Sermon: "Character Work", Genesis 22:1-14 (September 14, 2025)

This story from Genesis is a really disturbing one, particularly since the Narrative Lectionary has given it to us in the midst of an especially disturbing few weeks of violence in our country. The last thing that we want to encounter here in the safety and sanctity of worship is the story of a father willing to sacrifice his own son’s life without question. But here we are.

Most of us have been taught for decades that the point of this story is to show us what true faithfulness looks like, that this is the standard of trust in God we should all aspire to: we should be willing to sacrifice up to and including the lives of our own family - by our own hands - if God asks us to. But although this lesson is deeply ingrained in our theological understanding (indeed, it’s the only explanation some of us have ever heard for this story) many of us still struggle with it. We’re unable to reconcile this interpretation of Genesis 22 with the profound sense of unease that it provokes within us.