God Hears

Genesis 21:8-21

 

        I have two children. Which one do I love the most?

        Why would any parent answer that question? Furthermore, why would any parent consider there might be a correct response?

        Abraham had two children, Ishmael and Isaac. Which one did he love the most? Such is the complexity of this morning’s scripture. Such is the complexity of our world.

        The easy answer is Abraham loved Isaac more than anyone in the world. Isaac was the promised one. Isaac’s mother was Abraham’s beloved Sarah. Isaac was the legitimate child sent from God. Go to any artist rendition of Isaac and I guarantee the child has blue eyes and blond hair.

        The second child was Ishmael. Only Ishmael was not the second child. Ishmael was the first born in a culture where this was supposed to mean everything. It didn’t matter who the mother might be. Isaac might be the Chosen One but Ishmael controlled the birthright. But in the end, that hardly mattered. Look at the artist rendition of Ishmael. No wonder we all love Isaac.

        The Holy Book of Genesis is famous for telling unholy stories. Adam and Eve were terribly flawed. Look at their children, or should I say child, for only one survived human rage. We lift up Noah as a man of God who spent a good part of his life swimming in the midst of human degradation.  In the end Noah succumbed to alcohol, perhaps trying to forget all he had witnessed.

        Above these miscarriages of human potential stands the mercy and grace of God. Each story represents a failure of the human soul over against the redemption of a forgiving Deity.  Adam and Eve were removed from paradise but allowed to begin again. Cain was banished but lived. Noah began a new creation. And then there was Abraham.

        You know the story. You remember the promise. Sometimes we forget Abraham represents the best and worst of humanity. He was faithful, sometimes. He was loyal, most of the time. He was human, all of the time. Abraham loved Sarah but he was not always faithful to her.  Sarah followed him a thousand miles. She obeyed his occasional horrific schemes. When unable to give Abraham an heir, she stepped aside, at least for a moment, but not for a lifetime. Ishmael, then miraculously, Isaac were born. Abraham loved them but Sarah did not. Forced to choose between her husband and her son, Sarah chose both. How on earth did she pull it off? Look at the family portrait. Folks like Ishmael and Hagar never seem to fit into our picture perfect world. Thank goodness God uses a different camera.

        Who was Hagar? She was the handmaiden of Sarah. That’s polite language for slave. As long as Hagar was needed she was a beloved member of the family. As soon as her talents were no longer desired, she was discarded.

        Where did she come from? She was Egyptian. In the Biblical text, nothing good comes from this land of darkness. Why didn’t Hagar and Ishmael just quietly disappear? It is because Biblical stories are intentionally quite messy.

        This story presents a tension in that goes beyond the obvious. It is easy to see the strain between Hagar and Sarah. Two women have laid a claim on the same man. There is anxiety over the role of Ishmael and Isaac. Ishmael was the heir. Isaac was the beloved.  But the greatest tension is created by the text itself. In Genesis 16 Hagar encounters God and is told to return to Abraham and give him a son. In Chapter 22 Isaac is born and the first born declared illegitimate. Was chapter 16 another testing of Abraham? If so, why should Hagar’s backstory even matter? She was just another pawn swept away by the Queen. But Hagar does matter. She is a voice crying out in the wilderness. She symbolizes any woman abused by the whims of power. She embodies anyone taken from a home and forced to exist in a foreign land. She represents everyone left out of the picture.

        Hagar only existed to please Sarah and Abraham. When the husband placed her above before the bride, Hagar became a challenge to the one who was barren. When Sarah bloomed, the slave lost her usefulness. The royal line would now proceed. Hagar and Ishmael can be dismissed, or can they? Ishmael, which means “God hears”, was not given this name by his mother or father but by the God who is the protector of outcasts when they cry out.

        The story appears to end when Abraham choses Isaac. Sarah wanted Ishmael gone and Abraham had no say in the matter.  It was easier to give in than continue the drama. With a loaf of bread and a skin of water the son and mother were banished to the wilderness. Abraham knew they would die.  He would quietly grieve and then forget them. What choice did he have? Isaac was the Promised One.

        When the water and bread were gone Hagar placed her son in the bushes. She removed herself far enough away so no one, not Abraham, not Sarah, not even Hagar could hear the cries of the child. But the cries did not escape the God who hears. Water was provided.  The mother and child lived. Historically people claim to be the Chosen, the Righteous, the Predestined. Those are human labels ignored by The God who always hears the cries of the forgotten, the marginalized, the vanquished.    Thanks be to God.  Amen.