For God so Loved the World...

The Binding of Isaac by Marc Chagall

LOVE AND THE AKEDAH

The Binding of Isaac – Genesis 22

 

 

"Take your son

your only son

whom you love…"

Twenty-two chapters into Scripture

and it's the first time love is mentioned

as God tells Abraham,

"sacrifice Isaac

as a burnt offering"

What swirls

through the mind

of this old patriarch

(who after a hundred years

fathers the son

of God's promise…

the son he loves and

proudly watches grow)

What swirls as he swings

the sharp axe, splitting wood

It was three days journey

from Beersheba to Moriah—

Leaving his servants behind

Abraham hands Isaac

the bundled wood

and carries fire and knife

up the mount

himself

"Avi" (my father)

"where is the lamb?"

"God will provide the lamb

my son"

Abraham erects an altar of stone

arranges the wood and binds the lad

(whose faith and obedience

must be at least as great as his own)

Unflinching before the God

he has finally come to trust

the aged patriarch

(known to lie

to save his own skin

known to try to pull off

God's covenant himself

when it seemed God was slow

in keeping His promise)

this same patriarch…

raises the glinting blade

above his son, his only son

whom he loves…

Split-second

to knife-fall

the angel of the Lord calls

"Abraham! Abraham!

Do not lay a hand on the boy…"

The old man

who proves he would

withhold nothing from his God—

drops the bloodless blade

unbinds and embraces Isaac

O boundless relief

Effusive praise

and there, tangled

in a thicket, struggles

the substitute sacrifice

…a ram

Two millennia later

God's Son

His only Son

Whom He loves

carries wood

of a crossbeam

up the very same mountain

No angel of the Lord

arrives last moment

to halt the hammerfall

No ram appears

in a thicket

For God so loves

the world

He provides…

His Son

His only Son…The Lamb

Maude Carolan

To The Daughters of Dear Old Mothers...

OLD MOTHERS

Never had the opportunity--

missed the privilege

of doting upon my old mother.

Mother died

of a heart attack

at fifty-one.

Watch with envy--

sweet old mothers

with rosy rouged cheeks

and charming smiles

carefully navigating

footed canes

or wheeled walkers.

Dutiful daughters

accompany them

pleasantly

in doctor’s waiting rooms,

taking their tweed coats,

making small talk

about the grandchildren

and what Aunt So And So

will be serving

the church ladies for lunch.

Blessed daughters,

who left beds unmade,

dishes in the sink,

who listen attentively

to doctor’s instructions,

see that Medicare

and supplementary insurances

are processed properly,

who assist them

with their coats

and to their cars,

stopping at pharmacies

on the way home.

Maude Carolan

Happy Mother's Day to moms young and old. God bless you!

(This poem received honorable mention in the national Allen Ginsberg Poetry Contest, several years ago.)

IT PLEASED THE LORD TO CRUSH HIM[1]

When I applied stinging iodine

to the tender knees of my children

or a corrective spank

or a hug to assuage a broken heart

I remember that

their wounds, hurts

even the chastisements

wounded me more than them –

Why, I would've become a she-lion

poised to pounce and mangle

bruisers of my own –

yet the very God I know as Love

was pleased to crush

was delighted to bruise[2]

His Very Own

So, I shudder, convinced

God's ways are infinitely higher

than my finite mind can grasp –

for God stayed His almighty hand

held His almighty tongue

waited it out in His Heaven

pleased, even delighted

to give His Only Son

innocent, docile as a lamb

to be mocked, bruised, spat upon

crowned with thorn branches

stripped and nailed naked to a tree –

yes, pleased and delighted was He

as The Most Precious Blood

of His Only Son

rained like rubies

upon the ground

Pleased and delighted am I

that the God Who so loves

crushed and bruised

His Very Own

for me

Maude Carolan                                                                              

---

[1] Isaiah 53:10 "New American Standard Bible"

[2] Isaiah 53:10 , "Young's Literal Translation of the Holy Bible"