Morning Prayer: Shannon Cook Hymn of Faith *Precious Lord, Take My Hand* Witness of Scripture: Genesis 21: 8-21 Anthem *Glory to God!* George Frederic Handel. FCC Chancel Choir Sermon *And God Heard* David Spain
Recorded on June 25, 2023
Back in the day (remember when that was?), it was not uncommon for some candidates to run on the “family values” platform, and who could be against that even though neither family nor values was defined. Nonetheless, it became a rallying cry that was often opaquely linked to the Bible, and again who could be against that—even though no family from the Bible was ever touted as the model. The reason for that is because there isn’t one, certainly not in the book of Genesis; and as it turns out later, even Jesus made a few comments that would not have passed the politicized litmus test for family values.All of that aside, the biggest issue with the whole idea is that we don’t read the Bible to find out about family values; we read the Bible to find out about God’s values, and the ways that God’s values depict, relate, expand, challenge, nurture, re-shape, and reform often too narrow and provincial understandings of family. Being Christian we look to Jesus as an authority, and when Jesus was told that his mother and brothers wanted to see him, he responded by saying “who is my mother, who are my brothers, after which he answered his own question by saying those who do God’s will are members of his family. The biblical stories tell us about God’s values.
To be sure, one of the ways we live God’s values is through families and its many configurations and consternations. Genesis is a rolling boil of messy families—we don’t have the highly romanticized depictions of Hugh Beaumont, Barbara Billingsley, Tony Dow, and Jerry Mathers as the Beaver in Genesis; instead, we have the authentic if not always noble stories of Abraham and Sarah and Isaac and Hagar and Ishmael. To be fair, they did not have much to draw from.It only took a few chapters in Genesis before a flaming sword is set in front of the gates of Eden; Cain does in Abel; and not long after that God is grieving about the entire creation save those pairs that spend time floating around on a vast ocean while the rains fall unrelentingly—the end result of which is not that humanity straightens up and flies right but that God says never again will violence and destruction be seen as a solution to life’s problems and all these years later Godis still waiting for humanity to learn that truth.
Given all the givens about how humanity sometimes acts, perhaps the most revealing statement of God’s values is that God keeps trying – “God’s steadfast love endures forever,” is how the Psalmist sings it. Abraham and Sarah are another one of God’s ‘steadfast stories,’ albeit not the most promising choice by most standards as they are already living on a pension with a couple of rockers on the front porch to rest their weary bones rather than a rocker in the back nursery to soothe a crying infant. But, God had promised someday, someday; yet as the years passed and the increasing candles on the birthday cake gave off more light, the promise of someday was fading into twilight. When does the promise deliver, and how can it happen?Fair questions!
Before today’s story that Genesis tells, we remember an odd accommodation that Abraham and Sarah accepted. Since they had been unsuccessful in generating the promised offspring, both agreed that Sarah’s maid Hagar might suffice, and she did. However, glowing with the expected arrival, Hagar’s presence is more than Sarah can tolerate, and she gives her the heave-ho out of the house and into the streets. The dusty by-ways is no way to have a baby, and the Genesis story says an angel visits Hagar and convinces her to go ask for her old job back; the angel also promises that while Ishmael may not make the Mt. Rushmore of Biblical giants, he too will have descendants too numerous to count. Though Hagar had been dismissed, God meets her in the wilderness, after which Hagar refers to God as ‘El-Roi,’ which is to say the ‘One who sees,’ and Genesis is telling us about God’s values. God sees the ones tossed out, marginalized. With no good options in front of her, Hagar heads back to Sarah with a couple of humble pies in hand and begins serving Sarah again. It is not a perfect story, but at least Hagar has a roof over her head and a nursery for the baby who is to be named Ishmael.Remember what his name means?
All goes along pretty well, in fact inconceivably well when Sarah, to the surprise of everyone including Sarah ends up expecting, the news of which is so incredible that Sarah laughs at it all. When confronted by God about her laughter, Sarah denies it; but God says, “yes you did laugh, and to show you don’t get the last laugh your child will be named Isaac, which means laughter.” For awhile the music is sweet and the air is light, until one day the laughter turns to leering as Sarah watched her boy Isaac and Hagar’s boy Ishmael playing together, and it occurs to her that whatever inheritance there is to divide might end up being halved between the two boys. She convinces Abraham to send not only Hagar but also Ishmael out of the house and out of their lives forever. It is a death sentence in essence, and even though Genesis writes that God signed off on the deal and promised Abraham it would not end tragically, it is hard for anyone to believe that as Hagar walks into the rising sun and the simmering heat with Ishmael and a loaf of rainbow bread on one arm and 4 or 5 gallons of water slung over her back, neither of which will last long in the scorching sands.
It would be easy, too easy, to make Sarah into a wretched villain. No doubt she is not listen ing to her better angels and we would not excuse her for that; but she has been done to as well, like the time Abraham passed her off as his sister and not his wife in order to save his own skin in case Pharaoh took a liking to her. So it is best, if at all possible, not to torch Sarah because if that is done, then we miss the opportunity to ponder the ways power and its many lures can deform anyone, anytime, anywhere. There are lessons to be learned about power, and not just as it relates to Sarah. Often, the biblical story frames power in terms of the Empire vs. Israel, or Rome vs. Judea, or religious authorities vs. disciples. That duality is real, but power can also be expressed in personality or privilege or provincial or punitive ways. The story invites us to think about power, and to pay attention for the signs that power is becoming dangerous. We hear it in Sarah’s directive—‘cast out this slave woman with her son’ which is the language of objectification, the language that refuses to see the other as human and named, the language spoken to belittle foreigners, to say of them ‘not one of us.’ We stand in awe of God’s steadfast faithfulness in the midst of humanity’s sometimes ugliness.
The next scene is most painful of all, as the heat is on, the bread is eaten, and the water is dry. Hagar sets aside Ishmael…she can’t bear to watch except from a distance, while not too far away Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac sip lemonade under cooling fans. It is in this moment when Genesis declares God’s values. Hagar wept, and apparently so must have Ishmael, because in one of the most poignant and important phrases in the entire Bible, Genesis writes “God heard the voice of the boy.” God hears the voice of the forgotten, the marginalized, the ostracized, the wounded, and we are reminded that from the very beginning God would not forget Ishmael because his name means “God will hear.” Kirk Byron Jones writes, “Hagar and her son are dismissed from family and friends; but to be dismissed by some is never to be dismissed by somebody greater.No one is ever outside God’s grace; however, we can be outside the awareness of such…‘Just to be is a blessing,’ wrote Abraham Heschel, ‘just to live is holy.’ “Such sacred worthiness is grace on grace. It is not bought, earned or won. This worthiness is the birthright of us all….Jesus hints at the same reality when he says, ‘the kingdom of God is within you.’”(newsletter@christiancentury.org, 6/25/23).
Walter Brueggemann writes, “The story knows what it wants to tell. Isaac is the child of the future…but Ishmael will not be so easily reduced…God has this special commitment to Ishmael. This text does not force us to choose, and that should give us pause. The text is unambiguous: Isaac is the child of promise…but the text is equally clear that God is well-inclined toward Ishmael. The ‘other son’ is not to be dismissed from the family…God will remember all the children…God alone has the power to make new.” (Interpretation: Genesis, pp. 182 – 184)
Dorothy Sanders Wells writes, “From the very beginning of our scriptural history, we have proved that seeing the image of God in one another is an overwhelming challenge…the removal of those regarded as other in order to silence their voices happens again and again—not only in scripture, but throughout history and into the present. Cain expels Abel; Abraham expels Hagar and Ishmael; Jacob eliminates Esau; Jacob’s older sons expel Joseph. If we always view those who challenge us as other—and as threats—then it certainly becomes easier to convince ourselves that the only path forward is eliminating their voices from the conversation…Turns out Cain and Abel were rather perfect partners where one thrived tending the garden and the other tending flocks. Turns out, God planned to keep covenant with Ishmael and Isaac, in spite of their parents’ disagreements—and each had his own set of gifts. Turns out, Jacob and Esau had complementary gifts that could have benefited each other and their family. Turns out Joseph knew how to plan for the future that would benefit entire nations…What if we who are made in the image and likeness of God truly learned to see the image of the Creator in one another and find strength and wisdom in our tapestry of diversity? We might ask how our communities and leaders can protect and serve the interests of all of God’s people. And we might come to value each other’s perspectives enough to avoid expelling each other from the table.” (The Christian Century, June 2023, p. 52)
The good news is, we do value each other enough—or at least we can even when it is difficult—because as Genesis has proclaimed, and as Hagar and Ishmael discovered, God saw and God heard, and therefore, so shall we.