In our conversation, some words have a special meaning, they can have an impact of their own.
Usually, such words do not leave a person indifferent.
When someone says: “Trust me!” the expression catches our attention and calls for a decision: to trust, or not, the person before us…
These words came to me as I read the 1st reading of this Sunday (2nd Sunday of Lent, Year B – Gn.22:1-2.9-13.15-18).
This is, in fact, the title I would give to this dramatised account of what is known as: ‘The sacrifice of Abraham’.
The story is indeed quite dramatic and, if we did not know the outcome for having heard or read it so often, we would judge it to be rich in suspense!
“Trust me!” Yes, this is what God did not say, but what he really asked of Abraham:
a deep, unconditional, total trust in him.
God’s request must have appeared to have no meaning, at least no meaning that Abraham could understand.
Had God not promised him an heir?
And now he was to give him up in a very cruel way.
Much later, through the prophet Isaiah, God was to tell us clearly:
“My ways are not your ways” (Is.55:8).
Something we are in constant need to learn anew.
Learning to trust God, to rely on him, to surrender to him,
no matter how deprived of meaning a situation seems to be.
Wanting to understand, trying by all means to make sense of events, is a very human attitude, and legitimate also.
But we must learn to… LET GO and LET GOD as a poster reminds us!…
And the outcome can be… absolutely amazing!
Images: artcommission.me
Note: A reflection on the 2nd reading of this Sunday is available in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/2e-dimanche-careme-annee-b/