Pathways and Promises

Ordinary 13A – A sermon based upon Genesis 22:1-14

Good morning. To be honest, I’ve struggled with this sermon all week because when I sat down to look at the lectionary texts, the one God kept whispering to me was the Genesis 22 story of God testing Abraham by telling him to offer his son as a sacrifice. I kept saying, “No, that one is too hard. We’re kicking off Vacation Bible School so let’s do something more inspiring.” But God being the never ending nudger and caller to growth wouldn’t let me get away with picking another text.

So here we are, looking at a story that has horrified people for thousands of years and continues to distress us with what it might mean that God would ask such a thing of us. Maybe kick off day for VBS is the right day to dig into a biblical story so complicated that we usually want to ignore it or explain it away.

So, what can we do to make sense of this story? I’ve read tons of commentaries and scholarly material this week and learned more about how many different opinions and views there are than any one thing. But let me give you a brief rundown of some of what theologians and scholars think about this.

Verse 14 reads, “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.’” So, some think the whole thing is just a myth because the passage ends with telling us how a mountain got its name and how a saying came into being. They say it never happened and it’s just a story to tell us a lesson. Well, whether or not it happened, the tougher part is figuring out what the lesson or lessons are.

Some scholars believe this is a symbolic story where the ancient Israelites living in exile would have understood themselves to be the “firstborn” that God would provide for and also Abraham who God was testing. This is also an interesting thought but what does that really mean to us today? So I kept digging.

Some say Abraham was willing to follow God’s command so unquestionably because he knew that God would intervene and not allow Isaac to be hurt since the boy was part of bigger promises already made by God. Well, maybe Abraham did hope for that but I doubt he truly knew for certain what would happen when they set out. Also, if he already knew, then the moral of the story would be, “if you already know what God’s doing in your life, just play along” rather than “God will provide.”

Many theologians are deeply concerned with misinterpretations of this passage as justification of child abuse. Seeing this text in too flat a way can lead to justifying the use of children as pawns in adult disputes such as divorces. Taking it too far can even lead to a complete perversion of the text and of God’s true will by proclaiming that God condones the use, abuse, and murder of children. However, this passage never says anything like that. In fact, 16 biblical passages firmly forbid human sacrifice and countless passages condemn the injury of children.

So, here we are… lots of opinions but we’re still mortified by the thought of God asking such a thing of Abraham. But I don’t think it’s just us in this time and place. It’s not that we’re reading with a New Testament orientation of a loving God and people of old weren’t. I suspect all people in all times and places have found this story horrific and maybe that’s part of the point.

Biblical stories come to us with a richness and a history that teach us things about human nature and divine covenant in action. So when we see a story that doesn’t match our understanding of those, it catches our attention. See, lots of folks want to know how Abraham could do this without even asking God why? There’s nothing in this passage or the bible in general that calls for us to not ask God questions so we can understand more. So how did a father choose to do this without asking? And when we look at our own faith, we don’t understand how someone could have that kind of faith in the first place. Abraham’s actions stand out to us because they are inconsistent with what we know of human nature so it jars us. And to go a little further, we’re also jarred by the idea that if God would ask this of Abraham, what might we be asked to do? Would we rise to the occasion or go running the other way? And if God is testing Abraham does that mean that God doesn’t know the outcome of human free will?

There are just so many questions that make this passage stand out for further scrutiny. So, what do we make of all this?

Well, the first thing is to figure out what we do know for sure from the passage. One of the first things is to recognize that the biblical reader and God are the ones who know this is a test. Abraham, Isaac, and the people of the story do not know this is only a test. If they had known, they would have interacted very differently.

We also know that since this is only a test, God never intends to hurt Isaac. Keep in mind that Abraham has struggled with faith his whole life. God only wants to know about Abraham’s faithfulness and once that is established the next passage is where God promises Abraham descendants as numerous as the stars.

Another thing we know is that Abraham has come to a new level in his faith. He possesses a deep trust in God. Even when Isaac sees that something is obviously not right about the situation and asks about it, Abraham responds faithfully that God will provide. Again, I want to point out that this passage does not say that passivity and unquestioning are good. It’s just that Abraham didn’t question.

And another thing we know about this passage is from a literary device. Hebrew scripture, was arranged in ballad like songs. So, repeating words, sounds, and other emphasis are always there for a reason but we miss those in translation.

When we read this, we see some form of the verb “to see” 5 times. But when read in Hebrew, the arrangement is in such a way that we learn that sight and a kind of progress of “seeing” are deeply important to unraveling this passage. Abraham is shown to taking in more information through his sight. Revelation in this story is not as much about the words being said but about seeing something new or with greater clarity.

Okay, we’ve done all this biblical digging because we’re looking for what it’s going to mean in our lives. So from what we know, what can we extract as lessons for our lives? Well, I’d like to suggest two lessons we can take away. The first is the obvious one. God provides.

God’s provision for us and our lives is that of incredible abundance. In last week’s scripture message, we explored the ways we experience God’s refuge and strength within the church. But it’s not always easy to see and experience God’s provision. I mean we experience lost jobs, crime, disasters, oppressive sins like racism and classism, and we each carry deep sorrows for the way we’ve been hurt by the brokenness of the world. The way we experience the world, it’s hard to imagine how Abraham could have trusted God so much.

But we need to be clear to understand the sufferings brought about by human brokenness and free will are not the will or work of God. God’s work of giving is in the places that we heal those sorrows and pains. God’s provision is in relationship and community. And God does provide in ways that we could never have arranged for on our own.

Does it mean we can just go along hoping all will be well? No. All was well because Abraham continued to act in good faith and do what God had asked. Just like Abraham was walking the journey of action, so must we. God’s provision in most people’s lives is directly linked to our kindness, love, and compassion for one another. As partners of God in the body of Christ, we always hope but that hope is bound together with action.

This brings me to the second and less obvious point I think this passage has for us today. Earlier I said that one of the things we know about this passage is it’s evolving use of the verb “to see.” This progressive seeing and revelation points to something very important in our lives. I think the second point is that we are often led down paths based upon our current understanding but we are always responsible for keeping our eyes open to new revelation and paths as God opens them up to us.

Abraham was given a command by God and started down that pathway. See, Abraham lived around other cultures where child sacrifice was a common practice even though it wasn’t for his culture. Nevertheless, he could make sense of it at the time. Yet, he kept looking and therefore seeing more and more as time passed. By the moment when the angel intervened, Abraham may likely have understood that this was all a test. But regardless of what he believed, the point remains that he kept his eyes open to what God was continuing to reveal. This made him both faithful in his actions but flexible to adapt to a new path when it came along.

This is a huge lesson. God expects us to keep growing and to be open to new paths as something different is revealed. God leads us but may change what information we have as we are more and more ready to receive it. So, we must be willing to let God change what our understanding of faithfulness means.

And this is a tough one because we’re not always good with change, especially in the religious world. We cling to our comfortable beliefs and ministries. But that’s not what we are always called to do. The idea that “we’ve always done it this way” isn’t necessarily God’s will and guidance. What we’ve always done must be constantly under scrutiny for new revelation.

Now what that new revelation may mean, we’re going to have to explore another time. And from this passage, it seems like something we should always be exploring. But as we leave here today, maybe the questions can get us going. What is it in our personal lives that God might be opening a different door for us? What about our professional lives? What new thing or things is God opening this congregation to? How can that openness be a gift? And how can we support one another in the discomfort of transitions as we adapt to what God has in store for us?

Sisters and brothers, this is our charge: to be watchful, willing to grow, and live in the work of God’s provision. As we go from here, may God bless our seeing and understanding of the pathways that lay ahead of us. Amen