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In last week’s sermon, ‘Hard words’, from Matthew 10:24-39, we heard almost impossible words from Jesus regarding his expectations of how we should live our lives. In particular:

37 Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me
is not worthy of me;
anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me
is not worthy of me;
38 whoever does not take up their cross and follow me
is not worthy of me.

Despite these words, the take-home message from last week was (1) that God loves us deeply and with great attention to the detail of our lives, and (2) that God wants the whole of us and not just small pieces of us.

Genesis 22:1-18, our reading for today, illustrates what we spoke about last time. Abraham gets an unthinkable instruction from God:

“Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

I wonder what we would do if we got such an instruction from God. Honestly, I would say ‘no’. Just, ‘no’.

We must remember, though, that we know much more about God’s character today than Abraham did. God only began revealing himself to the world in Genesis 12, when he selected Abraham to be his ambassador and to bring God’s blessings to all nations. Abraham was just getting to know God and had little to go on 10 chapters later. But we have the rest of the entire First Testament, plus the Gospels and all the writings of the early church. We have a much greater grasp of who God is and what God would or would not demand of us.

Still, Abraham is committed and so obeys God’s command. He and his only son Isaac start the journey towards Isaac’s sacrifice. Isaac may be a child, but he’s not stupid. He notices that everything for the sacrifice is there except the lamb. Where is the lamb? he asks his father. And Abraham answers, God will provide.

They continue on to the site God had selected. Abraham establishes the altar, lays his son on the wood, and gets ready to kill him with a knife before burning his body as a sacrifice to God. In that final moment, God stops him and affirms his faith. And provides a ram (not just a lamb) to be sacrificed in Isaac’s place. And God renews his original promise to Abraham in Genesis 12 in Genesis 22:15-18.

It is in many ways an unthinkable, dreadful story!

The only real comparison is Jesus’ death on the cross – also a sacrifice on our behalf. But there are major differences between Jesus’ sacrifice and Isaac’s. Jesus was a full and equal partner with God the Father and God the Spirit in working out the plan for his sacrifice of himself on the cross. Jesus went in knowing what he was doing and fully agreeing to it. And he knew the outcome it would produce. Isaac, on the other hand, was kept in the dark about all of this.

I said to my congregation in the sermon that if they believe God is instructing them sacrifice a member of their family, they should come and talk with me first. Seriously! This narrative in Genesis 22 is not the norm.

But it does illustrate the kind of whole-hearted and willing-to-go-to-the-very-end commitment that Jesus spoke about in Matthew 10 last week. Sometimes, God does call us to do something unimaginable, extraordinary, risky, and extravagant. And often, that is precisely what we should do. God does want our whole selves – every piece of us.

Featured image from the 4th Sorrowful Mystery Chapel in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. (https://www.nationalshrine.org/blog/why-did-god-ask-abraham-to-sacrifice-isaac/)