The Hardest Story
Text: Genesis 22:1-14
Three years ago, I preached on this most difficult of stories. Three years ago, I tried to put my best foot forward, to provide some sort of insight on one of the most challenging stories that the Bible has to offer. But three years ago, I had yet to become a Dad. Now, as I am watching Megan grow, seeing her smile, watching her play… listening to her say “no!” as two-and-a-half year olds often do, I find myself struggling that much more with this Hardest of Stories. The idea of even going through the motions of sacrificing my own child is so personally repulsive that I find myself both more empathetic and angry with Abraham… and maybe even with God.
I remember when going to seminary, we moved through our Old Testament course in a systematic way. When we came to the story of Abraham’s near-sacrifice of Isaac, my professor told us that if we don’t have a problem with this story, we should. It is in every way a disconcerting, troubling, challenging story that portrays both God and Abraham in a difficult light… so different from what we have come to know. Even though the ending resolves itself, and things do work out so that Abraham does not kill his own son, there are still lots of very uncomfortable questions.
What kind of a God would demand that of a parent? Why is Abraham so apparently robotic in blindly following God? What kind of horrible test is this anyway?
When I preached on this three years ago, I interpreted this story as a “test of character” –the no-win situation. Abraham is either damned if he does or damned if he doesn’t because in either case he would be sacrificing his future. I still think there is value in that interpretation. There are going to be situations in which we cannot win, where who we are and our own integrity as a person is more important when faced with impossible choices. I still stand by what I preached then…
But this time around, three years later, my perspective has changed a bit as I have joined the ranks of parenthood. My empathy for anyone who has lost a child has grown, because that dark deep-seated wrenching feeling that comes at the prospect of losing my own. I’ve felt it when Megan was in hospital twice in the first years of her life. I’ve even felt it when my daughter has gotten too close to a road, oblivious to the massive cars that don’t see her. I have felt that surge of adrenaline to rush in… to protect… I know the personal willingness as a parent that I would instinctively throw myself in front of a car to save my daughter’s life.
We don’t sacrifice our children… do we?
Some scholars have said that the story of Abraham’s near sacrifice of Isaac was intended as a “demonstrative” story… in that through the story’s conclusion it shows that the God of Abraham is qualitatively different from other gods who were worshipped at the time who did apparently demand child sacrifice. Even within scripture itself, there is a passage in Leviticus that expressly forbids the sacrifice of children (Leviticus 18:21).
Yet, how often do we sacrifice our children? We don’t… do we?
I don’t mean on a mountain with a bunch of sticks and a knife. I’m thinking more about those early morning hockey games and practices as a young man or woman, wanting only to make his or her parent happy, practices and drills and plays… morning after morning, afternoon after afternoon, night in and night out… to become the next Hockey Superstar.
It worked for Wayne Gretzky didn’t it? Now, you probably haven’t done it with your child - but I’ll bet you’ve seen it. The child pushed and pushed, to become the next Great One. Is that what the child really wants? Does the parent know? Does the child really know?
How many kids are sacrificed so that parents can live out their dreams and fantasies?
Forced, molded to become someone else’s vision?
I’m not saying that we shouldn’t guide our children, teach them. We do know more than they know, we’ve lived life and wish to share some of that wisdom… but we’ve all seen it go too far haven’t we?
And yet we believe the sacrifice of children to be an abomination.
I’ve seen parents cut children out of their lives, almost killing them with indifference or silence.
But we don’t sacrifice children.
We know that tobacco companies target young smokers; we know that Fast Food Restaurants are more concerned about selling another Kiddie Meal than they are about our children’s nutritional needs. But hey, business is business, we say…
But we don’t sacrifice children.
When we declare war, who goes to battle? The parents or the children?
But we don’t sacrifice children.
So maybe this story shouldn’t be hidden away. Perhaps it is indeed a story about us... or at least people that we know.
Abraham was sacrificing his child to show his faith. He was doing it because God told him to.
Abraham was being tested… by God.
Yeah, it was hard. But what was his choice, really?
I mean, how hard is it really to blindly follow the Word of God?
What else are you going to do?
As hard as it was to take his beloved son up the mountain, I wonder if it might have been even more difficult to stand up and say, “No”
“No. what you ask of me, I cannot do”
But he doesn’t. When faced with this impossible question, Abraham seems to go through the motions without even giving a second thought to what God has apparently asked him to do. But maybe Abraham got it wrong. After all, in the chapters just before this, Abraham had argued with God over the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah… that if even a handful righteous, innocent people could be found in these cities whose names were synonymous with depravity, God would not destroy them.
So if Abraham argued with God over the fate of cities that were apparently beyond redemption, why did Abraham not argue with God over the fate of his own son?!? Why not now? There’s a disconnect here… Maybe that’s what God was trying to get Abraham to do…
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... and Abraham grabs the knife...
Yet an instant before that terrible moment, God calls out to Abraham and tells him not to harm the boy in any way. We might imagine a frantic voice saying, “STOP!!! What are you crazy? I can’t believe that you would do that?”
“But I was told.” Abraham says.
“You’ve been told a lot of things, and I count on you to consider and work some things out. I expect you to not only act on my word, but also to reflect my love. Not to just sit back and say “God will Provide” but to actually think things through... We are in this together. I had hoped that you had learned that by now; I had hoped that you might have had enough faith in me, to enter a dialogue and trust me to work with you.”
But instead you are still so scared by me that you’re not willing to struggle with this and talk to me about it… You were ready to hand over Isaac without question.
Yes, it is a bit of imagination… but in the story from Genesis we are told that God now knows how Abraham would react.
We know that God was testing Abraham. The traditions we have developed tell 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. Even so, the results were disturbing.
Perhaps this was a test to see if we were ready to contribute to this relationship with God. Offer our compassion; offer our mercy, rather than just expecting God to provide the mercy and the compassion.
After all, it seems we’re always ready to do the messy work - the killing, the fighting in God’s name. We expect that God will provide the mercy, the miracles, the compassion. Maybe God wanted to see if we were ready to provide some of those things, too. Abraham seemed so unsure of God’s love, that he didn’t dare question. He didn’t dare act compassionately for fear that God would turn off the blessing.
I’ve seen people pushed away from churches --because showing them compassion might violate a word of God. I’ve seen people who are shunned because of a past transgression. One of you shared with me a story that someone was booted out of a Christian church for having simply attended worship at a Synagogue! Sometimes we hold so fast to a specific word of God because we are afraid that God will leave us if we follow our hearts… and challenge the Word; struggle with it; learn from it rather than just memorize it.
And yet, it is the struggle that makes us better people. Not the reciting, or even the blind obedience. In fact, one of the major parts of our faith that we forget is that God is quite capable of receiving our anger… our questions… our struggle. How do we know? Because of this thing called forgiveness… God’s love is greater than our anger, our doubts, our fears.
At the end of the story, God provides a substitute for Isaac… at the end of the story God still blesses Abraham, and re-affirms the promise that was already made. We don’t know the alternative, but even if Abraham had argued with God over the sacrifice of his son, God would not have withdrawn his blessing of Abraham. After all, God didn’t punish Abraham for having stood up for Sodom and Gommorah… it is highly unlikely that the defense of Isaac would have brought about a different result.
If indeed God tested Abraham as told in the story, maybe this wasn’t a pass… and yet, he is blessed by God. After all, the Angel said so.
That’s the great thing about God - even when we fail, God does not withhold . God’s blessing; God’s love and God’s compassion are not dependent on our passing a test. They are offered freely. God is not a pagan deity, God is unique. This story demonstrates that loud and clear.
Knowing that, maybe we too, can stop sacrificing our children, our relationships, each other. Maybe we can begin to offer a little bit of our own compassion, caring and love, and not just leave it all to “God will Provide” Maybe we can provide some, too… God has already invited us...
Amen.
Note: A very special thank-you to the Rev. Norm Seli of Jubilee United Church, Toronto who provided the excellent reflection on how we push our children in sports or other areas for self-gain as how we might sacrifice our own. His thoughts and reflections in his own sermon on this subject helped push me in doing further reflections on this text.
Three years ago, I preached on this most difficult of stories. Three years ago, I tried to put my best foot forward, to provide some sort of insight on one of the most challenging stories that the Bible has to offer. But three years ago, I had yet to become a Dad. Now, as I am watching Megan grow, seeing her smile, watching her play… listening to her say “no!” as two-and-a-half year olds often do, I find myself struggling that much more with this Hardest of Stories. The idea of even going through the motions of sacrificing my own child is so personally repulsive that I find myself both more empathetic and angry with Abraham… and maybe even with God.
I remember when going to seminary, we moved through our Old Testament course in a systematic way. When we came to the story of Abraham’s near-sacrifice of Isaac, my professor told us that if we don’t have a problem with this story, we should. It is in every way a disconcerting, troubling, challenging story that portrays both God and Abraham in a difficult light… so different from what we have come to know. Even though the ending resolves itself, and things do work out so that Abraham does not kill his own son, there are still lots of very uncomfortable questions.
What kind of a God would demand that of a parent? Why is Abraham so apparently robotic in blindly following God? What kind of horrible test is this anyway?
When I preached on this three years ago, I interpreted this story as a “test of character” –the no-win situation. Abraham is either damned if he does or damned if he doesn’t because in either case he would be sacrificing his future. I still think there is value in that interpretation. There are going to be situations in which we cannot win, where who we are and our own integrity as a person is more important when faced with impossible choices. I still stand by what I preached then…
But this time around, three years later, my perspective has changed a bit as I have joined the ranks of parenthood. My empathy for anyone who has lost a child has grown, because that dark deep-seated wrenching feeling that comes at the prospect of losing my own. I’ve felt it when Megan was in hospital twice in the first years of her life. I’ve even felt it when my daughter has gotten too close to a road, oblivious to the massive cars that don’t see her. I have felt that surge of adrenaline to rush in… to protect… I know the personal willingness as a parent that I would instinctively throw myself in front of a car to save my daughter’s life.
We don’t sacrifice our children… do we?
Some scholars have said that the story of Abraham’s near sacrifice of Isaac was intended as a “demonstrative” story… in that through the story’s conclusion it shows that the God of Abraham is qualitatively different from other gods who were worshipped at the time who did apparently demand child sacrifice. Even within scripture itself, there is a passage in Leviticus that expressly forbids the sacrifice of children (Leviticus 18:21).
Yet, how often do we sacrifice our children? We don’t… do we?
I don’t mean on a mountain with a bunch of sticks and a knife. I’m thinking more about those early morning hockey games and practices as a young man or woman, wanting only to make his or her parent happy, practices and drills and plays… morning after morning, afternoon after afternoon, night in and night out… to become the next Hockey Superstar.
It worked for Wayne Gretzky didn’t it? Now, you probably haven’t done it with your child - but I’ll bet you’ve seen it. The child pushed and pushed, to become the next Great One. Is that what the child really wants? Does the parent know? Does the child really know?
How many kids are sacrificed so that parents can live out their dreams and fantasies?
Forced, molded to become someone else’s vision?
I’m not saying that we shouldn’t guide our children, teach them. We do know more than they know, we’ve lived life and wish to share some of that wisdom… but we’ve all seen it go too far haven’t we?
And yet we believe the sacrifice of children to be an abomination.
I’ve seen parents cut children out of their lives, almost killing them with indifference or silence.
But we don’t sacrifice children.
We know that tobacco companies target young smokers; we know that Fast Food Restaurants are more concerned about selling another Kiddie Meal than they are about our children’s nutritional needs. But hey, business is business, we say…
But we don’t sacrifice children.
When we declare war, who goes to battle? The parents or the children?
But we don’t sacrifice children.
So maybe this story shouldn’t be hidden away. Perhaps it is indeed a story about us... or at least people that we know.
Abraham was sacrificing his child to show his faith. He was doing it because God told him to.
Abraham was being tested… by God.
Yeah, it was hard. But what was his choice, really?
I mean, how hard is it really to blindly follow the Word of God?
What else are you going to do?
As hard as it was to take his beloved son up the mountain, I wonder if it might have been even more difficult to stand up and say, “No”
“No. what you ask of me, I cannot do”
But he doesn’t. When faced with this impossible question, Abraham seems to go through the motions without even giving a second thought to what God has apparently asked him to do. But maybe Abraham got it wrong. After all, in the chapters just before this, Abraham had argued with God over the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah… that if even a handful righteous, innocent people could be found in these cities whose names were synonymous with depravity, God would not destroy them.
So if Abraham argued with God over the fate of cities that were apparently beyond redemption, why did Abraham not argue with God over the fate of his own son?!? Why not now? There’s a disconnect here… Maybe that’s what God was trying to get Abraham to do…
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... and Abraham grabs the knife...
Yet an instant before that terrible moment, God calls out to Abraham and tells him not to harm the boy in any way. We might imagine a frantic voice saying, “STOP!!! What are you crazy? I can’t believe that you would do that?”
“But I was told.” Abraham says.
“You’ve been told a lot of things, and I count on you to consider and work some things out. I expect you to not only act on my word, but also to reflect my love. Not to just sit back and say “God will Provide” but to actually think things through... We are in this together. I had hoped that you had learned that by now; I had hoped that you might have had enough faith in me, to enter a dialogue and trust me to work with you.”
But instead you are still so scared by me that you’re not willing to struggle with this and talk to me about it… You were ready to hand over Isaac without question.
Yes, it is a bit of imagination… but in the story from Genesis we are told that God now knows how Abraham would react.
We know that God was testing Abraham. The traditions we have developed tell 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. Even so, the results were disturbing.
Perhaps this was a test to see if we were ready to contribute to this relationship with God. Offer our compassion; offer our mercy, rather than just expecting God to provide the mercy and the compassion.
After all, it seems we’re always ready to do the messy work - the killing, the fighting in God’s name. We expect that God will provide the mercy, the miracles, the compassion. Maybe God wanted to see if we were ready to provide some of those things, too. Abraham seemed so unsure of God’s love, that he didn’t dare question. He didn’t dare act compassionately for fear that God would turn off the blessing.
I’ve seen people pushed away from churches --because showing them compassion might violate a word of God. I’ve seen people who are shunned because of a past transgression. One of you shared with me a story that someone was booted out of a Christian church for having simply attended worship at a Synagogue! Sometimes we hold so fast to a specific word of God because we are afraid that God will leave us if we follow our hearts… and challenge the Word; struggle with it; learn from it rather than just memorize it.
And yet, it is the struggle that makes us better people. Not the reciting, or even the blind obedience. In fact, one of the major parts of our faith that we forget is that God is quite capable of receiving our anger… our questions… our struggle. How do we know? Because of this thing called forgiveness… God’s love is greater than our anger, our doubts, our fears.
At the end of the story, God provides a substitute for Isaac… at the end of the story God still blesses Abraham, and re-affirms the promise that was already made. We don’t know the alternative, but even if Abraham had argued with God over the sacrifice of his son, God would not have withdrawn his blessing of Abraham. After all, God didn’t punish Abraham for having stood up for Sodom and Gommorah… it is highly unlikely that the defense of Isaac would have brought about a different result.
If indeed God tested Abraham as told in the story, maybe this wasn’t a pass… and yet, he is blessed by God. After all, the Angel said so.
That’s the great thing about God - even when we fail, God does not withhold . God’s blessing; God’s love and God’s compassion are not dependent on our passing a test. They are offered freely. God is not a pagan deity, God is unique. This story demonstrates that loud and clear.
Knowing that, maybe we too, can stop sacrificing our children, our relationships, each other. Maybe we can begin to offer a little bit of our own compassion, caring and love, and not just leave it all to “God will Provide” Maybe we can provide some, too… God has already invited us...
Amen.
Note: A very special thank-you to the Rev. Norm Seli of Jubilee United Church, Toronto who provided the excellent reflection on how we push our children in sports or other areas for self-gain as how we might sacrifice our own. His thoughts and reflections in his own sermon on this subject helped push me in doing further reflections on this text.
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