Homily: 2nd Sunday in Lent – Cycle B
Friends,
today we encounter once again the shocking story of the sacrifice of Isaac by
Abraham. Perhaps we are very familiar
with the story (and especially its ending) and so are not so shocked by it
anymore. Think for a moment, however, if
you were someone new to the faith, someone who heard about a God who is loving,
compassionate, all-powerful, but also merciful—a God who cares for his people
and is not selfish—and so you began to follow him. Now imagine you begin to hear this story of
Abraham and Isaac. You might be shocked
to discover that this God whom you had come to know as tender and caring was
also a God who could demand something as horrible as human sacrifice from one
of his closest followers. God had
promised Abraham that he would have a son through whom his descendants would be
numerous (more than the number of stars in the sky). He fulfilled that promise, but then demanded
that Abraham make a sacrifice of this “son of the promise”. Even though God did not allow Abraham to
complete this sacrifice, the very fact that God would ask Abraham to make it
ought to be shocking to us. So how do we
make sense of it?
We
begin with the understanding that everything that is recorded for us in
Scriptures is meant to help us to know God.
Additionally, we begin with the understanding that these accounts in the
Old Testament record for us how God gradually prepared humankind for the time
when he would redeem us from sin (and, therefore, death) so that we could share
eternal life with him once again. With
this in mind, let’s take a look at this story again to see if we can understand
what God was revealing about himself and about how he was using it to prepare
us for the time when he would redeem us.
One
thing that should strike us all as we consider this story is how much it
foreshadows God’s plan for the redemption of mankind. There is a father and a son. The son is the firstborn and only son of the
father, whom the father loves dearly.
The father is then asked to give up his son as a sacrifice, which he
agrees to do. Although no one could have
known it at the time, this is an obvious foreshadowing of what God the Father
would do to redeem mankind: he would willingly send his firstborn and only son,
whom he loved dearly, to be sacrificed.
Do you follow me? The story of
Abraham and Isaac has been preserved for us to show us how God was revealing
something of himself to us and preparing us to recognize how he himself would
redeem us.
One
of the most obvious things to note in the story is the obedience of
Abraham. If you read the entire history
of Abraham in the book of Genesis, you’ll see that he didn’t always follow God’s
will perfectly. Nonetheless, especially in
his old age, he remained obedient to God.
Isaac was the son of the promise that God made to give him descendants
that would be “as numerous as the stars in the sky”. Abraham obeyed God because he trusted that
God would still find a way to fulfill his promise.
One
of the things that isn’t obvious in this story is the role of Isaac. If you’re anything like me, you’ve always
assumed that Isaac was a young boy when this happened. The scripture tells us differently,
however. There we discover that Sarah
(Isaac’s mother) was 90 years old when she gave birth to Isaac. We discover also that, when Abraham and Isaac
return home from this journey, they find that Sarah had died and it tells us
that Sarah was 127 years old when she died.
Therefore, Isaac must have been around 37 years old when this attempted
sacrifice took place. In other words,
Isaac was a mature adult in the prime of his life when this event took place.
Although
at the beginning of the journey Isaac doesn’t appear to know that he is the
sacrifice that they are going to offer, he comes to know it when they arrive at
the place and prepare to make the sacrifice.
Being a fully mature adult in the prime of his life, Isaac was capable
of resisting his father Abraham. Yet, he
didn’t. Rather, he submitted to be
sacrificed. In other words, Isaac, too,
was obedient to God’s will. This is very
important when we look to how this story foreshadows how God will eventually
redeem mankind and it helps us to understand the Gospel passage of the transfiguration,
which we also heard today.
In
the story of the transfiguration of Jesus, we see Jesus revealed for who he
really is: the beloved Son of God the Father.
From that moment we find Jesus moving more intently towards the
crucifixion: the event by which he will be sacrificed for the redemption of
mankind. Connecting this back to the
story of Abraham and Isaac, we can see the incredible importance of obedience in
the plan for our redemption: the Father obedient to the demand that his Son
would be the sacrifice and the Son obedient to the demand the he be
sacrificed. Does this surprise us? It shouldn’t!
Remember that it was the disobedience of Adam and Eve that caused our
separation from God. Therefore, it must
be by obedience that mankind could be restored to God’s good graces once again.
Friends,
our work during Lent is a work of renewal: the renewal of our walk with
God. The core characteristic of any walk
with God is obedience. Through the
Lenten disciplines of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving, we ask ourselves the
question: “Am I being fully obedient to God?”
In other words, “Am I living in such a way that I demonstrate my
complete trust in God by my readiness to make any sacrifice for him?” Surely, each of us will find some ways in
which we are not being fully obedient to God.
This is good! If we can
acknowledge the ways in which we are not fully obedient to God, then we can begin
to make changes to help us become more obedient to him in all things. This is hard work, for sure, but it is work
that will be blessed by God if we choose to undertake it.
So,
where do we begin? I think that we begin
with our Lenten sacrifices. It is
important to recognize that my choice to give up chocolate is important not
because I eat too much of it and so need to be more disciplined about it, but
rather because it is a sign of my willingness to sacrifice this thing that I
value to God. If I find myself cheating
and eating chocolate anyway, then I have to ask myself: “If I can’t sacrifice
chocolate to God, how will I ever be able to sacrifice anything to God?” Then, I must recommit myself to the
sacrifice: “God, because I love you and trust you, and because I desire to love
you and trust you more, I will make this small sacrifice as a demonstration of
my desire to obey you when you ask any other sacrifice of me.” Can we try this? Yes?
Good.
Friends,
the vision of Jesus Christ in his glory at the transfiguration is our
inspiration to do this good work. It is
the vision of what awaits those who obey God and who imitate him by being
willing to sacrifice even what is most dear to us because of our trust in
him. Here in the Eucharist, we encounter
that same glorified Jesus in the humble appearance of bread. Therefore, as we continue our journey through
Lent, let us allow the grace of this encounter with Jesus to strengthen us in
this work; and, thus, make us ready to rejoice in the joy of his resurrection
for all eternity.
Given at St. Patrick Parish: Kokomo, IN – February 28, 2021
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