Sacrifice

Angela and Jonathan got baptized during Easter. The baby was unusually peaceful during the ceremony.

At that time, a few scriptures were read. One was on the testing of Abraham’s faith. God granted Abraham a son after decades of infertility. One day, God suddenly commanded him to sacrifice his son. Without a question, Abraham brought his son Isaac up a mountain, built an altar and tied him up. Just before he killed his son with a knife, God stopped him and acknowledged his faithfulness.

At the ceremony, it dawned on me that the whole story was a metaphor of what would happen to Jesus years later, except that Jesus really had to die on the cross. Without the narrative of a human, the description of God sacrificing His beloved son could sound distant.

It surprised me that I never made that association over the years. Now that I know it, this remains a test I cannot pass. Let me sacrifice something else.