A sermon preached by Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min., July 2, 2023, Proper 8, Year A
Today’s scripture begins with the words, “After these things”, and being good students of the Bible, our first duty is to ask, “What things?”
Last week, Pastor Nic shared the Story about Abraham, his concubine Hagar, and their child Ishmael. We learned there was some familial discord because Abraham’s wife, Sarah, demanded that “those two get out of my house” for reasons we are not exactly sure about. So, Abraham, who we must remember is an already proven entrepreneur and businessman, an able leader of troops on the battlefield, and who is extremely rich by the time this Story was taken down, dutifully obeyed his wife. He sent Hagar and Ishmael off into the wilderness with a loaf of bread, a skein of water, and I only would hope, a kiss goodbye (21:14). Personally, I don’t think it is one of Abraham’s high points in his story. Just bread and water? Really?
Oh, and then there are the two different times (12:10 ff., 20:1ff.) when Abraham passed off his wife Sarah as his sister to royalty in Egypt and Canaan because he was afraid they would kill him to steal her away because of her beauty. His decision had dire consequences for the unknowing Egyptians and Canaanites.
And one more thing – the first eleven chapters of Genesis describe how God created all there is and desired relationship with the people he created but they kept blowing God off and worshipped handmade gods and built magnificent structures like the Tower of Babel. The people were not too impressed with the Creator God, nor did they think they needed the Lord. This is when God hit the reboot button with Noah and the flood and God would try again; this time, though, God would reveal Godself to one person, one family, and to one particular group of people enabling them to show to the whole world God’s plan for justice and righteousness. And we know this is Abraham, his family, and the generations to follow all the way to Jesus of Nazareth. Listen to the Word of the Lord from Genesis 22:1-14!
22.1 After these things God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2He said, “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.” 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac; he cut the wood for the burnt offering and set out and went to the place in the distance that God had shown him. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place far away. 5Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the boy and I will go over there; we will worship, and then we will come back to you.” 6 Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. And the two of them walked on together. 7 Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 Abraham said, “God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them walked on together.
9 When they came to the place that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” 13 And Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place “The Lord will provide,” as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
Friends, this is a sticky and difficult text because it immediately assaults our sensibilities about how a benevolent God would demand harm to a child.
“What father would sacrifice his son?”
“Are you saying God condones child sacrifice?”
We have read and heard stories of how people have twisted texts like this one to condone child abuse and battery “because the Bible said it’s okay!” Well, let’s get this point straight away: The Bible doesn’t say it’s okay. We must stick with the text!
Verse one reads, “After these things, God tested Abraham.” The purpose of this Story is less about Isaac as it is about the evolving relationship between God and Abraham. God doesn’t want Abraham to kill Isaac; there is no competent biblical scholar who believes God had any intention of having Isaac killed. The late Old Testament scholar Terrence Fretheim writes that it’s not God’s intention to kill Isaac and receive a sacrifice. Rather it’s to test the metal of Abraham’s faithfulness “which is essential if God is to move into the future with him (Abraham).”[1]
We often hear this Story and immediately go to the place where we think, “Look at what’s at stake for Abraham! Look at what’s at stake for Isaac!” Both are good and reasonable statements. Yet, what I want us to reflect upon this morning is to ask a third question we often don’t think about: What’s at stake for God?
In our mutual faith journeys, if we are honest, we usually focus on what’s at stake for me in my life and you in yours. What are the consequences if I take this job? What are the opportunities if I marry this person? What might happen to us if we get pregnant now? Which cancer treatment should I follow? What will my options be if I fail this exam? These are all natural questions we each ask and think about. I am simply asking us to step out of the “Me Mode” and ponder what the stakes are confronting God at any given time…like in today’s Story with Abraham.
The only ones in this Story who know this is a test are God and each of us. Abraham is clueless he is undergoing a test to plumb the depths of his faithfulness. We might cynically say, “Well God is omniscient and already knew how Abraham would respond” but if that were indeed the case, why did God need to test him? We also do not have any indication that this is a test to teach Abraham any lesson. Abraham hears God and then obediently reacts to what he is told. The request for sacrifice is to confirm one thing and one thing only: Does Abraham trust God? Or, to put it another, more radical way, can God trust Abraham? The only one who learns anything from our Story is God when he declares to Abraham in verse 12, “Now I know that you fear God.” The test is for God’s benefit.
Church of the Brethren pastor and author, Eugene Roop says that in our Story today, “God took the risk that Abraham would respond. Abraham took the risk God would provide.”[2] What’s at stake for God in our Story is the depth of Abraham’s faith and whether or not there will indeed be a future with and through him. Even though God likely knew what Abraham would do, God did not have absolute certainty that Abraham would pass the test. You see, God has plans to express himself to all people through Abraham and his lineage culminating in Jesus; God places the shape of those plans in Abraham’s hands.[3] Yes, God and God’s plans have a lot at stake in what Abraham either does or does not do.
I suppose what I want to know is what does God have at stake in your life of Christ-followership and in mine? What does God have at stake in the way the elders of this church steer her and guide her? What does God have at stake by the way you cast your vote or support the candidate you support? Beloved, if we think what we do or do not individually do does not matter or will not impact others, even God, we are deluded.
Each of us is the trim tab on a ship’s rudder. The rudder glides through the water and guides the general direction of the ship but it is the trim tab, a small rudder on the ship’s rudder that gives the ship its precise direction and position. If God’s mission in the World is represented by a ship, the Church is the ship’s rudder guiding it through the water. But, beloved, each of us in our walk with God is a trim tab giving God’s ministry in the church specific direction and precision.
Beloved, God has a stake in you. What you and I do or fail to do matters to God and makes a difference in the world. Each and every day, like Abraham, we are being tested in big things and in small things. How we respond to those tests gives direction to the ministry God has planned for each of us and for this church.
Friends, God knows it’s hard for us. That’s why it’s important to remember that in this powerful meal of bread and wine, we are being fed from the hand of the Savior and are given food for our arduous journey. It is food that will lead us to the land of Moriah, the place for clarity and vision, so we will know how to assuredly walk in the footsteps of Christ. Then again, if we fail or fall during our test, this meal is our source of strength, hope, and encouragement to reach up and grasp the Lord’s hand again as Jesus looks at us and says, “C’mon sweetheart. Let’s try this one more time and see if you can get it right.”
So be it.
© 2023 Patrick H. Wrisley, Pastor, First Presbyterian Church, 401 SE 15th Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, FL. 33301. Sermon manuscripts are available for the edification of members and friends of First Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and may not be altered, re-purposed, published or preached without permission. All rights reserved.
[1] Terrence E. Fretheim, The Book of Genesis, The New Interpreters Bible, Vol. 1 (Nashville: Abington Press, 1994), 497.
[2] Eugene F. Roop, Genesis (Scottdale, PA: Herald, 1987), 151.
[3] Fretheim, Ibid.
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