PENTECOST II

Marc Chagall -- the Sacrifice of Isaac

Genesis 22:1-14
Psalm 13
or
Jeremiah 28:5-9Psalm 89:1-4, 15-18
Romans 6:12-23Matthew 10:40-42

On the Sundays that follow Trinity the Revised Common Lectionary offers alternative Old Testament readings and Psalms. The first is a ‘Continuous’ reading that takes us through major sections of the Hebrew Scriptures week by week and may bear little direct relation to the Epistle and Gospel. The ‘Thematic’ alternative is a passage chosen for its relation to the other two readings (though the connection is not always easy to see).

On this Sunday the continuous reading begins the story of Abraham and the sacrifice of Isaac. It is such an extraordinary episode that it has long prompted debate, and deep perplexity. God grants the aging, childless Abraham an only son—Isaac. It is on Isaac that Abraham pours out all his love, and pins all his hopes. So how could he possibly be willing to kill the being he most loves, and thereby destroy all the hopes he has longed for? Suppose we leave the difficult issue of the boy’s own well being aside. We might say that Abraham’s willingness to kill the child he adores, reveals his even greater devotion to God. But isn't this one step too far, something that turns his 'faith' into fanaticism? And anyway, what does it say about the God who would demand such a sacrifice?

There is no easy answer to these questions. One thing worth noting, though, is that the story provides essential background for understanding the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. Christian liturgies describe this as a ‘full, perfect and sufficient sacrifice’, meaning thereby to underline the futility of human sacrifice. Even a sacrifice as overwhelmingly demanding as Abraham seems willing to make, will never bridge the great gulf between God’s divine holiness and our imperfect humanity.

In the end, of course, Abraham is not actually required to sacrifice Isaac. God provides a ram, and the boy survives to perpetuate his father’s lineage. This motif too, is reflected in the Gospel narrative. It is when we have exhausted every effort – technological, theoretical, political or ethical – to transcend what Paul in the Epistle refers to as our “ natural limitations’– that God provides a solution for free.  “The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”. Of course, we have to see that this is so, and accept it.