Lent 1B am 2024 preached

1st Sunday in Lent, Year B

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Brothers and sisters in Christ: grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Even before I was a dad, the story of Abraham taking Isaac to sacrifice him bothered me. I remember a few years ago showing my mother the new Brick Bible we’d bought for our then-very-young boys. That’s where they portray scenes in the Bible using Legos and Lego figures. Somehow, Oma landed on this particular story, and it made her uncomfortable - the father figure holding a knife over his son. I had to say that it wasn’t the fault of the Legos; that’s the biblical story, and it is definitely an uncomfortable one. There’s really no getting around the “uncomfortable-ness” of this scene. You can’t make a father with a knife, ready to end his son’s life, feel comfortable. It’s an uncomfortable thought… and it’s supposed to be.

Abraham was 75 years old when God promised to give him a son. Any of you 70-ish year-old men ready to be dads again? And Sarah was 65. Ladies - any takers for getting pregnant at 65? This far into their adult lives, and there’s just no question they were just not going to be parents. Certainly they had given up long ago. And we see that in their reactions - at some point, both of them laugh at the thought. The very name they will eventually give to their son means “He laughs”.

And God didn’t make good on His promise quickly. At least 10 years went by (Abraham was 85, Sarah was 75). Sarah got impatient and decided to make it happen on her time, but with another woman - her maidservant. It worked, but it caused great conflict and strife. God had a plan, and His own timeline. And it’s that second part that we mere mortals always struggle to accept.

Skip ahead another 15 years - Abraham is now 99 and Sarah 89 - and God visits them to remind them of His promise. And it was a year later that Isaac was finally born. It took 25 years for God to make good on His promise…but He did. Now we know that in the Book of Genesis, men and women lived longer than we do now…but 100 years old is not young by any means. Abraham was indeed an elderly man, and Sarah certainly an elderly woman. And God still made them parents.

It’s understood that between Isaac’s birth in chapter 21 and this event in chapter 22, Isaac grew into a young man… anywhere from mid-teenaged years to as much as 37 years old (going by Sarah’s age when she died). I don’t care how old he was - this had to be harder for Abraham than anything I can possibly imagine. He had waited so long for this one child - in a time when you wanted to have many children to ensure that at least some of them would survive. Having only one was a great risk. Abraham had only one son to continue his family, to carry on the family name, and to receive the promise from God - to continue the Covenant. So much hope rested on Isaac. And certainly great love from his parents.

We don’t know what went through Abraham’s mind in this scene. Scholars seem to mostly agree that he must have been greatly troubled (no kidding). He doesn’t say much; he just obeys and goes where he’s been sent by His God. He prepares without speaking. It must have been the most awkward quiet journey ever.

So Abraham takes his son and a small group of servants to the place where God told him - a place called Moriah - about 20 miles due west of where the Jordan River flows into the Dead Sea. Travelling on foot takes about 20.5 hours to travel from Beersheba to Moriah. They arrived on the third day.

There must have been a little bit of talk, since Isaac knew they were going to give a burnt offering to God. The passage doesn’t give us any other accounts of earlier conversations.

Later in the Old Testament, God gives Moses very specific instructions on how to perform sacrifices for offerings. This event comes well before that, but Abraham knows to give a burnt offering. This is understood to be “a choice animal offered to make atonement for sin was completely consumed by fire.” [Walter A. Elwell and Barry J. Beitzel, “Burnt Offering,” Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988), 389.] God has not accused Abraham of sin, but Abraham is ready to offer it without question. The only peek we get into his inner thoughts is in how he responds to Isaac’s question: “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” (vs 8) I don’t believe that Abraham is just saying this to comfort his son. Abraham believes this himself. Hebrews 11:19 tells us even more: “[Abraham] considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead...”

Abraham was ready to use the sacrificial knife on his own son. He would have made it as painless as possible, and it would not have been done in anything other than love for God and his own son. But it’s clear that he was ready to do it. He was being tested by God…and he passed the test.

Now we should not ever think that God would be pleased by human sacrifice. There were other cultures in this part of the world that did sacrifice people, children, and even babies to their false god Molech. Abraham’s God did not want the child to be killed. Listen to how this scholar explains it: “God did not desire the sacrifice of Isaac by slaying and burning him upon the altar, but his complete surrender, and a willingness to offer him up to God even by death. Nevertheless the divine command was given in such a form, that Abraham could not understand it in any other way than as requiring an outward burnt-offering, because there was no other way in which Abraham could accomplish the complete surrender of Isaac, than by an actual preparation for really offering the desired sacrifice. This constituted the trial, which necessarily produced a severe internal conflict in his mind. … But Abraham [chose to put aside his own thoughts and rely on faith by being obedient]. He did not question the truth of the word of God...” [Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, vol. 1 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1996), 159.]

God did not want Abraham to sacrifice his only son. God wanted Abraham to be willing to do it. He wanted Abraham to trust Him so completely (“surrender”) that he was willing to give up the most precious gift he had ever received… trusting that God was both good and trustworthy. God wanted Abraham’s whole heart. And Abraham gave it to him in his obedience.

God, in His perfect timing, of course stops Abraham’s hand before any harm could come to Isaac. God *did* provide a ram for the burnt offering, and so the offering was indeed made. God provided the sacrifice, as Abraham expected, or at least as he hoped. And because Abraham did not withhold his son - his only son - God repeats His promise - “I will SURELY bless you, and I will SURELY multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.” (vss 17-18)

Now, although this passage does have a good ending, and although it can make you squirm in your seat a bit while you’re reading it, there are aspects to this passage that we must look at more closely. The place called Moriah, for instance, is the place where Solomon would later build his magnificent temple to the God of Abraham… the very center of faith for the Hebrew people, and the focal point of the city of Jerusalem. “So Abraham called the name of that place, ‘The LORD will provide’; as it is said to this day, ‘On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.’” (vs 14) The Lord provided an atoning sacrifice on this mount - a ram to spare Isaac, the son of the covenant. Later, God’s Own Son - His Only Son - would become the atoning sacrifice to spare EVERYONE. And that sacrifice would happen in this same place.

God didn’t want Abraham to sacrifice his son. God knew that He would have to give His Son for the sake of the whole world. And His Son took on that responsibility willingly.

“in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.” - Abraham’s son Isaac was merely the first child in the lineage of Abraham. Down through the generations, another son would be born, who would see this promised blessing come true. In Jesus, all nations of the earth have certainly been blessed.

God tested Abraham (God does not tempt to sin - as James explains) to perfect his faith. It’s been said that God tests His people to show us exactly what we’re capable of. God already knows…but many times we need to be SHOWN. God did this for Abraham, and definitely for the nation of people who would follow and read this story for generations to come - over 3000 years and still going. Abraham is the prime example of faith for the nation that came from him and his wife… and we know that because God tested him.

This season of Lent is a time when we challenge ourselves with discipline. The best way to do this is to take on a challenge - a test - that will help you grow closer to God. In a way, when you meet the challenge, you discover what you are capable of. If you’ve done this before, you know you probably have faltered during that 40 days. If this happens, remember that Abraham wasn’t perfect either - let’s not forget his other child that was NOT the child of God’s promise… When you challenge yourself with a Lenten discipline, give yourself grace when you *do* fall down… but then *do* get back up. Practice it. Work on it. Get better at it. Let God show you what you’re capable of in this challenge. But remember that your salvation does NOT depend on it. Someone else already took that test and passed. He allowed himself to be arrested and punished for what he really didn’t deserve, and then nailed to a wooden cross to pay the price for sins that weren’t his. And on the third day, he showed that God’s plan for all of us is eternal; the blessing promised to Abraham is not just for 70 or 80 years. It’s forever, and it’s for all of us.

I hope that all of us will look to these examples of faith to help us grow in our own.

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.