We have an idea about who Abraham was. We know he was an old man when he became a father – the covenant offered to he and his wife Sarah being given from God when they were advanced in years. We hear Abraham’s stories – all the bits and pieces and we’re left to wonder about him … what kind of man does all of the things Abraham did on the basis of a promise from God?
We may think he was a bit touched in the head … a bit senile perhaps … a little simple … daft … or perhaps so desperate that he was willing to try just about anything … then we encounter today’s troubling reading which sees Abraham taking the long awaited son given to him FINALLY in his old age from God, and willingly preparing Isaac as a blood sacrifice back to God.
The very thought of sacrificing one’s own child to any God is repulsive in our modern era … so we have difficulty with the story from the outset. It’s troubling, problematic and just plain disturbing.
What kind of a parent would willingly sacrifice their child?
Commentaries have a hay day with this reading. There is lots here to work with … but this week, as we combine our readings our commentaries focus on the idea of trust.
Trust between people.
Trust between us and God.
Trust within communities.
Trust – that foundation on which we build relationships and communities.
If you’re like me, trust is a word that enters into our thoughts and conversations quite frequently – often without even realizing it.
We use statements like “I wouldn’t trust him any farther than I could throw him …” Our American cousins proudly proclaim on their money “In God we trust.” And we often seek out product and services from merchants and businesses ‘that we trust.’
Yet, really if we look around our society, Trust is one of those precious things that is lacking … people don’t trust churches and clergy and will cite a LONG litany of misdeeds and scandals as their reason … people don’t trust the society around them an invest in locks and alarms and are increasingly opting for gated communities with special security because they ‘don’t trust their neighbours.’
We seldom trust our politicians to keep their word … we don’t trust the ‘experts’ but instead seek a second opinion … and we will skip over the conspiracy minded among us who actively trust NO ONE when it comes to anything scientific, political, economic or medical …
So to see this figure of Abraham journeying into the desert wilderness only to bind his son, place him on the altar and prepare to plunge a knife into his chest is for many all the proof they need that trust is a dangerous and foolish thing.
Why would we believe in, much less trust a God that would demand a blood sacrifice?
Why would we trust Abraham, or God, or the faith they are part of after a story like this?
But therein lies the proverbial rub … Abraham’s original promise was that he would become a great nation. A nation with as many descendents as there are stars in the sky, or grains of sand on the beach. The Covenant to Abraham was entirely dependent upon the young life strapped to the altar … the question that we fail to consider in that moment as Abraham raises the knife is simply this:
Is it possible that Abraham’s trust in God was ultimately so strong that he KNEW that God was simply testing him? Afterall, who would be left to worship God if Abraham followed through on the sacrifice and returned home an old and childless man?
Was that Abraham’s thought as he prepared his son for the sacrifice?
Is it possible that Abraham knew God couldn’t accept this sacrifice without violating the Covenant? And so Abraham played along, and rather than being tested by God, Abraham turned the tables on his old friend and put God to the test?
Abraham trusted God … that’s where our difficulty with this story begins. We can not believe that anyone could trust God enough to willingly do what Abraham did … but we forget that Abraham’s trust in God was based on a promise made many years earlier when he was visited by God and told he would become a great nation …
The problem in our modern society is that we’ve become too cynical and too dis-trustful. We no longer hold to the idea that a promise is a promise, and when you give your word you keep it.
Fortunately, that ethos is not completely lacking. In many places, especially in small towns and communities, a person’s word is still important and worth something, and many relationships are build on the simple assumption that you build strong community by TRUSTING in each other. And frequently that works …
In larger centres though, too many people have abused that trust, and so distrust prevails and our values and our ideals about trust have become an archaic relic from the past … but trust is still important.
There was a time when two people met and shook hands on an agreement their was no need for lawyers and contracts and so on … a man’s word was enough, as the saying goes. And we still hear of these hand shake agreements holding up – years ago a lawsuit was launched in the US when the executives of Texaco reneged on a handshake agreement made for the sale of the company – the court case found the executives violated that hand shake agreement and nullified subsequent written contracts because they were simply invalid – the trust expressed in the hand shake prevailed.
More recently, the work of Greg Mortenson and his building of schools throughout the mountainous back country of Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan and the toes of the Himalayas began as a handshake agreement given after three cups of tea …
At the end of the day it is all about trust. And in the case of Greg Mortenson, it is trust build in a very Scriptural way. His work began in a village high in the Himalayas after he shared three cups of tea with an elder in that village. Mortenson notes a teaching in that region that acknowledges “the first time you share tea you are a stranger. The second time you take tea, you are an honored guest. And the third time you share a cup of tea, you become family...”
With three visits – sharing hospitality three times – you move from a stranger to family by building trust.
Our faith is about trust – trusting in God, trusting in each other, and most importantly – trusting in ourselves. Then we take that trust and we live it by sharing our values, opening our doors, and sharing in the kind of hospitality that gave Abraham the Covenant promise in the first place.
The first Covenant with Abraham was given over a meal … Greg Mortenson’s work began over sharing a cup of tea … over and over we can find and cite examples of hospitality offered and shared that had a profound impact on the trajectory of the events that followed.
The question for us is whether we are willing to embody that kind of trust in ourselves, and be open to the transformative possibilities and power that is part of living the faith we share …
It’s not about blindly following God. It’s about trusting in God and using that trust to share our faith and share our values of welcome and hospitality knowing that God has never reneged on that original promise given to Abraham:
“… go to a land that I will show you, and there I will make of you a great nation. I shall bless you and make your name great …”
It’s ALL about living our faith with trust, hospitality and welcome …
May it be so – thanks be to God … Let us pray …
No comments:
Post a Comment