July 2, 2023

Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK

• First reading and Psalm
  • Genesis 22:1-14
  • Psalm 13
• Alternate First reading and Psalm
  • Jeremiah 28:5-9
  • Psalm 89:1-4, 15-18
• Second reading
  • Romans 6:12-23
• Gospel
  • Matthew 10:40-42

The first reading from Genesis:
After (other) things God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you.”

So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and set out and went to the place in the distance that God had shown him. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place far away.

Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the boy and I will go over there; we will worship, and then we will come back to you.” Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.

When they came to the place that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order. He bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son.

But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven, and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”

And Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place “The LORD will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.”

The gospel from Matthew:
(Jesus said) “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.

Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple — truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.”

*Tarvaspää or the Gallen-Kallela Museum, located in Espoo, Finland and built between 1911 and 1913 was a home and studio for Finnish painter Akseli Gallen-Kallela. Tarvaspää has been a museum since 1961. [from Wikimedia].

Sermon:
This week Pastor Stevensen chose to speak on our first reading, from Genesis, about Abraham and Isaac, his reason being that it has for a long time been of interest and importance. There has been much artwork done of this intense biblical event. Abraham was ready, to do God’s will. Traditional was the practice of child sacrifice in those times. Abraham was tested. It is a hidden question, why was Abraham tested? God did not need to test. He wanted Abraham to learn about himself. What might we learn? God is sometimes absent. We perceive this in various ways. Is it a foretaste of Christ? Pastor Stevensen continued with how at Calvary God sacrificed His own Son without halting it and how it leads to our own beliefs as Christians……

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