So…I’m guessing I’m not the only one who has a hard time with this story. How does a story about a dad offering to kill his kid end up as a children’s story anyway? If you were rating scary stories aimed at kids, It’d be right up there with Grimm’s fairy tales. And as an adult reading it…all I see is that it looks a lot like those religious parents who betray and abuse and reject their kids because they believe they are being “faithful” to what God wants. And I have seen too much of that….you may have seen it too. Or experienced it. Kids who grow up basically thinking God is a monster because God hates who they are…or because their parents hurt them and tell them they’re doing it because God says they should. The God who tells Abraham to walk with his son up that hill…well, he seems like that kind of a monster to me.
So what do we do with this story?
One thing that is helpful…to me, at least…is knowing that in Abraham’s world…all the gods were monsters. All the gods demanded sacrifices….and it wasn’t unusual for them to be children. And people did it willingly…because they truly believed it was the faithful and good thing to do. It was the right thing to do. And honestly…we shouldn’t be that startled by it, should we? There are other gods and monsters that we have willingly sacrificed our children for, haven’t we? You don’t think so? How about the God of “freedom”. ..or “Patriotism”. Many parents have proudly sacrificed their children’s lives, even as they grieved…because they believe it was for a higher cause. Freedom demands sacrifice. You’ve been taught that, I know. Well…let’s be honest…that belief isn’t all that different from the belief Abraham demonstrates here. He believes his God demands sacrifice. We cannot have God’s favor…God’s love…without sacrificing what is dear to us It is the only way. And even if that is Abraham’s only son, he believes it is what needs to be done. As we hear so often… freedom isn’t free…it costs something. It costs the lives and souls of generations of young people. Just so, Abraham and so many others, deeply believe that God’s favor isn’t free….it costs something. And it often costs what is most dear to us.
The entire sacrificial system….laid out meticulously in those books after Genesis…Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy…the bulk of what is called the Torah…is based on the premise that God demands something of us. It is true that after the story of Isaac…they attempt to make it clear that God will not demand child sacrifice as other gods in Canaan have done. But goats and sheep and rams and cattle and birds, and, of course, grain and fruit and gold and all other manner of sacrifice will be demanded.
That’s how religion is done, after all. It’s what we humans have believed throughout time.
But we were wrong. We are wrong. And in our own Scripture…in the prophets…over and over, God tries to make us understand. I don’t care about your sacrifices and rites and the things you do, God says. I love you. I just love you, and I want you to love me. To love each other. But we don’t listen. We keep insisting that God will like us WHEN we do the right things. When we adopt a certain faith. When we hurt and hate those who are wrong. When we keep ourselves clean. Pure…by whatever religious standards we hold. When we make the right sacrifices….THEN we will be good enough for God.
But it’s all a lie. It’s a scam by bandits and thieves to steal peoples lives.
How do we know? Jesus tells us so. Jesus came.,,and he said…fine. If you need a sacrifice…if you are so sure God demands something….I’ll be it. God, in Jesus…came to do away with our infernal and wrongheaded belief that God’s love demands sacrifice. That we can hurt others and pat ourselves on the back, saying we’ve been righteous after all.
No, God doesn’t desire sacrifice. We do. Because we want to believe we’re doing it right. That we’re saving ourselves. We have earned God’s favor. But the truth has always been that God is love. And God is grace. And rather than carrying heavy burdens that demand our perfection…that demand we get it right…Jesus invites us to lay those burdens down and rest in God’s grace that is more expansive than we can fathom. Jesus knows all those other gods are monsters. Liars. Thieves and bandits. They kill and destroy. But Jesus invites us to drink deeply from the water of life, to enter his safe pastures just as we are and be loved. Jesus doesn’t ask you to sacrifice your children for the sake of righteousness….he lays down his life…so that we might know that nothing can stand in the way of God’s love. Nothing.
Jesus is GOD with us. And Jesus loves us. Jesus walks with us and shows us a way of living that refuses to believe that God is a monster. Rather, Jesus reveals God who loves us even when we are monsters. Even when we demand blood…even when we call for his crucifixion….Jesus loves us. Forgives us…because we have no idea what we’re doing.
When I see the victims of religious cruelty and hatred….it breaks my heart. They are God’s beloved children. And when I see those who commit those atrocities…I am angry….but I also hear Jesus’ brokenhearted cries for them. As he looked over Jerusalem and cried how God longed to gather them under her wings like a mother hen…and they would not. Jesus weeps because we refuse to let God love us…simply love us as we are. Instead, we follow after the liars and bandits….who tell us we are not good enough. We have not done enough. Who insist that God demands we climb the ladder of righteousness…the hill of sacrifice. Jesus wept over the faith that called some people unclean and unwanted and unworthy. Because Jesus knows that God simply wants to gather you under her wings. Jesus wants to bring you into the safety of his sheepfold. You are mine…that is what Jesus says to you. You belong. Come, you who are weary…who are carrying heavy burdens…and rest. Drink from the water of life…and never be thirsty again. YOU ARE enough. You are God’s beloved. Amen.
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