The Hard Stories Part 2: The No Win Situation
Text: Genesis 22:1-14
As North Americans, we have been conditioned and sheltered from the stories of tragedy. In a culture in which Disney and Hollywood fairy tales have painted optimistic pictures of the happy ending, we find little room for stories that make us uncomfortable. When we hear grim and tragic tales, we look for a way out as we squirm in our seats. Some people are so swallowed by tragic circumstances, that finding a way out is all but impossible. For the rest of us, the temptation is there to ignore and avoid it whenever possible. Dump the paper in the recycling bin, change the channel, turn off the radio... Isolate ourselves, and shut out the cruel world around us. We create an island of make believe in which we can take refuge... but the world crunches on without us...
Church, it seems, is no different. For many, it is a place where we come for refuge, a place where we can hear the comforting Word of God. Yet when the Word of God tells stories of tragedy, we find ourselves even more uncomfortable. After all, isn’t the Bible supposed to be good news? Yet as with last week, this morning’s story from Genesis, any thought that the Bible is a universally happy book is shattered... Worse yet, this story is much more difficult than last week’s: the sacrifice of Isaac is one of the most compelling and disturbing stories the Bible has to offer. Here we are forced to face the reality of tragedy in life. No longer are we able to pretend that it doesn’t exist, because it stares us in the face of an innocent little boy by the name of Isaac.
One of the most unsettling things about this story is that we are spectators. If anything, we are even more helpless than little Isaac: a boy who faces sacrifice at an altar at the hands of his own father. The disconcerting nature of this story, is that almost nothing seems redeemable about it. Sure, it works out in the end... but not after dragging us into a place where we can do nothing but doubt the infinite goodness of God. We know from the start that God is testing Abraham. Yet how could God possibly put Abraham through a trial as cruel as this… even if it is only to test him?! The idea of a God who will command the murder of a son is revolting. As a result, we try to find or even fight our way out of this uncomfortable passage. In fact, not only Abraham is being tested, but so are we, the listeners.
Stories like this disturb us. They challenge us to our core. They are alien to what we have come to know and expect. Our natural reaction is to look for a way out. It is all too easy to say that the story works out in the end. Unfortunately, that is a cop out! It denies the very real challenge that Abraham goes through. In fact, the more we look at the story the more difficult it becomes to find a convenient way out. Then again, maybe that is the point. We learn from reading the stories of Abraham that this is his last and greatest trial... because this is something Abraham cannot overcome. This is a true no-win situation. (For some of you of a certain age in this congregation, there are two words you might find helpful: Kobyashi Maru. If you don’t get it, don’t worry about it and you can ask me about it later.)
The story opens with God calling Abraham and placing this unthinkable task before him.
“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.”
Isaac. Abraham’s only son. The son for whom Abraham and Sarah had waited their entire lives. The son God promised to deliver. The son named “laughter” because it seemed absurd that this aged couple could ever have children. God promised them a son, and the promise was fulfilled. The years of yearning and waiting had paid off. God delivered. Laughter filled the camp of Abraham. Through Isaac, the promise of descendants became clear. Through Isaac, all of Abraham and Sarah’s hope for the future found focus.
Yet no sooner is Isaac born, than it seems as if he is going to be ripped away from his parents loving arms. God gives Isaac and almost immediately asks Abraham to give him back. Simplistic answers like “the Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away,” seem hollow and brutal in such circumstances. Isaac represents everything of God’s promise to Abraham. Isaac is literally everything to Abraham and Sarah, someone whom they now cannot live without. He is their bright future. He is the sum total of their existence. He is their reason for living. In fact, for Abraham, sacrificing Isaac is a fate worse than death.
As we witness the story, Abraham silently obeys God’s command. We stand helpless in the wings shouting at Abraham to choose another alternative.
We scream at him, “stop this madness! If you can’t refuse God, put yourself in Isaac’s place. Surely giving up your life for the sake of the child would be a noble act! Wouldn’t it?”
In this darkest moment even we call out to Abraham: “Turn your back on God!” Yet if Abraham were to turn away from God, it would be an act that would surely destroy his future as much as sacrificing Isaac. Quite literally, Abraham is damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t.
Instead we are dragged along for the ride, wishing that Abraham would break his stride, show some remorse, or do anything to prove to us that he is not simply a robot exercising some kind of blind faith! Yet the story continues. Young Isaac is brought to the altar on the mountain. He is bound and helpless... Abraham slowly raises the knife...
Yet an instant before that terrible moment, the lights come up on the set. God yells “okay that’s enough.” Much to our relief, the horrid test is over. Isaac, son of Abraham and Sarah, and the future of God’s people is safe. All is well... well maybe not...
Our relief is short-lived. It quickly turns into bitterness, and we direct our fury at God. We demand an answer as to why God would do such a thing... but God is busy with Abraham. He says:
“...for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”
We know that God was testing Abraham. Tradition tells us that this tests whether or not Abraham would be faithful to God —whether Abraham would follow God’s command or rebel. The answer would either be yes or no… Abraham would either make the grade or he wouldn’t. But such a black and white approach to this story doesn’t work. Lost in the translation is the idea that God’s testing was a part of training. It is possible to say that with this situation, God trains Abraham, in order to prepare him for the tough road ahead. God’s testing of Abraham was more to see how Abraham would respond rather than to see if his faith was strong. God presents Abraham with a no-win situation as a test of character...
We are told that God was satisfied with the results of this test. Yet the question was not whether Abraham would pass or fail. Instead, God wanted to see how Abraham would react in such a circumstance. The test was not so much for God to learn about Abraham, but for Abraham to learn something about himself. Facing a situation in which there was no way to win can only be a test of character, and a powerful learning experience about ourselves.
The “no win” situation is perhaps one of the most painful realities that we face in life. We would like to think that there can be a happy ending to everything. Yet there will be those times when we can’t win, no matter how careless or careful our choices and actions might be. How will we respond when faced with this? How will we respond when the unavoidable choices that we make, be they right or wrong, will cause the suffering of others? How will we respond when our faith demands us to sacrifice our own future for the sake of the Gospel? Do you have an answer? I hope not.
The honest answer is, like Abraham, we won’t know until it happens to us. As painful as these trying experiences are, they teach us about ourselves in a way that is far more powerful than any book, lesson, or sermon. We hear familiar echoes from the gospels: “for those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for the sake of the gospel will find it.” Abraham learned that when the crunch came he was able to place complete trust in God. His faith was much stronger than he had ever anticipated...
Even after learning this powerful lesson, our fury with God over this story still lingers. It comes out of our demand for a reason why it had to be in the first place. Yet it is a question that will remain unanswered. We have learned something about ourselves, and yet we cannot truly know the mind of God. In the meantime, God is quite capable of bearing our questioning anger. Fortunately it does not end there...
In tension with this mystery is the mystery of God who loves us, “who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us...” Through Jesus Christ, God experienced the same kind of no-win situations that all of us face. Think of it! The painful scene with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, faced with the choice to flee or be handed over to his captors. If he fled, he would turn his back on who he was, if he stayed he would condemned to die a slow, painful death on a bare wood cross... If he fled, his own personal torment would consume him.
Through Jesus Christ, God experiences what it is to be human. God understands what it is to face these no win situations. That is no small comfort, amidst our own trials and temptations. God is present with us when we face them. Moreover, through the light of the resurrection, we find a new hope. Even these no-win situations will not have the ultimate say over who we are. For in Christ, God faced the ultimate no-win situation; death itself, and won...
Amen.
Revised sermon preached at Clarkson Road Presbyterian Church,
Sunday, June 26th, 2005; The Rev. John Crowdis
As North Americans, we have been conditioned and sheltered from the stories of tragedy. In a culture in which Disney and Hollywood fairy tales have painted optimistic pictures of the happy ending, we find little room for stories that make us uncomfortable. When we hear grim and tragic tales, we look for a way out as we squirm in our seats. Some people are so swallowed by tragic circumstances, that finding a way out is all but impossible. For the rest of us, the temptation is there to ignore and avoid it whenever possible. Dump the paper in the recycling bin, change the channel, turn off the radio... Isolate ourselves, and shut out the cruel world around us. We create an island of make believe in which we can take refuge... but the world crunches on without us...
Church, it seems, is no different. For many, it is a place where we come for refuge, a place where we can hear the comforting Word of God. Yet when the Word of God tells stories of tragedy, we find ourselves even more uncomfortable. After all, isn’t the Bible supposed to be good news? Yet as with last week, this morning’s story from Genesis, any thought that the Bible is a universally happy book is shattered... Worse yet, this story is much more difficult than last week’s: the sacrifice of Isaac is one of the most compelling and disturbing stories the Bible has to offer. Here we are forced to face the reality of tragedy in life. No longer are we able to pretend that it doesn’t exist, because it stares us in the face of an innocent little boy by the name of Isaac.
One of the most unsettling things about this story is that we are spectators. If anything, we are even more helpless than little Isaac: a boy who faces sacrifice at an altar at the hands of his own father. The disconcerting nature of this story, is that almost nothing seems redeemable about it. Sure, it works out in the end... but not after dragging us into a place where we can do nothing but doubt the infinite goodness of God. We know from the start that God is testing Abraham. Yet how could God possibly put Abraham through a trial as cruel as this… even if it is only to test him?! The idea of a God who will command the murder of a son is revolting. As a result, we try to find or even fight our way out of this uncomfortable passage. In fact, not only Abraham is being tested, but so are we, the listeners.
Stories like this disturb us. They challenge us to our core. They are alien to what we have come to know and expect. Our natural reaction is to look for a way out. It is all too easy to say that the story works out in the end. Unfortunately, that is a cop out! It denies the very real challenge that Abraham goes through. In fact, the more we look at the story the more difficult it becomes to find a convenient way out. Then again, maybe that is the point. We learn from reading the stories of Abraham that this is his last and greatest trial... because this is something Abraham cannot overcome. This is a true no-win situation. (For some of you of a certain age in this congregation, there are two words you might find helpful: Kobyashi Maru. If you don’t get it, don’t worry about it and you can ask me about it later.)
The story opens with God calling Abraham and placing this unthinkable task before him.
“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.”
Isaac. Abraham’s only son. The son for whom Abraham and Sarah had waited their entire lives. The son God promised to deliver. The son named “laughter” because it seemed absurd that this aged couple could ever have children. God promised them a son, and the promise was fulfilled. The years of yearning and waiting had paid off. God delivered. Laughter filled the camp of Abraham. Through Isaac, the promise of descendants became clear. Through Isaac, all of Abraham and Sarah’s hope for the future found focus.
Yet no sooner is Isaac born, than it seems as if he is going to be ripped away from his parents loving arms. God gives Isaac and almost immediately asks Abraham to give him back. Simplistic answers like “the Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away,” seem hollow and brutal in such circumstances. Isaac represents everything of God’s promise to Abraham. Isaac is literally everything to Abraham and Sarah, someone whom they now cannot live without. He is their bright future. He is the sum total of their existence. He is their reason for living. In fact, for Abraham, sacrificing Isaac is a fate worse than death.
As we witness the story, Abraham silently obeys God’s command. We stand helpless in the wings shouting at Abraham to choose another alternative.
We scream at him, “stop this madness! If you can’t refuse God, put yourself in Isaac’s place. Surely giving up your life for the sake of the child would be a noble act! Wouldn’t it?”
In this darkest moment even we call out to Abraham: “Turn your back on God!” Yet if Abraham were to turn away from God, it would be an act that would surely destroy his future as much as sacrificing Isaac. Quite literally, Abraham is damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t.
Instead we are dragged along for the ride, wishing that Abraham would break his stride, show some remorse, or do anything to prove to us that he is not simply a robot exercising some kind of blind faith! Yet the story continues. Young Isaac is brought to the altar on the mountain. He is bound and helpless... Abraham slowly raises the knife...
Yet an instant before that terrible moment, the lights come up on the set. God yells “okay that’s enough.” Much to our relief, the horrid test is over. Isaac, son of Abraham and Sarah, and the future of God’s people is safe. All is well... well maybe not...
Our relief is short-lived. It quickly turns into bitterness, and we direct our fury at God. We demand an answer as to why God would do such a thing... but God is busy with Abraham. He says:
“...for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”
We know that God was testing Abraham. Tradition tells us that this tests whether or not Abraham would be faithful to God —whether Abraham would follow God’s command or rebel. The answer would either be yes or no… Abraham would either make the grade or he wouldn’t. But such a black and white approach to this story doesn’t work. Lost in the translation is the idea that God’s testing was a part of training. It is possible to say that with this situation, God trains Abraham, in order to prepare him for the tough road ahead. God’s testing of Abraham was more to see how Abraham would respond rather than to see if his faith was strong. God presents Abraham with a no-win situation as a test of character...
We are told that God was satisfied with the results of this test. Yet the question was not whether Abraham would pass or fail. Instead, God wanted to see how Abraham would react in such a circumstance. The test was not so much for God to learn about Abraham, but for Abraham to learn something about himself. Facing a situation in which there was no way to win can only be a test of character, and a powerful learning experience about ourselves.
The “no win” situation is perhaps one of the most painful realities that we face in life. We would like to think that there can be a happy ending to everything. Yet there will be those times when we can’t win, no matter how careless or careful our choices and actions might be. How will we respond when faced with this? How will we respond when the unavoidable choices that we make, be they right or wrong, will cause the suffering of others? How will we respond when our faith demands us to sacrifice our own future for the sake of the Gospel? Do you have an answer? I hope not.
The honest answer is, like Abraham, we won’t know until it happens to us. As painful as these trying experiences are, they teach us about ourselves in a way that is far more powerful than any book, lesson, or sermon. We hear familiar echoes from the gospels: “for those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for the sake of the gospel will find it.” Abraham learned that when the crunch came he was able to place complete trust in God. His faith was much stronger than he had ever anticipated...
Even after learning this powerful lesson, our fury with God over this story still lingers. It comes out of our demand for a reason why it had to be in the first place. Yet it is a question that will remain unanswered. We have learned something about ourselves, and yet we cannot truly know the mind of God. In the meantime, God is quite capable of bearing our questioning anger. Fortunately it does not end there...
In tension with this mystery is the mystery of God who loves us, “who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us...” Through Jesus Christ, God experienced the same kind of no-win situations that all of us face. Think of it! The painful scene with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, faced with the choice to flee or be handed over to his captors. If he fled, he would turn his back on who he was, if he stayed he would condemned to die a slow, painful death on a bare wood cross... If he fled, his own personal torment would consume him.
Through Jesus Christ, God experiences what it is to be human. God understands what it is to face these no win situations. That is no small comfort, amidst our own trials and temptations. God is present with us when we face them. Moreover, through the light of the resurrection, we find a new hope. Even these no-win situations will not have the ultimate say over who we are. For in Christ, God faced the ultimate no-win situation; death itself, and won...
Amen.
Revised sermon preached at Clarkson Road Presbyterian Church,
Sunday, June 26th, 2005; The Rev. John Crowdis
Comments