Abraham and Isaac
Wednesday 2nd December 2020
Over the last few months we have travelled a great
distance with Abraham on our biblical journey. Hopefully he is no longer an
obscure character from the Old Testament but a real companion of flesh and
blood, of emotion and feeling, on the road of faith. Today as we read chapter
22 from the book of Genesis we encounter one of the most infamous episodes of
Abraham’s life (as depicted in the Icon above). So let’s begin our reflection
by turning to God the Holy Spirit in prayer and asking for his help and
blessing to understand the Scriptures better.
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Come, O Holy Spirit,
and fill us with the gifts of knowledge and wisdom.
Strengthen us, we pray, with heavenly grace,
so that we may grasp with our minds,
treasure in our hearts,
and carry out in our deeds,
all the teachings of your Holy Book
which lead to salvation.
Amen.
Before we delve into today’s chapter, a few weeks
ago I promised to explain the change of spelling from Abram to Abraham and of Sara to Sarah. You will have
probably noticed this already in your Bibles. If you read Genesis chapter 17
you will see that this name change is an outward expression of the patriarch’s
new faith in God. When a couple marry they wear a ring to symbolise publicly
that they are in an exclusive committed loving relationship. The ring is an
outward sign of the new stage in the couples life together which has grown and
deepened internally. In religious life a person is clothed in the habit of
their Order after an initial period of formation. The new monk or nun by
wearing the habit externally shows their maturing relationship with God and
gives witness to their vocation. Abram is asked by God to change his name as a
public witness of his internal deepening faith and exclusive worship of the
true God.
‘You shall no longer be called Abram; your name
shall be Abraham, for I make you father of a multitude of nations.’ (Gn. 17:5)
Now back to today’s biblical reflection...
One of the things that may have struck you when you
were reading this chapter is the drama involved. We saw how God made a promise
to Abraham to make his descendants as many as the stars in the sky (Gn. 15:5)
and he ratified this by making a solemn covenant with His servant (Gn. 15:18).
We witnessed the tension between Sara and Hagar after Ishmael was born and the
uncertainty of Sara about God fulfilling His promise. Then Isaac is born, as
promised! Miraculously, defying all sense of logic as well as transcending
natural law. The high crescendo of the Genesis narrative is the realisation of
the power and steadfastness of the Lord’s love and mercy, the sure and certain
knowledge that God never abandons or forgets but is faithful to His word. So
when we read chapter 22 the joy and future that Abraham has so longed for seems
to be taken away. What was all the waiting and heart ache for?
‘ ‘Take your son,’ God said ‘your only child Isaac,
whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer him as a
burnt offering,
on a mountain I will point out to you.’ ’ (Gn. 22:2)
The text of this chapter does not describe how
Abraham must have felt. He has been asked to sacrifice his only son! His only
son! The son he has patiently waited for! The son whose birth strengthened his
faith in God! Now that very same God who Abraham has left everything for asks
for his gift of Isaac back. The editors of Genesis did not record in detail
Abraham’s emotional turmoil because they assumed that would be obvious to
people. How could a man not be heart broken or overwhelmed by depression having
to face such a command from the Almighty? The emphasis and stress the editors
wanted to convey was not Abraham’s emotion but his readiness to listen and obey
God. As painful as God’s decree is and as hopeless as it makes his servant
feel, Abraham obeys without hesitation.
As the patriarch begins to ascend the mountain with
his son, a conversation begins:
‘Isaac spoke to his father Abraham, ‘Father’ he
said.
‘Yes, my son’ he replied.
‘Look,’ he said ‘here are the fire and the wood,
but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?’
Abraham answered, ‘My son, God himself will provide
the lamb for the burnt offering’.
Then the two of them went on together.’ (Gn. 22:7-8)
The anguish that weighed down upon Abraham on that
journey must have been suffocating. Yet he is ready to submit and give
everything, EVERYTHING, to the Lord his God.
The drama now reaches another high point. Just at
that moment when the old patriarch is about to plunge the knife into his son
God intervenes.
‘Do not raise your hand against the boy’ the angel
said. ‘Do not harm him, for now I know you fear God. You have not refused me
your son, your only son.’
(Gn. 22:12)
Isaac is saved and a ram, caught by its horns in a
nearby bush is sacrificed instead. As a child at school once said to me, ‘poor
ram!’ It’s at this juncture that I would like to make mention of that
phrase the angel of the Lord says to Abraham. A phrase that we often hear
repeated in the scriptures is: ‘the fear of the Lord.’
Fear in this context does not mean that we live in terror of the heavenly
Father. God does not want us to see Him as the cold angry parent who instils
panic and worry every time we feel His Presence. Fear of the Lord does not mean
to be scared of God but instead to have a deep awesome reverent respect for
Him. Abraham clearly shows that reverent respect by his response to God when
asked to sacrifice his son. How truly ready and fully willing are we to listen
and obey God? Do we hold back? Do we dictate how far we will go for God based
on the judgements and opinions of others? Do we judge God Himself and
personally decide what’s correct and appropriate in our lives of faith? Fundamentally
the real question is do we fully trust the Lord our God?
Finally as we end today’s reflection it is
important to mention ‘biblical typology’. What is biblical typology? Quite
simply it is how events and images of the Old Testament foreshadow what is to
come in the future. In regards to Genesis 22 the early Church Fathers saw
Abraham and Isaac as God’s future plan of salvation.
‘Isaac is a type of Christ, for he was a son as
Christ was a son, and he carried the wood of his sacrifice just as the Lord
bore the wood of the Cross.’
Saint Clement of Alexandria.
‘The Lord carried his Cross as Isaac carried the
wood;
and the ram, caught by its horns in the thicket,
prefigures Jesus crowned with thorns and then slain in sacrifice.’
Saint Augustine of Hippo
Next time we shall reflect on Sarah, who like
Abraham is a person of real flesh and blood, of real emotion and feeling. She
is often referred to as ‘The Mother of the Promise’.
God Bless and Keep praying
Fr. O’Brien
