Abraham was told by God, “Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer him up as a holocaust on a height that I will point out to you” (Gen 22:2).
For Abraham, Isaac is his one fulfillment of God’s promise, his one most important dream come true, his one security of having descendants, his one joy of being a father.
Yet God requires that Abraham sacrifice Isaac, the one “whom [he] loves,” to Abraham’s love of God.
We call to mind with greater awareness in the season of Lent all the things that we “love” and to which we are attached.
Some are detrimental to our spiritual health, and we put them to death with God’s grace. Others are not terminal spiritual illnesses but need to be sacrificed and placed under the one love that is meant to encompass our whole lives: our love of God in His Son Jesus. The season of Lent and the means of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving is how we subordinate those things
and people we love to our love of God.
Because of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac, Abraham’s devotion to God is realized. In response, God gives Abraham Isaac, the one whom he loves, back to him. Yet, Abraham’s relationship with Isaac is purified. Isaac is not Abraham’s one fulfillment of God’s promise, his one dream come true, his one security. Rather, it is God Himself.
Peter, James, and John needed the sight of Jesus’ Transfiguration, a little taste of His future glory, to give them strength to endure Jesus’ crucifixion and to retain trust in God. As we engage in sacrificing our loves to God, look for Transfiguration moments through which God gives us encouragement to persevere in our Lenten practices and reach a renewed and stronger love of God come Easter.
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