The Purpose of Sacrifices

Message Title: The Purpose of Sacrifices
Theme: Made to Be
Season: Ordinary Time
Main Text: Genesis 22:1-14
Scripture Reading: Matthew 10:40-42
RCL Scripture: Genesis 22:1-14; Psalm 13; Jeremiah 28:5-9; Psalm 89:1-4, 15-18; Romans 6:12-23; Matthew 10:40-42
Focus: God asks for a human sacrifice but stops it before it happens.
Function: To release the need to justify God and allow ourselves to feel the uncomfortable parts of faith and life.
Other Notes: INDEPENDENCE DAY

Scripture Reading: Matthew 10:40-42 ⁴⁰ “Those who receive you are also receiving me, and those who receive me are receiving the one who sent me. ⁴¹ Those who receive a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward. Those who receive a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. ⁴² I assure you that everybody who gives even a cup of cold water to these little ones because they are my disciples will certainly be rewarded.”

            Do God’s intentions

INTRODUCTION:

1. AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT: Do you have any secrets from your childhood that your parents still don’t know?
   1. – meme about hurting your sibling “don’t tell mom”-
   1. My mom has said that if we successfully pulled the wool over her eyes to just leave it there and she can live in the naivety forever.
   1. My dad and the apple machine story

TRANSITION: Today, Abraham is keeping a secret from Isaac.

MAIN TEXT: Genesis 22:1-14 After these events, God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” Abraham answered, “I’m here.” ² God said, “Take your son, your only son whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him up as an entirely burned offering there on one of the mountains that I will show you.” ³ Abraham got up early in the morning, harnessed his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, together with his son Isaac. He split the wood for the entirely burned offering, set out, and went to the place God had described to him. ⁴ On the third day, Abraham looked up and saw the place at a distance. ⁵ Abraham said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will walk up there, worship, and then come back to you.” ⁶ Abraham took the wood for the entirely burned offering and laid it on his son Isaac. He took the fire and the knife in his hand, and the two of them walked on together. ⁷ Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father?” Abraham said, “I’m here, my son.” Isaac said, “Here is the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the entirely burned offering?” ⁸ Abraham said, “The lamb for the entirely burned offering? God will see to it,^[a] my son.” The two of them walked on together. ⁹ They arrived at the place God had described to him. Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He tied up his son Isaac and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. ¹⁰ Then Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to kill his son as a sacrifice. ¹¹ But the Lord’s messenger called out to Abraham from heaven, “Abraham? Abraham?” Abraham said, “I’m here.” ¹² The messenger said, “Don’t stretch out your hand against the young man, and don’t do anything to him. I now know that you revere God and didn’t hold back your son, your only son, from me.” ¹³ Abraham looked up and saw a single ram^[b] caught by its horns in the dense underbrush. Abraham went over, took the ram, and offered it as an entirely burned offering instead of his son. ¹⁴ Abraham named that place “the Lord sees.”^[c] That is the reason people today say, “On this mountain the Lord is seen.”

EXPLAINATION:

1. Context:
   1. In Genesis Isaac, the promised son, was born and in that same chapter Sarah convinced Abraham to dismiss Hagar and Ishmael.
      1. Abraham had to send off his oldest child. Before this happened, God promises Abraham he will provide for Ishmael. God also later promises Hagar as well.
   1. The assumption is some time has passed from Isaacs birth, Ishmael’s dismissal, and God asking Abraham to sacrifice Isaac.
2. Abraham is now estranged from one of his sons and God has the audacity to ask Abraham to sacrifice the remaining son. You know- the one that Abraham waited 25 years for God to provide.
3. Different types of sacrifices: not all sacrifices required the burning up of the whole animal. Some sacrifices would be more like a barbecue for the priests. An entirely burned offering, however, left only ashes behind.
   1. This request from God is perplexing because in Deuteronomy and Jeremiah human sacrifice is condemned.
   1. How is this a genuine act of worship if it is eventually condemned? Is this really even an option???

INTERPRETATION:

1. AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT: Do you have a problem with God asking Abraham to kill his son to prove his faithfulness?
   1. *Smite joke*
   1. Not history but a foundation
   1. I have confidence that God still loves us when we ask questions, have doubts, or push back on God’s plans or actions.
   1. Rabbinic traditions: (writings like commentaries on the scriptures)
      1. Genesis Rabbah is a religious text from Judaism’s classical period, probably written between 300 and 500 CE with some later additions. It is a midrash comprising a collection of ancient rabbinical homiletical interpretations of the Book of Genesis.
   1. Genesis Rabbah – has explanations about the Binding of Isaac that include a Job-like narrative between God and Satan.
      1. https://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/8217/jewish/Chapter-22.htm
2. To follow Christ, to be who God made us to be, is to wrestle with the story of God and our role in the story.

APPLICATION:

1. Life creates uncomfortable, painful, and even traumatic experiences. It is a mistake to put a band-aid on those events with the phrase “God has a plan.”
   1. trust test à left homeland, left lot, released Ishmael…. Hasn’t he proved that enough?
   1. We create false statements about God as we make those claims.
      1. Justifying the binding of Isaac by saying that God “tested” Abraham’s faithfulness by asking him to do something immoral…..
         1. So, faithfulness to God could be demonstrated by something he forbids in other passages?
      1. We’ve talked before about the problem of saying “God needed an angel, that’s why your loved one died” – so God is a needy narcissist who uses humans as play things for his own amusement?
   1. Abraham pushed back on God’s plans when they made him uncomfortable with Lot & Sodom.
      1. Moses did too – I’m a poor speaker
      1. Mary and Martha did too- If you would have been here my brother wouldn’t have died!
      1. Jesus did too – take this cup from me
2. I invite you to stop justifying God and wrestle with the uncomfortable stories.
   1. I don’t have an explanation for the Binding of Isaac.
   1. It is an uncomfortable story.
   1. While I have peace because I believe in God’s character, I still struggle with this story.

CONCLUSION: You are allowed to have questions and still be part of God’s family. We don’t have to make sense of sacrifices.Israel was made to wrestle with God—our calling can include struggle.

1. Admit your queasiness.
2. Engage your empathy.
3. Allow uncertainty.

COMMUNION:  Join the wrestling team. We come to the table not because we understand it all. We come to the table not because we’re 100% cool with everything in scripture. We come to the table because of our willingness to wrestle with these words and pursue God’s truth,