Now this is a drill, this is a drill ...
At Holy Nativity we are using Track One in the Revised Common Lectionary. In Track One we hear a good old-fashioned Bible story for the Old Testament lesson. The story for this Sunday is from Genesis 22: God tells Abraham to take his son Isaac up on the mountain, kill him, and offer him as a sacrifice, a burnt offering.
This horrifying story is called The Sacrifice of Isaac. Or more correctly The Near-Sacrifice of Isaac, because God stops the murder just as Abraham raises the knife to kill the child. Many scholars regard the story as the scandal of the Bible -- that God would demand such a shocking thing, the sacrifice of an innocent child; that Abraham would actually do it, as the story proves; that the death of Isaac whom God for so long had promised to Abraham and Sarah, would render meaningless the covenant between God and Abraham, God’s promise of many heirs.
And what about the boy's mother? Hebrew scholars point out that after this horrific nightmare, Sarah never spoke again.
We take the story as commending the faith of Abraham, who obeyed God no matter what. For 21st century people, that may be a difficult rationalization to swallow.
Some understand the story as God forbidding child sacrifice, which was practiced in that day and age. That’s not much help.
Some say that Abraham expected God to stop it at the last minute, so didn’t really intend to kill the boy. That destroys the integrity of the story and sets Abraham’s faith at naught.
The story does begin by saying, “God tested Abraham.” That may suggest to the reader that “Now this is a drill, this is a drill,” as announced on a Navy warship before continuing, “General Quarters, General Quarters. All hands man your battle stations.” It may indicate that God was only testing to see if Abraham was really all that obedient; that God meant all along to stop it before Isaac was hurt. That may help morally for the story itself; but it makes God seem a sadistic tormentor, which is not helpful, and it takes Abraham beyond the pale of immorality.
Jewish midrash suggests that when God said, “Take your only son,” Abraham the father of Ishmael and Isaac pointed out, “I have two sons.” And that when God continued, “Isaac, whom you love,” Abraham replied, “I love them both.”
The pathos of the horrendous demand, as father and son make their way up the mountain, is ineffable, unbearable, indescribable.
Nevertheless, for all the scholarly criticism of this appalling story, it is to me the most moving event in the entire Bible, short of Good Friday. The story is Messianic. The NRSV translation misses it. But the language of the King James Version and of the Revised Standard Version is poignant beyond words, poignant unto tears.
Isaac the innocent son asks his father, “Where is the lamb?”
And Abraham replies, “God will provide himself the lamb, my son.”
God will provide himself
the lamb
my son.
To me as a naval officer and a Christian, this gut-wrenching story of Abraham and Isaac is something else altogether and far beyond. This is a drill for General Quarters. A drill for Father and Son. My heart and mind take me beyond the scholars’ condemnation of this damnable event; far, far beyond any midrashic commentary on the appalling behavior of God and Abraham. The story is not only for us on the outside looking in, but God's test for God himself: God knows the faith of Abraham; can God himself be as faithful?
Genesis 22 is God’s drill for Calvary.
A metaphor for Good Friday:
God will provide himself
the Lamb for sacrifice
my Son.
Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are those who are called to the supper of the Lamb.
Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldst come under my roof. But speak the word only and my soul shall be healed.
TW+