Here I Am

Sermon Genesis 22:1-14 June 28, 2020 Ordinary Time

Here I Am

“Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying “Whom shall I send, and who shall go for us?” And I said, “Here I am; send me!” 

These are the words of Isaiah as he answered the call of God in his life. Daniel L. Shutte captured these words in a hymn we sing with passion as we offer ourselves to God in service. We are moved by these words, we are lifted to a commitment of service full of compassion and profound faith when we sing these words with our strong voices. 

There is something about the response to God’s call, “Here I am.” that stirs us within when we hear it. And when we sing it, we mean it and are ready to go for God.

That is the repeated story of God in the lives of God’s people that began with Abraham. Twice God told Abraham, “Go!”

Each time it was to a place of uncertainty.

It was to a place with an unknown future.

It was a place that held his future in the balance.

Everything he had ever known,

everything he had ever trusted was put aside to answer the command, Go! 

When God sent Abraham from Haran to Canaan he left the land of his father Terah and went to the land God promised would be the land of his inheritance. It would be a land where he would have children as many as there were stars in the sky. It was 25 years from the time of God’s promise of children until the birth of Isaac. How long have any of us been willing to wait for God’s promises to be revealed?

Today in chapter 22 is the second time we read about God telling Abraham to Go!

Abraham responds with certainty, “Here I am!”

Again, he is sent to a place he does not know.

He is sent with his future hanging in the balance.

God has told him to take his son, his only son

(He sent his son Ishmael away so all he has now is Isaac),

to the mountain to offer him up as a burnt offering!

How can that be?

The future of the nation of God’s people rests in the offspring of Isaac!

Everything God is telling Abraham to do goes completely against the nature of God’s promises to him.

How could he dare follow through?

Yet, twice Abraham responds to the command to go with the faith , “God will provide.”

Somehow even though Abraham is uncertain of God’s command he knows that God will 

provide what is needed.

In the middle of the horror of the moment,

Abraham has faith that God will bring about the good.

in the middle of the walking

through the impending loss

of every hope,

of every dream,

of every scrap of truth of God’s promises,

Abraham holds on to the

covenant commitment he has with God.

Some people might call it blind faith. Others might say this is the faith that has been the root of the evil of cults that destroy the lives of people. Some people might say that God is cruel and capricious to send Abraham through a test like that. But, what is essential for us to hear through out this story is Abraham’s absolute conviction that God will set it all right.

Perhaps what’s also remarkable about this story is Abraham’s relationship with Isaac. Unlike the Christian understanding that Isaac was a boy of about 13, the Jewish commentators state that Isaac was anywhere between 30 and 37. I had one rabbi share in a study with other pastors that perhaps Isaac was 33 the same age we say Jesus was when he was an offering of a Father.

Isaac, we recognize is able and capable.

He asks the question about the lamb

and Abraham speaks again with

absolute faith that God will provide.

Isaac is a willing participant in faith with his father as he is bound to the altar. He doesn’t squirm, resist or tell his dad he’s crazy.

There is something about this moment of complete irrational behavior on the part of God and humanity that stirs us to hope there is another way.

Abraham trusts that God will provide but he is still uncertain at which point the hand of God will prevail and bring forth the lamb.

Most of us at this point would stop there

and lecture God for putting us in a moral and ethical predicament.

Most of us at this point would draw the line

and say human life is sacred (which it is!)

and argue with God about the

choices that we’ve been forced to make.

That God is not fair.

That God is unjust.

That God is crazy and cruel.

None of us wants to put the lives of others in harms way.

None of us wants to throw our future away.

None of us wants to turn our backs on the most precious of our existence.

But, what are some of the choices we feel we have been forced to make?

When are the times that our family or Biblical teachings about human life and our neighbor have been in conflict? It’s these very moments that the hand of God seems heaviest. Yet, it could be the moment of our greatest turning to see another way.

I’ve been reading excerpts from Senator John McCain’s book “Character is Destiny”. In his story about his experience as a POW in Vietnam he recalls a time with a fond memory.  He mentions that hate was one of the factors that helped them in warfare as well as to survive in prison. But, he said they needed faith more than they needed anything else. They had faith that no matter how bad things got they could rely on each other to get through it. They had faith in their country. They had faith in the power of support for one another. They had faith in the military to which they were giving their lives. They had faith in the traditions of honor and self respect for these were the strength to get them through whatever trials they would suffer. But, most of all they had faith in God. He said their faith in God was crucial in order to remain human and to feel the ever-presence of God with them.

There was moment at Christmas when he was standing staring at the heavens that a soldier cam up to him and stood by his side. He made a cross with the toe of his shoe. At that moment they both were staring at the cross in the dirt. The soldier immediately erased it and walked away. But, at that moment it was a turning point from hate. In that moment McCain said he saw the faith and humanity in his enemy. He said it was a faith that unites, a faith that bridges across divisions, a faith that reminds us all that we are sinners and saints alike, all children of God.

How have we managed to stay the course of faithfulness

to God when it seems that everything

we believe about ethics and morals

have been put to the test?

How do we stick to the path of righteousness for God’s name’s sake when we feel the world we have trusted is being ripped apart? How do we trust that God will provide for a future with sons and daughters as many as the stars are in the sky?

Perhaps, God’s message for us today is as it was of old.

Hear him calling in the night, answer ‘Here I am,”

and have faith that in all things and in all times God will provide.

God provides for us as we sing,

 as we live,

as we leave this earth

and go down to the dust,

God provides for us in all our conditions.

Jesus who died, who rose, who reigns is our Lord,

who calls us to come and follow him. Let us answer the call.

“Here I am”

Amen.  

Resources: NIB Volume I Genesis, Geneis by W. Sibley Towner, Pentateuch w/ Rashi’s commentary by Silberman, Character is Destiny by John McCain