Genesis 21:1-23:20…
There’s a lot going on in our readings from Genesis today so we’ll just focus in on a couple of things. First, the birth of Isaac. It’s through Isaac that God’s promise is to come true: that Abraham’s descendants will become as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand on the beach. Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born, which goes to show that nothing is impossible for God. It also goes to show how much faith Abraham had for believing God! And look at Sarah, who’d laughed at the very idea that she could have a child when the 3 visitors had paid Abraham a visit to his tent. She’s now laughing with sheer joy. God, you see, has taken Abraham and Sarah on a journey from being insignificant folks living somewhere in the east to the first great couple of the faith. And the crowning moment of this work that God has been doing in their lives is the arrival of their son. And through him, God’s people will grow in number and spread over all the land. That really is a cause for great joy and celebration.
But wait a minute, we now turn to chapter 22. So here’s Isaac – long awaited, the child of promise – and God tells Abraham to go and kill him on top of a mountain. This sounds crazy – at best. The philosopher, Immanuel Kant, thought that the voice Abraham actually heard couldn’t have been God’s voice because God is good. It could only have been an evil, demonic voice. Bob Dylan – the singer/songwriter – put it like this: God said to Abraham, ‘go kill me a son.’ Abe said, ‘Man, you must be puttin’ me on.’
But you know, I think they were both wrong. Kant was wrong because devotion to God means that you’re willing to give everything – holding nothing back. And God wants to rest Abraham here to see if he’s that willing to follow him. A big ask, but it’s certainly God – the good, loving, all-consuming God – who asks the question… a God who wants everything Abraham has to offer.
And Dylan was wrong because Abraham understood just that: that devotion to God means that you’re willing to give everything and hold nothing back. So Abraham doesn’t say, ‘Man, you must be putting me on.’ He says, ‘Here I am.’ Those are words of faith. Those words mean, essentially, ‘I’m yours, completely… I’m willing to go for you and I’m not going to hold anything back.’ Even though God asks him for his son – his only son who he’d waited 100 years for and whom God himself had given him. Still, Abraham says, ‘Here I am.’
And they trudge up the hill together. Abraham must have been scared stiff. We shiver when Isaac asks the question, ‘we’ve got all we need apart from the lamb?’ And we almost want to punch Abraham for trying to be all holy instead of just being straight with him: ‘God will provide it.’ But, then again, if he’d told Isaac he’d have run a mile.
And we can only imagine the scene as Abraham tied his son to the altar of wood, Isaac kicking and screaming like mad. Then Abraham raises the knife over his son and… ‘Abraham! Abraham!’
God is not a monster who wants child sacrifices but he is a God who wants faith… who wants everything we have. And Abraham passed the test – he was willing. And God, it turns out, does provide the animal, just as Abraham had said, a ram caught in the thicket which he slaughters and sacrifices to God. What a story, whatever you make of it.
As a new(ish) father I’ve started to read this story differently. I want to walk with Charlie and get him to a point when I can tie him to something holy (not literally of course) and then I want God to ‘get him.’ I want God to set his heart on fire. One of these days Charlie and I will arrive at a sacred place and I will lay him down on an altar of faith. And when that day comes – when the car keys, the career plans, the dates and the decisions are his, not ours – his mum and I will offer him up to God who (and we actually believe this) has a plan.
And, as your youth leader, I want that for you all as well – that God would ‘get you’ and set your heart on fire. And I guess my job is simply to be one of the people who try and get you close enough to God’s holy spark… you and Jesus can take it from there.
Matthew 8:23-9:13…
I’ve gone on far too long about Genesis today, so just a couple of things from Matthew. Jesus – the King – has authority over nature, demons and illness. Moreover, he can forgive sins – which all the Pharisees and teachers of the law knew fine well only God can do. Therefore they accuse him of blaspheming – being offensive to God – instead of interpreting Jesus actions as they should have done… that he is God himself. Indeed, as we’ve suspected all along in Matthew, this King is none other than God himself: the King of kings and the Lord of lords. And, just to prove it, Jesus heals the man who’s sins he’d just forgiven.
And then Jesus goes and calls Matthew – the wrong sort of person. A tax collector and, therefore, a Roman sympathiser – hated by everyone in the area, no doubt. But Matthew follows him and, when Jesus is challenged about this and who his friends are (who are all the wrong sort, by the way) he simply says, ‘it’s not the healthy that need a doctor, but the sick… I’ve not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’ And he’s still doing that to this day.
Psalm 7:10-17…
The psalmist, continuing from yesterday, now plays off God – who is good, wise and powerful - against the evildoers and wicked people on the earth. There’s no comparison. And we, like the psalmist, should be thankful to God because it’s him we depend on and trust and who will be triumphant, not the sort of people we read about in this Psalm, who are ‘pregnant with evil.’ And therefore we, also, should sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.
There’s a lot going on in our readings from Genesis today so we’ll just focus in on a couple of things. First, the birth of Isaac. It’s through Isaac that God’s promise is to come true: that Abraham’s descendants will become as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand on the beach. Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born, which goes to show that nothing is impossible for God. It also goes to show how much faith Abraham had for believing God! And look at Sarah, who’d laughed at the very idea that she could have a child when the 3 visitors had paid Abraham a visit to his tent. She’s now laughing with sheer joy. God, you see, has taken Abraham and Sarah on a journey from being insignificant folks living somewhere in the east to the first great couple of the faith. And the crowning moment of this work that God has been doing in their lives is the arrival of their son. And through him, God’s people will grow in number and spread over all the land. That really is a cause for great joy and celebration.
But wait a minute, we now turn to chapter 22. So here’s Isaac – long awaited, the child of promise – and God tells Abraham to go and kill him on top of a mountain. This sounds crazy – at best. The philosopher, Immanuel Kant, thought that the voice Abraham actually heard couldn’t have been God’s voice because God is good. It could only have been an evil, demonic voice. Bob Dylan – the singer/songwriter – put it like this: God said to Abraham, ‘go kill me a son.’ Abe said, ‘Man, you must be puttin’ me on.’
But you know, I think they were both wrong. Kant was wrong because devotion to God means that you’re willing to give everything – holding nothing back. And God wants to rest Abraham here to see if he’s that willing to follow him. A big ask, but it’s certainly God – the good, loving, all-consuming God – who asks the question… a God who wants everything Abraham has to offer.
And Dylan was wrong because Abraham understood just that: that devotion to God means that you’re willing to give everything and hold nothing back. So Abraham doesn’t say, ‘Man, you must be putting me on.’ He says, ‘Here I am.’ Those are words of faith. Those words mean, essentially, ‘I’m yours, completely… I’m willing to go for you and I’m not going to hold anything back.’ Even though God asks him for his son – his only son who he’d waited 100 years for and whom God himself had given him. Still, Abraham says, ‘Here I am.’
And they trudge up the hill together. Abraham must have been scared stiff. We shiver when Isaac asks the question, ‘we’ve got all we need apart from the lamb?’ And we almost want to punch Abraham for trying to be all holy instead of just being straight with him: ‘God will provide it.’ But, then again, if he’d told Isaac he’d have run a mile.
And we can only imagine the scene as Abraham tied his son to the altar of wood, Isaac kicking and screaming like mad. Then Abraham raises the knife over his son and… ‘Abraham! Abraham!’
God is not a monster who wants child sacrifices but he is a God who wants faith… who wants everything we have. And Abraham passed the test – he was willing. And God, it turns out, does provide the animal, just as Abraham had said, a ram caught in the thicket which he slaughters and sacrifices to God. What a story, whatever you make of it.
As a new(ish) father I’ve started to read this story differently. I want to walk with Charlie and get him to a point when I can tie him to something holy (not literally of course) and then I want God to ‘get him.’ I want God to set his heart on fire. One of these days Charlie and I will arrive at a sacred place and I will lay him down on an altar of faith. And when that day comes – when the car keys, the career plans, the dates and the decisions are his, not ours – his mum and I will offer him up to God who (and we actually believe this) has a plan.
And, as your youth leader, I want that for you all as well – that God would ‘get you’ and set your heart on fire. And I guess my job is simply to be one of the people who try and get you close enough to God’s holy spark… you and Jesus can take it from there.
Matthew 8:23-9:13…
I’ve gone on far too long about Genesis today, so just a couple of things from Matthew. Jesus – the King – has authority over nature, demons and illness. Moreover, he can forgive sins – which all the Pharisees and teachers of the law knew fine well only God can do. Therefore they accuse him of blaspheming – being offensive to God – instead of interpreting Jesus actions as they should have done… that he is God himself. Indeed, as we’ve suspected all along in Matthew, this King is none other than God himself: the King of kings and the Lord of lords. And, just to prove it, Jesus heals the man who’s sins he’d just forgiven.
And then Jesus goes and calls Matthew – the wrong sort of person. A tax collector and, therefore, a Roman sympathiser – hated by everyone in the area, no doubt. But Matthew follows him and, when Jesus is challenged about this and who his friends are (who are all the wrong sort, by the way) he simply says, ‘it’s not the healthy that need a doctor, but the sick… I’ve not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’ And he’s still doing that to this day.
Psalm 7:10-17…
The psalmist, continuing from yesterday, now plays off God – who is good, wise and powerful - against the evildoers and wicked people on the earth. There’s no comparison. And we, like the psalmist, should be thankful to God because it’s him we depend on and trust and who will be triumphant, not the sort of people we read about in this Psalm, who are ‘pregnant with evil.’ And therefore we, also, should sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.
No comments:
Post a Comment