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Andrei Rublev (d. 1430), “Troitsa (The Trinity),” State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow (photo: Public Domain)
By John Grondelski, National Catholic Register, April 1, 2025
John M. Grondelski (Ph.D., Fordham) is former associate dean of the School of Theology, Seton Hall University, South Orange, New Jersey. He is especially interested in moral theology and the thought of John Paul II. [Note: All views expressed in his National Catholic Register contributions are exclusively the author’s.]
OLD TESTAMENT & ART: Sarah laughed, but God answered with joy — revealing that his designs surpass our doubts and devices.
(Reading: Genesis 18:1-15; 21:1-20, 22:1-18)
God promised Abraham many offspring. By human logic, that was incredible. But Abraham gave it credence. Yet Abraham and Sarah also decided to take matters into their own hands and “help God along” on the how by having a boy (Ishmael) through Sarah’s Egyptian slave, Hagar. While the union resulted in a child, it also led to familial and clan relations going south.
(Some have claimed this is an example of biblical surrogacy. That claim is false. Ishmael is never taken from his genetic/gestational mother nor raised by Sarah. The closest analog seems simply de facto polygamy.)
But since God’s plans are not man’s, God insists Abraham will have the promised offspring by Sarah, his elderly wife. That again is a test of Abraham’s faith, adherence to which gained its outward expression in the covenant of circumcision. A …
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