A sermon of The Rev. Kim Hardy
June 29, 2008
All Saints Parish
Brookline, Massachusetts
When I looked at the propers Thursday I thought, "Great 'the almost sacrifice of Isaac ... my least favorite Hebrew scripture to preach on ... I should have taken David's offer to preach on a different Sunday!" That will teach me to not look ahead! But here we are today with one of the most difficult scripture passage, one which most level-headed preachers try to avoid if at all possible. How can we come to grips with a God like this or a father-figure like Abraham for that matter? In an online commentary I heard, Ellen Davis, from her writing Getting Involved with God was quoted when speaking of the binding of Isaac. Davis notes that Abraham and his God are appalling in this story! Right at the beginning of the story the reader is told that this whole episode is set up as a test. And with that knowledge we know something from the start that Abraham does not know – and this in and of itself makes us uncomfortable. It makes us uncomfortable that God would make such a test and it makes us as uncomfortable that Abraham would take such a test without challenging God. Davis reflects that whatever test it was, they both failed miserably. When this text comes up, as a mother with apologies to my male friends, frankly I can't help but wonder how the story might have unfolded had Sarah been up there on that mountain instead of Abraham with their son. One wonders if Christianity, Judaism, and Islam would have a totally different paradigm for faith! Although I must admit that Sarah did not behave well either in the previous story when she asked to have Hagar and Ishmael cast out of the family and in fact the community.
We can remind ourselves that this story has been understood as the rejection of child sacrifice – likely a pivotal turning point for Middle Eastern religions – a story from which generations of Israelites would learn that their faith would be different from those of neighboring tribes – that they would no longer be connected with such sacrifices even as other religions in the area continued to practice them. And yet, we glean more emotional content from the story than this simple detached fact don't we? Abraham seems clearly ready to do the deed and then isn't he equally grateful that God did not, in the end, require it? Esther Menn, Professor of OT at the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago comments that Abraham "appears to be rewarded for his unquestioning obedience." And further, that "Abraham is known as the father of faith within the three Abrahamic world religions... His willingness to sacrifice his son at God's command is one of the foundations of this reputation. In an age threatened by religious extremism and violence in the name of God, however, Abraham's unquestioning obedience to God provides a dangerous model."
Indeed. So how can we redeem this story for our hearing today? We are left with at least one question which is, did Abraham actually see through the test? Does he know that God will provide a substitute? That is probably too simple an answer. Yet we can wonder if what the story is really about is relationship. Now if we are talking about relationship and not only whether Abraham would do it or not, there is a door we can open up a crack and peek inside. With this story we are in the midst of a covenant relationship in the making. We are already well into the story of Abraham and Sarah – the promise of God, the couple growing too old to give birth, the giving of Hagar, Sarah's slave in desperation to bear Abraham a son, and then the surprise of Sarah's pregnancy with Isaac and the difficult relationship that developed between Sarah and Hagar after these events – predicated no doubt on anxiety about who would be the rightful heir. Aren't most major arguments and even wars about power and money? After Hagar and Ishmael were expelled from the camp Abraham is still left in a similar place of risk and vulnerability – there is only one heir – not an heir and a spare. And yet, all the characters in this story are vulnerable, not just Abraham. We know of Abraham's vulnerability because of the previous narrative– he may lose the long awaited son and with it the promise of a multitude of descendents. We certainly know that Isaac is vulnerable if only in a physical sense. But I wonder whether we have ever thought about God's vulnerability. In terms of relationship God is vulnerable in the sense that there is risk in finding out something about the nature of this relationship with Abraham. The result could be good or not. Abraham has said he will follow...but will he? Is the relationship simply a contract that can be broken at will or more than that? And this leaves us with a second question; did God know what Abraham would do?
We are used to talking about God in ways for which we use descriptions such as omnipresent, omnipotent, all-knowing and such. But we have to wonder...did God really know whether Abraham would stick with God or not? Maybe not because it would seem if God did know...what would be the purpose of the test? God puts God's own self at risk for the end result of relationship. Perhaps a window into this dynamic would be the emotions we feel when we choose a life partner - when we bless a relationship we stand, as it were, exposed in front of the other, willing to risk a life together. But we don't know how it will come out. No one can know. Similarly, God is taking a chance on this specific relationship. And of course this story - the risk God takes with Abraham is a metaphor for God's relationship with the whole human race is it not? For God, relationship is risky business, just as it is for all of us.
But this leads to a third question...is such a terrible risk worth it in the end? What did they learn about one another? Many Christians, of course lay this story side by side with the story of Jesus' passion. Sometimes this lesson is read at one other time of year and that is at the Easter Vigil. We shouldn't be too quick, however, to supplant this story with a theology of substitutionary sacrifice in the death of Christ because the two stories can and do stand each on their own. And yet we do draw the parallel that Christ's journey through death and resurrection makes it possible for us to enter into renewed relationship with our Creator. That's fine on paper but what does that really mean? We can only surmise what God and Abraham discovered about themselves and one another through our own experience with the Divine.
How we can open the door just a bit is to ask how we respond when we are drawn to be or do something absolutely outside the sphere of our present experience. Can we let our imaginations go to those times when we have felt called to do something or be something beyond our current understanding and are anxious, afraid, and certainly blinded from seeing the way ahead? How would Abraham be the father of a great many if the only son should die? How would God be the God of a great nation of people should Abraham reject God? How will we manage if we change our life direction in a significant way? How will it come out if we take a risk of relationship with a person, a community, a cause? How will it turn out if we, as today's Gospel suggests, welcome others as we would welcome Christ? Is that part of the kind of relationships we are asked to build as well? What would we have to change to live like that?
Whenever we get into the God business, we tread on the territory of risky business. We prefer to put religion in safe categories but stories like today's remind us, uncomfortably, of the rawness and wildness of relationship with the One who made the heavens and the earth and who is a jealous God. They also remind us of the dangers and possibilities inherent in such a relationship. Perhaps the saving knowledge is that it is risky both for us and for God. God is hoping for relationship with us as individuals and community. However, it is not a sure thing that we will respond in kind. God is in a vulnerable spot as God waits for our faithful response to those things that are difficult to face, difficult to embrace, difficult to become. And in our best moments of faith we too are earnestly looking for God but we often want God on our own terms which is not true relationship.
I suspect the story of the binding of Isaac will always be difficult for us but it does give us a place to begin if we acknowledge that the God of the universe desires very much to be connected with us through covenant relationship. That bond is always a mystery and not easily defined. Each of us is on a journey with God such as the one Abraham took - in our own ways this involves things we are asked to give or do or be that may be difficult. In community we have a blessed opportunity of walking together with others who seek covenant with God and the grace which comes from being upheld in common prayer and companionship. Thanks be to God.