Judica Sunday: the faith of Abraham

In today's Gospel, Jesus said to the Jews, "Your father Abraham saw my day and was glad." What did Abraham see? What made him glad? Recall Abraham's great personal test. He must offer his only-begotten son, his beloved, as a sacrifice. But Abraham believed and had learned that God is gracious and kind. And he also knew that the promised One would come through Isaac the son of promise. So therefore he also knew that God must raise him from the dead if he sacrificed him. So he went forth believing. But still, such a dreadful test. He must actually slay his son on the altar; he must do this, and Isaac would truly die if he did. And Isaac too had learned this stubborn faith from his father, as all faithful sons learn well from their fathers. So he called out in filial obedience, "My father!" as he carried the wood up Mount Moriah,  the very same mountain on which Jerusalem would one day be built, and he dutifully carried the wood for the offering, and he believed his father who had said to the men left at the bottom that he and his father would return to  them. So he knew that even if he must be himself the sacrifice that God must raise him from the dead. Still, a dreadful test! He must be pierced through with the instrument of death; he must die! And at the last moment the angel stayed Abraham's hand, providing a great relief to both father and son. Still, a sacrifice was needed, as they knew, as Abraham himself had said: God himself will provide the sacrifice. And so he did, he provided a ram caught in a thicket. Yet the also knew that it is impossible for the blood of goats and rams to take away sin; they knew a Greater Sacrifice was needed. They saw the day of Christ, and were glad, on this, the third day! How very glad, as they fiercely embraced on another, even as Mary Magdalene embraced the feet of Jesus on the day of His resurrection from the dead. This faith we need: to believe, to know, that Jesus' word will always come true. Though affliction and trial must come, yet there shall be a day of resurrection, for we know the true Sacrifice, and His resurrection on the third day. Sermon for Judica  the Fifth Sunday in Lent. The video is here.