Loving God, all that we have and all that we are has come to us from your hand.  Empower us by your Holy Spirit to worship you with our lives, ever thankful for the gift of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

    It is quite possible that some of us who are gathered here today might be bothered by this whole story about God testing Abraham.  Some ask, What kind of a God would demand the sacrifice of your only son?  Others ask, What kind of a father would tie up his son, lay him on an altar and raise the knife to kill him?  Still others might question Abraham’s sanity, and whether God really asked him to do this at all.

    However, this is not a story that is told simply to horrify people.  In fact, this is one of the foundational stories of faith both in Christianity and in Judaism.  It also has connections to the Muslim faith (cf. Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem).  At the same time, this is a story that perhaps makes a lot more sense in the culture in which it is set.  While to us it seems particularly barbaric to even think of sacrificing your child, many of the cultures that surrounded Abraham actually practiced child sacrifice.  That’s one of the things that eventually set the Jewish people apart from the other nations.  While they brought offerings that included both their crops and their animals, child sacrifice was absolutely forbidden.

    However, Abraham lived before the time when the Law was given and before the time when there was a Temple and established worship practices.  Abraham was, in fact, the ancestor of the chosen people, and the first to be called by God in order to form a covenant people.  Abraham was the one who was promised that through him and his descendants, all the nations of the earth would be blessed.

    God had called Abraham, and God had made a pretty amazing covenant with Abraham, and yet Abraham had displayed some rather questionable behaviour at times.  He had practically given away his wife Sarah in Egypt, believing that he would be treated better if he said that she was his sister.  The result was that she was taken to be part of Pharaoh’s harem for a time.  He had also tried to have children with Sarah’s slave, Hagar, unwilling to wait until God’s promise of a son had been fulfilled.  Then there was sending Hagar and her son Ishmael away into the wilderness, which we heard about last week.

    After some of these less than stellar actions on Abraham’s part, is it any wonder that God might question Abraham’s faith?  You can almost imagine God saying, “Is this really the man of faith that I thought I called?  Is this really the one through whom all the nations of the earth will be blessed?”  And so Genesis tells us that Abraham’s faith is put to the ultimate test.

    Abraham is asked to give his son Isaac back to God.  This is the same son whom Abraham and Sarah had waited so many years to have.  This is the same son whom God had promised would be the ancestor of a great nation.  This is the same son whose birth was a miracle – born in their extreme old age.  Yet Abraham does not withhold his only son.

    Does this remind you of anything that we hear about many years later?...  God, also, does not withhold his only Son.  And so, many Christians over the years have seen this story of Abraham and Isaac as a foreshadowing of the gift that is Jesus.  At the same time, this story provides the background to the future worship at the Jerusalem Temple.

    Of course, with every biblical story we also look for what it has to do with us.  There is a truth that is lurking in behind this story that actually addresses each one of us.  This truth is that all things belong to God and come from God, and God can ask for them back.  It is the same truth that is pointed to by Jesus when he tells the parable of the rich man who wanted to build bigger barns (Lk. 12:16-21).  The man thought that it all belonged to him and that he could do whatever he wanted with it, but that very night his life was demanded of him by God.  He did not understand that his life and all that he had was given to him by God and belonged to God.

    It is probably hard for many of us to even fathom the depth of faith that it would have taken for Abraham to be willing to give this child of promise back to God.  However, within this narrative from Genesis, Abraham expresses the faith that God will provide.  In fact, he is almost prophetic when he says that “God himself will provide the lamb” (Gen. 22:8).  In the end, this same faith is expressed in the name that is given to this place – a name that means “The Lord will provide” (Gen. 22:14).

    Many years down the road, this place became the Jerusalem Temple – the place where people came to worship and to bring their offering.  While I am aware that not everybody thinks about giving an offering in this way, when I give an offering it is an act of faith in which I do believe that God will provide.  In effect, I am saying, “God has provided what I give today, and God will continue to provide for me.”

    At the same time it occurs to me that bringing an offering to worship is probably not the only way in which we give back to God.  Do any of you happen to remember what Job said after he had lost all of his children and all of his flocks and herds and all of his servants?...  Job worshiped God and said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there; the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21). While Job certainly felt grief and sorrow like every other person, he was also a man of faith.  He knew that all of the people and the property that he had lost belonged to God, and that they had now been returned to God.

    What a challenge this is for us as people of faith!  Isn’t it true that many of us feel as though we have been horribly wronged when somebody we love is taken away from us?  Don’t we usually get pretty angry if others take anything that belongs to us? – particularly something that is of great value?  How might our attitude change if we were able to see all that we have and all that we are as gifts that are on loan from God?

    Of course, in addition to things that are taken away without our consent, we can also think about how we might freely and lovingly give back to God.  We sometimes speak in terms of our selves, our time and our possessions, all of which belong to God.  It is actually a joy to be able to give ourselves in God’s service, not because we have to, but out of love and gratitude for Jesus Christ.  After all, the salvation that is ours through Jesus is given to us as an undeserved gift, just as the promises given to Abraham were by God’s grace.

    And so today, may we be aware of all that has been given to us by God’s hand, and may the Holy Spirit continue to fill our hearts with gratitude and love as we continue this journey of faith.  Amen.

Lectionary 13(A)                                Genesis 22:1-14
June 29, 2014
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison
© 2014 Lynne Hutchison  All Rights Reserved