Word to the Wise
Thursday, July 2, 2009 - Thursday in the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
[Genesis 22:1B-19 and Matthew 9:1-8]"Abraham, Abraham!" "Here I am," he answered. "Do not lay your hand on the boy, " said the messenger. "Do not do the least thing to him. I know now how devoted you are to God, since you did not withhold from me your own beloved son."
This story of Abraham and Isaac can have a rather horrifying impact on us. The whole notion of child-sacrifice is abhorrent (although our society is shot through with child abuse!) and was condemned elsewhere in the Old Testament as well. It was practiced even in Israel, as the prophets testify in their condemnations. What are we to make of it? One commentary suggests that we see the images of the loving father and the obedient son and an alternative sacrifice in this story. Another focuses on the test of faith for Abraham even to believing that God would keep the divine promise even if it would be necessary to raise Isaac from death! One wonders if Abraham himself was the one who was testing God? The richness of the story offers interesting interpretations for pew folk and scholars alike! My readers may, by now surely, know of my admiration for the dramatic qualities of the Gospel of John. I see some of the same dramatic qualities in the saga of Abraham and in so many of the stories that are part of that saga. The story of Sarah and Hagar and their respective offspring, the story of Abraham and Isaac, the story of Abraham bargaining with God over the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah - these all have the quality of high drama, a drama of intimate faith leading to a great future. Does God seem to ask the impossible or abhorrent of us? Is there some drama in our life of faith? How would we tell our own story? What sacrifice have we been spared (or not spared)? AMEN
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