1st Sunday in Lent
March 5, 2006
"Sheep to be Slaughtered"
Genesis 22:1-18
Romans 8:31-39
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Have you ever noticed how many rules there are in life? Maybe you’ve noticed how many laws there are in the Bible other then the Ten Commandments…say most of the book of Leviticus. Sometimes it seems like God wants too much from us. Its sometimes easy for us to start listing all of the things we do that God asks… He wants us to go to church every Sunday; he wants us to forgive everyone for stuff they do to us; the wants us to give money to the church, the poor, and all kinds of other charities. He wants us to give up things we like and like to do. We shouldn’t speed; we shouldn’t drink too much; we shouldn’t have sex outside of marriage; we shouldn’t use bad words…oh the list seems to go on and on. Too many things to list them all…so much expected of us.
Yet God has asked what seems to be even more…out of His servant Abraham. "1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. 2 Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about." 3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you." 6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?" "Yes, my son?" Abraham replied. "The fire and wood are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" 8 Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together. 9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
Abraham was asked to sacrifice his only son to God. You could imagine the pain in Abrahams bosom…to sacrifice his own son. I am sure he didn’t want to do it…I’m sure he wished there was another way. I’m sure it broke his heart in two thinking about losing his child…even if it was as a sacrifice to God. Yet, Abraham’s faith was strong…he knew that he must obey God and that everything God did was for the better of his people. Abraham was willing to give up his son to God…and was moments away from slaying Isaac. I’m sure you’ll agree…we couldn’t do that…we wouldn’t have the faith of Abraham to give up his son as a sacrifice.
"11 But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. 12 "Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son." 13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided." 15 The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16 and said, "I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me."
Surely Abraham welled up in tears of joy at what happened…his son would live. God had surely shown mercy to his servants…and even provided a ram as the sacrifice. Truly…this is the origin of the term "scape-goat" for the ram was sacrificed for the sins of the people.
But sometimes it doesn’t seem like God comes in the nick of time for us. There are often times that we pray to God for help…and it doesn’t seem like he answers. Natural disasters strike with devastation. There are murderers that take the lives of innocent people. There are terrorists that strike bystanders. We lose our jobs, our homes, and even our loved ones without warning. It truly seems that we are, as St. Paul describes in the Epistle, sheep to be slaughtered. Yes, at these times we wonder if God loves us or if there truly is a God out there…we feel all alone.
A tourist in New York took the trip to the top of the Empire State Building. As he was looking down from that view to the people on the sidewalks, they looked like ants running around. He said, "I imagine this is the way the people of the earth look to God." No Way! God doesn’t look down from a high pinnacle and watch people struggle and suffer. He Himself came down to them in the person of His Son Jesus Christ and went the way of the cross to help them.
Yes, our Father in heaven knows our pain, our sorrow, our loss. It was our Father in heaven that gave his only son to be the scape-goat of our sins. When it comes to all the heartache in this world; all the sin; all the sorrow; all the death and disease we should quickly take not of St. Paul’s letter to the Romans: "31What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." 37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
These words of Paul are words of comfort…they are words that are inspirational. A poem that many of us know…also catches the thought of Paul. The poem is called Footprints in the Sand. (Paraphrase "Footprints). Truly our heavenly Father, who sent his only son to die for you…out of love…for you…,is always watching over you. Yes, our Lord and Savior carries us often in this life…he carries us from our baptism to our death and brings us home to heaven. No matter what happens in this life; no matter what you go through…no matter what you may have done… nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
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