Sermon for 3/26/23: Fifth Sunday in Lent

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“The Lord Will Provide”
Genesis 22:1-14

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

There are times when life doesn’t seem to make much sense, when there seems to be no order in things, no apparent purpose to what’s happening. It’s tempting to think there’s no point to anything. And if there is no point to it all, what does that say about God? Does He really know what He’s doing? Does He really care?

Abraham’s life could easily have seemed to be a cruel joke. Years before, God told Abraham to leave his homeland and travel far away to the land of Canaan. God had promised Abraham that he would be the father of a great nation—in fact, all nations would be blessed through the Messiah who would be one of his descendants. The elderly, childless Abraham obeyed God and left home with his elderly wife Sarah and his servants for this strange land, trusting that the Lord was able to keep His promises to him.

Twenty five years later, miraculously, Sarah did have her first and only child, a son named Isaac. After much waiting, God kept His promise to Abraham, even though it seemed impossible. How overjoyed Abraham must have been! How this must have bolstered his faith in the Lord! This son was the fulfillment of God’s promise. This son was just the beginning of a great nation of Abraham’s descendants to come. Through this son of the promise, God had shown Himself to be trustworthy and true.

But a few more years later, God came to Abraham another time and said this: “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering…” Really? God makes Abraham wait 25 years for this promised son, and now He tells Abraham to kill him? That makes no sense! What kind of God is this?

Isaac himself is trying to make sense out of this confusing situation. Isaac had certainly worshiped and made sacrifices with his father before. But one thing was different this time. Isaac asked,  “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Maybe he thought his dad had just forgotten. Perhaps he sensed something terribly different about his father’s mood. We just don’t know. As it turns out, quite surprisingly, this passage doesn’t say anything in all its length about either Isaac or his father’s feelings through this whole situation.

And that very fact shows us that we shouldn’t be directing our attention to the incredible turmoil which Abraham must have experienced, especially as Isaac was laid on the altar. Rather more important is the great example of trust in the Lord which Abraham displayed. When God told Abraham to sacrifice his son, it is written that Abraham got up the next morning to prepare. There was no hesitation, just trust. When Isaac asked, “Where is the lamb?” Abraham did not know what the future held. But whatever was about to happen, he was sure God knew what He was doing. Abraham spoke reassuringly to Isaac, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” Trust. Abraham bound his son and laid him on the altar on the wood. Trust. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. Trust.

This is what it means to have faith in God. It’s not just that you believe in Him when everything is going well. It’s not that you trust your feelings. It’s trusting in God despite your feelings. It’s having confidence in Him, even when it seems to you that He cares nothing for you. It’s looking to Him for all good things, even when only bad things seem to be coming. It’s relying on Him even when everything in life seems to be turned against you. That’s what Abraham did: he clung to God’s promises regarding his son. And that is also what we are to do: cling to God’s promises regarding Christ, our Father’s Son, and never letting go.

This whole account points us to Christ and what He would do for us on what many claim is the very same mountain. Abraham was stopped from carrying out the sacrifice of Isaac; the time to sacrifice the Son would not come until Good Friday. Consider what is being foreshadowed here. Isaac was the beloved only son of Abraham, conceived in a miraculous way. So also God the Father gave His only begotten and beloved Son, miraculously conceived by the Holy Spirit in the Blessed Virgin, to deliver us from the power of sin and Satan and the grave. After God stopped Abraham from sacrificing his son, he looked up and saw a male sheep, a ram caught in the thicket by its horns. Abraham offered it in place of his son. Even so, Jesus was offered up Himself in your place so that you would be set free from the judgment of death. He purposely caught Himself in the thorny thicket of your sin so that you might have everlasting life. In Christ the words of Abraham are fulfilled for you: “God Himself will provide the Lamb.” Abraham named that place, “The Lord will Provide.” For on that holy mountain, God provided for your salvation in His only Son.

Even as Isaac cried out, “Where is the lamb?” there will be troubling or sorrowful times when you also may cry out, “Where is God?” And God answers in His own gracious way and in His good time. He is present with you in mysterious and wonderful ways. He will never forsake you, even when everything has been turned upside down in your life. To you who believe and are baptized, the Lord says, “Fear not; for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.”

When little in your life seems to make much sense, look to Christ, the crucified. Look to His words and promises, for He gives meaning and purpose and even joy to living in an otherwise senseless world. The Lord will provide. Trust in Him. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

          The peace which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.