Confession again. This text has never made sense to me as a story of Abraham's faith. It makes beautiful sense…revelatory sense...as a story about the challenges in discerning the authentic voice of God.
God doesn't change. But hopefully we do. The scriptures tell the unfolding story of the human race and her growing relationship to the God who brought us to being and who calls us to communion. So, we have been at this for a long time! And this long time is full of baby steps. They look like baby steps to us in the 21st century but a long long time ago it took a powerful amount of openness to hear,
"Abraham, Abraham, I know you're stuck believing like the whole world around you believes, that I want you to sacrifice your son…that that is what I am hungry for…but…"
In a moment of openness to the One God who doesn't change, Abraham was able to hear that his only son's life, the miraculously conceived son that has been the subject of much of Genesis to this point, that his life is not on God's most wanted list.
That's as far as it went. The ram was there. The ram will do...for now. Later on it will be Hosea who will reveal that a "contrite heart" is the sacrifice that God longs for.
I love how the biblical narrative doesn't cover up our slowness; how it's pretty honest about our past behaviors. It is the inspired story about us and our coming to know the one true God. It is not particularly neat and tidy.
What/who am I hearing? Is it God, my culture, my ego? What is it that I am so sure that God is saying, and might it be this time's child sacrifice? It may likely be something that is such a given…like child-sacrifice in Abraham's time…something that might take an attacking ram to dislodge.
God of Peace and non-violence
Grant me a spirit of discernment
That is not afraid to look at "givens"
A spirit keen on moving toward your likeness
For this I pray
Amen
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