On That Windy Mountain

I imagine the day was dark. Surely the sky was cloudy and ominous as Abraham and Isaac made their way up the mountain. I imagine Abraham fighting against the force of the wind and the weight of his own dread with every step. He was arguing inside himself the whole way up the mountain. Surely it took every bit of his strength to trudge up the mountain – step by step by step. I imagine the sinking feeling that settled in the pit of his stomach as they arrived at the place for the alter. There was no more stalling; all that was left was to build the alter and offer the sacrifice.

The story of “The Binding of Isaac” is not an easy one to digest. For most of us, it does not leave us uplifted in the way we might be after remembering the story of Daniel in the Lion’s Den or David and Goliath or Jesus feeding the 5,000. Naturally we like to focus on the ending where God sent the angel and a ram to spare Isaac. But, even with the happier ending, I contend with the nagging questions that ask:

Why was Abraham even taking Isaac up there in the first place?

What kind of terrible neglectful parent would think God would ask them to sacrifice their child?

We call this man the Father of many nations? He almost killed his son Isaac, after sending his other son to die in the desert.

On the surface it seems difficult to give Abraham much of a pass. We might gloss over the terrible parts in our sermons and Bible studies because everything worked out in the end, but the layers of this story are filled with darkness and despair. We cannot help but think Abraham found himself in a situation we would never dare to consider.

Of course there are some who will point to the beginning of the story and say, God did tell Abraham to sacrifice the child whom he loved. This line of thinking could lead us to believe that surely Abraham misunderstood God. After all, would God really ever ask a parent to sacrifice their child? This does not jive with our understanding of Jesus who stretched out his arms and welcomed all the little children. On the other hand, one might point to the theological argument that reminds us that God has bigger purposes and plans and since God spared Isaac, the point was probably just to test Abraham’s faithfulness. For all I know, this is the exact reason Abraham found himself placing his beloved child on an alter on top of a mountain. My only niggling question is, didn’t God already know the faithfulness and lack of faithfulness of Abraham? We believe that God sees and knows the depths of us, surely God saw into the depth of Abraham. Besides that, Abraham had been on this crazy journey with God for at least 30 years when God asked him to leave his home and family and everyone he knew and loved to go to a random place in the desert. Surely God had a full understanding of Abraham’s level of faith and obedience.

The context of this narrative offers the reminder that Abraham lived in a time and a place when it was perfectly acceptable to sacrifice one’s child to their deity. This was a part of religious service/devotion for many. No one was looking at those parents and calling CPS or even calling their decisions into question. These sacrifices were normal and lauded. I cannot help but wonder if one of the points God was making to Abraham was to offer him even more evidence of how God is different than the deities worship by surrounding peoples. God is the giver of good gifts, the keeper of promises, and one who values all life. God’s actions and interactions stem from deep love and goodness. Of course belief in God requires sacrifice but the sacrifices God requires are often different than what we expect or what seems normal.

Writer and speaker, Will Willimon tells a story about teaching this biblical narrative to children. He showed them an impressive video depiction of the account. When it was over he asked the children if they knew what sacrifice meant? One little girl raised her hand and said, “My mommy and daddy are doctors. They help sick people to be better. Every day they do operations to help people.”

Willimon was not quite sure the little girl grasped the concept of sacrifice and asked her to tell why she believed that was sacrifice.

The girl continued by explaining, “And I go to the day care center after school. Sometimes on Saturdays too. Mommy and Daddy want to take me home, but they are busy helping sick people -- so lots of times I stay at the center. Sometimes on Sunday mornings we have pancakes, though.”

He said that all the children in the room nodded their heads because they understood.

In his reflection on the conversation, Willimon remarked, “How odd that we who make our homes and plant our gardens under the shadow of the mushroom cloud, who regularly discard our innocents in sacrifices to far lesser gods than Yahweh, should look condescendingly upon Abraham. No stranger to the ways of the real God, Abraham would know that a mad, disordered, barbaric age needs more than a faith with no claim but that its god can be served without cost.”

I sometimes wonder if we get so caught up in pointing to God’s goodness that we forget that there is a cost that comes with faith. Our faith in God is not something that simply enriches our life in much the same way as exercise, or reading, or making sure to eat our veggies. Abraham was willing to pay a price but the payment his sacrifice also missed the point. In response to the question, what does God require?  We hear the echo of the prophet Micah who says: Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.

We willingly make sacrifices for many other little gods: work, comfort, the perception of others, the list goes on and on but those are not the sacrifices of true faith.

Faith requires us to consider what is just for the world and the people who live in it?

Faith teaches us that if we want to say we possess any type of love we express it through kindness to all.

Faith reminds us that like Christ, we put on humility to walk with God. Like Christ we notice the needs of others instead of seeking to secure honor and garner favor. 

The sacrifice that is required is ourselves. Matthew reminds us of Jesus teaching, “If you want to save your life you will lose it but those who lose their lives in service to me will actually gain it.” (Matthew 16:25) 

Where are the places we willingly sacrifice?

Do they do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God?

Is there one area where we are more comfortable in our sacrifice than others?

Sacrifice requires us to step out of ourselves and onto the windy mountain. Sacrifice can seem scary and ominous but, perhaps, like Abraham, on that dark and windy mountain we will also meet God.