Continuing with the theme of mentally accompanying Jesus on His path to the cross– and acknowledging that just as His sacrifice evoked memory of that of Isaac, and our own sacrifice should evoke His:
Therefore I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is–his good, pleasing, and perfect will. –Romans 12: 1-2
With tight grim lips
You have taken me
To Mount Moriah. We have
Built the altar together.
I allow myself to become a compliant offering
Upon this altar where I
Do not want to lie.
The stop-action camera of reality
Has frozen you
In the pose of priest with arm lifted–
The knife glints
You will not be deterred
Oh
Where is the angel?
Where is the ram?
The frightening thing about offering ourselves to God as sacrifices is that the moment we crawl up onto the altar, we lose all say in the matter. While the thought of self-sacrifice is a noble one, always the doing of it is much harder–and much more grim–than it seemed before. And while we would like to be like Isaac, who laid beneath his father's knife only to be rescued by an angel; we must resolve ourselves to the inevitable end of every sacrifice, which is of course death.
