The Adventurous Lectionary – The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost – June 28, 2020

Last updated on: June 19, 2020 at 7:55 am by Bruce Epperly

The Adventurous Lectionary – The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost – June 28, 2020 2020-06-19T07:55:01-04:00 Bruce Epperly

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost
Genesis 22:1-14; Psalm 13; Jeremiah 28:5-9; Romans 6:12-23; Matthew 10:40-42

This week’s stories are all challenging, spiritually, ethically, and relationally. We need to take exception to the story of Abraham and Isaac to be faithful to the God of grace. Following Christ is ultimately about a life-giving lifestyle, not violence or fear.

To be honest, I am unsure what to do with the passage related to Abraham and Isaac. Given the realities of trauma and violence many children and youth face, this passage has too many red flags and despite its happy ending, presents a vision of God and parenting that is dysfunctional and bounds on the demonic. Though we can see it as metaphorical, like the stories of Sodom and Gomorrah, the metaphor is too brutal to be helpful and the God portrayed more bloodthirsty than caring. Seeing it as a portrait of trust, as Kierkegaard did, won’t do either ethically or theologically. No loving parent or grandparent, in this case, would require the death of a child or even the threat of a child’s death as a test of faith. I am not even sure that a loving parent or grandparent would follow God’s guidance if God requested such violence.

So, we must address the story of Abraham and Isaac with great caution and critical care. First of all, it is absolutely essential to dismiss young children prior to reading the scripture. Taken literally, as children will do, it represents the worst form of child abuse and portrays God as an arbitrary trickster, testing us with heartbreaking tasks, and then dropping his game of Russian roulette at the last moment. Isaac must have been traumatized by this event. Abraham loved Isaac and was compelled to choose between God and his son. Perhaps, from then on, Isaac also had misgivings about God’s care for him. Despite divine deliverance and parental fidelity, could Isaac ever trust his father again? Could God be trusted with caring for those he loved after this bait and switch on the mountaintop? Perhaps Abraham felt ambivalent about God from then on! Perhaps Sarah grew to hate God and her husband as a result of their putting her much hoped for son at risk! Divine deliverance at the last moment cannot obliterate the harm done by parental and religious violence. You can fear such a god, but can you love this God or assume God’s fidelity.

Moreover, what kind of God is portrayed in this passage? While our faith needs to be refined in the crucible of life, what kind of God requires us to kill to be faithful? This god’s demands sound more like what people would expect from a terrorist, mobster or gang leader, or narcissistic potentate, but certainly not the God of Jesus Christ. What would have happened if Abraham said “no” to God? “Punish me, kill me, but I will not sacrifice my child just to please you. I would rather die than obey your orders!” Oftentimes, we substitute, especially in wisdom literature, the world “awe” for “fear” to be more religiously accurate, but surely this passage means “fear,” and maybe even terror before a bloodthirsty, inscrutable God. In the years to come, could Abraham, Sarah (who must have found out), or Isaac, ever have loved God again? You can fear the God of power and might, but can you love a God whose love is always on the borderline between embrace and destruction, and whose attitude toward creation is ambivalent at best?

For many, the story of Abraham and Isaac prefigures the cross. But a deity who demands the death of his own son to be reconciled with sinful humanity is also spiritually and morally suspect. While we need not dismiss the theory of sacrificial atonement as meaningless, we must remember that it is but one of many atonement theories and that Jesus sacrificed out of free will and not divine predetermination. Jesus could have escaped the cross, as scripture states, but saw going to Jerusalem as fulfilling his destiny.

Psalm 13 joins hope and despair. God appears to have abandoned the Psalmist. “How long will you hide your face?” he pleads. Still, the Psalmist takes his anguish to God in hope that once more God will return. In this time of pandemic and protest, this is a provocative passage worth considering for your sermon. Many of our congregants may be living in their isolation or after job loss due to the pandemic with what they perceive to be divine absence, and some may feel that this sense of God-forsakenness reflects their lack of faith. Listening gracefully and without self-judgment to this passage will enable them to understand and accept their life situation more fully and perhaps sustain them in times of spiritual darkness. Divine absence does not reflect our faithlessness nor God’s abandonment but may reflect a variety of factors – professional, physiological, environmental, economic, and social.

In the passage from Romans, Paul is addressing the lifestyle of believers. Grace embraces and transforms. Grace takes us beyond legalism and a rule book of “do’s” and “don’ts.” Still even in grace, the works of sin draw us away from God and one another and are deathward in orientation. The works of grace build community and restore the soul and awaken us to eternal life. Lifestyle matters! Is our personal and corporate lifestyle reflective of God’s pathway of salvation or self-interest, hedonism, and consumerism? What guides our personal, professional, and political decision-making? Do we disregard the prophets in search of short-term profits? Do sell our souls and planet for a lump of coal? Does our privilege drown out the cries of the poor and marginalized?

While Paul may be speaking of relational and behavioral sins – the individualistic sins associated with sexuality and consumerism – surely today we need to address the “indirect” sins of good upstanding Christians who may abstain from alcohol, pornography, and infidelity, but promote racism, sexism, economic inequality, and divisiveness in their citizenship and politics. I suspect these sins are far more destructive to community and spiritual growth than the private and easily condemned sins.

Jesus’ words connect our relationships with others to our relationship with God. We welcome and encounter God in encountering the other. Our acts of comfort and kindness, especially toward the vulnerable, touch the very heart of God, and transform our own lives. What we do matters to God because it changes the quality of God’s experience. The One to Whom All Hearts are Open truly experiences our actions, and in the interplay of divine call and human response, our actions increase or diminish God’s presence in the world. What we do also matters in terms of our spiritual stature. We are blessed in our generosity and receive the reward of nearness to our Parent and Creator when we transcend personal self-interest and commit ourselves to world loyalty.
+++
Bruce Epperly is a Cape Cod pastor, professor, and author of over fifty books including FAITH IN A TIME OF PANDEMIC, GOD ONLINE: A MYSTIC’S GUIDE TO THE INTERNET, PROCESS THEOLOGY: EMBRACING ADVENTURE WITH GOD, and the upcoming HOPE BEYOND PANDEMIC.

Uncategorized

Abraham and Isaac

challeging scriptures

Previous Post

June 19, 2020

Faith in a Time of Crisis - On Juneteenth, Celebrate Freedom

Next Post

June 21, 2020 Faith in a Time of Pandemic - Be Still in God's Presence

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Book Reviews The Adventurous Lectionary Uncategorized

Select a Month November 2026 October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 December 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz