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Thursday of the Thirteenth week in Ordinary Time
Book of Genesis 22:1-19.
God put Abraham to the test. He called to him,
"Abraham!" "Here I am!" he replied.
Then God said: "Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom
you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer him up as a
holocaust on a height that I will point out to you."
Early the next morning Abraham saddled his donkey, took with him
his son Isaac, and two of his servants as well, and with the wood that he had
cut for the holocaust, set out for the place of which God had told him.
On the third day Abraham got sight of the place from afar.
Then he said to his servants: "Both of you stay here with
the donkey, while the boy and I go on over yonder. We will worship and then
come back to you."
Thereupon Abraham took the wood for the holocaust and laid it on
his son Isaac's shoulders, while he himself carried the fire and the knife.
As the two walked on together, Isaac spoke tnued, "Here are
the fire and the wood, but where is the sheep for the holocaust?"
"Son," Abraham answered, "God himself will
provide the sheep for the holocaust." Then the two continued going
forward. o his father Abraham. "Father!" he said. "Yes,
son," he replied. Isaac conti...
The Supreme Sacrifice
Since the Fathers of the Church, many authors have exerted considerable effort trying to interpret the “true meaning” of Genesis, chapter 22, including modern thinkers such as Kant and Kierkegaard, and postmoderns such as Derrida and Marion. It is no wonder, then, that this episode about the sacrifice of Isaac should pose a huge challenge to artists as well! Such difficulty is hardly surprising, since in this text the divine pedagogy is just beginning to reveal the mystery of faith, this mystery which, in the fullness of revelation, will nourish Christian life from the profession of baptismal faith to every Mass, when the Church renews in an unbloody manner the sacrifice of Christ.
In this painting, Gentileschi proposes a multi-leveled interpretation. On the first level, that of the first Covenant, the angel abruptly stops the horrible act of infanticide. His expression is severe, and with his left hand raised toward heaven he points, in a sort of anticipation of Sinai, to the Law of God: You shall not kill! God thus gives a harsh lesson to Abraham, guilty of having believed it possible that the Lord would have asked him to adopt the monstrous practice of that period—offering first-born sons in sacrifice to the titular deity. Later, Moses will explain that offering first-born sons to God means to consecrate them, not sacrifice them. On the second level, that of the new and eternal Covenant, Gentileschi, unlike Caravaggio and Rembrandt, represents Isaac as neither constrained nor terrified. He who carried the wood for his own sacrifice is here the figure of Jesus Christ. Now, Jesus testifies that God his Father, our Father, does not wish to sacrifice his Son, just as he did not want Abraham to sacrifice Isaac: No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down on my own, he affirms. But as Savior of the world, it is no less true that Jesus exalts the greatness of the supreme sacrifice, since he is the only offering pleasing to God: No one shows greater love than by laying down his life for those he loves.
Pierre-Marie Dumont
The Sacrifice of Isaac, Orazio Gentileschi (1563-1639),
Galleria Nazionale di Palazzo Spinola, Genoa, Italy.
© Electa / Leemage.
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