Tucker Else
Christian Union Ministry Director
University of pennsylvania
In Genesis 22, we are given a story about a dad and his son. The patriarch Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation, is commanded by God to sacrifice his son, Isaac.
As a dad myself, it is a hard story to read. “Take your son, your only son, whom you love…”
Why would God ask such a thing, particularly of this “Son of the promise” through whom the nation of Israel would come to be? After so many years waiting for him, why would Abraham be put through such a test?
The language of the passage is harrowing in their quiet conversation: “My Father…Here I am, my Son…” You can hear the heart-break of a Dad, the unquestioning trust of the Son.
In American vernacular it would sound something like this: “Daddy!…”; “Yeah, buddy?”
The connection between a father and a son should be a special one. Even if there has been past hostility, there is a longing…”that’s my son and I have so many hopes and dreams for him.” Or, “that’s my dad and he is the one I want to be like when I grow up.” That’s why it is so heart-breaking to see broken families in our country.
It seems so hopeless when so many young men are without a father (43% in the U.S.). Seventy percent of incarcerated youths come from fatherless homes. Ninety percent of all runaways and homeless children are without a father.*
A Dad is supposed to be there for his child, to defend and protect and nurture. So when we come to Genesis 22 at first glance we should be alarmed to the extent to which God demands allegiance from Abraham - asking him to sacrifice his son.
But here’s where things are different with God. From the beginning of that passage, the reader knows it is a test and that Isaac will not be killed. It is a testing of Abraham’s obedience to God to be lived out in real-time and history.
In the story, God stops Abraham from dropping the dagger and slaying his son. But it points us to another episode in the Bible, much, much later.
There, another son travels up a lonely hill, also carrying wood. There, the perfectly innocent son is put upon the altar, and the stroke of the blade of death is about to come down. But there, no one stops the dagger.
And we see that it is no ordinary son: It is the Son of God, God incarnate, in the flesh. God the Son was sacrificed so sinful humans could be made sons and daughters of God.
There’s a song we often sing at Church called How Deep the Father’s Love for Us. The words go like this: “How deep the Father's love for us/How vast beyond all measure/That He should give His only Son/To make a wretch His treasure./How great the pain of searing loss/The Father turns His face away/As wounds which mar the chosen One/Bring many sons to glory.”
I don’t know why dads leave, or why children are homeless. We don’t know the reason God allows evil and suffering to continue, but we know what the reason isn’t, what it can’t be. It can’t be that He doesn’t love us. It can’t be that He doesn’t care.
God so loved us and hates suffering that he was willing to come down and get involved in it. And if we can grasp that, it just might transform our country, including our dads.
*United States Dept. of Justice and United States D.H.H.S. records
Tucker Else is Christian Union's director of undergraduate ministry at the University of Pennsylvania. Tucker served as a pastor in Iowa for seven years. Prior to that he was a practicing attorney for an international bank (RaboBank). In preparation for pastoral ministry, he earned an MDiv at Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis. He received his JD from Drake University.Tucker and his wife, Marchelle, have been married for 21 years. They have four children: Lauren, Tamrick, Brennan, and Kianna. He loves reading, music, sports, and visiting all of Philadelphia's great neighborhoods. He takes delight in discipling students into a deeper love and affection for Jesus Christ.
