Sermon: The Faith of Abraham

            “Here I am.”

            Here it is… 
the strange story commonly known as Akedah Itzak
—the Binding of Isaac.

            A sacred story that asks many questions of us, 
even some we may not wish to answer.

            A story where:
-The Devotion of Abraham gets to the core of what we mean by Faith. 
-The Experience of Isaac raises questions about how that faith is passed on.
-God’s Intervention at the end, answers a gnawing question we may have, “What kind of God do we have faith in?”

Prayer

 

            Here I am, Lord!

            Just as I am. Everything on the line…

            I left Ur of the Chaldees all those years back, 
and with that all of my kinsfolk, 
to come to this land of promise. 

            To follow after you, Lord God… 
to travel by hoof and by foot 
through dessert and dryness and danger… 
over 2,000 miles, for you, 
because you called me, 
because we cut a covenant
—we made a relationship.

            Every other relationship broken… 
everything on edge…
I wrecked it all!
Hagar and Ishmael cast out. 
Sarah bitter and broken hearted.

            Again and again, 
everything on the line…

            Yet here I am, 
here I stand, on your promises alone.

 

Here I am, Lord!

            The promise of a son
—offspring and posterity 
as plentiful as the stars in the night sky
—my beloved son…. 
            Commanded by the very God who promised him to me… 
commanded to put him to the flame.

            It’s immoral, 
yet I will give way to your command… 
            Does not God’s awful command 
make ethical the unthinkable? 
The logic of every act of religious violence and fanaticism…
Yet…

 

Here I am, Lord!

            Face to face with how far I’ll go… 
Tested… 
my faith revealed.

            The Faith of Abraham, they will call it
—and debate about what it is:
            Is it mere cognitive assent
—belief
—knowing the right answers about God?

            Is it emotional investment
—a feeling of the heart
—being emotionally moved by God?

            If that is all this is about
—if that’s faith
—the test failed!

            I didn’t! I didn’t fail!
I trust you! 
I am in awe of you! 
I am utterly devoted to you, O Lord!

 

Here I am, Father!

            What a strange faith… 
I’ll give it a try, for you, dad.
            But you need to know, it isn’t enough to walk with you… 
though if you don’t let me do at least that, 
all of this is lost… 
            You need to understand Father Abraham
—I never knew Ur, 
I did not travel the roads you traveled. 

            What moves you does not move me.

Faith isn’t inherited without effort, intentionality, and love.
            If you don’t even go through the motions with me, 
what makes you think I will ever know your God?

 

Here I am, Father!

            As we walk, let me interrogate you for a while… 
because, you see, while we are walking together, 
we are generationally and experientially apart.
—let me see if this all passes the sniff test
—let me look under the hood 
and check your integrity. 

            Share your Holy Wisdom with me!

Tell me your story! 
Where’s the lamb? 
Who is this God we will sacrifice to?

            Let me participate too
—let me carry the wood, 
experience the danger of faith.

 

Here I am, Father!

            I have to experience it! 
I have to know this God for myself! 

            I need this faith translated into my vernacular! 
It need to be true to me! 
Now!
Not a generation ago.
Not a historical truth.
Not a formula or wager… 
but salvation now! 
God for me. 
Now!

(Perhaps this is what we do every Sunday
—experience together God and God’s promises, 
in a way that can be true for us today! 
At least for this week, 
this moment… 
bread for today and hope for tomorrow)

            Oh my Lord! Oh my God!

            The knife put away! 
The climax of Abraham’s promise is the beginning of Isaac’s own. 
My relationship with God. 
            This is the God who saved me!

 

Abraham! Abraham! Here I am!

            God with you in your pain
—you probably didn’t catch it… 
most translators don’t
—it’s one little word, 
in the midst of a big long sentence
—but I say in Hebrew “Na,” Please! 

            I recognize the horrific nature of this test
—I am not disinterested or unconcerned.

            This isn’t a situation 
where I do not understand the gravity of my command
—my request.

            I am suffering with you 
as you reach your ragged edge, 
climb up the steep mountain that is faith.

 

Abraham! Abraham! Here I am!

            This experience of yours
—it has echoes, it foretells
—another tale of faithfulness… 
            My Son, my only Son, whom I love, Jesus… 
Humanity will take him up Mount Golgotha,
will kill him… 
and I will accept their murder of him 
as a sacrifice for sin… 
even the sin of killing my son.

 

Abraham! Abraham! Here I am!

            Do not lay your hand on the boy, 
or do anything to him… 
I am not that kind of God!

            I am not some second-rate deity 
who requires gifts and sacrifices. 
I do not hunger or thirst, 
save for justice for all my children.

            No small God am I. 
I am the ground of all that is, 
and more still
—the source of all goodness.

            I am a God beyond religion
—for religion says “Sacrifice” 
but faith say “God will provide.”

            Look up! A ram!
Be a true steward
—you offer what I have first given you.

            It is said of me, 
“God demands mercy, 
not sacrifice, 
the knowledge of God, 
not holocaust.”

 

            “Here I am.”

            Here it is… Akedah Itzak.

            A story that speaks to us today about: 
-the nature of faith, 
-how faith is passed from generation to generation, 
and the subject of that faith
—God who is Merciful and Just.
Amen.