduates date and date and date in an attempt to find the best companion available, and society would never call us to do anything different – that would be like accepting the first bid from a plumber without getting any other estimates. It is wise to use apprehension, it is wise to be cautious, it is wise to question.
But Abraham goes against all of this.
For apprehension is a value when walking across shaky bridges, caution is admirable when it comes to two teenagers sitting in the backseat of a car, asking questions is exactly what we should all do when handed a bid for a new transmission. But all three are hindrances to faith because faith is the only place where we must be free from the hindrance of our own reason to submit to divine authority.
How horrible that sounds, considering Abraham and Isaac, and how difficult that sounds while each and every day we teach our children to question authority, trust their instincts, and doubt intentions in the hope of keeping them safe from those who would take advantage of their trust.
But at some point all caution must give way to action – and it is faith and not doubt that makes such a transformation possible.
Without faith, Abraham never would have left the country of his ancestors, never would have taken the first step towards that great nation he would become.
Without faith, Abraham would never have known Isaac at all, never would have believed that God would grant him a son in his old age.
Without faith, Abraham would have been nothing.
So while it was with faith that Abraham walked up that mountain to sacrifice his own son we must wonder how we will get anywhere without it.
We question the news, and so the authority that CBS or NBC once had is long gone. But has the advent of FOX news stopped our questioning or made the truth any easier to identify?
We question the Church, knowing that clergy are not all who they saw they are, that church-goers are not as humble as self-righteous most often, and Scripture not infallible but disputed. And is all this questioning leading us where we want to go, furthering our mission and ministry, granting us peace or hope?
We question God as well, wondering if God’s authority is deserved, doubting that God has anything to do with us, not sure there is really anything out there guiding the course of human history, watching over us, ensuring that our tomorrow is better than our today.
The issue is not, “are our questions, our doubts, our caution” founded, but if they never stop will we have anything worth holding onto?
One who looks for something wrong, a justification to doubt authority is not nearly as impressive to me today as one who believes in something. So how could we not want to believe too – to believe something rather than be all covered up in the fear of being wrong. To have faith that inspires action rather than doubt that only inspires more doubt. To put all our trust in God, not because it always makes sense, but because there is nothing else worth doing.
Yes, Abraham is troublesome, yes it is disturbing, but what about this man who believes in something. Isn’t there a part of that that you want?
To believe rather than doubt, to believe and act - breaking free from ambivalence. To believe in something and hold onto it so tightly that life seems impossible without it.
Do not doubt, but believe, for life without convictions, without faith, is hardly worth living.
Amen.
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