Episode Transcript  

One

A Father’s Sacrifice

We all know the story of Abraham and Isaac, how God asked Abraham to sacrifice his beloved son, how Abraham was willing, and Isaac was willing too, and obediently helped carry the wood up the mountain for his own sacrifice. How he laid down upon that wood and prepared to be executed. Then, suddenly, an angel intervenes to prevent the sacrifice.

We also know why God asked for this sacrifice: It was to test Abraham’s faith in the Lord. And Abraham passed. But that wasn’t the only reason. It was so we would all know the sacrifice that the Heavenly Father would make for our sakes. A sacrifice that wouldn’t be prevented. The sacrifice of His own Son.

Two

For God so Loved the World

One of the most popular lines of the whole Gospel is John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son.”

Now, do you think God the Father loved His only Son less than Abraham loved Isaac? Do you think, somehow, that it was less of a sacrifice for the Heavenly Father?

Remember, too, Abraham had all the suffering of anticipating the sacrifice, but he didn’t have to actually see his son die a grisly and violent death. God the Father did. Abraham and Isaac didn’t end up having to go through with their sacrifice for God’s sake. But the Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son did have to go through with theirs. And they did it for our sake.

Three

The Father’s Will

It’s very clear that the sacrifice of the Son is the will of the Father. Jesus says, in the Garden of Gethsemane, “not my will, Father, but thy will be done.” As St. Paul says very clearly, “Jesus was delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.” 

That doesn’t mean that the Heavenly Father forced Herod or Pilate or Judas or the Pharisees to commit their sinful atrocities on Christ. All the agents of evil acted freely and could have made the right choices instead of the wrong ones. Nonetheless, the heavenly Father knowingly orchestrated things so that Christ would be vulnerable to the malice that these evildoers would choose to inflict on His Son. And it was all for our sakes. It was so we could see the effects of our own sin. It was so that our freedom would be respected, and the consequences of what we do would have their full impact.

And yet, in this way, the Son of God, who was also a human being, would deal with the consequences and so take responsibility for our moral failure. Because we had dug ourselves into a hole we couldn’t get out of. And only a God-man could save us in a divine way that still respected our humanity. That was why the Son of God had to die. That was why the Heavenly Father sent Him to die. Because it was the best way to offer us another chance at happiness.

Abraham was willing to sacrifice Isaac because he trusted God so much. And we marvel at his trust. The Father actually sacrificed the Son because He loves us so much. We must never cease to marvel at His love.

Four

The Triumphant Homecoming

That was the sacrifice. Now, consider the homecoming.

Think of how happy Abraham was to bring Isaac home when he had expected Isaac to die. Then think of how happy the Heavenly Father was to bring His Son home, after having actually witnessed His Son’s death. Think of the celebration, think of the reunion, when Christ stepped out of the cloud in the throne-room of the Father. Think of the Father’s happiness when the Son said, “Father, I completed the task you gave me. Because I love you.”

One of the oldest churches in America is the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, in Hanover, Pennsylvania. On the ceiling, at the left transept, is a painting of the Trinity before the Incarnation. The Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit are embracing. The Son has no wounds, but He is accepting a crown of thorns from the Father’s hand. At the other side of the transept is a painting of the Trinity after the Ascension. Again, the Trinity is embracing. The Son has his five glorious wounds showing, and the Father is giving him a crown of glory and the scepter of universal kingship. 

Imagine the celebration in Heaven! Imagine the Father, who had to watch His poor Son torn to shreds, imagine how proud He was, and how Happy, to confer on His glorious, Heroic Son, the name that is above all other names. But of course, the celebration of Heaven doesn’t stop at the return of the Son. It continues with the added rejoicing of the return to the Father of the fallen humanity that Christ came to save. 

Five

Our Return to the Father

The Son isn’t the only one who returns to the Father after the Incarnation. Just as Tobit returned to his father, Tobias, with a new bride whom he had freed from the power of a devil, so did Christ return with a new bride. With the Church, the company of men and women whom He has freed from the devil. At the Ascension, Jesus says, “I saved her, Father. The one you cared about so much that you sent me to save her. Here she is.”

St. Paul says, “Christ loved the Church, and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that he might present the Church to himself in splendor” (Ephesians 5:25-27).

Imagine that throne room, where the Son of the King stands before His Father, and says, “I saved her, Sir, just like you asked, and I restored her to the beauty you love so much. She is my bride.” And the Son stands aside, and the King looks, and smiles, because there is His Son’s Bride, she who had been lost, and filthy, and sick unto death, and now she is so lovely. And she kneels before this King, who sent His Son to die for her, to save her. And the King says, “I sent Him, because I love you.” 

That’s us. We’re the ones it was all for. We’re the ones the King sent His Son to die for. Because they both, for some unfathomable reason, love us so immeasurably. The Ascension is where we remember and anticipate the great, triumphant celebration. Where Christ stands before the Father, and presents us. What can we do to make ourselves holy, to make ourselves presentable, after such love from the Heavenly Father and His Heroic Son?  

Suggested Resolutions:

Choose one resolution for today to help you grow closer to God, or create your own. Here are some ideas to inspire you. 

• Spend time imagining Christ’s homecoming into Heaven, sitting in gratitude for God’s great love for us.

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