Celebration of the Passion of the Lord
Around 2,000 years before
Christ, Abraham placed wood upon his the shoulders of the son of the promise,
his beloved son, Isaac, and started up the mountain. Isaac quickly realized that, while they had the wood, and
they had the knife to kill the sacrifice, they had no lamb to place upon the
altar. Isaac, “like a lamb led to
the slaughter,” did not know what was happening, and so asked his father where
the offering was. “‘My son,’
Abraham answered, ‘God will provide the sheep for the burnt offering.’ Then the two walked on together.” When they reach the top of the
mountain, Abraham, an old man at this point, binds his son to the wood. Isaac must have willingly let himself
be bound, because Abraham was more than 100 years old. And then Abraham took out his knife,
ready to sacrifice the son of the promise: the promise that God would make of
Abraham through Isaac father of many nations. But, as we know, an angel of the Lord stayed Abraham’s hand,
and did not allow him to sacrifice his own beloved son, but provided a ram in
place of Isaac. Abraham was
rewarded for his faith in God, even to the point of letting his son die, and
truly became the Father of Many Nations.
Isaac, who was as good as dead, was given new life as he was unbound
from the wood.
Fast-forward about 1,000 years,
and a temple is built, according to tradition, over the spot where Abraham had
been willing to sacrifice Isaac.
It was there, at the place of an example of faith in God such that it
put Abraham in right relationship with God, or justified him as St. Paul says,
that the sacrifices of the Mosaic covenant would be offered, to remind God of
the faithfulness of the Father of the Israelites. Just outside of that place, almost 1,000 years later,
another Son, a beloved Son, would be fastened to wood once more, and offered up
by His Father as a sacrifice.
Isaac had asked where the
animal was to sacrifice, perhaps his voice starting to crack as he began to
realize what could lie ahead of him.
Jesus cried out, “Eli, eli, lema sabachtani? My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” as the full
weight of sin and the punishment that it deserves came crashing upon Him.
But where was the voice of the
angel? Where was the heavenly
messenger telling the Father to stay His hand and not touch a hair on the boy’s
head, and to replace the sacrifice of a Son with the sacrifice of a ram? As the Roman soldier raised his arm,
ready to hammer the nail into the exhausted flesh of Jesus, which had been
scourged to a bloody mess and weakened on the Via Dolorosa, the sorrowful way, no angel
stopped that hand, and the only sound was the pounding of the hammer.
Abraham proved his love for God
by being willing to sacrifice his own beloved son. God proved his love for Abraham and his posterity, not just
by generation but by faith, not only by being willing to sacrifice His Only
Beloved Son, but also allowing it to happen to save us from our sins. All of the sins that came before that
dark Friday, and all of the sins that would follow after it, were washed away
as the crimson blood flowed from the mangled body of Jesus.
What are our sacrifices since
last Easter? What are we willing
to sacrifice in the year to come? In
the past year I have buried a father of a family who left behind a wife and 5
kids, as well as my own uncle; I have had friends discover they had cancer; today
I bring my frustrations, my joys, my sins, all of who I am. Many of you have lost loved ones, have
found out family or friends are sick and suffering; some of you have lost jobs,
or have children who have wandered away from the Church; you have your own
frustrations, your joys, your sins, and all that makes you who you are. Today, bring them here to our own Mount
Moriah, and offer sacrifice to God; not the sacrifice of your progeny, but
sacrifice of your life united to Jesus on the cross. Offer to God not only the evil you want to get rid of, but
even the things you want to hold on to with your whole heart. Bring them to the wood which is
prepared for this altar.
Jesus says to us, from just
outside Mount Moriah, “‘I thirst.’”
He thirsts for you, He thirsts for me. Not just part of you or part of me, but all of you and all
of me. Have the faith of
Abraham. Be willing to offer your
all to God. “Take courage and be
stouthearted, all you who hope in the Lord.”
