Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

The Lord Tells Abraham To Offer Isaac as a Sacrifice

22 ^(A) Some years later God decided to test Abraham, so he spoke to him.

Abraham answered, “Here I am, Lord.”

^2 (B) The Lord said, “Go get Isaac, your only son, the one you dearly love! Take him to the land of Moriah, and I will show you a mountain where you must sacrifice him to me on the fires of an altar.” ³ So Abraham got up early the next morning and chopped wood for the fire. He put a saddle on his donkey and set out with Isaac and two servants for the place where God had told him to go.

⁴ Three days later Abraham looked off in the distance and saw the place. ⁵ He told his servants, “Stay here with the donkey, while my son and I go over there to worship. We will come back.”

⁶ Abraham put the wood on Isaac's shoulder, but he carried the hot coals and the knife. As the two of them walked along, ^7-8 Isaac said, “Father, we have the coals and the wood, but where is the lamb for the sacrifice?”

“My son,” Abraham answered, “God will provide the lamb.”

The two of them walked on, and ^9 (C) when they reached the place that God had told him about, Abraham built an altar and placed the wood on it. Next, he tied up his son and put him on the wood. ^10 (D) He then took the knife and got ready to kill his son. ¹¹ But the Lord's angel shouted from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”

“Here I am!” he answered.

¹² “Don't hurt the boy or harm him in any way!” the angel said. “Now I know that you truly obey God, because you were willing to offer him your only son.”

¹³ Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in the bushes. So he took the ram and sacrificed it instead of his son.

¹⁴ Abraham named that place “The Lord Will Provide.” And even now people say, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”^[a]

(A psalm by David for the music leader.)

A Prayer for the Lord's Help

¹² Don't let sin rule your body. After all, your body is bound to die, so don't obey its desires ¹³ or let any part of it become a slave of evil. Give yourselves to God, as people who have been raised from death to life. Make every part of your body a slave that pleases God. ¹⁴ Don't let sin keep ruling your lives. You are ruled by God's undeserved grace and not by the Law.

Slaves Who Do What Pleases God

¹⁵ What does all this mean? Does it mean we are free to sin, because we are ruled by God's gift of undeserved grace and not by the Law? Certainly not! ¹⁶ Don't you know that you are slaves of anyone you obey? You can be slaves of sin and die, or you can be obedient slaves of God and be acceptable to him. ¹⁷ You used to be slaves of sin. But I thank God that with all your heart you followed the example set forth in the teaching you received. ¹⁸ Now you are set free from sin and are slaves who please God.

¹⁹ I am using these everyday examples, because in some ways you are still weak. You used to let the different parts of your body be slaves of your evil thoughts. But now you must make every part of your body serve God, so that you will belong completely to him.

²⁰ When you were slaves of sin, you didn't have to please God. ²¹ But what good did you receive from the things you did? All you have to show for them is your shame, and they lead to death. ²² Now you have been set free from sin, and you are God's slaves. This will make you holy and will lead you to eternal life. ²³ Sin pays off with death. But God's gift is eternal life given by Jesus Christ our Lord.

Rewards

(Mark 9.41)

^40 (A) Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me. And anyone who welcomes me also welcomes the one who sent me. ⁴¹ Anyone who welcomes a prophet, just because that person is a prophet, will be given the same reward as a prophet. Anyone who welcomes a good person, just because that person is good, will be given the same reward as a good person. ⁴² And anyone who gives one of my most humble followers a cup of cool water, just because that person is my follower, will be rewarded.