Abraham's Test

Today's first reading at Mass, the story of Abraham and Isaac, troubled me when I was a little girl and it still makes me squirm when I hear it. How could God ask Abraham to sacrifice Isaac on the altar? How could it be a "test" when God knew what he would do? It just seems like a cruel joke. But I know God isn't cruel; that can't be the answer. So why did God put Abraham to the test?

I've read a lot since my girlhood days and I know that God was illustrating for the Israelites that He was different from the idols of their pagan neighbors who sacrificed their children to Moloch. He didn't want his chosen people to follow that example. I know the Abraham story prefigures the lamb of God who will, in fact, be lifted up in a bloody sacrifice on Calvary. God, who held back Abraham's hand with the upraised knife, did not spare his own Son.

But I still ask myself, why did he do that to Abraham?

In the movie, The Bible, George C. Scott plays the ancient patriarch. There's a poignant scene with the young Isaac when his father shows him the staff carved with the family tree. He tells Isaac about his ancestors with a touching tenderness. Then comes the scene where God asks Abraham to give back his only son, the hope of God's promise that Abraham's descendants will number as the stars. Scott shows us a man whose desire to do God's will literally wars with his natural human love for Isaac. Scott shows us the reality of suffering. We see Abraham rampage on the mountain paths struggling until finally, with every shred of his humanity rebelling, he chooses God's will and sets out to fulfill His command. Abraham's rejoicing at the return of Isaac to his loving arms is all the greater because he had already accepted his son's death.

So the test wasn't to show God whether Abraham would sacrifice Isaac; it was to show Abraham how much he trusted and was willing to give to God.

Abraham's test is, I think, also for us. How many parents face the same trial? How many are asked to let a beloved child go - through disease, an accident, a senseless murder? We face the test too. Do we rebel and curse God as Job's false friends recommended? Or do we join our sufferings to Mary's at the foot of the cross as the sword pierced her heart?

I think God understands our rampaging in the wilderness when we face tragedy, but in the end there is no place else to be but with Mary looking up at the suffering Christ. I believe she stood there lamenting, but through her tears said, "Let it be done to me according to your word." I pray for the grace to be able to imitate her when suffering comes into my life.