Title: “Tests”
Scripture: Matthew 10:40-42, Genesis 22:1-14
6/26/05 Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, Year A
Rev. Joy R. Haertig
Last week I helped my daughter Lindsey study for a science exam she was to have the next day. That afternoon when we talked she told me how surprised she was that the teacher had been spoofing them! There was not a test at all, their only task was to put icing on large round cookies in a way that represented the different phases of the moon and then eat them! Of course this was fun - but she was quite taken aback that the teacher would set them up in this way and then not follow through.
I was never too crazy about tests in school and I suspect it is safe to say that no one likes “life experiences” that feel like tests either! Needless to say, I don't like the story about Abraham being tested by God - it makes me angry! I do not believe that God intentionally tests us or our faithfulness and this story makes my skin crawl even though I know how it turns out!
I do believe that there are experiences in life that definitely test our faith in God. But I am unwilling to believe that the God who gave us free will would out-of-the-blue decide to do an experiment on our obedience or just have a little fun with a human pinball machine.
But there it is in the Bible, written in letters each of us can read with our own eyes - “God tested Abraham's obedience.”
I still don't buy it, but what shall we make of it?
Human sacrifice was something practiced by some of the other religions of that time, but Yahweh did not ask for human sacrifice - so why is it here?
Obedience to the gods was of utmost importance - the people thought survival depended on it. If you did what was right, you would be rewarded. People believed that the god's demanded all kinds of things to keep the god's subdued. They also believed in doing things for the god's in order for their crops to grow and keep their families safe. In the midst of this kind of world-view Abraham may have believed that God was asking him to sacrifice Isaac.
Abraham was learning to discern God's voice in a wilderness of voices. Abraham was learning to recognize a God that did not make him do things to keep God happy or make Abraham's life safe from harm. This was not the kind of god that he had ever heard about - he was still trying to figure out what this One God was all about.
Perhaps there is still some of that early mindset deep in the archetypal recesses of our own brains that believes God manipulates us and tests our obedience with illness, death and suffering. Think about it for a minute - can you honestly say that you have never thought in this way when something bad has happened to you or a loved one?
Some how if we were just good enough or if God was more loving - nothing bad would happen to us. It is disappointing to consider that God can do no more than provide us with some kind of celestial support when times are rough rather than fix it or keep it from happening in the first place. What kind of a Super-hero God is that!
When I hear the story of Abraham and Isaac I get so mad at the whole idea that I lose sight of the best part of the story, the lamb in the bushes. Some poor little lamb that wandered away from the herd and was stuck in some bramble distracted Abraham from the act he was about to commit in the name of God.
Here is a symbol of the promise this God of ours gives to us over and over again - I will provide what you need. Not “I will fix it” or “I will take it away”, or “I'll do this for you if you do this for me”, but “I will provide”.
What was Abraham thinking as he went up to the mountain? Imagine how frightened he must have been.
Thank you God for that lamb! Thank you God for the distraction that saved Isaac's life; that provided Abraham with what he really needed.
Thank you God for the people - the moments - the distractions that wake us up out of our fear or discouragement and say to us “you are not alone, I am here.”
Yes, there are many things in life that can FEEL like we are being tested - illness, mental health, unemployment, death, war, hunger, addiction - but God is not the tester. God is the one that provides something as simple yet as life-giving as a cup of cold water when you are thirsty. God is the one that meets you at the door with a bouquet of flowers when the day is so dark and dreary that you don't even want to get out of bed.
God is the Hospice nurse that bathes you when you can no longer bathe yourself; she is the one that holds your hand until you breathe your last breath. He is the family member that is brave enough to say, “It's okay to die, we will take care of one another, you can go now.”
God is the one that helps you sit still and listen rather than try and fix or solve someone's problem - But she is also the one that will sit you down on the couch and confront you when your choices are putting your health in danger.
God is NOT the one that takes a child from you before they have a chance to grow old, He is the one that receives the child into his loving Presence and helps you survive and move on without them.
The story of Abraham and Isaac no doubt hit me hard this time around because we have had so many deaths these past weeks and we know that our friend Pat is also nearing the end.
At times I am angry at the challenges of growing old, the physical challenges as well as the loneliness and loss.
I find myself incredibly angry at cancer and the side effects of treatment, but through all of this, I have not been mad at God - though I know it would be okay if I was.
I refuse to believe that God asked Eva to let go of Ed or Fritz to let go of Louise or that God is testing our faith with Pat's cancer or testing Kariens family with the suicide of her uncle.
All of these things CAN (and often do) test our faith, but it is not God doing the testing.
God is the Presence beside us and within us, God is the spirit I see moving in each of you as you provide love and support to one another during the various seasons of our lives. God is the still small voice that whispers “I love you”. God is in the $850.00 collected that will help send care packages to soldiers in Iraq and in the group of kids and adults that walked the survivors lap with Pat at the Cancer Relay for Life and raised $148,000.
God does not test us or punish us with suffering. God is the giver of life and the Presence through all the joys and trials that come with it.
God is in the “promising paradox of loss: At the bottom of despair, there can appear a great “Hope”. And deep within loneliness, there can dwell a great Love.” (James E. Miller) Thank you God for the lamb that saved Isaac. Thank you God for the people and unexpected interruptions that remind us that you are always near.
(Continued)
(Silent prayer…and then listen as I sing: “Great is your faithfulness! Great is your faithfulness! Morning by morning new mercies I see; All I have needed your hand has provided, Great is your faithfulness, God unto me.”