Fourth Sunday after Trinity 28 06 26
FIRST READING: Genesis 22.1-14
NEW TESTAMENT READING: Romans 6.12 – end
GOSPEL: Matthew 10.40-end
YAHWEH YIREH – The Lord will provide or The Lord will see to it.
Abraham is a very important person in the Old Testament and he is admired so much in the Old Testament and in the New Testament writings, Abraham is seen as a role model of Faith.
Faith is not merely about believing. Faith is about love of God and the willingness and the ability to obey God. A love that leads to obedience to God is the test of faith.
Abraham was invited to believe that he is going to have a son in his old age, that was a happy thing though just impossible. He believed and now we heard about the test of faith when God calls Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac on the mount of Moriah. Till he was 100 years old he did not have a child and now to sacrifice his child must have been so painful for Abraham. He walks with his son Isaac and some helpers up mount Moriah. Isaac is laid as a sacrifice, he asks where is the Lamb and Abraham said the Lord will provide/ the Lord will see to it.. He perhaps had the faith that God will not take away his son and that the Lord will provide and exactly that is what happened.
This episode must have been very difficult one for Abraham, he must have struggled and wondered why did God give him a son and now want to take him away. He however simply obeyed God, however difficult the option is. Abraham’s faith was so special in the Bible because of his obedience at every point in his life. He had to accept God’s plan for him because of his faith. Some were happy decisions and some where very difficult decisions yet he was sure of God’s goodness and providence.
While we see the pain of Abraham in deciding to sacrifice his son, later on when God chose to save the world by giving up his son on the cross of Calvary as an atoning sacrifice. God did not want Abraham to sacrifice his son but God let his son Jesus Christ to be sacrificed on the cross.
St. Paul says that Jesus the son of God submitted to the will of God and in obedience accepted the plan of God.
‘Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.’ (Phil 2. 5-8).
Paul in his letter to the Romans tells us that we are accepted as Children and are invited to live as Jesus the Son of God who submitted to the will of God like a slave. Giving up his self interest and not worried about his self preservation, giving up anything and everything with the confidence that God is Yahweh Jireh, the Lord will see to it. Paul tells us that such level of submission and surrender only leads us to experience life in fullness.