Does God test us? Can we expect God to test us? And why would God test us?
We read in the Bible several stories where God tests someone. For example, in Matthew we read of the woman whose daughter was tormented by a demon and Jesus, after initially ignoring her, finally responds with these shocking words, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” Jesus tests the woman to see what she does or says next. And in the story of Jairus’s daughter, who dies as Jesus delays going to her, choosing instead to cure the woman with the hemorrhage. I suspect Jairus’s faith in this teacher and healer was shaken that day. Or the story of the testing of Job where Job loses absolutely everything – his many possessions, his social standing, his family, and his friends.
But each of these stories of testing appear to recede in comparison to today’s first reading. In Genesis we read that God tells Abraham to take his son to a high place and to offer him up as a holocaust. A holocaust was a religious blood sacrifice made for the atonement of sin. One in which an animal was slaughtered and then burned. God puts Abraham to the test and demands Issac his son be treated as an animal blood sacrifice. Would Abraham, at God’s command take his own son and sacrifice him? How does this even make sense since God had already promised Abraham that Issac would be the son who would father a nation. How could the sacrificial victim father a nation?
This is a conundrum. But we read that Abraham had walked with God since his ninety ninth year. And with Abram God had made his covenant, promising that Abram would be exceedingly fruitful, and from the nations he would beget, kings would arise. Abram, now Abraham, knew death would not, could not, break God’s covenant. And so, Abraham was prepared to listen, and be tested. Perhaps Issac would rise from the dead allowing God’s promise to be fulfilled.
A severe test no doubt. But is this a test we would ever face? The good news for us is no. Abraham’s test was unique, such that theologians give it a specific name calling it a ‘covenant ordeal’. Abraham had a special and unique relationship, and it was that relationship that God tested. Our testing is different in rank and type. God may test us to reveal to ourselves our spiritual state, or to demand of us greater humility, or to take us to a place wherein we have nowhere to go but to offer up everything to him. Our testing is the path of purification, of sanctification, in living out our baptismal promises for our own good and for the purposes of the plan of salvation. Our testing, should it come, is not a covenant ordeal but nevertheless it might very well be an ordeal.
God does test us, but he never tempts us. And that distinction is good to know. For in testing we can come closer to the truths of our faith, but in being tempted we are presented with the potential to lose everything that is good and true. God tests but it is Satan who tempts. For God creates and establishes that which is good. But Satan, the devil, is unable to create anything and can only corrupt what God has created. And of course, what Satan offers may at first appear good but ultimately leads only to pain and death.
Abraham's covenant ordeal was special and unique. It foreshadowed the passion of Christ. Issac was Abraham’s beloved son. Jesus is God’s only beloved son. Issac carried the wood of his own holocaust. Jesus carried the wood of the cross. The ram was caught in the thicket, and Jesus was encircled by the crown of thorns. Issac was bound with ropes as Jesus was fixed to the cross with nails. God stayed Abraham’s hand but his own son he did not spare. Issac lived to father a nation, but Jesus died to establish the greatest nation of all time – the body that is his Church.
As we walk our Lenten journey, if we are serious, we will be tested and we will be tempted. God will encourage us towards holiness and the devil will tempt us to take another path. God desires life but the adversary simply hates you and me and cannot stand our real efforts to draw close to God. In the desert of Lent, we recognize what is revealed to us in the story of Abraham and Issac, and again in the blazing truth of Jesus’s transfiguration. Jesus fulfills what the prophets spoke of and shows himself to be fully man and fully God. In the dramatic battle for our souls our Lord prevails and offers the hard-fought results of victory to each of us.
As we enter this second week of Lent, we press on, staying true to your Lenten commitments and recognizing God’s good work going on inside each of us. We resist the devil’s temptations to undermine our efforts. We draw wisdom and understanding from the story of Abraham and Issac, and we draw strength and encouragement from the Gospel story of the transfiguration.
Above all else, we hear and obey the words of God spoken on
the mount of the transfiguration to Peter, James, and John, and which are
spoken to each of us today and every day, “This is my beloved son listen to
him.”
Deacon Peter Bujwid
Saint Agnes, Arlington, MA.
February 25, 2024
Lectionary: 26: Gn 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18, Rom 8:31b-34, Mk 9:2-10
