No Way!

"Then God said, 'Take your son, your only son, Issac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.'...When they reached place God had told him about, abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son." Genesis 22:2, 9-10

No Way!
By Rev. William Dohle

My children, like many children I imagine, hate chores! They really despise them. For instance...We tell them one day: "Pick up your room."

And at first they pretend not to hear us.

"Pick up your room."

And they look, questioning, in our direction.

"I said, pick up your room."

And then they say, "Huh?"

"You better pick up your room!"

And then the fit starts! Our oldest throws himself on the ground in a fit. Our middle child continues to ignore us. And our daughter starts crying out for help.

"Pick up your room!"

Finally one or the other slumps into the room. The daughter is still crying for help. The middle is still looking clueless on the floor, but the oldest goes to work, however reluctantly and angrily.

All from one simple command: Clean up your room.

Imagine if that was the response Abraham had when God asked him to do the unthinkable: to kill his son. It would make an excellent comedy!

"Abraham! Take your son and go to the mountain to sacrifice him."
"Huh?" Says Abraham, half-heartedly.
"Take your son."
"You talkin' to me?" Abraham replies.
"Abraham listen!"
"Oh... do I have to!? Didn't I just do it?"
"Abraham! Go! Now!"
"Alright! Alright! I'll go! Just chill out!"

Of course Abraham doesn't do this. Abraham does what God asks him to. He takes the son he loves. He binds him up. And he raises the knife, as if the sacrifice the boy. Then, and only then, does God intervene and tell him to stop, saying, "Now I know that you fear God because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son."(vs. 12)

Thankfully God doesn't ask us to sacrifice our children. He's already done the dirty deed for us. He sacrificed his Son on the cross for us. And, unlike Isaac who is spared the knife, Jesus suffers death on the cross for us and in our stead. We needn't obey God in the impossible. Instead, we are called to obey him in the possible tasks around us.

"He has shown you, O Mortal, what is good and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God."(Micah 6:8)

Will we, like our children, make excuses to cover us? Will we put off what God is asking of us to do? Will we say it's just too hard or that we have too many other things to do? Is God going to understand if we have baseball games, football games, basketball games, or some other commitments that we've made? Or might he just be anxious for our answer...and our response?

Will we feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, clothe the naked, welcome the stranger, heal the sick, and visit the imprisoned...or not? What is your answer?

Heavenly Father, you have already done the impossible by sacrificing your Son. You have done what even Abraham wasn't required to do for us. May we set our eyes on the possible deeds around us that all might be done to the glory of your name, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.