From Isaac to Jesus: The Archetype of (Non)Acceptance of Sacrifice

Abstract

The analogy between the Old Testament episode of Abraham sacrificing Isaac and the New Testament suffering of Jesus at Golgotha was already established in the early Christianity and is based primarily on the common motive of the sacrifice, dominant in both narratives, but also on the not less important relationship between father and son. Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his beloved son to God has been understood for centuries as an archetypal image and a reflection of readiness of the God - Father to sacrifice his Son - Jesus Christ - in order to save mankind. Actually, this is a manifestation of the same archetype, constellated at different times, and therefore in different manifestations, whereby here there is also a development, an evolution of the archetype, which ultimately leads to the transition from the “religion of the Father” to the “religion of the Son.”
The story of Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac cannot be fully perceived and interpreted without putting it into a wider context, and these are the developments that preceded God’s request concerning Abraham’s firstborn son Ishmael. The rejection and ex-communication of Ishmael and his mother Hagar from the family represent Abraham’s first sacrifice of a son, over which all remaining family members will have to pay a certain price. Abraham realizes the price when he receives God’s order to sacrifice Isaac as well. Isaac, who is at first glance completely innocent, pays the price with “fear and trembling” under his father’s knife, because Ishmael was removed so that he could gain additional space and take a place that he would not get in that measure even if Abraham’s firstborn son had remained a part of the family. This is why Isaac will have to experience for a moment the position in which Ishmael had been in all his life. Sara, who demanded from Abraham an ex-communication of Ishmael and Hagar, pays the price first by being excluded from making the most important decision regarding the life of the son that she had with Abraham, and soon after this event she passes away.
It turns out that an absence of Isaac’s insight into his father’s intentions is also of crucial importance, as well as non-acceptance to be sacrificed by his father, and this is why God ultimately refuses and prevents what he originally demanded. In fact, sacrificing others for one’s own interests and goals is unacceptable, even if these goals are God-related and God-oriented.
Isaac and Jesus, each in their own domain and in accordance with their nature – the nature of man, that is, of godman – make a step in the development of consciousness and stand in defense of life as the highest and undisputed value. Isaac does this by not accepting to be Abraham’s sacrificial offering, thereby protecting the earthly life, while Jesus suffers on the cross of his own free will and in this way gains an eternal life for himself and those who dare to follow him.