The God Who Interrupts the Sacrifice

What kind of God asks a man to sacrifice his son? Maybe not the kind you think

The Sacrifice of Isaac by Caravaggio (1603). This picture depicted in horrific detail how this passage has been viewed historically. By Caravaggio — Self-scanned, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15219747

Some biblical stories are unsettling not because they are outdated, but because they still refuse to behave the way we expect them to.

This is one of those stories.

Read slowly.

Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love – Isaac – and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there…”

– Genesis 22

Let’s not pretend that this line is not horrific, because the question we all ask is the same:

What kind of God would ask someone to sacrifice their child?

Yet, nestled in this ancient story is not only an answer, but a disruption to the established way of thinking so profound it changes how they, and we, see God entirely.

But first, to find it, we’ve got to go back a bit.