Day 7 – September 8, 2025: Genesis 21-24 and John 12-13

The birth of Isaac comes along with also the death of Sarah. You don’t often see the love that a patriarch has for his wife in their passing, but with Abraham and Sarah it does seem like something a little different. The sacrifice of Isaac, or the attempted sacrifice, is a Scripture that resonates powerfully with the story of Jesus. The only difference, and it is not insignificant, is that Isaac plays the role of the victim in this story. With Jesus, he chose to die for our sake, he was not forced to give himself upon the cross. So the whole theory of atonement and the Isaac story only works so far. Not in so far as Isaac was told what to do, even forced to do it, while Jesus did say take this cup from me, but then quickly followed it up with: Not my will be done, but thine.

The washing of the feet in John takes the place of the institution of the Lord’s Supper. Notice that Judas is present during this experience and he has his feet washed along with the other disciples. We also see the “new commandment” that Jesus gives, the mandatum novum, which is that we should love one another. It really wasn’t all that new, just new in practice, maybe.