Loading...For Breonna Taylor. May all that is bound by sin be freed in Christ.
Before the scheduled counter protests in downtown Louisville.
The binding of Isaac is one of those Bible stories that isn’t included in Sunday School curriculum. How would you tell children who have heard that Jesus is the Good Shepherd who loves sheep that Jesus is also the Son of a God who tests his faithful servant Abraham with such a terrible command as that of sacrificing his son.
Let’s break it down. First of all Abraham had plenty of kids. He wanted a child with Sarah for the purposes of inheritance through her. So when the writer says, “take your only son” it means the son that God promised to Sarah and the one who would receive the inheritance. Sacrificing such a gift makes God sound a little like a double dealer.
Secondly, ‘everyone was doing it.’ Child sacrifice was a common cult practice in that place at that time among many tribes. The notion that a divine entity would require a child sacrifice would have been no surprise to Abraham — except that the driving entity in this case is the one who provided this child and assigned it as the fulfillment of a promise to Abraham and his descendents through Isaac for ever.
So a very confused Abraham is walking up the mountain with a very confused Isaac who is old enough to be carrying a bundle of wood. Your Bible likely has a subtitle for this story as Sacrifice of Isaac. In the original tradition the subtitle is the Binding of Isaac. Because Isaac indeed is not sacrificed is he. He is bound and released.
There is a son who is bound and sacrificed. He is God’s own provision. The ram caught in the thicket at Calvary is Jesus. All who are bound by sin are released because God provides for the sacrifice through the Son God sacrifices on the cross.
Abraham’s faith is reckoned to him as righteousness. Jesus’ sacrifice reckons righteousness to us who know no righteousness. We receive the reward from the labor and love of our Lord.
I am here at the corner of Jefferson and 6th street where a camp has been set up to provide for protestors. In a place where bad news is being condemned. I am preaching the good news of God in Christ Jesus. Jesus’ love is based on the fidelity of Abraham whose love was tested for a terrible task.
The reason people come to the place where justice is decided is because we want a better world for our children. We don’t want them bound. We want our children to be free. And freedom costs our Lord his life. Jesus’ death on Calvary is a scary and beautiful story and I always give children this prayer so they can feel the protection of Jesus in scary places.
I want to close with this prayer from St Patrick’s Breastplate to defend all children and protect those who will walk this street in protest of all that is wrong and HOPE for all that is right.
Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me;
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger.
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.
