Thursday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Mass readings
Our first reading for today is one of the most misused and least understood passages in the Old Testament. Perhaps you have heard someone question how God could ask Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. Perhaps someone has explained that he dislikes the Old Testament precisely because of this awful story or that she disagrees with any God that could call for the sacrifice of a child. And, indeed, if what we take from this story is that God might at any time ask us to kill one of our kids in order to test our faith, then it is a scary story. Giving the Bible the benefit of the doubt, however, we might see what other messages or themes we can draw out of this story. First of all, this certainly is a testament to Abraham’s faith and illustrative of the way that it has continued to grow. You might recall that last week we heard the story of Abraham’s sleeping with Hagar in the hopes of having a descendant. Although Ishmael was born from the union, this was not God’s plan for Abraham’s having many descendants. Instead, Sarah also, aged though she was, gave birth to a son. At the time that he slept with Hagar, Abraham and his wife were acting as though they doubted God’s promise. Now in this story, Abraham demonstrates complete faith. Although with the killing of Isaac Abraham kills his chance of ancestors through his wife, Abraham has faith to believe that somehow everything will still work out – that God will not go back on his promise of descendants through Isaac.
The second, and perhaps more profound reading of this story is to see it Christologically, in other words, to read it with an eye to Christ. How does our knowledge of the gospel help us to understand this passage from Genesis? Or another way of putting it is, which father DID end up sacrificing his son? The answer, of course, is that God the Father allowed Jesus the Son to be killed. God himself provides the sheep for the sacrifice; like Abraham, God does not withhold his own beloved son. Jesus’ death on the cross is the sacrifice to end all sacrifices; together with Jesus’ resurrection, it is the ultimate sign of God’s love. “God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish, but might have eternal life” (Jn 3:16).
This beloved son – the way, the truth, the life – who was to become the final sacrifice is depicted in today’s gospel passage from Matthew as having the authority to forgive sins and the power to heal. While the bystanders are more engrossed in the miraculous, Jesus indicates that the more amazing thing is the ability to forgive sins; this is, in some ways, a more profound healing than that of physical healing.
God sent his beloved son Jesus to us for healing, for the forgiveness of our sins. In his life, death, and resurrection, we find the possibility of eternal life. Today, let us take some time to identify our sins knowing that these can be and already are forgiven by Jesus in his death on the cross. One way that we might continue to heal from our sins is to seek out the sacrament of confession where we can experience this forgiveness in a very concrete way. As we count these weeks of ordinary time, let us not lose this opportunity for forgiveness!
- Maria Morrow