The reason I tried to avoid this passage is because the whole concept of killing a son to demonstrate commitment to God is something I don’t think I could do. But as we see in our reading Abraham showed his trust and obedience, and his commitment to God and was on the verge of sacrificing his son Isaac. I wonder what was going through Abraham’s mind at the time. And what about Isaac, what on earth was he thinking?
But we will have to leave these questions unanswered. In the end it was it was a test of Abraham’s trust and obedience – his commitment to God. Notice God’s command, Take your son, your only son, whom you love. Your only son, whom you love – Well, Abraham did have another son Ishmael, but Isaac was the only son of the promise – the covenant that God had made with Abraham.
As we saw in our reading, this was a test. But what a test! The idea of a father giving up a son – his only son whom he loves, just seems too much. It is as if God was laying a marker in the sand, saying that one day in the future, that God the Father would give up his own one and only son.
In the New Testament we read:
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Romans 8:.32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all.
I want to tell you about something that happened some 37 years ago: Andrew aged two – a tornado. Tripped and cut his eyebrow on the corner of a table. He needed one stitch – and for one stitch there was to be no anaesthetic. They wrapped him tightly in a blanket so he couldn’t move, and he looked up at me with trusting eyes, and then they put the needle in. They were hurting my boy! I would have done anything to swap places. Yet I knew they were doing this for his good – there was no malice. But it broke my heart.
I’m trying to imagine God the Father watching his one and only son being crucified. I can’t imagine his agony – watching the people ridicule his son and cause so much pain – it is just too much for me. But doesn’t this show through this supreme sacrifice, the commitment of both father and son. The love that God the Father has for each one of us. That he would be willing to give up his one and only son.
It is so much that I don’t think I will ever fully comprehend the magnitude of the cross. This is commitment on a scale that is beyond my scope to fully understand. And as we enter these final days and relive what Jesus went through. This unimaginable sacrifice that would provide a way for us to come back to God. May we in amazement and gratitude in our hearts, recommit ourselves afresh to God.
Final thoughts
As we think of the level of commitment shown by God to us – all that he was prepared to do out of his love for us, how do we respond to such love. As He committed himself to us, then shouldn’t in turn commit our lives to Him?
And one way we can do this is to obey His commands to Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength, and to love your neighbour as yourself.’
Surely, this is the very foundation of our commitment to God. At St Johns we say, Love God, Love each other, Love our community. As God has committed himself to us. Let us in return commit ourselves afresh to Him.
Amen.