Castings: June 26, 2026
Sacrifice
The word sacrifice appears in the Bible over 350 times. The first place it occurs is with the story of Abraham and Isaac on the mountain. Sacrifice remains an essential element of the journey of God’s people.
Jesus teaches us what sacrifice means, saying whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple– truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.
Sacrifice, through the lens of the Gospel, is about self-giving, about caring for the world around us, about seeing the least and the lost and bringing them into the fold, about feeding and serving.
We understand the expectation of sacrifice through the words of the Eucharist.
From the Rite I Eucharistic Prayer:
And we earnestly desire thy fatherly goodness mercifully to
accept this our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving…And here we offer and present unto thee,
O Lord, our selves,
our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and living
sacrifice unto thee;
And from Eucharistic Prayer D:
Grant that all who share this bread and cup may become one
body and one spirit, a living sacrifice in Christ, to the praise
of your Name.
We are called to a life of service and sacrifice. It’s clear that sacrifice is part of the life of faith.
In Abraham’s time it looked like bringing a child up a mountain, and trusting God would provide a ram. In Jesus’ time it looked like finding and creating space to welcome the lonely, the lost, the oppressed, the orphaned and the widow. And Jesus shows us, with his very being, the depth of love that sacrifice will require of him: willingly walking to Jerusalem, willingly taking up the cross to suffering and death, trusting that God would transform death into something new and other.
The words of the prophet Micah ring out: God has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? But to do justice and to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God. All of it a sacrifice of our own interest, and selfishness and self-absorbedness, and an invitation to trust in God while seeking justice and mercy.