A Sermon Based Upon Genesis 21: 8-21 NRSV
By Rev. Dr. Charles J. Tomlin, DMin
Flat Rock-Zion Baptist Partnership
March 11, 2018
For the past few weeks, we have been
preaching from the life of Abraham, the ancestor of all biblical faith. Scripture sometimes speaks of Abraham as a ‘friend of God’ (Isa. 41:8; James
2:23). Jesus called his own disciples, who
were descendants of Abraham, his ‘friends’
(Jn. 15:15). In a way, all people of faith can be named
‘friends of God’. But what we are going
to learn today is that just because we are God’s friends, this does not in any
way mean that we are a privileged or superior people to everyone else. God’s people do not have a monopoly on the
goodness and grace of God.
Besides this, what we will see in today’s
text is that God’s people can be perfectly ‘imperfect’ friends of God; people who
have faith, but who still have a long ways to go. One
writer explained today’s story of faith this way, saying, “the religious consciousness which was to have noble growth in Israel,
had its subsoil in the same life and same ideas (and I might add same failures)
as other peoples of ancient times (Bowie, IB). In other words, Abraham was not perfect, he
was a flawed human being. But even as a
flawed human being, Abraham did open his heart to God by faith, warts and all, so
that his faith could be perfected by God’s grace.
One of the most wonderful truths about
biblical truth is that it tells us exactly this kind of truth; truth that comes
with warts and all. The Bible does not
hide who Abraham was, just as it does not hide how faith was, before it was
perfected in God’s love through Jesus Christ.
What we see, particularly in today’s text, is that Abraham was not
always a great example of what a person of faith can be, but still, God ‘credited’ Abraham’s with “righteousness” because of his faith
(Rom 4:3). Abraham believed (or
trusted) in God (Rom 4:6), as Paul put it, but, as Paul adds: “If, in fact, Abraham was justified by
works, he had something to boast about---but not before God” (Rom. 4:2). As we will see in today’s text, Abraham
really had nothing to boast about.
Neither do we.
Paul reminds us, that also in this way,
we are children of Abraham. Yes, we are
people of faith; having a faith that will also be ‘credited…as righteousness’, but , as Paul adds, faith is credited
to us because ‘our transgressions are
forgiven,…(and our) sins are
covered’ (Rom. 4:7). In this same
way, just like Abraham, as like Israel
too, we Christians are also a ‘chosen’ (Eph. 1:11, 1 Pet. 2:9) people, who are chosen
to be objects of God’s love and recipients of God’s grace. But this in no way, means that we are any better
than anyone else, nor does it mean that we are the only people God loves or
saves.
CAST
OUT THIS SLAVE WOMAN…. (10)
Our text today begins on the ‘happy note’ of the fulfillment of God’s
promise. God had promised Abraham that
he would be blessed with a child, and would become a great nation so his faith
could bless the whole world (Gen. 12: 1-3).
“All the peoples on earth will be
blessed through you”(Gen. 12:3. It
was made very clear from the beginning, that the ‘blessing’ Abraham received was
never just about Abraham alone, but this was a blessing that was always
intended for ‘all peoples on earth’. Abraham’s blessing was for everyone.
It is exactly this ‘promise’ or
‘calling’ to ‘bless others’ that makes the second part of today’s story especially
hard to think about. This is one of
those places in the Bible where faith gets messy, complicated, and can even
appear to be down-right cruel. It is one of those hard parts of the Bible
that some believers quickly pass over, excuse, or explain away. As one pastor put it, this is ‘one of those
things that ought not to happen’ (James Killen). The truth in this story is told twice in
Genesis (see Gen. 16), perhaps just so that we don’t miss just how ‘messy’ and
‘imperfect’ Abraham’s faith was. This
reminds us that, even as ‘friends of God’, we are all on a journey to learn how
to love like God loves.
The ‘messiness’ of this story focuses on
what to do with Ishamel, Sarah’s other son.
Now that Isaac is born, what does the family and the future look like? It was not ‘faith’, but Abraham and Sarah’s
lack of faith that asked for this. If
you recall, when it didn’t look like she and Abraham could have children on
their own, Sarah decided to allow her
Egyptian slave-girl named Hagar, to become Abraham’s surrogate wife (Gen. 16:1ff). This was a standard practice in world where
family was business, as well as, family.
Hagar quickly conceived, but this
complicated the family arrangements.
Sarah became jealous of Hagar, and even before the child was born, earlier
in Genesis 16, we read that with Abraham’s blessing Hagar was sent away, only
to be sent back by the angel of the LORD.
Now that the promised child Isaac has been born,, the same jealousy and
the same question arises again: “What
happens to Hagar and Ishmael?” Sadly,
the problem arises in a most innocent moment when the two children were ‘playing’ together. Sarah takes the scene as insult; perhaps it
might have been a reminder of her own lack of faith. In the next moment, Sarah demands that
Abraham ‘cast out this slave woman with
her son.’ Sarah’s reasoning: ‘This slave woman shall not inherit along
with my son Isaac’ (10).
It is always ‘sad’ when families, who
have grown up together, experienced and shared life together, come to a point
where they don’t want to travel through life together any longer. Often, it happens because of some
disagreement about ‘inheritance’, just like Sarah voices it here. You and I know this happens, sometimes even
to the best of families. People get
their feelings hurt, one makes unreasonable demands, the parents failed to make
their last wishes clear, and now, after the parents are gone, the family
relationship falls apart. The world and
the love they once shared, is gone forever.
Sometimes it can be reduced down to piece of furniture, a tract of land,
or an amount of money.
But Sarah’s jealousy over Ishmael is not
about monetary inheritance; it is about God’s promise, and it is about her own
weakness of faith. Sarah realizes that
she has failed, and now she wants to protect her son. Perhaps it even has a motherly motivation; maybe
she didn’t really wish her servant-girl and child any harm. However, what she does is wrong, and it
proves that she, like Abraham, were not ‘justified
by works’. We also read, that this
whole ordeal seemed so unfair and ugly that ‘the matter was very distressing to Abraham’. Ishmael was Abraham’s ‘son’
too (11).
Perhaps this whole story occurs in the
Bible’s story about faith, to remind us, that even people of great faith, sometimes
‘get it wrong’. Sometimes we too have
taken matters into our own hands, and have either made matters worse. Sometimes we too have hurt some really good,
innocent people, even by trying to bring God’s blessing into the world. This whole story, being about the
mistreatment of a ‘slave-girl’ should make us all take note of our own failures,
flaws, and mistreatments of those around us.
Sometimes we have intentionally or unintentionally hurt others, either actively by our own power, or because
of our own passive participation in a culture, a people, or a nation, that has
been less than perfect.
About a year and a half ago, it was
announced that the prestigious, Georgetown University, was going to take steps
to ‘atone’ for its past of profiting from having slaves and by participating in
the slave trade that was once a part their own history, as it has been part of
the history of our nation. More than a
dozen prestigious Universities, including Brown, Harvard, and the University of
Virginia have publically recognized their own ties to slavery and the slave
trade. What Georgetown University
decided to do, was to go beyond admitting their past or apologizing, but they
are now planning on making restitution and reparations, by allow descendants of
slaves to have preferential treatment and special scholarships, if they desire
to study at their school. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/02/us/slaves-georgetown-university.html
When the “Black Lives Matter” movement
started, sometimes misguided and othertimes misunderstood, causing no small amount of controversy, I
found it interesting that during the public discussion, that the conservative,
evangelical magazine, Christianity Today---a magazine that was endorsed and
started by Billy Graham---ran a ‘cover article’ about one how a Lynching
Memorial is planned to be erected in Montgomery, Alabama, remembering how 4,000
African American were lynched between 1877 and the early 1950’s. In the Bible and in American history too,
memorials are a way, not just to remember the past, but they can also be a way
to remember heal from the ‘sins of our past’, so we can all move to a better future.
GOD
HEARD THE VOICE…. (17)
What is most important this sordid
story, is not just to revisit what was done wrong, but how, even in the midst
of human sin and failure, and just when
this child was about to unjustly ‘die’ in the wilderness, God shows up. God ‘hears
the voice (or cry) of the boy’ (17). God reminds ‘Hagar’ not ‘to be afraid.’ God shows up
in the midst the ‘troubles’ of the
forsaken and forgotten to make a promise of ‘greatness’ just for them
(18). God ‘provides’ for them in their
own wilderness. God quenches the thirst
of this humble child, so that he not only survives, but he thrives in the
wilderness he must make his home.
When I read this story, of God’s
provision for Ishmael, I wonder how often people of color, who are descendants
of slaves, or Indians, or poor forgotten, working-class peoples around the
world, might read such a story. Do they
see God, also as their redeemer; even though have been part of a subjugated,
persecuted, or enslaved people?
Interestingly, Christian faith is often more alive and vibrant among people
who have been abused, mistreated, or maligned, than it is among those who are
blessed, advantaged or privileged. I
have a book in my study, strangely entitled, “Reading the Bible with the Dammed”. This book reminds me, that strangely enough,
it is people who have been persecuted, who have suffered, and who started out
as forgotten and forsaken by the powers of this world, who often best understand
their own spiritual hunger and need of God.
Through the years, some of the greatest
ministry moments, were spent not in churches, but in prisons. In Greensboro, a deacon there by the name of
Sid Wrenn, ran a prison ministry. When
he took me with him one Thursday evening, he prepared me saying, “Pastor, I
need to warn you that some of these guys are mixed up. Some of them are going to say something you
might not want to hear, but I also want to tell you, these are some of the most
spiritually hungry and open people I’ve ever known. I mean no offense to you or my church, but if
I had to give up one, I give up my regular church over being here with these
guys every Thursday night. Their need
and desire for God is the highlight of my week.”
What people like Hagar and Ishmael mean
for the story of faith, is that sometimes any of our lives might feel more like
them, than like Abraham and Sarah. Most of us don’t live lives with Hollywood
endings, where the hero comes returns, and sweeps us off our feet and rides off
into the sunset. Most people have to
learn to live ‘beyond happily ever after’, because somewhere in life, we
realize that most heroes, like John Wayne, or Captain America, are just myth. A
person of faith learns to live life ‘beyond happily ever after’ because in
reality, few lives really turn out like that.
For most of us, our spiritual journey
can seem much more like Hagar and Ishmael, than Abraham and Sarah. Life can seem like the promise has completely
skipped over us. When this happens, we
know that if is wasn’t for our faith in God, we know, that in this life, that
we wouldn’t have a prayer.
To be true winners in this life, we must
learn to ourselves in the shoes of the losers, not just the winners. This is not easy to do. Most of our hero stories, in fiction or in
history, try to focus on the successes,
not the feelings of failure forsakenness.
Most of us don’t dare try to imagine ourselves as descendants of Hagar
and Ishmael. Even the Bible, which
pictures God’s promise coming through Isaac, could lead us to think that nothing
good could come from Ishmael, just like Nathaniel once wondered: ‘what good could come from Nazareth’ (Jn.
1:46), especially from a forsaken Jew who was crucified on a cross.
GOD
WAS WITH THE BOY (20)
In our own time, with heightened
tensions between Muslims and Jews, and now, also between Christians and the
Radical State of Islam, need to consider something else very important from
this story about Ishmael.
Modern day Muslims, are Arabs who
consider themselves descendants of Abraham, just as much, or even more so, than
many secular Jews do. If you go to
Jerusalem, you will see that the large Dom of the Rock sanctuary, marking the
skyline of Jerusalem is a Muslim sanctuary, not a Jewish or Christian one. And the continued ‘hot’ question of our
world is how can both Jews and Muslims co-exist in the Holy Land, and the great
city of Jerusalem, which is today anything but its own namesake; a city of
peace?
What could be a way forward could begin
with an honest interpretation of what is happening at the end of this
story. When God comes to save Ishmael,
and his mother Hagar, we are simply told that ‘God was with the boy’ (20).
Think about these words, they
almost sound the same as the name found in both the Old and New Testament,
child of promise who is ‘Immanuel, God
with us’ (Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:23).
The only difference is that long before God was revealed in the child
known in Isaiah’s day, or the even more completely in the child Jesus, of
Matthew’s day, God was already there ‘with
the boy’ we know as Ishmael.
What we need to understand that although
Ishmael isn’t the child of promise, Ishmael isn’t the child without a promise
either. God had a unique purpose in
blessing Abraham’s seed through Isaac, not because they are better than
Ishmael’s, but because they were blessed to reveal God’s love to ‘all people’s’
including Ishmael’s people, and the rest of us too. God loves Arab peoples, just like he loves
Jews, and just like God loves Christians, and just like he loves other religious
people, and even secular people too.
There is an interesting little story in Gerald
McDermott little book entitled, “Israel
Still Matters”. In that book Dr.
McDermott argues that Israel has a right to the promised-land, and that
Christians and Arabs should respect that. I don’t have time to go through all his
arguments, nor do I want to, but there is one story he tells that especially
caught my attention. McDermott says
that when he lived in Israel, he talked to a lot of people who actually lived
there and didn’t care too much about the politics. He said that there were even many Arabs
there, who would rather live under the rule of Israel, than under any
government of Palestinian Arabs. Their
reasoning was simple. They would much
rather be ‘Arabs’ under Jews who govern the land with democracy and freedom,
than live under Palestinian rule that would rule with the restrictions or forced
or extreme Islamic religion. They
wanted to believe in God through the lens of their Muslim culture, but they
didn’t want all the negatives that came with it. They wanted the freedom and democracy only Israel
could give.
If we want to be the people who bring
God’s peace (Shalom) in the world, we must work to undo sin of Sarah and Abraham,
who kicked Hagar out, so that all can rediscover the grace which God revealed that
could save Abraham, and us too. It is
not in Jerusalem, but at Golgatha, just outside the walls of the great city,
where Jesus died on the cross, that God’s love was fully revealed. This is not because Jesus was Jewish, nor
because Jesus established the Christian Church.
No, the reason God’s love and grace was revealed fully in Jesus, was
because “God was in Christ reconciling the whole world unto himself’. It is in the pain, in the suffering, and in
the death this Son of God, Jesus the Christ, that God reveals the only kind of
love that will ‘provide’ the ‘saving grace’ God has always intended for the
whole world. Amen.
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