The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us with the model of obedience of Abraham and console us as we reflect on healing by the Holy Spirit.
The reading from the Book of Genesis details the response of Abraham to the command to sacrifice Isaac.
* [22:1–19] The divine demand that Abraham sacrifice to God the son of promise is the greatest of his trials; after the successful completion of the test, he has only to buy a burial site for Sarah and find a wife for Isaac. The story is widely recognized as a literary masterpiece, depicting in a few lines God as the absolute Lord, inscrutable yet ultimately gracious, and Abraham, acting in moral grandeur as the great ancestor of Israel. Abraham speaks simply, with none of the wordy evasions of chaps. 13 and 21. The style is laconic; motivations and thoughts are not explained, and the reader cannot but wonder at the scene. In vv. 15–18, the angel repeats the seventh and climactic promise. Moriah: the mountain is not given a precise geographical location here, though 2 Chr 3:1 identifies Moriah as the mountain of Jerusalem where Solomon built the Temple; Abraham is thus the first to worship there. The word “Moriah” is a play on the verb “to see” (Heb. ra’ah); the wordplay is continued in v. 8, “God will provide (lit., “see”)” and in v. 14, Yahweh-yireh, meaning “the Lord will see/provide.” (Genesis, CHAPTER 22, n.d.)
Psalm 115 declares the impotence of idols and the Greatness of God
* [Psalm 115] A response to the enemy taunt, “Where is your God?” This hymn to the glory of Israel’s God (Ps 115:1–3) ridicules the lifeless idols of the nations (Ps 115:4–8), expresses in a litany the trust of the various classes of the people in God (Ps 115:9–11), invokes God’s blessing on them as they invoke the divine name (Ps 115:12–15), and concludes as it began with praise of God. Ps 135:15–18 similarly mocks the Gentile gods and has a similar litany and hymn (Ps 135:19–21). (Psalms, PSALM 115, n.d.)
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus heals a paralytic.
* [9:8] Who had given such authority to human beings: a significant difference from Mk 2:12 (“They…glorified God, saying, ‘We have never seen anything like this’”). Matthew’s extension to human beings of the authority to forgive sins points to the belief that such authority was being claimed by Matthew’s church. (Matthew, CHAPTER 9, n.d.)
Larry Gillick, S.J. comments that the man could have become quite comfortable with his stretcher-life and paralyzed by his illness, physical or spiritual, but his real healing was rising and living beyond what the Scribes or the crowds expected.
Jesus has authority not only to forgive sin, which drives the Scribes crazy, because they want, only, the authority to allow people to be back into the pure-culture, but His authority urges those forgiven to reveal God’s Love to be lived as healingers themselves. So that authority of Jesus is shared with those of us who have experienced a past which has been confining, debilitating and stretcherful. The real miracle, for us, is that we can accept the healing from our deeds, attitudes and memories which can lay us low and we can rise and live beyond. The rising is not so much the healing as the going home and bringing new life. (Gillick, 2023)
Don Schwager quotes “Healing of soul and body,” by Hilary of Poitiers (315-367 AD).
"Now in the narrative of the paralytic a number of people are brought forward for healing. Jesus' words of healing are worthy of reflection. The paralytic is not told, 'Be healed.' He is not told, 'Rise and walk.' But he is told, 'Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven you.' The paralytic is a descendant of the original man, Adam. In one person, Christ, all the sins of Adam are forgiven. In this case the person to be healed is brought forward by ministering angels. In this case, too, he is called a son, because he is God's first work. The sins of his soul are forgiven him, and pardon of the first transgression is granted. We do not believe the paralytic committed any sin [that resulted in his illness], especially since the Lord said elsewhere that blindness from birth had not been contracted from someone's sin or that of his parents" [John 9:1-3]. (excerpt from commentary ON MATTHEW 8.5) (Schwager, n.d.)
The Word Among Us Meditation on Genesis 22:1-19 comments that Abraham’s trusting obedience is a model for us. Sometimes we have to offer our own “Isaac” to God. He may ask us to let go of something or someone we dearly love: a child moving away, perhaps, or a job, a home, or a cherished dream. But he also promises to provide for us, just as he provided for Abraham.
God asks for your whole life, not because he is selfish, but because he wants you to find the meaning and comfort that come only from him. Look back over your journey with God. Hasn’t he provided for you? Hasn’t he shown you his faithful love? Hasn’t he proved himself worthy to be trusted with your “Isaacs”?
Don’t be afraid to surrender your life to your loving Father. He will provide.
“Lord, I trust you. I put everything I am and have into your hands.” (Meditation on Genesis 22:1-19, n.d.)
Friar Jude Winkler notes the different descriptions of Abraham and Isaac as “sacrifice” in Christian translations and “binding” in Jewish texts. The emphasis of the sacrifice of Isaac is obedience that Abraham has accepted over time during the events of his life. Friar Jude explores Jesus' question about the ease of healing a broken limb compared to a heart broken by sin.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that Jesus consistently stands with the excluded: outsiders, sinners, and poor people. That is his place of freedom from every local culture, his unique way of critiquing all self-serving culture, and his way of standing in union with the suffering of the world—all at the same time. That is his form of world healing.
I am sure you see how Jesus’ insight has led us to our emphasis on contemplation and spiritual conversion here at the CAC, over pure and simple activism. If universal kinship, solidarity, communion with God, with ourselves, and with the rest of the world, is daily experienced and lived, we do have a very grounded plan and runway for peacemaking, justice work, social reform, civil and human rights—but now from a very positive place, where “I and the Father are one” [John 10:30].
This demands our own ongoing transformation, our changing places, and even a new identity, as Jesus shows in his great self-emptying (Philippians 2:6–7). He stood in solidarity with the problem itself, hardly ever with specific answers for people’s problems. This was his strategy and therefore it is ours. It feels like weakness, but it finally changes things in very creative, patient, and humble ways. Such solidarity is learned and expressed in two special places—contemplation and actions of communion with human suffering.
This is our name and our task, and it comes from watching Jesus. (Rohr, 2023)
We reflect on the meaning to our journey of being people of faith and solidarity with the people we encounter who are struggling with the events of life.
References
Genesis, CHAPTER 22. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved July 6, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/genesis/22?1
Gillick, L. (2023, July 6). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved July 6, 2023, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/070623.htm
Matthew, CHAPTER 9. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved July 6, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/9
Meditation on Genesis 22:1-19. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved July 6, 2023, from https://wau.org/meditations/2023/07/06/728202/
Psalms, PSALM 115. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved July 6, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/115?1
Rohr, R. (2023, July 6). Solidarity Is Jesus' Strategy — Center for Action and Contemplation. CAC Daily Meditations 2023. Retrieved July 6, 2023, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/solidarity-is-jesus-strategy-2023-07-06/
Schwager, D. (n.d.). Take Heart - Your Sins Are Forgiven. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved July 6, 2023, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2023&date=jul6
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