Eat Up (Koan)

Preface:

Abraham holds fiercely to the present, still loving what he’s losing. Trust cracks the bones of love and loss to get at the juicy marrow.  So— eat up!



Main Case:

Genesis 22:1-18 (The story of Abraham and Isaac; CJB)

He answered, “Here I am.” (v. 1; v. 7; v. 11)

Hebrews 11:23-31 (How trust works; CJB)

“By trusting..”

John 6:52-59 (Jesus once again shocks the authorities; CJB)

⁵⁶ Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me, and I live in him. ⁵⁷ Just as the living Father sent me, and I live through the Father, so also whoever eats me will live through me.



Appreciatory Verse:

Here it is—

Old Jesus still holds the trusty knife:

No loss, no life.

Commentary:

I remember, more than thirty years ago, reading Kierkegaard on the story of Abraham and Isaac, and feeling an odd, but certain, sort of understanding about how God never gives us the answers. My understanding wasn’t confused; but it wasn’t clear either.

Recently, I’ve been reading an author who bids fair to be a modern prophet: Stephen Jenkinson. He’s all about loss, grief, and love. If you are going to get what he’s saying, you’ve got to really listen, and you’re going to have to listen to everything he has to say.

My trouble with the Lectionary is often that the reading for a given day makes little sense without the section from the day before, or the day after. This reading from John hasn’t got the punch it ought to have, because it leaves out the part of the story where the disciples got so shocked and grossed out that many of them left him and wouldn’t be seen with him anymore. Jesus asks the ones who are left, “What about you?” and they answer, “Where else can we go?”

That’s exactly it, isn’t it?

Once we encounter the living God, who fills the Present from end to end and top to bottom; once we realize that there is no place to be but here; well then, we have no choice, do we?

We could choose to lie and deny, but we’d know that’s what we were doing, wouldn’t we?

It’s too late, and now we can’t undo our own understanding.



So, here we are: hung up by our horns in a bramble bush; staring at an old guy with tears on his face, who’s holding a knife at his own son’s throat.

Where else can we go?

“According to Kierkegaard, Abraham is a hero not by virtue of his obedience to God's command, but because he maintains his relationship to Isaac after giving him up. When Abraham raises his knife over Isaac's body, this symbolizes the fact that every human relationship is haunted by the prospect of death. Love always ends in loss, at least within this life.” (Italics mine)

—From an article by Clare Carlisle in The Guardian