It is one thing to hear Jesus saying, "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me..." (Matthew 10:37) and another thing to see Abraham on the verge of killing his son on an altar. We mull over the words of Jesus. We think about what Jesus meant or might have meant. But, when our eyes are captured by the knife raised in the air over the innocent young boy, everything within us is repulsed by what is happening. It is one thing to talk about not loving son or daughter more than God, but another thing to consider doing what Abraham was about to do.
And, of course, this picture of God is nothing like any other picture we have in our mind about God. The God we worship is loving and merciful, kind and good. He is not One who would ask a father to kill a son, or anyone to kill another. Here is a story which is hard to reconcile with our understanding of God. Maybe hard is too soft a word. It is actually impossible to reconcile what we see about to take place on Mt. Moriah with God as we have come to know Him.
One thing we often forget is that the call to follow Jesus is costly. Bonhoeffer is well known for his words, "When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die." The call of God is always about radical abandonment. We have created a God who is less demanding, who is eager for us to be pleased, and who does not ask us to do anything which is uncomfortable, dangerous, or risky. The God of the Scripture is different than the one created in our own image. He is the God who will not hesitate to ask us to put everything and everyone at risk in order to live in faithfulness to Him. Such is what Abraham learned on Mt. Moriah and such is likely to be learned by each of us before our journey on this earth is done.
And, of course, this picture of God is nothing like any other picture we have in our mind about God. The God we worship is loving and merciful, kind and good. He is not One who would ask a father to kill a son, or anyone to kill another. Here is a story which is hard to reconcile with our understanding of God. Maybe hard is too soft a word. It is actually impossible to reconcile what we see about to take place on Mt. Moriah with God as we have come to know Him.
One thing we often forget is that the call to follow Jesus is costly. Bonhoeffer is well known for his words, "When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die." The call of God is always about radical abandonment. We have created a God who is less demanding, who is eager for us to be pleased, and who does not ask us to do anything which is uncomfortable, dangerous, or risky. The God of the Scripture is different than the one created in our own image. He is the God who will not hesitate to ask us to put everything and everyone at risk in order to live in faithfulness to Him. Such is what Abraham learned on Mt. Moriah and such is likely to be learned by each of us before our journey on this earth is done.
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