"God Asks Abraham to Sacrifice Issac"

10 Mar 09
Tuesday of the Second Week in Lent

God asks Abraham to sacrifice Isaac
Genesis 22:1-9

God's command to Abraham to sacrifice Isaac is puzzling for two reasons. First, it seems to contradict God's own righteousness. How can the God who curse Cain for murdering Abel now ask Abraham to kill his son? Has God whimsically suspended his oppostion to killing? Is Abraham's God really just like all the other gods who demanded child sacrifice?

Second, the commnad to scarifce Isaac seems to thwart God' covenant with Abraham. Previously, God has promised to make Abraham very fruitful, declaring that kings and nations would come from him (Gen 17:6). But now God proposes that Abraham's son the firstborn of this great family should die as a sacrifice! Has God cancelled the covenant?

No, of course not! The point is that when God establishes a covenant with us, the only proper response on our part is to trust and obey. By means of this srange, absurd request to sacrifice Isaac, God tested whether Abraham could be faithful and obedient. While Abraham "passed" the test, his later descendants, the people of Israel, would constantly fail it. Israel's lack of faith and obedience would place a consant strain on her relationship with God.

In the end, God really did "provide for Himself the lamb" ---- His only begotten Son, Jesus, who took on our human nautre, experienced temptation, and yet remained faithful unto death. Through His obedience and suffering, Jesus established a new convenant of grace and forgiveness between God and humanity. By the gift of te Holy Spirit, the Risen Lord enables us to grow in faith and obedience, so that we can become true children of Abraham.

During this holy season of Lent, we recall how God made us His covenantal people through baptism, and we pray for His help to remain ever faithful.

(Dr Jeffrey Truscott,
Chaplain and Lecturer in Liturgy and Worship,
Trinity Theological College)

Commitment:
I surrender my faithlessness and disobedience to you, Lord Jesus.

Prayer:
God of Abraham and Jesus, strengthen our faith so that we may obediently serve you all our days, rejecting neither your unfathomable will nor the cost of discipleship. We make this prayer through Christ our Lord. Amen.