THE SACRIFICE OF THE SON
SERMON PREACHED BY FR. TONY NOBLE ON MARCH 8th, 2009
Mark 8:31 “He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed; and after three days rise again.”
Today’s Gospel reading is a continuation of a theme we have seen since the end of January. Jesus says and does things that reveal he is the Son of God. But it is hard for people to understand what this really means.
With miracles and healings they see him as a wonder-worker. On the Mount of Transfiguration Peter, James and John see Jesus in his divine glory and splendor – but Jesus commands them to tell no-one until after he has risen from the dead. It would have been too hard even for the twelve apostles to understand that the Christ, the Messiah has to suffer and die.
This is shown dramatically in today’s Gospel. Jesus predicts his passion, death, and resurrection – and what is Peter’s response? Mark records: “Peter took him, and began to rebuke him”. Saint Matthew quotes Saint Peter saying: “God forbid, Lord, this must not happen to you”. Saint Peter is impetuous as usual, and cannot conceive that his Lord, whom he has just seen transfigured in glory, must suffer and die – even though Jesus says he will rise on the third day.
It seems that even after the Transfiguration – or maybe because of it – Peter could not believe that this was to happen to the Christ.
What is Jesus’ response: “Get behind me Satan!” It is as if what Peter is doing is yet another temptation from Satan. It is in line with the three temptations in the wilderness that we consider at the beginning of Lent. Satan tempted Jesus to take the easy way out – to prove he was the Messiah by doing extraordinary things, like turning stone into bread and jumping from the temple. Now yet again, in the voice of Peter, Satan is saying to Jesus: no don’t suffer and die, they believe you’re the Christ already.
So Satan continues and will not leave Jesus alone until the very end.
Lent continues as it begins. It is our pattern too, for Satan never leaves us alone either – though we often ignore it. We might well ask, why could not Peter remember Genesis 22, the sacrifice of Isaac? There in the heart of the Jewish scriptures was the story of the father prepared to sacrifice his son. Could not Peter remember Abraham’s obedience, and think of Jesus as the son being sacrificed in his suffering and death. No, it was too much for Peter to remember. Too much, perhaps, for us to expect Saint Peter to link the sacrifice of Isaac with that of Jesus.
But what other interpretation of Genesis 22 is there other than a parallel with Jesus’ sacrifice? For the story is both blood-curdling and bizarre. What father would willingly kill his only son in sacrifice to God?
It might satisfy a Calvinistic interpretation of the Atonement, which would see Jesus as being killed by God for our sins. That might be an interpretation of Isaac’s sacrifice – but to us it seems both blood-thirsty and heartless.
And it is bizarre! Abraham was promised by God that through him all the nations of the earth would be blessed – and that his descendants would be as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore. And here is Isaac who is going to fulfill that promise – for Isaac is both the fulfillment of the promise, and the promise itself. Through Isaac are Abraham’s descendants to multiply. Yet this same God now instructs Abraham to sacrifice and kill the promise and the fulfillment of the promise – to sacrifice his son in worship.
To add to the cold-heartedness, Abraham lies to Isaac about what is planned. “Where is the Lamb for the sacrifice?” Isaac asks. And his father couldn’t be honest and say “You are the Lamb”. Of course it turns out alright in the end – just as the sacrifice of Jesus turns out alright in the end.
But put yourself in the place of Abraham being asked to do this. It can only be understood in terms of the end, and as the image of Jesus and his sacrifice. It is also a great instruction to us about being obedient to God and trusting him. Mostly we’re not very good at either of those things, are we?
That leads us back to another theme of Lent. In doing some sort of self-sacrifice and discipline in Lent, we are trying to remember that a part of Christian living is being obedient to God’s ways and trusting in him.
Finally the sacrifice of Isaac also marks the abandonment of human sacrifice – so much a part of religion in those days. The covenant with Abraham begins with the sacrifice of a ram, and not a child.
The sacrifice of Isaac was always understood from the beginning of the early Church as an image and type of the sacrifice of Jesus – but there was one difference. Whereas Abraham, the father, is the obedient one who brings his son – with the Atonement it is Jesus who is both the Son and the sacrifice. He is the obedient one who willingly offers his life, unlike Isaac. Jesus goes to the Cross willingly; Isaac goes to his altar in complete ignorance.
All this is expressed and summed up by Saint Paul in Romans 8: 32: “God did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all”. And it was a perfect sacrifice because the initiative came from Jesus, who is the sacrifice.
Having said this, Saint Paul then declares what this means for us in that wonderful passage we know so well:
“For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord”.
That is the message of the Cross. Through the Cross we are not only saved, but we see God’s love from which we can never be separated, as we obediently and willingly follow Jesus.
This words in Romans 8 are wonderful words of comfort when someone we love dies – but also a strong message and comfort for us when life if tough. And that is when Saint Paul’s words can be such a comfort – not just when we die but when the going is tough, when all seems against us, when we stab the air and ask why and how.
Saint Paul’s words are also words to us for Lent. The season of Lent is about confronting temptation and evil, instead of letting it pass by on the other side. And in the reality of confronting evil we need to know that we can never be separated from the love of God made manifest in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8 is a wonderful response by Saint Paul to what Jesus declares in our Gospel today – that he will suffer and die, but then rise from the dead.
In the same way our sufferings and our tribulations can be difficult, but for Christians it is our identification with the sacrifice of Jesus – his self-sacrifice not just on the Cross, but in his passion – and in his temptation not only in the wilderness and in Peter’s words, but on Maundy Thursday when it would have been so easy for him to have passed the cup by.
And so we come to another theme of Lent – self-sacrifice. Our small ordinary disciplines, and fasting, and prayers are but just a mirror of the great self-sacrifice of Christ. And we will triumph. Certainly in the next life – and what a joy it is if we also triumph in this life over our sufferings and tribulations. It doesn’t always happen – but Saint Paul’s words in Romans 8 are a sure sign that Jesus will always be with us and we will never be separated from his love.
The theme of sacrifice runs through all the readings today leading to the self-sacrifice of Christ, just as Lent slowly but surely leads us to Good Friday. Having declared his hand, Jesus then says that Christians “must take up their cross” also.
This is not a sweetening reference to sickness or trials we face day by day, but a challenge for us to unite ourselves to Jesus’ self-sacrifice – not just in sickness and pain, but in obedience and discipline. This is the true meaning of the Cross – not just the odd tribulation, but that we should unite ourselves with Jesus as he willingly offered himself in obedience to the Father.
With all the joys of our faith, with all the blessings we receive – we often forget that at the heart of the Christian religion is sacrifice, obedience, and willingly carrying a cross. The Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ is a sacrifice which – like Isaac’s – was a self-offering.
Christ is both Victim and Priest on the Cross. It is a sacrifice which is victory, unlike Isaac’s. It is a sacrifice which brings eternal life.