|
Bridgewater,
Massachusetts, October 24, 2004
Sermons on Audio
Genesis
22:1-19 Abraham Tested
Some
time later God tested Abraham.
He said to him,
"Abraham!"
"Here
I am," he replied.
Then
God said, "Take your son,
your only son, Isaac, whom you
love, and go to the region of
Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a
burnt offering on one of the
mountains I will tell you
about."
Early
the next morning Abraham got up
and saddled 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. On
the third day Abraham looked up
and saw the place in the
distance. 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."
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, 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?"
Abraham
answered, "God himself will
provide the lamb for the burnt
offering, my son." And the
two of them went on together.
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. Then he
reached out his hand and took
the knife to slay his son. But
the angel of the Lord called out
to him from heaven,
"Abraham! Abraham!"
"Here
I am," he replied.
"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."
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. 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."
The
angel of the Lord called to
Abraham from heaven a second
time and said, "I swear by
myself, declares the Lord, that
because you have done this and
have not withheld your son, your
only son, I will surely bless
you and make your descendants as
numerous as the stars in the sky
and as the sand on the seashore.
Your descendants will take
possession of the cities of
their enemies, and through your
seed all nations on earth will
be blessed, because you have
obeyed me."
Then
Abraham returned to his
servants, and they set off
together for Beersheba. And
Abraham stayed in Beersheba.
Matthew
7:13-14 The Narrow and Wide
Gates
Enter
through the narrow gate. For
wide is the gate and broad is
the road that leads to
destruction, and many enter
through it. But small is the
gate and narrow the road that
leads to life, and only a few
find it.
Arcana
Coelestia #2764 The Lord's
most severe temptations
In
the inner meaning, Genesis 22
speaks of the Lord's severest
and inmost temptations, through
which he united his human side
with his divine side. It then
speaks of the salvation, by
means of that union, of those
who form the Lord's spiritual
church.
God
tested Abraham. He said to him,
"Abraham!" "Here
I am," he replied. Then God
said, "Take your son, your
only son, Isaac, whom you love,
and go to the region of Moriah.
Sacrifice him there as a burnt
offering on one of the mountains
I will tell you about."
(Genesis 22:1-2)
If
we look back over our lives and
consider the things we have been
through, we will see along the
way, like pearls on a string, or
for our Catholic friends, like
beads on the rosary, defining
moments of our lives. Moments at
which we changed. Moments at
which we had experiences or made
choices that changed the course
of our lives.
For
me, there have been a number of
defining moments--as I'm sure
there have been for you. I
recall the time I decided not
to go into the ministry. That
happened during my second year
of college. I had intended to go
into the ministry for as long as
I had had any particular
aspirations. When I decided not
to go into the ministry, it
changed not only the next decade
of my life, which I spent doing
things other than ministry, but
also the rest of my life. I also
remember when I decided once
again that I would go
into the ministry. That was
about the time my daughter was
born--and it, too, was a
defining moment.
Some
of our defining moments are
positive: the birth of a child;
a new start in life. Others are
more difficult. And some of them
change us in ways we wish had
not happened.
If
we look at the life of a nation,
we also see defining moments.
For this nation, the
Revolutionary War was a defining
moment. The Civil War was a
defining moment. There have been
many defining moments. September
11, 2001 was a defining moment.
And we still don't know just how
that event, and our reaction to
it, will define this nation. But
we know that we will never be
the same.
In
the life of the Lord there were
also defining moments. When the
Lord was baptized, and the Holy
Spirit came down upon him like a
dove, that was a defining
moment, showing him what his
life was to be. And when he went
into the desert afterwards and
was tempted by the devil--when
he went through three
temptations . . .
three temptations winnowing his
soul--that was a defining moment
that determined the course of
his life.
We
all have our defining moments.
Our story for today, the
so-called "sacrifice of
Isaac," was certainly a
defining moment in Abraham's
life. It was a definition, in
his life, of what was going to
be the most important to him.
Abraham's
son Isaac had been born in a
miraculous way. And
incidentally, the Bible hedges a
bit when calls Isaac his only
son. Abraham did, in fact, have
another son, Ishmael, who was
born before Isaac. But as far as
the biblical writers were
concerned, Ishmael was not a
true son of Abraham. His true
son was the one born to him by
his true wife, Sarah. So Isaac
is treated as his only son. And
in the context of the story,
this especially means his only heir.
Isaac was the one through whom
his line would continue. It was
through Isaac that God would
carry out the promise to Abraham
that he would become a great
nation.
Now
God was telling him he must give
that up. Or at least, that's
what Abraham thought God
was telling him. He heard God
say, "Take your son, your
only son, Isaac, whom you love . . .
and sacrifice him as a burnt
offering." And Abraham
saddled his donkey and went.
That was a defining moment: when
Abraham decided to obey God even
though it would mean such a huge
and painful change in his life.
And
so he traveled toward Mount
Moriah with his son Isaac. It is
poignant to see him walking
along with Isaac. We don't know
exactly how old Isaac is at this
point--perhaps pre-teen or a
young teenager. And he is
talking to his father. Isaac
knows how sacrifices work. He
knows that you bring the fire,
the knife, the wood, and the
animal for the sacrifice. And he
is confused. We have everything
but the most important thing:
the animal! So he asks his
father Abraham a question:
"The fire and wood are
here, but where is the lamb for
the burnt offering?"
Abraham's answer is fascinating:
"God himself will provide
the lamb for the burnt offering,
my son." And they continue
on.
Abraham
believed that God had
provided the animal for the
sacrifice. He believed that the
animal for the sacrifice was his
son Isaac, whom God had given to
him as a miraculous gift. He
believed that if God had given
Isaac to him, then God could
require Isaac back from his
hand. That is what Abraham
believed when he spoke those
words. And with untold pain in
his soul, he traveled onward to
give that precious gift back to
God.
But
that was not his last defining
moment. When Abraham took his
son, bound him, and was prepared
to kill him--prepared to carry
out what he believed was God's
order to slay and sacrifice his
son--there was another defining
moment.
"Abraham!
Abraham!" The angel of the
Lord called out from heaven, and
held back his hand, not allowing
him to slay his son. He said,
"Now I know that you fear
God, because you have not
withheld from me your only
son." And the angel called
out to Abraham again and gave
him this message: Because you
have not withheld your only son,
I will bless you incredibly--and
not only you, but all the
nations of the earth will be
blessed through you.
We
have seen the literal
fulfillment of that promise.
There are three great religions
on this earth that were blessed
through Abraham and his
obedience to the Lord. Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam all take
inspiration from Abraham, and
from his willingness to put the
Lord first, even at great
personal sacrifice. And that
influence has reached out into
the other parts of the world
through the good that the people
of those religions have done.
Let's
pause a moment to look at the
issue of God telling Abraham to
sacrifice his son.
You
may be familiar with the
childhood game that my
neighborhood used to call
"Operator." All the
kids get in a circle. One of
them thinks up a phrase and
whispers it into the next one's
ear. That one whispers whatever
he or she heard into the next
one's ear, and so on. When it
gets to the other end, the last
one says out loud whatever came
through. Then the one who
started says the original phrase
out loud. Sometimes it is very
funny to hear what comes out the
other end, compared to what it
started as!
In
this Bible story there is a game
of Operator going on between God
and Abraham. God said something
to Abraham, who heard it
according to what was in his own
mind.
We
know that we interpret
what other people say to us. In
fact, we sometimes we get
trouble with people because they
say something to us, and we hear
something very different--and
proceed to act on the assumption
that what we heard is what they
meant. There is a complicated
saying that goes like this:
"I know you believe you
understand what you think I
said, but I'm not sure you
realize that what you heard is
not what I meant." Things
get very convoluted even trying
to communicate with other
people.
We
hear God in the same way:
according to how we ourselves
think. And it is important to
understand that in Abraham's
time, human sacrifice was
considered perfectly valid, and
was viewed as the supreme act of
devotion toward one's deity.
Clearly, this was part of
Abraham's thinking as well. What
did he do when he heard God
telling him to sacrifice his
son? What would one of us do? We
would say, "That's not God
speaking. God would never tell
me to do something like
that!" But that's not how
Abraham responded. He saddled
his donkey and went, fully
intending to carry out what he
believed God was commanding him.
From
a spiritual perspective, God was
saying to Abraham, "You
must make the supreme sacrifice.
You must totally dedicate your
life to me. You must not
withhold anything from me."
What Abraham heard was,
"You must perform the
supreme sacrifice. You must
sacrifice your beloved
son." Abraham believed this
was the ultimate way of showing
his devotion to the Lord. That's
why the angel of the Lord
accepted the willingness on
Abraham's part--not because it
would have been a good thing for
Abraham to do, but because it
showed that he was willing to
put God above everything else in
his life.
This
was also a defining moment for
the Hebrew nation. It
established that human sacrifice
would not be a part of the
Jewish religion. Yes, there is
the later story of Jephtha and
his daughter. But in general,
human sacrifice was not
practiced by the Jewish people,
as it was by many of the
surrounding peoples. The
"sacrifice of Isaac"
was a defining moment in which
God turned around the belief of
Abraham and his people that
human sacrifice was pleasing to
God. In effect God said: I
appreciate the fact that you
were willing to do this. But
this is not what I am
asking you to do.
On
a deeper level, the sacrifice of
Isaac does speak of making the
supreme sacrifice. For each one
of us, that supreme sacrifice
will be different. But for all
of us, this is a story about the
times when we face our toughest
and deepest choices. This story
is about our deepest times of
temptation and trial, when we
feel God calling us to do
something that we are just not
sure we can do--something that
we think would mean leaving
behind everything we believe is
most important, and laying them
down for God.
In
more doctrinal terms, we are
tested as to what our
"ruling love" will be.
What will be the dominant force,
the dominant love, in our life?
And
yes, sometimes we are tested as
to whether we will put our
family and loved ones first, or
whether we will put God first.
Sometimes we do have to make a
choice between what our friends
and family, even what our own
children want us to do, and what
we know God is telling us to do.
Sometimes we have to struggle
between what we ourselves
believe we should do toward our
family and friends, and what we
know God is telling us. This can
be very difficult. It can be
just as harrowing as what
Abraham went through when he
heard God asking him to
sacrifice his son. Sometimes we
do have to sacrifice family
members in our minds when we
realize that God is calling us
to do something very difficult.
This
testing is not theoretical. It
is very real. It is very
concrete. And it sifts our
souls. As Abraham was walking
along, it was not a theoretical
task he was about to do. He was
being asked to give up what was
most important to him. And I
know it tore his heart apart to
make that decision. It does tear
our hearts apart to make the
ultimate decisions that God puts
in front of us. Yet these are
the defining moments of our
lives. These are the moments
that determine who we will be.
These are the moments that
determine the rest of our lives.
The
choices we make, the directions
we go at these times will set
our course. And it will be very
difficult to change that course
farther down the line. Even if
we do change course later, we
can never change the choice we
made before, and its
consequences will continue.
These defining moments do
determine the course of our
lives; and most importantly,
they determine the course of our
hearts. They define the person
we will be.
The
Lord faced these choices as
well. In correspondential terms,
Isaac represents the
"divine rational" in
the Lord. Isaac represents the
Lord's higher vision of life, of
spirit, of his mission, which he
was beginning to see as a young
boy. Isaac represents his divine
calling. And the Lord had to
make a choice between that
calling and what the world said
he should do--and even what his
own lower heart said he should
do.
Consider
Jesus in the desert being
tempted by the devil. One of the
temptations the devil put before
the Lord was to show him the
vast human landscape from a
mountaintop, and say to him: Do
you see all of these kingdoms,
all these people, this entire
world? I will give it to you if
you will fall down and worship
me.
In
a way, this was exactly what the
Lord wanted. He wanted all the
people of the world. His
greatest love, and the reason he
came to earth, was to save the
human race. And that doesn't
just mean the human race in
general. He came to save each
one of the people that he saw
around him. He came to save each
one of us in this church, and
every other person both in and
out of all of the churches
today, and throughout all time.
This was his love. This why he
came: to save a humanity that
was destroying himself.
And
now the devil was telling him:
I'll give it to you. All you
have to do is compromise; all
you have to do is just this
once, bow down and worship me.
Jesus,
as in all three of these
temptations, turned to
Scripture. He turned to the
divine rational, to his inner
Isaac, to his deeper
understanding of what the
Scripture was telling him, in
order to defend against every
one of the temptations. He
followed Isaac's line. He kept
to divine teaching instead of
doing what humanity or the devil
wanted.
In
so doing, Jesus put himself on a
collision course with the
religious leaders of his day.
After that defining moment, when
he was baptized and tempted in
the wilderness, and when he
followed God's way instead of
the devil's, it was only a
matter of time before he would
find himself on the cross. It
was only a matter of time before
the conflict with the world
would become so great that
people would act with murderous
hatred against him, trying to
destroy him. And he knew this
when he made that defining
choice in his life.
Our
defining decisions may put us on
a collision course with the
people around us as well--our
family, our friends, the people
we work with. After those
defining moments, our lives will
never be the same again. We may
never again be able to have that
particular relationship with our
family, those particular
friendships, that particular
job.
These
moments, these choices, define
our lives. They send us in a
different direction than we were
going before. This is what
Abraham faced. This is what the
Lord faced. And this is what
each one of us faces at our
defining moments.
Sometimes
we face choices every bit as
tough as the one Abraham faced
on Mount Moriah. Perhaps we
don't hear God literally telling
us to sacrifice our children.
But at times we do hear God
telling us to sacrifice what we
believe is most important to us.
What
will we do at that moment? How
will we define our lives?
Painting:
Abraham Sacrificing Isaac
by Musée Saint-Denis, 1650
Webpage
background design by Judy
Music: Hear My Prayer
© Bruce DeBoer
Used with Permission
Color Scroll Bar
Script courtesy of:
|