Forwards or Backwards??
Our first reading today, the Sacrifice of Isaac, is one of the most vivid and shocking vignettes in the Bible. It shows us a progression (maybe, a regression, if looked at differently.)The story is archetypal, but troubling. We all catch its drift. To what limits would one go to demonstrate faith? What limit would God want?
Just about every continent in the world has shown evidence that within the past 10,000 years that our ancestors engaged in the action of human sacrifice. Usually, this was done to prisoners of opposing peoples. The story we hear today probably was penned over 3000 years ago. Its simple imagery has withstood the test of time. Still, questions are raised: 1) What would child protective services today say about the story back then? 2) What would Sarah, the child’s mother, say when she found out about what had happened? 3) What would PETA and other animal rights’ activists say about the sacrifice of the ram in place of the firstborn son. 4) How did Isaac survive the trauma?
YHWH, the God of Life, demands that Abraham sacrifice Isaac, Abraham’s son, his only son, his only son whom he loves as a sign of Abraham’s absolute commitment to God. (This God had promised Abraham that he would be the father of a great nation. However, Isaac is the only son.) Still, Abraham prepared to obey God.
The neighbors of Israel frequently engaged in human sacrifice. Indeed, in the worship of Baal, the fertility god of the Canaanites, there might even have been a liturgy of sacrifice of a firstborn male to ensure further fertility for the family.
Still, old customs die hard. (Even as late as the prophet Jeremiah (c. 622BC), some Jewish people hedged their bets on God by offering human sacrifices in the Valley of Gehenna, within walking distance of the Temple constructed by King Solomon.) In essence, one meaning of the story is the clear statement that YHWH, the God of Life, does not require human sacrifice of any human person.
Instead, Israel sacrificed animals, sheep and goats, whose blood was seen as a proper substitute for human blood. (Today, animal rights’ activists would maintain a constant protest outside. YHWH, the God of Life, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, put an end to sacrificing the blood of anyone or anything in doing exactly what God appeared to be doing with Abraham. God shed God’s Blood. However, in so doing, Jesus brings an end to all primal religion which requires the shedding of blood. No longer is bloodshed, human or animal, friend or enemy, acceptable!
However, the Catholistic value of the absolute sanctity of every human life (no exceptions) still might only receive lip service from many. In the 1970’s, the System called wars in Central America “low intensity warfare”. Others fought the wars; we sold the weapons. Nobody got hurt, unless you were fighting yourself.
Ever since the British-Argentine War in the South Atlantic in 1982 over the Islas Malvinas, the world became alerted to new types of weaponry, “teleological warfare”, viz., warfare from afar.)Computerized French Exocet missiles that the Argentines had, which knocked out British ships from a distance of 75 miles. (The Iron Lady was not amused, but apparently, she did not lose any sleep over it.) Others died, none of her kin.
Today, we have drone flights, computerized recon flights (which soon became loaded with weaponry) that could be controlled from a distance. Who operates them? One Catholic peace forum recently had as its Lenten theme: “Who Lies? Who Dies? Who Pays? Who Profits?”
Theologians and others speak now of the Great Convergence. As early as 1955, people as diverse as Pope Pius XII and Blessed John XXIII and Pope John Paul and Bertrand Russell and Albert Einstein, stated, “We have to learn to think in a new way. We have to learn to ask ourselves, not what steps can be taken to give military victory to whichever group we prefer, for there are no longer such steps; the question we have to ask ourselves is: what steps can be taken to prevent a military contest of which the issue must be disastrous for all parties. Remember your humanity and forget the rest.”
Today offers a clear trajectory in reading between the lines of the Testing of Abraham and the Crucifixion of Jesus. The Gospel is the only viable way out of the transmission of violence, hatred and anger. If we do not transform these negative energies, we only transmit them.
Three values that 21st century NY Catholics (and others) can adopt include the following: 1) The Genome Project proves it, viz., there is common DNA from an original parent in each of us. Surprise! We are all brothers and sisters. 2) As brilliant minds saw 50 years ago, war has become obsolete in conflict resolution. It has outlived whatever purpose it had. 3) We can agree on a global ethic, viz., “the Golden Rule”, Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
The story of Abraham’s attempted sacrifice of his son, his only son, his only son whom he loved, has a sad resonance in today’s world. Is a “Christianist?” system starting to backslide on the divine trajectory clearly traceable in today’s readings. Are we “cultural recidivists”? The Voice from God said, “This is My Divine Son. Listen to Him.” Do we really????????? 030412AD jfq
