From pastor’s desk on the 2nd Sunday in Lent, year B
Someone recently asked me an interested question: “Why did God the Father allow His Son to die on the cross?” The question came from a mother who was struggling to understand Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross. She further added, “As a parent I would rather die myself...” Why would good God allow such an atrocity for His Divine Son? Should not God the Father take place of His Son?
When we ask these questions we must remember that our way of thinking is very limited. We think of God in human terms, but we know that God is beyond our partial understanding. We know from faith, however, that God is undivided unity. So where the Son is there are also two other Divine Persons, the Father and the Holy Spirit. Having this knowledge, we should be able to recognize that God the Father was present in Jesus when this one was dying on the cross. We can understand this in simple human terms – a mother who is watching the suffering of her child often suffers even more than the child. In this regard, God the Father “suffered” with Jesus in the Human form.
I am sharing with you this question for this Sunday’s first reading is about a so-called sacrifice of Abraham. In the Sunday lectionary we read only an abbreviated version. But these are the events that develop when you read the full narrative: After many years of waiting for the offspring, Abraham finally has a son Isaac with his wife Sarah. However, when Isaac is already a grownup, God asks Abraham to kill his son on the mount of Moriah. After Abraham had received a mandate from God they embark on a three-day journey. At this point we know that Isaac is not a child anymore, for he is carrying the firewood on his back in the land of Moriah and he has a serious conversation with his father Abraham. The scene is very poignant as we hear an incredible tenderness of Abraham; you can almost sense Abraham’s sadness and pain when Isaac asks him questions about the sacrifice. Nonetheless, in this narrative Abraham is obedient to the Lord and Isaac is obedient to Abraham. The story continues how Abraham binds Isaac; Isaac does not fight for his life at all. Finally, when Abraham attempts to kill his son, an angel stops him and provides a goat for the sacrifice.
In unison, all the fathers of the Church and great theologians interpret this event as a prefiguration of what God would do for the people: “For God so loved the world that He gave his only Son…” (John 3:16). From that point on, it is neither Abraham offering his son nor any other human being, but God the Father giving His Divine Son as a propitiation for the sins of humanity.
In the story of Abraham and Isaac we also learn that God must have “suffered” with His Son. The agony of Abraham during his journey to Mount Moriah is the agony of God in Jesus Christ on the cross. God, who is Love, suffers when that Love is rejected and despised. It is God showing humanity how much He loves us. Jesus asserted this truth while revealing the message of Divine Mercy to St. Faustina:
“My Heart overflows with great mercy for souls, and especially for poor sinners. If only they could understand that I am the best of Fathers to them and that it is for them that the Blood and Water flowed from My Heart as from a fount overflowing with mercy.” Diary 367
As we journey through Lent, let us thank God for His merciful love and for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ through whom we have an access to the Glory of God (see Rom 5:1-2; Eph 2:18). And let us remember, all we have to do is to acknowledge that we are sinners and trust in God’s mercy.
Have a blessed week. Fr. Janusz Mocarski, pastor