An Unbound Christ
Genesis 22:1-14
22:1 After these things God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am."
22:2 He said, "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you."
22:3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and set out and went to the place in the distance that God had shown him.
22:4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place far away.
22:5 Then Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey; the boy and I will go over there; we will worship, and then we will come back to you."
22:6 Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together.
22:7 Isaac said to his father Abraham, "Father!" And he said, "Here I am, my son." He said, "The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?"
22:8 Abraham said, "God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son." So the two of them walked on together.
22:9 When they came to the place that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order. He bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.
22:10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son.
22:11 But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven, and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am."
22:12 He said, "Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me."
22:13 And Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.
22:14 So Abraham called that place "The LORD will provide"; as it is said to this day, "On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided."
To the Jews, the “Binding of Isaac” (in Hebrew, the Akedah) is a big deal. Google it, and you will find many references as to what it means in their long story with God, but you will have to Google the suffix “in religion,” unless you are interested in reading about a major VIDEO game called “The Binding of Isaac”! To the Jews, the binding of Isaac is a story of ultimate obedience to God, on one hand (Abraham’s willingness to do what God asks—prepare to offer his own son as a sacrifice), and the faithfulness of God, who provides a ram for the sacrifice. Ultimately, the story reminds Jews that God is always faithful, and that we humans, despite our best efforts to meet God’s standards, must rely on God’s faithfulness, and not our own. This narrative of the sacrifice and binding of Isaac is traditionally read in the synagogues on the second day of Rosh Hashanah, or the Jewish new year. Christians have “seized” the story themselves, seeing in it a kind of foreshadowing of Jesus, sent as the “sacrifice ram caught in the thicket,” as a substitute act of atonement. Are we right in this interpretation? Personally, I don’t think so. The Jews’ interpretation is the better one for us to believe. And we should be somewhat horrified that Abraham’s “obedience” leads to him binding Isaac and appearing to be willing to sacrifice him. This story is absurd, and should be preached this way. It is a grand paradox—would God ask that WE give up our own offspring to “appease” God? And what are we to think of a God who did this very thing? On one hand, the God who “tests” Abraham’s faithfulness is barbaric and terroristic. On the other hand, the God who “gave his only begotten Son” is either demented, or loving of the human creation beyond anything WE can imagine. The story of Abraham binding Isaac has NO comfortable resolution, and neither does the story of God “offering” Jesus. This is the meaning we should see in it. The only things that make sense of it are the extreme faithfulness and fantastic love of God, who loves human beings even more than “the Son.”
As I write this, I got caught up in my “first viewing” of the modern remake of “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” with Keanu Reeves as “Klaatu,” the alien. In the scene I’m watching, he meets with an old Asian man, who, turns out, is another alien who has been living among humans for over 70 years. The old man reports two disparate views of humanity—that they are violent, destructive, and irredeemable, and that he loves them and wants to stay among them, even though it means he may die with them as the aliens “cleanse” the Earth (kill off all offending human life) to save the rest of the planet and its other creatures. What an interesting parallel to the story of Abraham, Isaac, and Jesus! Of course the storyline of this movie is that the “aliens” decide to give the Earth one more chance…sound familiar?
This powerful story of Abraham and Isaac begins each Jewish New Year. It is a reminder to the Jewish community of Abraham’s dogged faithfulness and God’s saving provision. Since Isaac is God’s “child of promise,” from which the nation of Israel would come, his “unbinding” when the ram in the thicket, provided directly by God as a sacrificial offering in his place, appears, is truly what Israel celebrates! The “binding” is about faith; the “unbinding” is the catalyst of the beginnings of twelve tribes and an entire nation.
As I’ve said, the “freeing” of Isaac (unbinding) is truly what Israel should celebrate. His binding by his father, who seems willing to “do God’s will” and sacrifice the boy, would seem to doom the “as numerous as the grains of sand in the sea” promise, had the sacrifice of Isaac happened. Would Abraham really do it? Or did he bind Isaac fully believing that God would DO what God eventually did, and “pardon” the bound young man by providing the Ram? There is reason to believe that Abraham HAD faith that God would not have him proceed with killing his son, in that the Jews never conducted human sacrifices. In Abraham’s mind, it would be out of character for God to sanction this. We will really never know. But we DO know that God DID provide the Ram and Isaac was set free.
All this said, we now turn to how this story impacts that of Jesus the Christ. If you listen to someone whose faith has evangelical or more conservative roots, you will typically hear them refer to Jesus as “Jesus Christ,” like “Christ” is Jesus’ last name, even though most people engaged in their Christian faith realize that “Christ” is actually his “title,” or role. It comes from the Greek, Christos, meaning “anointed one,” or “chosen one.” Many of us often refer to Jesus as “Jesus the Christ,” although when we do, we are in danger of being labeled “liberal,” by some. (I like to speak of the “Christ Event,” which REALLY gets my more theologically conservative friends in a snit, but in the following narrative, I hope to flesh this all out a bit!)
The connection I want to make with the binding of Isaac story is NOT to the resurrection of Jesus, although when God told Abraham to “unbind” Isaac, I’m sure that it was a “raised from the dead” kind of relief on the aged father, and for his young son, as well. Nor is it to Jesus as the “ram caught in the thicket” that is often seen as a foreshadowing of the “atonement” ministry of Jesus, serving as a sacrifice for the sins of us all. In fact, it is the “Binding of Isaac” story that may cause us to really put the “blood of Christ” as an atonement sacrifice on the back burner, as God never demanded human sacrifices of God’s people. Ever. Why, then would God “bind” his own begotten Son out to be one? Now, I’m not going to spend time in this week’s message trying to either blow away or otherwise explain my thinking about the Christ’s “atonement” aspect, as that is for another day, but I will point out that John 3:16 says that God “GAVE the only begotten Son” to us, and “believing in him” is the key to salvation, which doesn’t focus on his violent death on the cross.
There certainly are atoning aspects to the Christ Event, and the resurrection is an important part of the saga as well. However, let me suggest that the “freeing” or “unbinding” of Isaac, which gave rise to his whole lineage, resulting in Israel’s existence as the people of God, is better seen as a foreshadowing of the “unbinding” of Jesus the Christ, which begins WITH the resurrection. In “giving the Son” to us (incarnation) and then resurrecting him as the “second Adam” and “firstborn of the dead,” to use Paul’s terms, God UNBINDS the Christ and sets the Christ loose upon the world and into all time. The Unbound Christ is ALIVE in the world, ALIVE in the church, ALIVE in each of us, and ALIVE in time. Even as the “small seed” of Isaac’s unbinding resulted in a whole nation, so the “small seed” of Jesus the Christ’s entry into the world resulted in the church (and we must think WAY beyond the “box” we put “the church” in, at this point) and in the free gift of reconciliation for all people of all time and all places. AND the Unbound Christ is still just getting started in carrying out this whole redemption story!
The ”Unbound Christ” is actually much greater than Jesus, the man. The Christ is freely working and expanding God’s love, God’s grace, God’s healing, and God’s re-ordering of the “realm” or kingdom, even as you read this. In thinking of the Christ merely as the “man,” Jesus, we miss the greater, larger picture God is drawing right now! Have we allowed our language and human “box” to limit us by the ways we “imagine” Jesus, in order to personalize him? Many of our praise songs seem to lead us to imagine Jesus the Christ as a “friend” we might sit down with for a beer or a cuppa joe, and some of our “modern” Christian works of art involving Jesus depict him as so very personal, hugging people in heaven, or sitting beside them on a park bench. While these images and ideas may be comforting, they may also be responsible for us not seeing the greater picture of the Unbound Christ who is at work among us. The prophets like Isaiah, in forthtelling of the “vision” of the coming Messiah, described a bigger picture of who he would be: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, for example. The Christ HAS redeemed the world, and is now afoot, offering these various larger gifts to the church and to us all, while working in partnership with humanity to build the “Kingdom of God,” or what Martin Luther King, Jr. called “The Beloved Community.” Throughout my Christian experience, we have heard that we should all strive to “be more Christ-like,” but is that a proper, let alone reasonable aim? The Twelve never aspired to “be like Jesus,” but on their best days, strove to be dedicated, faithful followers, and to do the ministry Jesus asked of them, as he empowered them. We, too, are invited to follow Jesus, who now, in full “Christ-mode,” has a big job ahead, growing a just, loving, and compassionate world. Part of this “assignment” may just be “unbinding” the Christ from the “Jesus trap” we tend to put him in, when we over-personalize him, and when we make him our “example” to try to replicate in our lives. Follow Jesus, don’t BECOME Jesus.
The church was founded to become the Body of Christ. The church is not a single individual, but a vast and ever diverse collective of Christ-followers. The full presence of Jesus the Christ is imparted to us through the Holy Spirit, which we often refer to as the Spirit of Jesus. It is in this full “Christ-mode” of the reconciling life cycle that the full Godhead comes into a clearer focus. As the Unbound Christ expands an ever larger vision of what the Body of Christ will become, and how it will be key to realizing the eventual Beloved Community, we will increasingly see the “teamwork” of the Holy Trinity in evidence.
The world talks about “God” a lot, for the idea of an overseeing, creating divine entity makes sense in the deepest core of the human being. (The more I watch “Animal Planet” or the “Nature” series on PBS, the more I am convinced that our loving, creating God has a tight relationship will these creatures, as well!) This “fixation” with the creative aspect of the divine Godhead is like the “door” into a wider understanding of how God “spreads out” in the “Christ-mode” period of history we are in, for most folk. Here are a few ideas to ponder:
God as creator and “parent” – brings the overarching, divine presence to all of the creation, and “opens the door” for those not yet into believing to “see and believe.” Parent God loves and lures persons into a relationship with Jesus the Christ.
Jesus as the “Midwife” and “Great Physician” of the birthing process for us all into the Kingdom of God. And as we grow, Jesus serves as our “Wonderful Counselor” to guide us along the growth journey that is living, and learning how to follow him. The birthing of new people into the nascent Beloved Community is the role of the Second Person of the Trinity, and the church is the birthing ward, hospital/surgery center, and emergency room.
Holy Spirit as the “WD-40” of the Godhead, penetrating, “lubricating” the parts of the Body of Christ, and “embracing” each individual Christian. (If we really want to imagine God “hugging” us, personally, we should see this as the role of the Holy Spirit, who gifts us all individually and empowers us for our specific call.) Another interesting metaphor for the Holy Spirit is to think of her as a kind of “vaccine” made from the essence of Christ’s resurrection, that guards us against the diseases of purely secular life, and gives us boldness to face the world unmasked.
Yes, the “Unbound Christ” is much larger than what we often think of as “Jesus.” The Christ is using all of the “three-in-one” resources of the Godhead to reconcile and mend humanity and reconnect it to the “good” creation. Together, the original vision of God’s—to have a world where peace and harmony dwell, and all creatures may enjoy it, AND the full divine presence, together.
It wouldn’t have taken much for Abraham, after he had bared his heart and had bound Isaac up as the sacrifice God seemed to be calling for, to have screwed this up by either “jumping the gun” or conversely, telling God where he could stick his request. He committed, remained faithful, but obviously knew deep in his aching heart that his God would come through with a more perfect plan. God did.
We now have our opportunity to “unbind” the Christ, commit ourselves to what IS a more perfect plan on God’s part, now in full “Christ-mode,” and remain faithful as the plan unfolds. Can we screw it up? Probably. Some would say there is much evidence in the church and its history to convict us of this on numerous occasions. But does God’s perfect plan include workarounds for human-born “detours?” Surely!
Just remember, Christ is so much bigger than we have been letting Jesus be. Believe. Act on your belief. Use your gifts. Watch for the “magic” of the Unbound Christ! Amen.
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