20210701 GOD WILL PROVIDE
01 July, 2021, Thursday, 13th Week, Ordinary Time
First reading | Genesis 22:1-19 © |
The sacrifice of Isaac
God put Abraham to the test. ‘Abraham, Abraham’ he called. ‘Here I am’ he replied. ‘Take your son,’ God said ‘your only child Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer him as a burnt offering, on a mountain I will point out to you.’
Rising early next morning Abraham saddled his ass and took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. He chopped wood for the burnt offering and started on his journey to the place God had pointed out to him. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. Then Abraham said to his servants, ‘Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there; we will worship and come back to you.’
Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering, loaded it on Isaac, and carried in his own hands the fire and the knife. Then the two of them set out together. Isaac spoke to his father Abraham, ‘Father’ he said. ‘Yes, my son’ he replied. ‘Look,’ he said ‘here are the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?’ Abraham answered, ‘My son, God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering.’ Then the two of them went on together.
When they arrived at the place God had pointed out to him, Abraham built an altar there, and arranged the wood. Then he bound his son Isaac and put him on the altar on top of the wood. Abraham stretched out his hand and seized the knife to kill his son.
But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven. ‘Abraham, Abraham’ he said. ‘I am here’ he replied. ‘Do not raise your hand against the boy’ the angel said. ‘Do not harm him, for now I know you fear God. You have not refused me your son, your only son.’ Then looking up, Abraham saw a ram caught by its horns in a bush. Abraham took the ram and offered it as a burnt-offering in place of his son. Abraham called this place ‘The Lord Provides’, and hence the saying today: On the mountain the Lord provides.
The angel of the Lord called Abraham a second time from heaven. ‘I swear by my own self – it is the Lord who speaks – because you have done this, because you have not refused me your son, your only son, I will shower blessings on you, I will make your descendants as many as the stars of heaven and the grains of sand on the seashore. Your descendants shall gain possession of the gates of their enemies. All the nations of the earth shall bless themselves by your descendants, as a reward for your obedience.’
Abraham went back to his servants, and together they set out for Beersheba, and he settled in Beersheba.
The first psalm shown here is used in the whole world except the USA, and the second one is used in the USA because of a clerical error.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 114(116):1-6,8-9 © |
I will walk in the presence of the Lord in the land of the living.
I love the Lord for he has heard
the cry of my appeal;
for he turned his ear to me
in the day when I called him.
I will walk in the presence of the Lord in the land of the living.
They surrounded me, the snares of death,
with the anguish of the tomb;
they caught me, sorrow and distress.
I called on the Lord’s name.
O Lord, my God, deliver me!
I will walk in the presence of the Lord in the land of the living.
How gracious is the Lord, and just;
our God has compassion.
The Lord protects the simple hearts;
I was helpless so he saved me.
I will walk in the presence of the Lord in the land of the living.
He has kept my soul from death,
my eyes from tears
and my feet from stumbling.
I will walk in the presence of the Lord
in the land of the living.
I will walk in the presence of the Lord in the land of the living.
Gospel Acclamation | Mt11:25 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Blessed are you, Father,
Lord of heaven and earth,
for revealing the mysteries of the kingdom
to mere children.
Alleluia!
Or: | 2Co5:19 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
God in Christ was reconciling the world to himself,
and he has entrusted to us the news that they are reconciled.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Matthew 9:1-8 © |
'Your sins are forgiven; get up and walk'
Jesus got in the boat, crossed the water and came to his own town. Then some people appeared, bringing him a paralytic stretched out on a bed. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, ‘Courage, my child, your sins are forgiven.’ And at this some scribes said to themselves, ‘This man is blaspheming.’ Knowing what was in their minds Jesus said, ‘Why do you have such wicked thoughts in your hearts? Now, which of these is easier to say, “Your sins are forgiven,” or to say, “Get up and walk”? But to prove to you that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,’ – he said to the paralytic – ‘get up, and pick up your bed and go off home.’ And the man got up and went home. A feeling of awe came over the crowd when they saw this, and they praised God for giving such power to men.
GOD WILL PROVIDE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Genesis 22:1-19; Ps 116:1-6,8-9; Mt 9:1-8 ]
Maturity in Faith is not something that we arrive at in a short while. Faith, like trust, takes time to build up. This was surely the case of Abraham. When the Lord called Abram out of Ur, he responded. It was a step by step journey to the unknown. When the Lord said to him, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him.” (Gn 12:1-4) Although he went in faith, he did not understand how God’s promise would be fulfilled. He was already 75 years old when God called him to leave Haran.
Instead of allowing God to provide for him, Abram took things into his own hands. When he left Canaan, which was in famine, for Egypt, for fear of his life, he lied to the Egyptians that Sarah, his wife, was his sister. Because she was so beautiful, Pharaoh took her as his wife, only to suffer punishment from God. Abram did not trust God sufficiently that He would protect him and his family. (Gn 12:10-20) By his dishonesty, he caused others to suffer on his account, especially when Pharaoh treated him and his family well.
But he did not stop here. Abraham was always trying to save his life, not in accordance with God’s plan. While residing in Gerar as an alien, Abraham lied to King Abimelech that Sarah was his sister. And the king took her only to be revealed by God that she was a married woman and disaster would befall on his kingdom for taking her from Abraham. (Gn 20:1-7) Apparently Abraham never learnt his lesson of trusting God. But using his manipulative and worldly ways, he sought to protect his interests. He could have caused misfortunes to King Abimelech and his people.
Finally, at 85 years old, and impatient for the fulfillment of God’s promise of an offspring to him, he listened to Sarai who suggested that he took Hagar, the Egyptian slave girl, to be the surrogate mother for Abram’s offspring. Sarai said to Abram, “You see that the Lord has prevented me from bearing children; go in to my slave-girl; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” (Gn 16:2) As a consequence, he brought division into his family and complicated the plans of God for him. Hagar the slave-girl conceived a child for Abram and began to despise Sarai. (Gn 16:1-6) Later it led to sibling conflict and jealousy. (Gn 21:8-14) All because Abraham took things into his own hands and did not wait for God to fulfill His plan for him.
But Abraham was learning from his failures in trusting the Lord absolutely. On hindsight, if he had trusted in the Lord, he would have been spared of so much family squabbles and heart-ache, seeing his biological son, Ishmael and his mother, Hagar banished with just “a skin of water.” As the biological father of both children, it must have pained and grieved Abraham much to see the rivalry between Hagar and Sarah, then between Ishmael and Isaac, come to this end. (Gn 21:8-20)
By the time Isaac grew up, we can see how Abraham’s faith in God had grown from strength to strength. It is said that faith increases when we exercise it through the trials of life. Abraham passed the ultimate test of surrendering his entire life and all that he cherished to the Lord, which was his only son, Isaac. God appeared to him “‘Abraham, Abraham’ he called. ‘Here I am’ he replied. ‘Take your son,’ God said ‘your only child Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer him as a burnt offering, on a mountain I will point out to you.'” As the scriptures said, it was a test.
But it truly revealed the deep faith of Abraham. We can be sure that Isaac, who was his lifeline and only son, was most precious to him. Yet, when the Lord called him to “take, go and sacrifice” his son, he did not hesitate or bargain with God. “Rising early next morning Abraham saddled his ass and took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. He chopped wood for the burnt offering and started on his journey to the place God had pointed out to him.” It was unimaginable that he did not even consult Sarah but immediately left when the Lord commanded.
Yet, we can feel the pain in his heart even when he surrendered in faith, especially when Isaac asked, “‘Father’ he said. ‘Yes, my son’ he replied. ‘Look,’ he said ‘here are the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?’ Abraham answered, ‘My son, God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering’.” Until this stage, he did not know how God would provide but he simply believed that God would fulfill His promise of blessing him with “descendants as many as the stars of heaven and the grains of sand on the seashore.” Lacking knowledge of how God would act, he could only say that God would provide.
Until the last moment of sacrifice, Abraham was ever ready to do what the Lord instructed. This was the ultimate act of faith for Abraham, not to even withhold his only son from the Lord. “Abraham built an altar there, and arranged the wood. Then he bound his son Isaac and put him on the altar on top of the wood. Abraham stretched out his hand and seized the knife to kill his son.” And God did not intervene until the last moment when “the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven. ‘Abraham, Abraham’ he said. ‘I am here’ he replied. ‘Do not raise your hand against the boy’ the angel said. ‘Do not harm him, for now I know you fear God. You have not refused me your son, your only son.'” God stretched the faith of Abraham until the end.
As a consequence, God replaced the sacrifice of Isaac with a lamb. “Then looking up, Abraham saw a ram caught by its horns in a bush. Abraham took the ram and offered it as a burnt-offering in place of his son. Abraham called this place ‘The Lord Provides’, and hence the saying today: On the mountain the Lord provides.” And God now swore in His own name, “because you have done this, because you have not refused me your son, your only son, I will shower blessings on you, I will make your descendants as many as the stars of heaven and the grains of sand on the seashore. Your descendants shall gain possession of the gates of their enemies. All the nations of the earth shall bless themselves by your descendants, as a reward for your obedience.”
Indeed, we are scandalized by this command of the Lord to offer Isaac as a sacrifice. But we must understand this command from the Lord in context. During the days of Abraham who lived in the midst of a Canaanite culture, where they worshipped the god of fertility, offering child sacrifice was acceptable as a means to appease the deity. So, when viewed in our context, we are shocked at the monstrosity of the act, yet for the ancient people, it was the way to earn God’s blessings. Yet in God’s plan, this command served to underscore that child sacrifice was not acceptable, for we know that in the final analysis, God rejected the sacrifice of Isaac and instead provided a ram for the animal sacrifice.
But more importantly, it foreshadowed the death of God’s only Son as the substitution for the salvation of the world. What God did not demand of Abraham, He demanded of Himself. Isaac foreshadowed Jesus as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world”, as John the Baptist proclaimed. (Jn 1:29) This is why He could forgive the sins of the paralytic even without him offering the atonement sacrifice. Jesus is that atonement sacrifice offered for our salvation on the cross, because of our sins.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment