1 March 2015
Second Sunday of Lent
His was an incomprehensible faith. Can we even imagine God calling any one of us to offer our child as a human sacrifice? To me, it feels like Abraham's was the ultimate test of faith.
This test of Abraham’s faith occurred many years after Abraham had learned to know the Lord. Abraham had a long time to come to trust God and presumably experience many tests of his faith.
We see in today’s story the obedience of God’s servant as he leads his child to Mt. Moriah (Jerusalem). Imagine the turmoil of the parent and the bewilderment of the child.
When God calls us to a test beyond our faith’s capacity to embrace, how do we respond? Does our faith fall apart in the midst of trial? Is there a “long walk” from the faith we acknowledge on our lips to the fidelity upon which we are called to act? During Lent, will we journey with Abraham and Isaac, with questions and hopes in obedience toward our own deeper trust in God?
It’s interesting how this very familiar story echoes beforehand the very pattern of salvation proclaimed in the New Testament. Abraham took his only son in sacrifice just as the Father would offer His only Son for our salvation. An obedient son (Son) accompanied the father (Father) to Moriah (Jerusalem) where God’s will would be carried out. God stayed the hand of Abraham. A father’s love accompanied an innocent son to the mountain. An unfathomable love for humankind accompanied the Son to Calvary.
The author, Ms. Barbara Gawle, Class of 2001, leads Bible studies at her parish, Incarnation Church of Wethersfield, CT. She is the 2012 recipient of the Biblical School's highest award, the Lawrence Boadt Memorial Medal.
