Bishop Barron on Abraham, Isaac, and Christ

[Music] well one of the most dreadful stories in the Bible is in the 22nd chapter of the book of Genesis the story that the ancient Israelites called the akhada which means the binding the binding of issac this terrible story of the command of God to Abraham to sacrifice his son now why is it terrible well all kinds of reason not only does it involve basically human sacrifice not only is it something of horrible familial import I mean a father willing to kill his own son it's also of great theological difficulty because it seems to place God at odds with himself now why well Isaac is the bearer of the promise God had promised Abraham through your son Isaac you'll become the father of many nations now at the time Abraham was already old man and childless but he received that promise and so he waited faithfully years went by decades went by he becomes an old man then he becomes an ancient man his wife as old as he but yet he continues to have faith and then finally when they're both extremely elderly Abraham and Sarah have a child Isaac Isaac is everything to Abraham his son but also the bearer of God's promise now fast forward 12 years or so Isaac just coming of age and now Abraham hears this call sacrifice to me Isaac your only son your beloved son now can you see how this would be utterly utterly confounding to someone Abraham not only are you being called upon to kill your own son but it appears though God is simply at odds with himself but the God who's promising you life through this son now wants the son back someone who saw all the way to the bottom of the story was the great 19th century philosopher and he read it and they wrote a book called fear and trembling we all read it in college philosophy class now fear and trembling that's the response to this terrible story now what prevents us from saying it's just a weird tale from an ancient time well in the course of my years in pastoral ministry I've dealt with a lot of parents who faced something very similar what I mean is this parents who rightly receive their children of the great gift of God rejoiced in this extraordinary grace and who were then asked if you want to return that child to God I mean parents who've lost their kids through a disease or through a terrible accident or in the maybe worst case through suicide parents who feel the same awful tension of what God gave me this great promise this great source of grace God now it seems oddly wants back and so they're in that position of Abraham now what's the hinge of the story the hinge is that what God wants from Abraham is obedience obey me Abraham even when this seems not to make one bit of sense to you obey me now I know I know this is a really hard message especially for us today because let's face it obedience is not one of our big virtues we would tend to associate obedience more with a kid something kind of childlike or even childish obey at all cause obey Authority strikes as a rather immature perspective in fact read book after book watch movie after movie listen to song after song right in our culture what do you find lionized not obedient people just the opposite we love rebels we love dissidents we love those who say no to authorities stand up to Authority that's it that's our hero so what do we do with this what do we do with this confounding story here's a couple observations what differentiates God and our obedience to God from let's say a president or a politician or a prime minister and our obedience to them here's the first major difference the Prime Minister the president of politician is not loved right through there are flawed fragile sinful human beings who sometimes make terrible judgments some men propose terrible policies sometimes are motivated by anything but the best motives in those cases should they be resisted yes is the answer look I got enough of the American spirit me to say no we should stand up to corrupt and oppressive politicians you know I'm with our founding fathers I like that rebellious spirit you know good it's appropriate with regard to human figures but see God isn't like that God we claim is love right through that's all God is period and therefore obedience to God they will never conduce to our detriment it can't because God has no needs God's not self-interested God wants what is best for us and therefore obeying him is not something immature obeying him if I can put it crudely is always in our best interest second difference a politician a president of Prime Minister can lay out his proposals can lay out his policy we can say yeah yeah that part of it is good that part no I don't like they can lay it out in a pretty clear straightforward manner think for example example of Jefferson here we all read the prologue to the Declaration but keep going in the the more sort of pedantic part of the declaration what is it but Jefferson laying out the policies of George the third and saying here's precisely why I don't agree with them here's where I'm rebelling against your third good make sense you can lay it out I can read it and say yeah yeah yeah that's a dumb policy that's an oppressive policy let's suppose now see God God the Bible says it over over again God doesn't lay out if you want his policy that way why not cuz he's being capricious no no because God's canvas if I can shift the metaphor of it is all the space in all of time God's policy his politics includes all of space of time therefore God cannot lay out to us in this straightforward manner oh here's what I'm doing and why God's ways will always be strange to us that's why Isaiah channeling the Word of God can say it as high as the heavens are above the earth so higher my thoughts above your thoughts my ways above your ways we're called upon to obey God because we know that what God wants is for our best and and we cannot in principle fully understand what God's about and therefore we're called upon to give this kind of awful ascent and I'm going to use that word with all of its overtones and undertones it's awful ascent that Abraham gives of trust listen I mean even when it appears there's no rhyme or reason to it that's the space this this wonderful terrible story is putting us into if I can effect a link now between this in the New Testament look at the story of the Transfiguration how that invaded the imagination the first Christians it comes up you know in the three synoptic Gospels Jesus leads up Peter James and John his most intimate disciples up a mountain it's always biblical code for a meeting place between God and the world and it says there he is transfigured before them his clothes becoming dazzlingly white Moses and Elijah speak with him it's as though in that brief shining moment they get a glimpse they get a glimpse of what it's all about that's what Moses and Elijah sort of mean the law the prophets the whole tradition of Israel coming to its fulfillment in Jesus in this glorious manifestation they see if you want into heaven they see into God's deepest and final purpose for us they get it they get a glimpse of the object of faith trust what am i trusting in that God knows what he's about that God does have a purpose now how come they were given that glimpse it's the classical answer is because they were about to face the Passion of Jesus they were about to go to Jerusalem with him and face one his arrest his his humiliation his crucifixion his death now look how that put them almost in the same space as Abraham Abraham who felt God is just at odds with himself he gives me the son through whom I will receive the promise and then he wants a son back what is going on think of the disciples now Jesus the Son of God miracle worker preaching the Word of God he's the Messiah of Israel he's the king of Israel and he's put to death by the Romans it was that same kind of awful Maelstrom of confusion and ambiguity and contradiction how how could this be right what they're given in the Transfiguration is a sort of foretaste a glim so ah ah that's what he's about that's what it's about even though I can't understand how this works I get it that somehow through this awful trial and death will come resurrection and through this awful experience God's purpose will be worked out how important now at the at the end of the story the Transfiguration they hear a voice from heaven was it saying this is my beloved son listen to him as he listened obey dra in Latin that's where our word obedience comes from obey dear it means to listen think of a shame out prayer ancient Israel here o Israel listen o Israel the Lord your God has got alone listen here's my beloved son listen to him trust him they abide by him follow him God is love right through that's why we should trust him but secondly God is almost necessarily mysterious to us that's why we have to trust him moving into that stance the stance of faith of obedience of trust that's the only way for us [Music]

Channel: Bishop Robert Barron

Views: 72,514

Rating: 4.7984085 out of 5

Keywords: Fr. Robert Barron, Word On Fire, Catholicism, Christianity, Catholic, religion, Christ, God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, Lord, Church, bible, Old Testament, Abraham, Isaac, Akedah, binding of Isaac, Sarah, gospel, Lent, sacrifice, Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling, Isaiah, Thomas Jefferson, Transfiguration, heaven, crucifixion, faith, atheism

Id: 53nJjwaZMeM

Length: 12min 2sec (722 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 07 2012