Only Son
Genesis 22:1-14

June 26, 2005

“After these things, God tested Abraham.” This is not the tale of Job, being released to the somewhat scientific experimentations of the Accuser, nor is it Jesus’ 40 days of thirst in the Wilderness challenged sorely by Satan. This is the main story of the Old Testament, and this is not drama, a little theatrical presentation designed to make us think. It is a critical turning point in the Promise; it either all ends here or continues in a way unlike before.

There are not many children’s Bibles that include this almost sacrifice of Isaac. It reminds us that the Bible is ultimately meant for adults who have a stomach. I remember hearing this story a number of times in my elementary grades; there was a different perception of what was allowable for children back then. I am not sure we have improved.

I am not sure either how many people have been converted to Christianity or Judaism reading this story. A lot of people know it as a piece of obscene violence that betrays a cruel God, a god that cannot be reconciled to the compassion of the Gospel prodigal father. The cultured despisers of religion, who are now legion in our society, are generally Biblically illiterate and few know this story anymore, or else we would be hearing the outraged protests all the more.

What kind of God would require such an act? Do we even want to consider such a God as having any authority over us? It would be better if we were godless than to claim such a capricious God as the author of our salvation.

I am going to tell you, nevertheless, how this episode defines who we are as Christians and Jews, perhaps more than any other story, and why such a God is the One God we still need.

Every story has a story, a place in time and in society, and a purpose as a story. Even the most technologically and culturally advanced societies of the ancient world - the Mayan, Incan, Near Eastern - recognized that there were things they could not control. These empires were some of the first great powerful states that controlled all aspects of life and death for their citizens. They could not control the weather or the crops or the insects or even disease and human conception. They had no clue. So they thought a really big sacrifice was necessary, a human sacrifice as the ultimate religious act of worship and supplication. It seldom worked, but at least everyone felt better, except those who were sacrificed.

Israel could not ignore such a practice, no matter how distasteful it was to their understanding of the relationship between God and human life. The Israelites always had to answer those other peoples who wanted to know why they would not perform the most sacred ritual. In a very real way, this surreal story of Abraham, Isaac and a testing God is the Hebrew answer to the temptation of human sacrifice as a solution to the enigmas of existence.

As a story we cannot sit back in our seats at this one and be entertained. It has not lost any of its edge, if the gentility police allow us to read it aloud. The early Christians read it so closely that this may be the most critical verses in all the Old Testament for the climax of the Gospels. These 14 verses are the Passion Story of the Old Testament.

Who said this was a test by God of Abraham? Not actually God. The narrator tells us, interprets to us that this is what is happening. Who can argue? God does talk to Abraham, and nothing less than a whole burnt offering of his “only son” Isaac will do. Only Son? Ishmael has been conveniently dispensed with, so I guess Isaac is left standing for the moment as his “only son.”

“And I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.” So we still recite the Apostles’ Creed in the name of the Only Begotten Son of God. A lot of somebodies did read Genesis carefully.

Go to the land of Moriah and offer Isaac on one of the mountains I will show you, God tells his only follower, just like I told you in the beginning to go to a strange land where I will show you. God is spare on details, and Abraham is even more spare in words, as he simply gets up and goes early in the morning. He cuts wood and sets out for that nebulous place in the distance. Do you ever know where you are going when God sends you out?

“On the third day, Abraham looked up and saw the place far away.” On a hill far away, no doubt. And on the Third Day. We as Christians, to set the record straight, do not worship on Sunday our Sabbath as the First Day of the Week, but we worship because it is the Third Day.

Then Abraham dismisses his servants as he and Isaac walk on together the two of them. Who needs Mel Gibson? This is reality, the Via Dolorosa painted in capital letters. The wood is strapped onto Isaac’s back, perhaps in a different shape. Isaac bleats out, “Father!” “Here I am, my son,” Abraham answers back in the middle of the dark night of his soul, I can imagine with every ounce of love and reassurance he can muster.

Where is the lamb for the sacrifice? God Himself will provide the lamb, Abraham confesses his faith. They arrive and Abraham binds Isaac on the altar for the sacrifice. The Jews still call this whole story by the Hebrew name ‘Aqedah or “the binding.” He raises the knife, and then the angel calls out, “Abraham, Abraham!” “Here I am.” It’s Abraham’s turn. You have not withheld your son, your only Son. Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. Have mercy upon us. Kyrie Eleison.

God will provide, God will see, Yahweh Yireh. What a name for a place, what a place for a name! Do you remember the name of the place where you were asked to give away your deepest love? Do you remember the name of the place where your deepest love was returned to you, fuller than before but changed irrevocably?

It is odd and ironic how ancient and archaic ideas keep coming back, resurrecting old but now contemporary concerns. There is a little revival of talk about the impassibility of God, that is, does God suffer? Or is God above and beyond all suffering?

This may sound like how many angels on the head of a pin, but it is a lot more practical and crucial. In recent years more pastors and theologians have been willing to say that God suffers with humanity. But if God really suffers, that is a sign of God’s weakness and could mean that God is no longer God in the fullest sense of the term. A number of current theologians want to reassert that God remains God, that God is not diminished by our passions and sufferings.

And then there is the Passion story - Mel Gibson’s or the real Passion of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John - and the passion of the binding of Isaac. Jesus definitely suffers, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, but is it Jesus’ humanity that is suffering, or is it Jesus the God who feels pain and humiliation and rejection? If you are the Son of God, the passers-by railed at him, come down from the Cross.

I like the Old Testament stories because we frankly are distracted by Jesus. When Jesus does or says something remarkable, we are not always certain if he can do it because of his divinity. Imitating Jesus, even in his most human traits, is never easy, and if you’ve got to be God to walk on the water, then you and I are always going to sink.

But Abraham is a human being and no God, kind of like us. The story of the binding of Isaac is grotesque and too violent for some, but you cannot mistake the love of Abraham for his son or the love of Abraham for God. He loves God with all of his heart, soul, mind and strength, and he does not love his only son Isaac one bit less. This is the bind of love that you and I have to face time and again. I cannot read the mind of God, and don’t believe anyone who tells you they can, so I cannot tell you if God himself suffers on the cross or on the mountain in Moriah. But God does suffer with you and me in our pain, and God is not apathetic. We are like Abraham and should suffer with and work with all of our heart and soul, mind and strength to ease the suffering of those around us.

Preached by Robert Kitchen
Knox-Metropolitan United Church
Regina, Saskatchewan