Yet another Genesis story. This time God tells Abraham to make a sacrifice for him, apparently his only son, young Isaac. And so Abraham tells Isaac to come with him to sacrifice an animal, which of course, is actually Isaac. He asks Abraham on the way to the alter what they will sacrifice since they didn't have any animals with them, to which he responds by saying that God will make an animal appear for them to sacrifice. So they reach the alter and Abraham binds Isaac up, which gives this story it's common name, and puts him on the alter. Just as he is about to drop the blade into Isaac, God realizes that Abraham so trusted his word that he would sacrifice his own son on command from the Lord. As a result, God allows Isaac to live by making an animal appear, a much more humane sacrifice.
Sacrifice is such a rercurring motif throughout modern culture, it really is becoming somewhat of a cliche. From the sacrifice of Harry Potter's parents to protect him from Him-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named and fulfill his magical potential, to Obi-Wan Kenobi's sacrifice to get Luke Skywalker off the Death Star to fulfill his destiny. Almost every big blockbuster has something similar in there somewhere and I really wish it didn't have to be this way. It always pulls on my heartstrings when a lovable character has to go down to save another. The unique thing about this story is that Abraham wasn't really sacrificing himself, but the live of another person, which brings up a whole new series of questions. But it's kind of admirable that Abraham trusted the Lord so much that he wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice his son if he so desired.
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