In 1965 the popular singer and songwriter Bob Dylan wrote:
Oh God said to Abraham, "Kill me a son"
….Abe says, "Where do you want this killin' done?"
God says, "Out on Highway 61."
I recall that when I was a young child, about the same time as the song was released, the family Bible had a print by the Italian baroque artist Giovanni Pittoni that depicted the sacrifice of Isaac. It was an image that I looked at many times, but I never asked much about it. I may have been the only member of the family who actually paid close attention to it. However, I remember well how it revealed the fury in Abraham's eyes and how it showed his powerful arm ready to thrust the dagger but stopped only by the hand of an angel. From that point on I felt that I had a good reason to believe in angels.
Undoubtedly, the biblical narrative of Abraham's sacrifice of his son Isaac is a story that has the power both to capture the religious imagination and inspire vivid poetic and artistic imagery; it's also a story to which, on the surface at least, most of us would have a hard time relating. As a parent I can't bring myself to step into the shoes of Abraham. Indeed there's probably not one parent here today who, outside of certain behavioral situations, can relate to the willful sacrifice of a child.
So, what exactly does the story of Abraham and Isaac really have to say to us on the second Sunday of Lent? Also, what are we to make of the juxtaposition of the gospel narrative of the Transfiguration, which, unlike the loss inherent in sacrifice, reveals a blessing resplendent in its glory?
If there is one point being made today in the readings, it has something to do with the spiritual lesson that sacrifice always leads to blessing, and that consequently the blessing is often proportional to the sacrifice. Now, this is certainly a good Lenten theme considering that Lent is the time of year when we make sacrifices. Not to worry too much if you haven't given a lot of effort to it so far because as long as it's still Lent it's not too late. Besides, you can sacrifice any time of year—Fridays throughout the year are still a good time for us to do this.
Before I talk about our particular way of sacrificing as Christians, which I don't need necessarily to say a lot about because we all know the areas we need to sacrifice in our own lives, I'd like to point out a few things about the sacrifice that Abraham was about to make before the angel intervened.
To grasp the full picture it's important to understand that Isaac was the child of promise, the long awaited son who was born when Abraham and Sarah were well-advanced in their years. The old couple finally had their baby whom God had promised to them. However, God spoke to Abraham, and the scripture says that he told him, "Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love… and offer him up as a holocaust." Therefore not only is the sacrifice of Isaac seen as the sacrifice of ultimate value and importance, but it serves to inform the Christian interpretation of the Good Friday sacrifice of Jesus as the beloved and only begotten Son of God who was not spared but willingly laid his life on the altar of sacrifice for the sake of all humanity—the same sacrifice that God allows to be present to us here as a reality in the sacrifice of the Mass, though the fear and dread inherent in Abraham's sacrifice is replaced with the fulfillment of God's love toward us in the Eucharistic sacrifice where he gives us his body and blood to atone for our failure.
Both the sacrifice made by Abraham and that offered freely by Christ bear the mark of a true test. Something that the parents of practically all school-aged children are aware of, along with their teachers and administrators, is that the testing season is upon us. Talk to any of them and they'll tell you that it's quite a sacrifice. It's not always easy to see what emerges from testing—it usually feels like a blessing to be done with it. However, God's test of Abraham's faith was quite different. From that test emerged not only the nation that gave us the law and prophets, but a more complete reality of salvation emerged. The sacrifice of Isaac became a prototype for future salvation.
Writing to the Romans St. Paul says, "Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness." Thus out of his sacrificial willingness Abraham becomes the father of all who believe. From Abraham's faith, demonstrated by his sacrifice, comes the great blessing of the Hebrew people, "I will make your descendents as countless as the stars of the sky and the sand of the seashore… in your descendents all nations of the earth will be blessed." We can add that in his descendents all who believe will be saved since from his descendents came the Christ.
If we take blessing as being truly reciprocal of sacrifice made in faith, we can see blessing revealed fully in the Transfiguration narrative in which the voice of God identifies Jesus as his beloved Son. He is the only one of the Father; the one whom the Father loves. The Transfiguration of Jesus allows us a glimpse into the finished work of God in the fullness of time. The Transfiguration transports us to a place where we can clearly see the glory of total and complete blessing. However, just as with the narrative concerning Abraham we know that the protagonist is about to be put to the test in the Good Friday sacrifice, and no angelic arm will dare reach forward to stop the hand of God who in his faithfulness toward us offers his beloved only Son as the price of salvation given once and for all.
Whatever sacrifices we choose to make, whether during Lent or any other time, we should make them in faith, and we should make them with the understanding that a sacrifice made in faith always carries a blessing. Sure, Lenten sacrifice can mean giving something up or doing without something. It can also mean taking the time to do something special for someone—especially if it's something we wouldn't ordinarily do. Praying for our friends and loved ones or doing something good for them takes less of a sacrifice than praying for or doing something good for an enemy. Sacrifice most commonly will mean accepting life's everyday difficulties with joy of knowing that whatever we do or go through with faith there will always a corresponding or reciprocal blessing, though be it one that we may not see immediately.
The true blessing of which Lent and its sacrifices serve to remind us is the blessing of salvation—a blessing that we should share with others while not counting any personal cost. Our sacrifices made in faith along the Lenten journey always lead us to the transfigured glory of the Easter blessing.
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