After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham, Abraham!” He answered, “Here I am.” He said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
GENESIS 22:1-18
After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham, Abraham!” He answered, “Here I am.” He said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter 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, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”
And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.
And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”
According to the “theological” reading of Genesis, Abraham is to be, by divine promise, “the father of the people.” That God asks him for the sacrifice of his only son seems to contradict that promise, but Abraham does not doubt God and is willing to obey Him, to trust God to that extent.
This is a very primitive text, in its origins and in its theology. In its origins, it probably refers to an ancient rite of human sacrifices, later replaced by the offering of animals. In its theology, it is presented as a “test.” God tests Abraham’s fidelity by asking him for the sacrifice of his only son, on whom the Patriarch’s descendants depend, and he shows himself willing to do whatever God asks of him.
The narrative has, this Sunday, another reading, drawn from a phrase in the letter to the Romans. “If God did not spare his own Son…”. Thus, the fidelity of Abraham is transposed to God Himself. Abraham shows his absolute fidelity to God by being willing to sacrifice his only son. God shows His absolute fidelity by giving His own Son for us. The message, therefore, is one of trust in God the Savior. The reading of the fragment from Paul’s letter culminates that of the book of Genesis: “the love of God manifested in Jesus Christ.”
ROMANS 8:31-34
If God is for us, who can be against us?
He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This is one of the most inspired passages of all of Paul’s writings, a magnificent hymn of faith in Jesus as the “tangible proof” of God’s love. We cannot enter into a detailed exegesis today, but we will point out some basic aspects:
· A vehement invitation to admit the God of Jesus. God is the one who “did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all.” Not even the beloved Son, the favored one, is a “price” too high for the Father’s saving zeal. This radically changes that strange theology based on the idea that God forgives by receiving the sacrifice of the blood and death of his Son – in which the Son is the good one and the Father the just one, in which the wrath of God is appeased by the blood of Jesus -.
· It is the love of the Father that goes as far as giving up his Son. Thus, the cross and death of Jesus is a testimony of the love of Jesus, who does not hesitate to go to the end in his self-giving; and it is a testimony of the love of the Father, who does not hesitate to offer what he loves most, his Son Jesus, so that all may have life. And thus, “if God is for us, who can be against us?”
· But against us is all the evil of the world, “tribulation, distress, persecution, hunger, nakedness, danger…” and we can add “injustice, oppression, illness, old age, death, pain.” Well, despite all that, we continue to believe in the love of God, because we have seen it in the love of Jesus, capable of assuming even death on a cross.
Magnificent text, which places the Father in his rightful place and forever displaces the Judge appeased by the blood of Christ. Magnificent text that, without attempting to explain the evil of the world, makes an act of faith in the love of God solely because it has been seen and touched in Jesus.
José Enrique Galarreta, S.J.