The Tests that God Requires

The past two months of May and June are normally times for tests and examinations.  School children are tested to see if they are ready to advance to the next grade.  College students have tests and exams to assess their progress and pass their courses.  Teenagers often have drivers’ tests so they can be licensed to drive a car.  Many professions require continuing education courses to obtain credits in order to stay current with the latest developments in their field.  And most of us undergo a yearly physical examination to monitor our health.

At another level our government is constantly tested about our involvement at home with Constitutional questions, and abroad with the affairs of other nations.  The present situation in Iraq concerning the religious conflict between the Shiites and Sunnis is a case in point.  How involved should we be having withdrawn our military forces from that country?  What about the situation in Afghanistan?  Just as we are withdrawing most of our military personnel, the election of new leaders is happening in Afghanistan.  How will we be affected by the results?

A present level of testing is about climate change and the national debate about this issue.  Is the debate about our economy and the effects of renewable energy?   Is it a matter of glacial ice caps melting and oceans rising to a level that may well impact our Atlantic coast?  How are we responding to the drought in the Southwest and Western states?  Or the torrential rains and floods in the mid-west?  Are such dramatic climate changes normal fluctuations or are they the result of our dependence on fossil fuels and other causes of our own making?

These are among the many tests that happen constantly throughout our lives.  In ancient times, in the time of Abraham it was no different.  The story of Abraham and the sacrifice of his son Isaac is a story about God testing Abraham to see if he is trusting and obedient enough to offer his son as a “burnt offering on one of the mountains that [God] would show him.”  What is Abraham’s  testing about?

The Torah: a Modern Commentary is a book that was given to me by a rabbi friend and colleague several years ago.  In the story about Abraham as we heard in our first reading from the Book of Genesis, God put Abraham to the test, but the story does not state exactly what the test was for.  Was it to test Abraham's faith that God will not go back on his promise, that somehow his design could be trusted?  Or was it to test Abraham's unquestioning obedience, his faithfulness and total submission to a mysterious divine will? 

There are several questions and possible interpretations of this story about human sacrifice.  Perhaps the real question is why must God test anyone this way?  The ancient scholarly rabbi Maimonides said,   “God tested Abraham precisely because God knew he would pass the test.  Abraham's faith would shine like a beacon and be a sign to the nations."  This is one explanation.

A related question to consider, however, is how can a compassionate God be portrayed as asking for the sacrifice of a child?   Could it be that the test came at a time when human sacrifice was still an acceptable practice and that, in terms of its own age it was merely an extreme test?   God may require people of every age to give up something they love the most.  God sometimes asks what is completely unexpected.  Perhaps the ultimate test of faith is in attempting the impossible for the sake of God.

Here is an alternate explanation: "Abraham's hand was stayed before the fatal act was completed.  This showed, once and for all, clearly and unmistakably, that, in contrast to what was imagined of the heathen deities worshiped by Israel's neighbors, the God of Israel did not demand human sacrifice of his worshipers.  God demanded in reality only the surrender of Abraham's will.  Abraham, by his obedience, demonstrated his readiness to part with what was dearest to him, and with something on which all his hopes for the future depended.... Abraham's devotion to God was strengthened and confirmed.  It was the supreme trial of his faith; and it triumphed.  And so, the sacrifice teaches two great lessons: the value set by God on the surrender of self and obedience; and the moral superiority of Israel's God over the [pagan] gods of Israel's neighbors.”

To examine the meaning of this story for us in the 21^st Century is to ask how is our faith being tested today?  How do we surrender our individual and collective self in obedience to the will of God?  And, secondly, how do we exercise our moral and ethical commitments in what we say and do with respect to one another and our neighbors?

In the 6^th chapter of Paul’s Letter to the Romans it says we are to “present ourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present our members to God as instruments of righteousness…. Now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification….  The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Jesus said that those who lose their life for his sake will find it.  He told his disciples, "Whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me,… and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple --truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward."

When we are tested by God, and when we persevere and complete those tests by surrendering our selves to God’s will and giving to others according to their need, we can then joyfully sing that great Easter hymn, “’Welcome happy morning!’ age to age shall say: hell today is vanquished, heaven is won today!  Lo! the dead is living, God forever more! Him their true creator, all his works adore!  ‘Welcome happy morning!’ age to age shall say.”  Amen.