Comments on: The Story of Abraham – Hope for the Rest of Us!

By: Peter Wolczuk

Peter Wolczuk — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 19:55:23 +0000

I realize that this comment is over two months later but, it has taken that long for me to grasp the awesome concept expressed by Iuzvimindarp. Abraham’s faith floundered as it grew but, he was a patriarch of people. Moses had his imperfections, such as fleeing the country after a rash act in his youth when he impulsively killed one of Pharoah’s overseers but he was a leader of people. St. Paul persecuted and, even caused the death of, some of Christ’s followers before being called to his task but; he was a leader and teacher of people.
Mary, however, was the vessel chosen for God the Son to enter into our experience by the same process of birth which we use. It makes perfect sense to me that the person with the ultimate human expression of human faith was chosen.
Her free will was honoured by asking and she immediately responded without thought as a girl leaping directly into her Father’s arms without hesitation but, rather, with total confidence that He would safely catch her,

By: luzvimindarp

luzvimindarp — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:37:49 +0000

Good day greetings in Christ Msgr. Pope , a very beautiful story of faith showed by Abraham, but for me the most that I admired of, and wanted to follow is the example of faith of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Saying “Yes” to the Lord with no second thought but only ask how it will happen and then goes the beautiful story of salvation to all mankind. Peace to all of us and the love of God and His blessings be with us all.

By: Bender

Bender — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:22:25 +0000

**I guess I’d need more evidence to accept that the passage was actually God demonstrating his opposition to human sacrifice rather than a dramatic move to quicken Abraham’s faith.**

I don’t believe it was one or the other. Rather, there are multiple meanings here.

In any event, I think it is consistent with what Cardinal Ratzinger wrote in “The God of Jesus Christ” (p. 54) –
A misunderstood theology has left many people with a completely false image, the image of a cruel God who demands the blood of his own Son. . . . But the opposite is true! The biblical God demands no human sacrifices. When he appears in the course of the history of religion, human sacrifice ceases. Before Abraham can slaughter Isaac, God speaks and stops him; the ram takes the place of the child. The cult of Yahweh begins when the sacrifice of the firstborn, which was demanded by the ancestral religion of Abraham, is replaced by his obedience and his faith — the external substitute, the ram, is only the expression of the deeper reality, which is not a replacement, but rather looks ahead to the future fulfillment. For the God of Israel, human sacrifice is an abomination; Moloch, the god of human sacrifices, is the embodiment of the false god who is opposed by faith in Yahweh. For the God of Israel, it is, not the death of a man, but his life that is the act of worship. Irenaeus of Lyons expressed this in the wonderful formula: “Gloria Dei homo vivens” (The living man is the glorification of God). And this is the kind of “human sacrifice”, of worship, that God demands.”

By: Msgr. Charles Pope

Msgr. Charles Pope — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:50:27 +0000

Yes, from the Christian point of view the phrase God will provide the Lamb is dripping with meaning. Indeed the whole passage is surely a good example of typology wherein we see a prefiguring of Jesus. Consider the data: a son who was promised, carrying wood on his shoulder up Mt. Moriah (where Jerusalem would later be built) where he will be offered in sacrifice, in obedience to God the Father. Hmm… sounds familiar, Christ the Son of the promise, carrying the cross on his shoulder, up the same hill of Moriah to be offered in atonement for our sins in obedience to his Father. Hence a Christian cannot and should not read the Old Testament merely as a Jew of that period would have understood it. We always read the OT in light of the New Testament . So I think we do “know” that the two events are tied together if we use a fundamental perspective that our faith provides.

By: Msgr. Charles Pope

Msgr. Charles Pope — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:41:38 +0000

Indeed! ex ore infantium….

By: Msgr. Charles Pope

Msgr. Charles Pope — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:40:41 +0000

Thank you for your reflections. I agree with your first point and am just not sure about your second point. I too do not read Hebrew. However, I am a bit cautious about attempts to get God “off the hook.” or to shift the point of the reading to something beyond its traditional interpretation. I guess I’d need more evidence to accept that the passage was actually God demonstrating his opposition to human sacrifice rather than a dramatic move to quicken Abraham’s faith. I have no doubt that God opposes Human sacrifice I am just not sure that is the point in this passage. Perhaps you have some additional basis for this interpretation.

By: Msgr. Charles Pope

Msgr. Charles Pope — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:31:51 +0000

Yes, thank you! I blogged on this list some while back and I must say it is good to recall it here. There IS hope for the rest of us.

By: Peter Wolczuk

Peter Wolczuk — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:42:46 +0000

While the scripture doesn’t have God saying that He would provide the sacrifice, Abraham says it to Isaac and he (Abraham) is, in a way, one of the carriers of God’s message. So, when Isaac is spared, a ram is observed with its horns caught in the brush the ram is sacrificed.
However it is not stated that the ram is the sacrifice. Some translations state that God would provide a “lamb” as the sacrifice. Many centuries later Christ (God’s Son) was sacrificed by the will of God for the sake of Abraham’s descendants and, ultimately, for all humankind. Christ is also called the “lamb of God.” Does this mean that this test of Abraham’s faith was part of the lead in to the New Covenant? Abraham’s son was spared as a sacrifice to God but, God’s Son was not spared as a sacrifice to us.
We may never know if this take on whether the two events tie together in this way since God’s ways are beyond our understanding and are a mystery. Which fits what I recall of the mysteries as were taught to me in Chatechism. All this is not an original thought of mine but, rather, what was part of a speakers testimony at a Christ Centred Twelve Step Recovery group in which we turn to God. Period. Not the “as we understand him” groups and all its resulting pagan, new age and other stuff which contributed to my departue from them.

By: Anne B.

Anne B. — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 02:50:51 +0000

Recently I gave a test to my third graders at our Catholic school on the story of Abraham. The test covered those aspects of the story appropriate for third grade sensibilities, including the destruction of Sodom and the death of Lot’s wife.

The last question on the test was, “What did you learn from the story of Abraham?” One of my third graders answered, “Trust God–and never look back.”

Out of the mouths of babes….

By: Bender

Bender — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:55:42 +0000

**God prepares one final test to strengthen Abraham’s faith (Gen 22). He tells him to offer his son in sacrifice.**

Thank you for making these crucial points Monsignor. Too often in discussions with others about this event, they read that God tested Abraham and come to the conclusion that God needed to test Abraham in order for God to know how deep his faith was. And, of course, that reading of the story is absurd. God knows everything, He didn’t need to test Abraham to learn what Abraham believed, He already knew.

The test wasn’t for God’s benefit, the test was for Abraham’s benefit (and, by extension, for our benefit). It was, as you state, for Abraham to strengthen his faith, for Abraham to come to the realization, in very stark terms, just exactly how great his faith was, and how deep it needed to be — total faith, holding nothing back.

And, at the risk of parsing the words here (and not knowing what the original language says), it is an important distinction to note that God did not ask Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. Rather, He asked him to offer Isaac in sacrifice. God did not change His mind at the last minute; from the very beginning, He did not want Isaac actually killed. Indeed, during that period in history, human sacrifice was a not-uncommon practice, and God intended all along to demonstrate His vehement opposition to that “abomination.”