Galatians: Now you, my friends, are children of the promise, like Isaac.
Isaac, though blessed, must have been scared going up the mountain with Abraham, without a sacrifice. Did Isaac ever think of himself as the sacrifice? After Abraham built an altar and tied Isaac to it, he offered his only son (with his beloved Sarah) to God on the altar. God's test of Abraham's faith and obedience.
God, in His goodness, sent an angel to stop Abraham from sacrificing Isaac. We are all asked to put what we love most before God, to put whatever that is, our children, our relationships, our health, our businesses, our everything, our lives, upon the altar, to trust God enough to know that God will send His angels to provide a more appropriate sacrifice and release back to us whatever it is we find most dear.
It was not only a test of Abraham's faith and obedience but Isaac's. Isaac was the lamb, and entered willingly, albeit scared and confused, into that space, but was released, transformed, glorified. Once we place whatever it is upon the altar, that whatever is transformed by God's love.
Maybe that's what God did with Jesus? God sent his only son for us. Jesus was the lamb and entered willingly into that space. He stepped into the role of Isaac and became the sacrifice for all. Jesus was laid upon the altar and was released, transformed, and glorified by God's love.
Every day, we are offered the gift of the Eucharist, blessed and transformed into the body and blood of Christ. We are invited to approach the altar where Christ's ultimate sacrifice was made, where God's love is ever-present.
As Paul says in Galatians, now, we are the children of the promise, like Isaac, who willingly laid down on that altar his father built, trusting, as his father Abraham trusted, that God would provide.
What are the promises to Isaac, you might wonder? Well Genesis 26:24, reads, "And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham's sake.”
So we've got that going for us, which is nice (Caddyshack). Today, may we truly believe that God is with us; will never leave us; and will bless and multiply us if we are only willing to place everything, our lives upon the altar and be transformed.
April 28
Mark: The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head.
Luke: When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage.
John: Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people,
Acts: to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.
Galatians: Now you, my friends, are children of the promise, like Isaac.
Ephesians: Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labor and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy.
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