The author of the Genesis has a profound ability for understatement. This is chapter 22 of Genesis. Abraham is 100 years old. And it says “After these things” God tested Abraham. Being tested by God was not exactly a new experience for Abraham. Let’s review what “these things” were to Abraham.
In chapter 12 of Genesis, when Abraham was only seventy-five years old, God spoke to him and said “Go from your land and your kindred and your father’s house. Pack up everything you’ve got and head off.... I’ll tell you where you’re going once you’re on the road.” Now you all know that when God calls someone, or when an angel of God appears to someone, their life is pretty much turned upside down. It happened to Mary and Joseph, it happened to Paul, and it happened to Abraham. That is a theme you can find through the Bible. As a friend once put it, “When God calls you, you better just realize that your life will never be the same.”
And so it was for Abraham, who was still known as Abram. He was seventyfive years old. He had know no children, yet God promised to make his descendants more numerous than the stars. Abram’s life was never going to be the same again.
Abram went along with God’s plan for a little while, but he became a little uneasy when they arrive in one of the towns. He was afraid that the powerful men in the town would kill him to take his wife away from them. Nevermind that God had promised him that he will reach this new land, Abram felt like he needed to take matters into his own hands, so he told his wife to pretend she’s his sister. God was unhappy with that idea, and sent a plague on the land until Abram confessed that she was really his wife. Abram realized then that his choices had severe consequences.
Jumping ahead a little, we come to Genesis chapter 16. Abram’s wife is getting a little impatient waiting for God to make good on His promise. She decided that she needed to take matters into her own hands, and help God out a little. After all, it had been ten years, Abram was 85 years old, and still no heir. So she came up with the idea to have Abram gain an heir through Hagar, her slave-girl.
Now Biblical scholars and sociologists will tell you that this was not an uncommon practice. After all, in such a society, you get an heir in any way possible.
Someone probably told Sar’ai that “God helps those who help themselves” and she unfortunately believed them, even though the Bible tells us time and time again that God helps those who cannot help themselves, and more often then not when we take matters into our own hands we find ourselves making bad decisions.
Sar’ai learned the hard way to be careful what you ask for, because Hagar immediately became pregnant, and “looked with disdain” on Sar’ai. Then Sar’ai had learned that her choices had rather severe consequences that also came from not trusting in God.
That was Genesis, chapter 16. Abram was 86 when his son Ismael was born.
The next 13 years are entirely unknown to us. When we arrive at chapter 17, Abram is 99 years old. My guess is that it was a quiet 13 years in Abram’s household. Then God appeared to Abram and told him that his name would from then on be Abraham, and that he should start calling his wife Sarah. God repeated the promise to Abraham but this time made it clear that he would have a son with Sarah. Those of you who are parents know what that is like, you sometimes don’t realize how specific you need to be with your children until you see how strangely they interpret what you say to them.
When God told Abraham he was going to have a son with Sarah, Abraham actually fell over laughing. It says exactly that in the Bible: “Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed” — after all, Sarah was 90, and he was 99. Abraham made a brief attempt to negotiate with God by reminding him that he did already have a son. But God did not listen. God then commanded that he and Ismael both be circumcised. Abraham was circumcised at age 99, Ishmael was 13.
And that only brings us to the end of chapter 17.
For the sake of time, let’s skip ahead to chapter 21, where at age 100 M-^W Isaac is born to Sarah and Abraham. You might think this would be the high point of the story, except that Abraham and Sarah are still faced with a consequence of their earlier actions, namely Ismael. Sarah doesn’t like Isaac playing with Ishmael and tells Abraham to send Ishmael and his mother Hagar away. Abraham, who probably wasn’t very comfortable with the situation either, did just that and sent his first-born son and his son’s mother away.
All of which leads up to Genesis, chapter 22, and the words: After these things God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here am I.” 25 years of Abraham’s life, and 10 chapters of the Bible, are summarized in 3 words: “After these things.” And what does God decide “after all these things”? Does he decide to let Abraham sit back and enjoy the son he has waited 25 years for? No. God decides to test Abraham. God called to Abraham again. Now remember the last time God called Abraham it was to leave his entire life behind; his family and friends, the land he had lived on for his entire life. And this call from God will be no less dramatic.
God told Abraham to give up his son, who he had waited for all those years. The son which he had doubted he would ever have, the son which he had wanted so badly he had tried to have with Hagar. Now God has told Abraham to give Isaac back to God. God offered no reason for his command to Abraham, and Abraham did not question it. Abraham did not plead for himself or for his son.
Again scholars offer many different theories on why they think that Abraham was willing to do what God asked. Some scholars believe that Abraham trusted that God would raise Isaac from the dead. Others say that Abraham just did whatever God wanted without question, but we know better than that.
Abraham was not shy about talking and negotiating with God. Abraham had pleaded for Sodom and Gomorrah, asking God not to destroy the people if Abraham could find 50 or 45 or 40 or 30 or 20 or ten righteous people. Abraham was not afraid to question God, even to bargain with God. But when God asked him for what he cared most for, Abraham was willing to (quite literally) make the sacrifice. And the fact of the matter is that we don’t know exactly what he was thinking, all we know is that he was willing. He rose early the next morning to head off to do what God had commanded.
You heard the rest of the story. As Abraham raised the knife, God calls out “Abraham, Abraham.” The repetition is interesting. When God decided to test Abraham, he called his name only once. Now he calls him twice. God knows that Abraham has given himself fully to God’s will. After all these years of questioning, taking matters into his own hands, and making choices on his own, he finally had proven that he was willing to do whatever God asked.
Some might ask why God decided to test Abraham like that, since he had been through so much already. It almost seems cruel of God to put Abraham through that — not to mention Isaac! That is a question we cannot answer. Not explanation is given, beyond the testing of Abraham’s faithfulness.
We have heard this story so often we might forget how outrageous it seems. Many of you probably know couples who waited years and years to have a child, perhaps some of you in this room had that experience. Try to imagine waiting for 25 years – try to imagine even 15 years — and then to be told that God wants you to sacrifice your child, with no explanation given.
If you listen to the story with new ears, pretending that you have never heard it before, it can’t help but to be a breathless/heart-stopping tale. A dramatic story with a stunning end. If it were made into a major motion picture the question on everyone’s mind coming out of the theatre would be: “What would you have done if you were Abraham?” It seems like a purely theoretical question, doesn’t it? After all, none of us will ever be faced with this choice, asked to give the life of our own child.
No, I doubt any of us will ever find ourselves in that literal situation. But there is much that we can learn from it nonetheless. One of the lessons of the story of Abraham is that we need to be very careful when making choices. We need to do our best to determine if our choices are self-serving, or God-serving. As Abraham and Sarah learned, choices can have long-term consequences.
Unfortunately God does not often speak with us the way Abraham and Sarah heard God. We are left to uncover that much more on our own. I would guess that most of us would find live a lot easier if we were certain of what God’s will was for us in a particular situation. How can we know God’s will? It takes practice. Listen to what Paul wrote to the church in Rome, in Romans chapter 12: Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
We have to be transformed. We have to accept what God wants from us. How do we know what that is? We have to listen; we have to practice listening and have our minds — and our hearts — transformed. And we have to be ready for the times when God’s will wants us to do something which may make us uncomfortable, which challenges us to trust God more deeply, to take more risks.
Not just any risks, but the risks God calls us to take. Without risks, very little new will ever happen. Very little progress will ever be made.
We make choices every day. What shapes those choices? St Paul tells us that we are either slaves to God or slaves to sin, there simply isn’t any third option: we are either slaves to sin, with leads to death, or slaves to obedience, which leads to righteousness. Being slaves to sin means making our own choices either without regard for the consequences, or without considering the consequences. Being slaves to obedience means finding ourselves being challenged to do things we would not have thought about doing.
We can think of dramatic examples, of course. I know many friends who ended up at seminary after successful careers in other fields; lawyers, bankers, doctors. I know of women who were at seminary after having raised several children. I know of families who left 4-bedroom houses for 3-room apartments. The choices God calls us to may not be so outwardly dramatic. One of the most radical aspects of Christianity is forgiveness M-^W very few other religions talk about it or emphasize it nearly as much as Christianity does. God’s will for us might be to truly forgive a wrong done to us. In some ways it might be almost as difficult as the call for Abraham to sacrifice his son. We can cling very tightly to our pain, our hurt. It gives us a sense of control and power. We may not even see the harm it is doing us.
God may call you to a different job, to take on some new opportunity. And remember that God does not discriminate based on age. We are never too old to find God challenging us. First we have to be obedient enough to listen. Second, we have to be obedient enough to follow. Be warned, though, that it will be a lifechanging event. Abraham found that out. The call of God to follow His will is never an easy thing. Abraham nearly had to sacrifice his own son. Many years later, God’s own Son found himself in a position to make his choice and face the consequences. Fortunately for all of us he affirmed “thy will be done.” Can any of us who claim to follow the Son of God do any less?
Preached on June 27, 1999
First Presbyterian Church
Gainesville, Florida
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