Genesis 22: 3-12; Matthew 10: 40, 42

The spectrum of sacrifice

When I was living in Hawaii one summer many years ago a book that was very popular there was a book about the Japanese immigrants in Hawaii called “For the sake of the children.”  I thought that was a beautiful title, but a heavy one also.  Does that mean that all your life is about, to equip the next generation?  All you do in life is a sacrifice for the future of your children? Having raised two children, I understand better now.  But there is an implication here: the children will have to do all for their children so they can have a good life.  Success demands success demands success demands success, from generation to generation. There is a lot of pressure there.  Of course in reality over time each generation takes it less seriously, as they assimilate into the US with its culture that’s strong in its own way.

What a far cry from the story of Abraham getting ready to sacrifice Isaac.  There is no case of for the sake of the child here.  It’s the child given to please the Divine.  A terrified child becomes a test case and perhaps never regains his trust for his old eccentric father, questioning the old man’s love deep in his soul.  Is he a just a small piece in God’s giant chess game or does he really matter?  Whatever Abraham does will damage him beyond repair. The sacrifice of the child will tear apart every sinew of his being.  Disobeying God will bankrupt him spiritually.  Remember, this is also the man who also sends Isaac’ half brother Ishmael into the wilderness. There is a masterpiece by Spanish sculptor Alonso Berruguete sculpted between 1526 and 1532 of the sacrifice of Isaac.  There is a more famous depiction by Donatello which shows that the reality that this is a test is just beginning to dawn on Abraham.  Berruguete captures the moment before the arrival of the news by an angelic being.  This is the moment of the purest agony with Abraham crying to God and stroking the hair of Isaac who is tied up and in distress, perhaps feeling himself at the mercy of a father gone mad.  The piece shows at its deepest level art can give us a glimpse of the soul.  The sacrifice Abraham thinks he must make is the ultimate sacrifice, way beyond the sacrifice of one’s own life, a moment when devotion and insanity seem to blend.  Sacrifice of course is very important in many religions, even to this day.  Animals are usually the victim, but not always.  Terry Eagleton writes the following about sacrifice (The Nature of Evil in ‘The Best Spiritual Writing 2013, Philip Zaleski ed., Penguin Books 2012, p. 18):” Sacrifice is the act by which the ……….scapegoat, undergoes the turbulent passage from weakness to power. It is only by identifying with this ……cast-out thing that the city can be saved, that which is torn and bleeding can be made whole, justice can be accomplished, and life can be snatched from the jaws of death.”

Friends, sacrifice takes many forms. In war there is much sacrifice, of life and limb. There can be sacrifice of money, sacrifice of time, sacrifice of ego, sacrifice of physical effort, of security and certainty.  To be truly alive at one point means to having sacrificed something.  Perhaps the least significant will be a glass of water.  Or when I was going down a steep hill on my bicycle last week and the chain popped off with a huge noise and a nice young man running by helped me put it back on: a sacrifice of time, however short.  Sacrifice often happens in very small increments and instants, but without it the fabric of our communities and societies would unravel. Yes, the sacrifice for evil also exists. Sometimes we sacrifice for the wrong things, perhaps to be liked and accepted, perhaps to get a favor in return, perhaps because we are naïve at that moment.

Friends, Abraham’s aborted sacrifice of Isaac is not some cruel joke. The story is crucial to understand the Christian Gospel, that God will do that which God does not in the end ask of human beings, a sacrifice of one’s own self in the One we call God’s “Son.”  This is necessary to show the incredible and unimaginable unconditional love God feels for each of us. There was no other way to show it.

David Livingston wrote many years ago: “People talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa. Can that be called a sacrifice which is simply acknowledging a great debt we owe to our God, which we can never repay? Is that a sacrifice which brings its own reward in healthful activity, the consciousness of doing good, peace of mind, and a bright hope of a glorious destiny? It is emphatically no sacrifice. Rather it is a privilege. Anxiety, sickness, suffering, danger, foregoing the common conveniences of this life–these may make us pause, and cause the spirit to waver, and the soul to sink; but let this only be for a moment.”

Friends, none of us are David Livingstone, but all of are called to some kind of sacrifice, not for the sake of sacrifice, but the sake of showing God’s love to other humans who so desperately need  it.  It may be as small as the giving of a glass of water that will prove crucial, but what will be your sacrifice? Thanks be to God.