Sunday, June 28, 2026

Fifth Sunday after Pentecost = Year A

Lectionary Readings

Genesis 22:1–14

 

Old Testament Reading: Genesis 22:1–14 — The Akedah / Binding of Isaac (NRSVUE)

The Command to Sacrifice Isaac

After these things God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” ²  He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you.” ³  So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac; he cut the wood for the burnt offering and set out and went to the place in the distance that God had shown him. ⁴  On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place far away. ⁵  Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the boy and I will go over there; we will worship, and then we will come back to you.” ⁶  Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. And the two of them walked on together. ⁷  Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” ⁸  Abraham said, “God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them walked on together. ⁹  When they came to the place that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. ¹⁰  Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son. ¹¹  But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” ¹²  He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” ¹³  And Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. ¹⁴  So Abraham called that place “The Lord will provide,” as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

Commentary

The month comes to a close with one of the most trauma-infused stories of scripture. Some will decide not to read it; if it is read, it needs extreme care in its presentation. These remarks are intended to offer a process perspective on this most challenging text – other commentators should also be consulted.

The story is well-known. God decides to test Abraham: take your beloved son to a mountain top and offer him as a burnt offering, a sacrifice. Abraham chooses to obey and heads off with Isaac and two servants. Gathering up the items needed for the sacrifice, Abraham is about to take the knife to his son when an angel of God calls out, “Abraham, Abraham!” … “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” (v. 11-12). There is a ram caught in a bush, a replacement for Isaac.

What kind of god would require the death of a child, or engage in a brutal game of bait and switch as a so-called test of faith? Bruce Epperly is blunt: “such a god’s demands sound like what people would expect from a terrorist.” (Adventurous Lectionary, 2023)

As challenging as this story is, it can reveal some things for our reflection. Process theology would not read this as God’s authentic command. A persuasive, non-coercive God does not demand child-sacrifice. An all-loving God, as Thomas Jay Oord writes “can only love.” So that makes the story setup problematic. However, the ram-in-the-thicket may be the divine lure breaking through the reality of the terror — God’s re-directive work, persuading toward an alternative future at the very last moment. The arrival of the ram is process-providence in its purest form: a new possibility actualised in the moment. And there might be a message in this invitation of God, when all seems lost, that is of particular relevance in a world where many in our pews daily slip into apathy or despair at the state of the world.

When asked to reflect on how it might be that ‘God includes such things as genocide, rape, and murder’ – ‘How then can God be good?’ John Cobb responded in his usual calm, careful and caring way: “Perhaps the questioner fears that if God contains the malicious feelings of the torturer, God’s own motives will be tainted. This would misrepresent the way in which God contains the world.” (Jeanyne B. Sletton, ed. The Process Perspective II, 50). He went further to talk about empathy and shared an analogy about a child angry with a playmate. The parent chooses to be empathetic, seeking to include the feelings of the other. The parent feels the child’s anger, but it is the child’s anger. “Empathy does not involve the parent becoming angry with the playmate. Ideally, the parent can at the same time be empathetic with the playmate. The emotional resources of the child probably do not allow for both anger and empathy toward the playmate, but children can grow into adults for whom this greater complexity of feeling, however difficult, does become possible. What is just possible to some small extent in mature human beings, Whitehead posited as ideally fulfilled in God. The inclusion of evil in God belongs to God’s goodness.

Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson, author of Passing Life’s Tests: Spiritual Reflections on the Trial of Abraham, the Binding of Isaac, sees the test of Abraham as a challenge to live with paradox: “to hold onto the polar opposites of the world as it is and the world as it might be, refusing to abandon either one in the process of repairing them both. Abraham’s test is to accept God’s command to go through the motions of offering up Isaac, fully confident that Isaac would indeed be the vehicle through which the covenant with his heirs would begin.” (49) Abraham’s test hinges on whether he will hold to his core identity and have confidence in God’s covenant with him. “By refusing to abandon hope in the face of a bleak reality, by refusing to wish away a challenging reality in favor of simplistic beliefs and wishful stories, Abraham remains true to the brit, the covenant.” (52) Rabbi Artson believes that we are tested, in the face of terror, evil, war and so much more in the world; we are called to transcend these realities: “God needs us to supply the hands to do the work, the hearts to bear the love, the mouths to give voice to the ancient primal utterance.” (52)

I highly recommend Rabbi Artson’s book for anyone who wants a deep dive into this challenging text. Should you choose to preach on this one, tread as carefully as you do with a parable, lean deep into curiosity and be sure you can authentically offer the good news within.