Daily Reflection Thursday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Reading a scriptural commentary on our First Reading, I was struck by the mention of the remarkable foreshadowing in the story of Abraham & Isaac with Jesus’ later experience:

•   As Abraham offered up his only son, so God the Father too will offer  xup his only Son to be sacrificed.
• Isaac carrying the wood for the sacrifice on his shoulders prefigures  x Jesus carrying the cross to Calvary.
•   When Isaac asks about the sheep for the holocaust, Abraham answers: x“God himself will provide the sheep for the holocaust.” Jesus, too, will be xxthe sheep of the sacrifice, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the xxworld. 

A major difference, of course, is that God spared Isaac’s life once Abraham’s complete fidelity was demonstrated; but God, who so loves the world, didn’t spare his own Son at Calvary.

The last-minute intervention in the killing Isaac, it has been suggested, reflects the strong opposition of the Jews to child-sacrifice [which was common among their neighbors.] In the Jewish tradition, it was the first fruits of animals and herds that were offered in sacrifice. Humans weren’t to be sacrificed but ‘redeemed.’ 



This story causes me to reflect on the extent of my faith and trust in God. Am ready to give God anything and everything, knowing that whatever God asks is for my own good? Right now, what would I find it most difficult to give up if God asked me?