Genesis 22:1-14 – The Message

1 Sometime later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”

   “Here I am,” he replied.

 2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

 3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”

 6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”

   “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.

   “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

 8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

 9 When they reached the 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. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”

   “Here I am,” he replied.

 12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”

 13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram[a] caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”

Matthew 10:40-42 – The Message

40 “Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. 41 Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. 42 And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.”

Those three words scare me; “God tested Abraham.”  I don’t like tests.  I’ve never liked tests.  I truthfully don’t know anyone who likes tests.  Those who say they do are only that way because they know they know and if you know that you know then it’s not really a test.  Tests imply some uncertainty and with that come danger.  Tests are only helpful if there’s chance that a person might fail. 

Tests imply risk.  We live in a culture trying desperately to avoid risk.  Unless it’s an outlandish risk that we choose (see: bungee jumping, skate board parks, rock climbing, roller coasters, dating, marriage);  At least some of those risks are welcomed by some of us.  But at the same time we need to be reminded that coffee is often very hot, glass will break if bumped against something hard, knives will cut skin, and small round objects may cause choking if swallowed.

I like stories that begin, “Once upon a time” or “It was a dark and stormy night”, or “it was the best of times; it was the worst of times.” But that’s not how this story that scares and mystifies us begins.  “God tested Abraham.”

You’d think Abraham had been tested enough by now.  God asked him to leave his ancestral home and go…someplace; to a land that God would show him and where God would provide children more numerous than the grains of sand.  Abraham went.  There were various other tests along involving his wife Sarah and his nephew Lot.  He struggled through them all, sometimes failing, sometimes arguing, and sometimes trying to stack the deck in order to experience the desired results.  (see Ishmael)  The first child of that promise of descendents more numerous than the grains of sand was finally born (when all Abraham and Sarah’s plans were exhausted).  He was named Isaac.

It was the same Isaac that was the son of this test.  Read verse 2.  Read verse 3.  Did you notice anything odd?  This is perhaps the first time that Abraham didn’t question, didn’t argue, didn’t barter God. It doesn’t even say, “After a restless night, Abraham got up and loaded his donkey.”  From the beginning of this test, in spite of our own misgivings and the “cringe-factor” of the request, we can see where this is going.  Abraham is going to do what God asks.  At another time and place we read about Jesus who has “set his face toward Jerusalem.”  I imagine the same look on Abraham’s face.

You can read the rest of the story.  It is not complicated.  Abraham and his crew travel three days until they see the where they are going.  The two servants stay behind while Isaac carries the wood for the sacrifice and his father carries the knife and fire.  (The two things that Isaac might hurt himself with.) 

We imagine a young boy but some scholars, who like tracing numbers and looking for clues, have figured Isaac’s age at 27.  Maybe he carried the wood because it weighed the most.  After all Abraham is older than any one who is currently a member of 1st UMC Kennett.

Read the rest.  The only reason anyone can continue now is because we know how it ends.  God provides.  I thought my spell checker would underline that sentence.  But it doesn’t. I know there’s an official name for the part of the sentence that seems to be missing.  We’d like it better if it answered the question, “What?”  God provides good health.  God provides safe travels.  God provides good homes.  God provides wonderful spouses.  God provides protection.  God provides stuff.

But Abraham’s proclamation cannot be modified by human need.  He has come to know simply that, “God provides.”  I believe that understanding of God’s personality is at the heart of the doctrine of grace.  Our belief in God’s grace is one of the essentials of Christian faith.  Grace is at the heart of our understanding of salvation.  I’ve come to understand salvation in terms of our relationship with God.  The salvation God offers is grounded in God’s grace.  Salvation is not earned but offered.  United Methodist’s believe our relationship is based upon God’s grace and so when we gather we do so to praise the One who has given us eternal life.  We don’t come to worship hoping we can please God and receive God’s love.  We come to worship because God loves us and has provided the way for us to enter into eternal salvation (relationship with God). 

So…how does God provide?  I think it’s interesting that the story of Abraham’s sacrifice is smashed together with Matthew’s remembrance of the time Jesus sent his Disciples out into the world to become Apostles.  Disciples are people who follow a Master, learning what the Master has to teach.  An Apostle is someone who takes what was learned as a Disciple and uses it to do the Master’s work.  So Jesus sends them out to cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons, give without payment, leave your money bag and suitcase at home, trust those who welcome you, leave those who curse you, beware the persecutions that will happen because you do Jesus’ work, trust God for the right words, remember who you work for, be like your Master, do not fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul, serve the one who can destroy both soul and body. (first part of chapter 10)

Now at the end of the chapter Jesus starts talking about welcoming prophets, righteous ones, and giving a cup of cold water to these little ones who are his Disciples.  Who is he talking to?  He’s talking to me and you and everyone who receives the blessings of one of Jesus’ Apostles.  God calls us to provide.  When we provide we do so because God has told us to do so.  Isn’t that a masterful way of doing things. 

The way we magnify the grace God provides, provides.  Pray about it.

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