by The Rev. Dr. Max Lynn
SCRIPTURE READINGS Genesis 22:1-18, Proverbs 29: 1-14, Titus 3:1-15
Transcribed from the sermon preached July 2, 2021
When a young child is asked to share, they think they are losing what they share forever. They only think about their own needs and desires. But eventually, hopefully, they learn that they don’t just give and get nothing back. Sharing begets friendship. Sharing begets sharing in return. We sacrifice one thing in the moment, in faith that we gain long term companionship. “Those who flatter their neighbors spread nets for their feet.” (Proverbs 29)
In what ways are you making sacrifices in your life? For what, for whom, to whom, are you making that sacrifice?
The idea of sacrifice, an animal or human sacrifice seems ancient and foreign to us today. It seems strange. What is the logic or crazy thinking, whatever it may be, that went into ritual sacrifice? Why would we find such a strange and disturbing passage in the bible, where God asks a parent to sacrifice their child?
Most cultures in the world have a history of ritual sacrifice, so it is not just a weird anomaly. Why then might it have developed? I’ve mentioned before that I think religion developed from the sense of gratitude we get when we experience awe. We see or experience something amazing and without even thinking about it we say thank you. Afterward we ask, who are we thanking? But that is not all. I also think there is another side to the coin. Awe is not just positive but can also be negative and frightening. So, we may find ourselves in duress, under threat from some giant event, a volcanic eruption, a hurricane, tornado, flood, drought, fire, war or violence and we find ourselves crying out for help. Then we find ourselves asking, who are we asking for help? “Thank you” and “help” are the start of religion.
But we can go back further. The Creation myth posits that when Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden tree, they became aware, or conscious. In particular, conscious of our vulnerability and death, or our inevitable death in the future. In other words, we become conscious of time, and therefore capable of contemplating, among other things, our own death. The other thing consciousness brings us, according to the Bible, is knowledge of good and evil. We fight over food and wind up killing someone, and others are angry and sad. We feel guilt. How can we make up for it? How can we make it right again? How can we atone? Maybe a communal event where we give the dead back.
If a wolf has a bunch of meat, he will eat all he can. The strongest will take what they want. But humans begin to consider the future. I can sacrifice now and gain later. I can delay gratification, develop discipline, I can share some of what I have now and create good will and teamwork. Through teamwork and goodwill, we reduce our vulnerability and increase our long term success. Sacrifice now and gain a longer and happier life. Since it was in fact successful, this must be what the gods want. The acting out of faith and sacrifice actually works. Sacrificing now for the future, communal bonding and sharing, expressing gratitude, making amends, and keeping peace. This is the behavior encapsulated in the evolution of the ritual and myth of sacrifice.
You go to school and study hard, sacrificing the party animal part of yourself so that you get a good job later. You work hard in a job rather than lounging around playing video games, so you get a paycheck later. The paycheck helps you get and hold a mate, etc. You hold off on giving too much too soon with everyone you are attracted to now so that you can have a solid long-term relationship and family later. You pay taxes so your government can build roads and schools, have a fire and police department so everyone will be safer and more capable of moving business in the long run. People in business who develop a reputation for sharing, for being kind, generous, helpful, and fair, even when they have the power and position to not be, become very well respected and powerful people. Sacrifice is not so strange after all. Sacrifice pays off. When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice. When the wicked rule, the people groan.
Religious sacrifice evolves then over time as a communal ritual and myth; acting out of what has proven to be beneficial: sacrificing now for the future, communal bonding and sharing, expressing gratitude, making amends, and keeping peace.
Now this becomes quite a bit more complicated with religions’ descriptions of the gods, in answering the question who is it that we are thanking and fearing? What do the gods want and what makes them angry? And as civilization develops, and the powerful develop myth that describes themselves as the representative and even embodiment of gods, sacrifice becomes a form of taxation. Once the rich and powerful discover they can get the poor to give them goods and services, and even their lives in order to give thanks, atone, and appease the gods, then things get really complex and crazy. But rather than open that whole can of worms, I want to stay on how the idea of human sacrifice developed.
So, one of the thoughts that naturally develops is the idea that God’s favor is gained and wrath avoided through proper faith and sacrifice. Something better is gained by giving up something of value in the present. The more you give up the more you get. The greater the faith, the greater the sacrifice, the greater the blessing. So, what is the greatest sacrifice? Sacrificing human life. Not only that, sacrificing your child. Not only that, sacrificing your first born.
Now in the contest of religion and gods, and between the people of different gods, a kind of arms race of sacrifice is developed. We know a bit about that. We have to keep spending more and more on weapons of destruction, more than the next 10 nations combined, so much so that we are willing to sacrifice education and food and medical budgets for children, so that the gods don’t send war or will give us victory when it comes. The Moabites and the Canaanites, and several other nations near Israel, sacrificed children to their gods. We hear in the bible about human and child sacrifice to Molech and Baal.
So, the question naturally arises, does the God of Abraham want human sacrifice? Surely it is an amazing display of faith and dedication to God. Are the Moabites and Canaanites more faithful than us? Won’t their gods be more pleased with their sacrifice and give them victory over us? Maybe we should do what they do?
The story of Abraham almost sacrificing his son Isaac is the answer to this question. God wants the faith and dedication, but not child sacrifice. Lessons are passed down in culture through myth. Now this story of Abraham and Isaac may well have happened. At some point there is an evolution in the mind of someone, let’s call him Abraham, that a good God doesn’t want us to sacrifice our children. But it is a myth because it communicates deep cultural knowledge and meaning through story. The meaning matters more than the details.
I did a quick look for references to child sacrifice in the bible and came up with more than 30 references. How many of them do you know? But I bet all of you know this story of Abraham and Isaac. It is dramatic, heart wrenching and horrible, and yet the end is a God who says no to human sacrifice. So, we remember it. We can pass it on. Myth is necessary.
God is for sacrificing now for the future, God wants us to develop our capacity for delayed gratification. God wants rituals for communal bonding and sharing, expressing gratitude, making amends, and keeping peace. God wants the faith and dedication, but not the sacrifice of humans or children. Sometimes we follow a policy to an extreme and it becomes absurd and harmful. God backs down or changes the policy on showing dedication by sacrificing children. That is too far. Children are the future.
Now as Christians we hear that Jesus sacrifices himself, and God sacrifices his own son to atone for the sins of humanity. Once again, like the story of Abraham and Isaac, it sounds bit crazy. But what is the primary sin of humanity? Greed, selfishness, a failure to share and the violence that follows it. We sacrifice others for our own gain. We take from the planet without replenishing. We take what we haven’t worked for. We take and we don’t share, and when upset follows, we sacrifice life.
But the non-violent Jesus helps us in the next step in the evolution of our concept of God. God is love, and love will not sacrifice life of another, any other, even if it means he loses his own. Even when he has the power to take, the power of God, he sacrifices that power to and for sharing and love. And God, the one who is the power knows this is his purpose and lets him do it.
We know God is loving and forgiving because we see it in Jesus. On the one hand he sacrifices his life. On the other hand, he will not sacrifice his integrity, the integrity of his love, he will not sacrifice his faith in the God of love, he will not sacrifice his freedom from violence and hate, he will not sacrifice others to save his own life. What does it profit if you gain the whole world and lose our soul? So, in communion we share the body and blood of Christ and as a reminder that through his sacrifice, all other sacrifice is unnecessary for God. Rather than humans sacrificing for God, God sacrifices for humans. Faith and dedication and communal bonding and sharing express gratitude, make amends, keep peace. Do not use God as an excuse for taking human life or exploiting the poor.
Micah 6:6-8
6] “With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?
[7] Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
[8] God has showed you, O human, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?