The Emergency Broadcast System was in place from 1963 to 1997. It allowed the president of the United States to be able to communicate quickly with people in the event of war, threat of war or other national crises. Many of us recall hearing tests for it when driving along in the car. One minute you'd be listening to your favorite song on the radio and the next minute normal programming would be interrupted and a man's voice would come through your speakers: "This is a test. For the next 30 seconds, this station will conduct a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. This is only a test." What followed was a horrible sound, like the one you get when you call a fax number. It was loud and it certainly got one's attention. It made me want to plug my ears and hide my head in my lap - probably not the best course of action when driving.
     Part of me has a similar reaction to the Old Testament Story for today. Referred to as "The Binding of Isaac", this story opens with these words, "God tested Abraham". Much of what follows sounds horrible. This story certainly gets our attention. Our ears perk up as God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac. Our eyes widen as Abraham does not offer a whisper of protest to God's request. Our breath catches when Isaac is bound and laid out on the alter with wood as his mattress. We want to plug our ears at some of the details of this story. We want to hide our heads in our laps so as not to glimpse the God who would command this, the father who would not protest and the child who would see a knife raised over him with the intention to kill.
     This story makes me shutter, on one hand. The other part of me, however, knows that this test is meant for a reason. This story is meant to teach us something. God tested Abraham for a reason that all these generations later we can likely never fully comprehend. Still, this story has been told as part of our story of faith to help us on our journeys and to instruct us on our way.
     Let me ask you a question this morning. If you had to describe Abraham, what words come to mind? Not just from this story, but from what you know about him in general. (Faithful is the one I'm looking for.) As crazy as this story is, I believe it also is a story of Abraham's deep faith - of Abraham's radical, out of this galazy, obedience to God. His faith is displayed in several different places in the story. We see it right from the start when Abraham obeys God's command to sacrifice Isaac without a single protest. We see it towards the end when Abraham has actually raised the knife over the boy's bound body.
    There's another place Abraham's faith is highlighted, too - a more obscure place. It's when he uses the word, "we" - right there in verse 5. On the third day of their travels towards Moriah, Abraham looked up and saw the place where he was to take Isaac in the distance. Scripture tells us that Abraham left his two young men there with instructions to watch the donkey while he and Isaac continued on. His final instructions were these words: "We (meaning Abraham and Isaac) will worship, and then WE will come back to you." Some might say that could have just been Abraham covering his tracks with his men, staying optimistic or not able to face the truth of what he was going to do. To me, though, that "WE" is a word of faith. God had already provided countless times before for Abraham and his family. There was no reason for Abraham to believe that God would stop now. This story teaches us about Abraham. About his faith and his radical obedience to God.
     This story also teaches us about God. God tested Abraham. This wasn't the first time. Years prior, God asked Abraham to leave everything he knew and journey to a new land. Abraham did it. He left his past for an unknown future. Now, in this story, God asked Abraham to give up his future. Afterall, if Isaac is dead, the covenant would die with him. Abraham's God is a God with high expectations. He is a God who tests his beloved child, Abraham by asking everything of him - even his only son. The question, then, is this. If God tested Abraham, does that mean that God tests us, too? It's not a fun question to think about. A God who tests is not at the top of most of our lists of characteristics of God. We much prefer focusing on our God who loves, helps, cares and dispenses unending grace and forgiveness.
     Still, it's an important question. Does God test you, too? If so, how? To what outcome? How does your test end? Genesis 22 tells us God tested Abraham. But that's not the end of the story. And we cheat ourselves and God if we stop there. The story begins with God testing, but the story ends with God providing. God providing a ram stuck in a thicket for Abraham to sacrifice instead, sealing his covenant with Abraham and Sarah, granting them descendants that outnumber the stars and blessings beyond imagination.
     Throughout time, God has continued to provide for God's people. Most specifically and most wondrously through another lamb - the Paschal Lamb - Jesus Christ - God's only son - who died for us and our sins so that we could have life and enjoy all of God's graces. It is through him that God made a new covenant with God's people - a covenant sealed with Jesus' blood - a covenant of unending forgiveness, mercy, love and grace. For our God and the way God has provided for us through Jesus Christ, we say thanks be to God. Amen.