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Pop Quiz

A Sermon for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

July 2, 2023

The Rev. Robin Teasley

God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you.” So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and set out and went to the place in the distance that God had shown him. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place far away. Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the boy and I will go over there; we will worship, and then we will come back to you.” Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.

When they came to the place that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order. He bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” And Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.” Genesis 22:1-14

Pedro de Aorrente, Abraham e Isaac camino del sacrificio

Do you remember being in school when, on the day you least expected it, the teacher would say, “please take out a clean sheet of paper” and you knew there was about to be a pop quiz? My hands still get sweaty thinking about that! An unexpected quiz or test can change our grade, but more than that, it can change the direction of our journey, and help us see how we are really doing. A test can call us to account or give us a means by which we can do some serious introspection. It can bring a self-awareness that we have not been attentive enough to the tasks set before us.

Whatever direction our journey takes in life, there is always the possibility of a pop quiz, or a test, because throughout life we are continually being called by God to journey in new and unknown directions. And Abraham was no exception.

His life was one long journey, full of tests and challenges. Although God promised him both land and offspring, Abraham’s behavior was at times less than righteous – he failed a few tests! If you are searching for some good summer reading, try Genesis. It’s filled with juicy family drama and Abraham took part in plenty of it. Genesis is one of my favorite texts precisely because it’s filled with real, messy, imperfect humans, and because it shows us how God can work with us in all our mess and bring about redemption.

Beth Alpha Synagogue, Jezreel Valley, 6th century floor mosaic

In the story of the binding of Isaac that we hear today, it is clear from the start that God is testing Abraham. First three words…God tested Abraham! God calls Abraham yet again, as God has done all through the Genesis story. “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” God said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you.” Yet again Abraham is called, is asked to take a journey, to walk with God into an unknown future, to discover what God would show him.

Before we go any further, I need to tell you that there are many ways to explain this text, and none of them are fully adequate. In my bible this passage is entitled “The command to sacrifice Isaac.” In Judaism it is called the Akedah, The Binding. Older bibles often called it “The Sacrifice of Isaac” though Isaac was never sacrificed. Scholars still debate what it really means, one going so far as to say that Abraham and his God are appalling. It’s a beautiful, horrible, story that has captured the imagination of many throughout history. The binding of Isaac has been depicted in art by artists such as Rembrandt, Titian, Caravaggio, and Chagall, to name a few. The text is embedded in the earliest mosaics on the floors of synagogues in Israel, and on the walls of 4^th century catacombs in Rome. It has been wrestled into poetry and song by the likes of Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen.

Abraham Sacrifices Isaac, Fresco 4th century catacombs, Rome

It’s hard for us to understand the ways of the Old Testament God who seems wrathful and vindictive. We prefer the seemingly kinder, gentler God of the New Testament. We want answers, and we are used to experts providing the answers. In Abraham’s world, there was no scientific evidence, there were no archeological finds; there was only God. And whatever happened, good or bad, was believed to be from God, or from the pagan gods of other nations. It was the only way the people could make sense of life events, whether good or tragic. This doesn’t mean we cannot apply what we know now to an ancient text, but we do need to know the difference between assumptions we make now and what was common belief then.

Violence was a part of their world. Because other nations worshiped other gods and performed rituals like child sacrifice, Abraham’s willingness to offer Isaac to God was not seen at that time to be the horrendous act we know it to be today. We can compare this to other earlier cultural norms that are no longer acceptable, such as slavery, subjugation of women, and human inequality of every kind.

Titian, Sacrifice of Isaac

Perhaps this story continues to hold our attention because violence is a part of our world. Cultural norms hold great power over us. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, in his commentary on this passage suggests that in our flawed human nature, we take the word of God and our love for God and use it to kill others. When our love for God becomes hate for others, it is misguided. It is not what God intends.

We have no way of knowing what Abraham was thinking as he set out with Isaac on the journey to that mountain. His obedience in that moment might mean that he trusts God, or it might mean that he’s following current cultural norms. We can’t know that, only Abraham and God know that. The point here is not to debate God’s character or Abraham’s actions, but to try to understand what the story is saying, on its own terms. At best we hope that Abraham believed he was being obedient to God. Sometimes we think we are being obedient until God shows us differently. So where is God’s grace in this story for us?

At the center of this story is the faithfulness to God’s call, the uncertainty of the journey, and our response. So, what about the idea that God tested Abraham? Does God test us? The Hebrew word used here is nasah and it is not a negative word; it means to examine something to prove it to be true or reliable. There is testing throughout scripture. God tests the people to see if they will be faithful in relationship, and God is testing Abraham to be sure he’s trustworthy, despite his track record, because God hopes to build a holy nation through him.

Anthony van Dyck, Abraham and Isaac

The people test God to prove that God is trustworthy. We are testers by nature. We test drive a car before we buy it; we test the ice on the pond before skating on it. We test a restaurant before we decide to have dinner there by reading reviews online. And we test God and one another as well. It’s how we begin to develop relationships. It’s in the testing that we learn more about each other, begin to trust, begin to feel safe and make ourselves vulnerable to one another. Think about the people in your life who are trustworthy – what made them so?

What if this is a story to remind us that life can be hard, imperfect, and challenging at times; that we will face choices that are impossible to make, that sometimes life events are beyond all reason? What if this is a story to assure us that God makes provision for us even in the unfair sacrifices of our lives? What if this is a story to show us that no matter what is going on, God is with us, providing for us, waiting to say to us, “let me lead you into your future, to the land that I will show you?”

There is much we do not know and cannot explain. We have had expectations shattered and experienced things we do not understand. We have upheld cultural norms that God would have us abolish. We have not loved our neighbor as ourselves. There are things that we refuse to let go of, that we have not yet given to God. It’s all part of our journey. The grace is that God sees what we cannot see. God sees another way when we think we see the only way. Do we trust God’s seeing or do we keep trying to see on our own?

David Teniers de Jongere, Binding of Isaac

The final decision is ours, so yes, get out a clean sheet of paper for a pop quiz. Think about your answer, which may not be the answer everyone else gives. And know that even if we don’t have an answer now, God will give us another opportunity to try again. God will provide, as God has always done because God is faithful – so faithful that God sent his Son, his only Son Jesus, whom he loved.