Genesis 22:1-14
From a transformative justice perspective this story is particularly challenging. Human sacrifice, whether for cultic purposes or in the name of “justice” is directly opposed to the aims of TJ. The preacher has a decision to make when faced with this story then; they can either preach against the text, ultimately condemning the whole situation or they will have to help their hearers accept that the ethics of human sacrifice is not really what this passage is about. How worthwhile that is will depend on what the preacher pulls out of the text. In any case the horror of God’s command must be addressed.
In the first case, one might present an explanation that lulls the audience into accepting the thinkability of human sacrifice in the context of this passage, and then draws connections to the way horrors today, in our prison and policing systems, are all-too-thinkable. In a world in which people were confronted with the capriciousness of death and suffering in nature, sacrificial systems became a way to exercise control, work for some kind of safety, and protect as many lives as possible. Human sacrifice was always a last resort, tried in the most dire circumstances, an attempt to stay the devastation. Aren’t we all too willing to create systems of violence in the name of safety?
The preacher could go on to point out the way systems of harm and violence begets more harm and violence in this narrative. The preacher could look at Sarah and Abraham’s pattern of harm: He pretends Sarah is his sister and allows other men to take her, he has sex with Hagar without her consent and allows Sarah to abuse her, and Sarah pushes out Ishmael and Hagar in fear and jealousy. Is it any wonder that Abraham would be willing to sacrifice his son? And what would this mean for Isaac? Traumatized at a young age, he seems to re-enact many of his father’s sins, is eventually betrayed by his wife, and tricked by his youngest son. The solution is not more harm, more violence. We must break the whole cycle.
On the other hand, a more positive reading of the text could acknowledge these problems, but remind the hearers that this is not a story about the ethics of human sacrifice. As all three of the Abrahamic religions have traditionally asserted, this is a story about Abraham’s faith and how Abraham became the patriarch of innumerable people of faith.
Retelling Abraham’s story through the lens of faith, we find that Abraham’s faithlessness consistently led to harm and violence. Abraham was clearly willing to pursue the promise God laid before him, leaving his home at God’s command, but as soon as he entered foreign lands his faith wavered, leading to the lies and schemes discussed above. God continually cleans up the messes Abraham’s (and Sarah’s) faithlessness makes, and reassures Abraham that God will give him innumerable prodigy, making him the father of a great nation.
Even after Isaac is born, it isn’t clear that Abraham has placed his faith in God and God’s promise. It’s clear that he desires God’s promise and will do whatever it takes to attain it, but can he act in faith that God will uphold God’s covenant with him, even when God asks him to do something that seems to go against that very same promise? Abraham’s response to Isaac reveals that he does have this kind of faith, “God will see to it, my son.”
There is a sense in which this experience doesn’t just reveal Abraham’s faith, it helps him become a person of faith, and while the preacher needs to be careful to note that this story doesn’t justify violence (it has, in its interpretative history, actually been understood as the end of human sacrifice), for a Christian, faith is a meaningful part of transformative justice work.
In pursuit of justice, the reduction of harm, and communal well-being, we will be accused of working against justice. The closure of jails and prisons, the defunding of police and the willingness to work with people who have been criminalized for harming others (at times in almost unthinkable ways) will feel risky to many, but God has promised us that prisoners will be set free and lions will lay down with lambs. Do we have faith in God’s promises?
The author of Hebrews, in the beginning of his reflection on faithful ancestors, writes that “Faith is the reality of what we hope for, the proof of what we don’t see,” (11:1). Just as Abraham’s faithful act made him the father of three faiths, this story suggests that when we embody our faith, we will be the reality we hope for and the proof of what we don’t see.
In this fraught story, there is much to fret over, whichever interpretative direction you choose. Whether you choose to preach against or with the text this story does not reach an easy conclusion. Much like our work in the world, it is a risk to work with a story of potentially (and too often actually) great harm. May your words transform the harm in this story into a message of hope and healing.
Sarah Lynne Gershon (she/her) is an MDiv/MTS student, DOC pastor, and lives at the Bloomington Catholic Worker.