different from the world way

The Roman Catholic Lectionary today brings us texts which are offering us deep consideration of how we relate to the Divine. The passage from the Book of Genesis, which Friar Jude Winkler reminds us is known in Jewish writing as the Binding of Isaac, is one of the most difficult to explain lessons for understanding our relationship with God in Scripture. RabbiHillel Goldberg describes it as the most perplexing passage in all of Hebrew Scripture. The rabbi identifies several spiritual tensions which arise from this text. The sacrifice of Isaac is not permitted in the Law. Friar Jude suggests that the episode may have originally been used to instruct the Israelite people about ending child sacrifice. Rabbi Goldberg notes that the person today who told us that he had received a command from God to kill his son would be arrested by the authorities and his sanity suspected. The authenticity of Abraham’s communication with God is established by the fruit of this decision. Friar Jude cites evidence in the text that Abraham deeply loved his son. The faith of Abraham that God provides is demonstrated to be beyond what rational human reason will allow. This faith is not blind. It has developed in the life of Abraham so that he is the “God fearing” human able to put the will of God absolutely first. The “resolution” of the dilemma by the angle of God instructing Abraham not to deliver the fatal blow to the bound Isaac is followed by the appearance of a ram caught in the bushes. The ram is sacrificed by Abraham on his initiative as the act of thanksgiving which establishes the role of the righteous to act as God would direct even without the explicit command of God for action. The freedom to know and act in the light of God is established so that the human relationship to the Divine is free and not as robotic slaves. The Gospel from Matthew brings us to that great boundary of God and human interaction around forgiveness of sins and healing of our physical being. The understanding of religious authorities at the time of Jesus that sin and ill health are interrelated has some resonance of truth in our experience today. The notion that ill health is a punishment for sin is not our understanding of Divine Love. The healing of illness is the domain of our doctors and medical community. We accept that God continues to be a healer of our physical being even as the “formula” to gain that healing remains a mystery to us. The domain of the forgiveness of sin, in our spiritual heritage, is reserved for God. Jesus uses the relationship between illness and sinfulness to declare His Divine Nature. Like Abraham, we are invited to hear the authentic message of God in our lives through our sacrifices around forgiveness and healing. The mystery of how God loves remains. As the psalmist give thanks, “For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.” (Psalm 116).