The sacrifice of an only son

You have to pity poor Abraham; he is the classic example of faith; he has done whatever God has asked him to do, without question. His wife Sarah has become the long time suffering wife, and yet God keeps promising them a child. When a child, Isaac is born, God puts Abraham again to one final test, to offer sacrifice of that only son. Would you do it? The first reading is a reminder that we are always bring tested by God, a new car, more money, more greed, more want and take, and no giving to others. God wants us to be faithful to him, to trust him. God always wants our undying obedience, and it seems that Lent is a time for temptation and sacrifice, and God puts us to the test.

Abraham is willing to sacrifice that which he has longed for for so long, his only son. This final test will secure Abraham’s faith and prove that by placing your trust, hopes, and fears in God, He will provide.

The sacrifice Abraham was going to make is a foretelling of the actual sacrifice that God WILL make when Christ is put to death, the death of His only Son. St. Paul tells us in the second reading, that God handed his Son over for our sake and grants us all things. At the transfiguration of Christ in the Gospel, the Son of God knows that he will be sacrificed, he speaks with Moses, and Elijah, perhaps confirming that his sacrifice will be offered up for everyone; it is the foretelling of Christ’s suffering, the fact that His Father will do what He would not allow Abraham to do. Abraham overcame his anguish, his suffering, by willingly and readily accepting that he must sacrifice his son. We too must sacrifice ourselves to God, by giving him control of our lives and allowing him to work through us, and to help us overcome our own difficulties, through Christ’s death.