Abraham: Lech lekha

The search for blessing, the essence of life itself, involved an encounter with death and the death of meaning. – Karen Armstrong, In the Beginning: A New Interpretation

Three of the world’s largest monotheistic religions call Abraham the Father of their faith.  Muslims, Jews, and Christians all lay claim to him.  He is often revered as a pillar of faith – which he no doubt was – and also lifted up as an example to follow, which maybe he shouldn’t be (except that faith part).  We live in a time where politicians call for us to return to family values that faith calls for.  Wonderful!  Just don’t look for any help from any of the characters in the Bible’s first book, Genesis!

The greatest case supporting this notion must be account of Abraham nearly sacrificing his son, Isaac, to God at God’s request.  The story is ugly on so many levels.  God asks Abraham to do something horrific.  Abraham agrees.  Isaac is bound, and experiences the person he most admires nearly commit murder against him.  Note: Isaac doesn’t go home with Abraham when Abraham leaves.  Would you be able to sleep now that you’ve seen this side of your daddy?  A life may have been spared, but a relationship was ruined, and the emotional stability of a young man was crushed for the rest of his life.  So how do we reconcile this?

We get some solace when we appreciate the context:

• Child sacrifice was common in Abraham’s day, making it unfortunate but understandable for Abraham to comply. 
• We get a hint in the text to give us some peace that God did this to test Abraham, which gets our hopes up for a good outcome. 
• Similarly, Abraham is portrayed as being sure that God will provide the sacrifice, and that he won’t really have to kill Isaac. 
• When we realize that this was written around 600 BCE, we think differently, too, as the story acts as a reminder that Israel was not to sacrifice humans in worship of God, in contrast to other religions.  This story settles that from the very beginning.

So, with some of the horror of the story addressed, the real point here and now is, how do we apply Abraham’s life story to our lives?

Abraham heard God’s call to lech lekha, get up and go, and Abraham did.  He left his family and friends and familiarity in response to God’s call.  This was no easy step.  It was a leap of faith, which, by definition, requires leaping!  Sketchy details about the future – just go!  I assume that God is always calling us to get up and go regarding any number of things in our lives.  What is God calling you to leave behind, even though you may not know exactly what the future holds?

As soon as Abraham arrived in Canaan, he had to flee to Egypt to survive the famine.  This had to be experienced as failure.  Yet he remained resolute (with a lot of cheerleading from God).  How do you process what feels like failure as you attempt to walk in faith?  What can you learn from Abraham’s dogged determination to stay the course of faith?

When God showed up to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham plead for leniency and grace.  Where is Sodom today?  Do we care enough to plead her case today, or are we quick to take a wrathful stance?

Abraham will never be nominated for Father of the Year.  Before he nearly killed Isaac, he sent his first son, Ishmael, and his mother, Hagar, into the desert with a bottle of water and some saltines for survival.  Hats off to Ishmael for processing that neglect better than his half-brother did.  How are you doing with the people you’ve been entrusted? 

Who is your Isaac?  Without getting caught up in the gore of the story, we see a guy who was willing to place in God’s hands what he most cared about, and what most represented his future.  In this act he faced down death itself, and trashed his ambition in favor or what God wanted to do with him.  What is your Isaac?  Your money?  Your future?  Your time?  Your loves? 

Lose your life for my sake and you will find it. – Jesus

Reminders from the live teach:

Appreciating Abraham…

ü  He left everything for God’s new thing:   

Following God is not predictable; it’s more likely to be challenging and bumpy.

ü  Child sacrifice was common in his culture:

What culturally normative things do we do that one day will indict us?

ü  He believed God would provide the sacrifice:

Leaps of faith require leaping.

ü  God forbade human sacrifice:

We are not to worship how/what others do.

Applying Abraham today…

God continually calls everybody to get up and go (lech lekha):

ü  What are we called to leave behind?

ü  How do we process midstream “failure”?

ü  Where is Sodom?  How are we pleading her case?

ü  How are we treating those entrusted to our care?

ü  What/who is our Isaac?