God hears us? Hagar & Ishmael...
Genesis 21: 8-21
I wonder if you’re still watching or
listening to the News? Sometimes it just seems as if there is so much bad news,
one thing after another, I have great sympathy with people who say they are
having a rest and not keeping up for a while – they just can’t bear any more.
And yet, we who say we believe in a loving
God surely need to watch and listen and hope and pray – and ask ‘where is the
love of God in all this?’.
In just the last two weeks we have had the attack
on London Bridge, the Grenfell tower fire, the attack on Finsbury Park mosque, and
continuing terrible news of the ongoing war in Syria, as well as violence in
Pakistan.
That some of this violence happens in the
name of God is especially appalling.
But I really believe our reading from the Hebrew
scriptures today can help us.
I expect we are very familiar with the
story of Abraham and Sarah and their son Isaac; but today we heard the story of
another son of Abraham – his older son Ishmael, born to Sarah’s slave-girl,
Hagar.
If we read back to chapter 16 of the book
of Genesis, it was Sarah’s idea that because she hadn’t been able to give
Abraham children, he should have children via her slave. Once Hagar was
pregnant, Sarah felt she was looking down on her mistress, and (with Abraham’s
agreement) she was harsh to Hagar, and Hagar ran away.
While Hagar was pregnant and in the wilderness
an angel came & told her to return to Sarah with God’s blessing. Hagar was
told to name her son Ishmael – which mean ‘God will hear’.
Hagar returns, the boy is born, and he is
called ‘Ishmael’ – God will hear.
And so Ishmael
– God will hear – could be the title of the story we heard today.
Once again Sarah is displeased – this time
seeing the older of Abraham’s sons, Ishmael, playing with her son – the younger
boy, Isaac. Again Sarah & Abraham don’t care about Hagar, and again she
ends up in the wilderness – this time cast out, with the container of water having
run dry. Our hearts go out to Hagar as she realizes her son is near to death –
and she lays him in the shade and goes a distance away to sob, as she can’t
bear to see him die.
But God will hear – hear not only her cries,
but the story says ‘God heard the child
crying’ and an angel of the Lord comes and shows Hagar where there is a well to
revive them both.
Ishmael – God will hear.
God hears Hagar & Ishmael and cares for
them, just as he will care for Sarah and Isaac.
God will hear the one who is cast out, who
is a slave, who is not the favoured one.
Perhaps the news in our time would be
different if people would recognise that God blesses all of the children of Abraham. God blesses Isaac, through whom the
‘chosen people’ of Israel would emerge, whom we would call Jewish; and God
blesses Ishmael, through whom the people of the Arabian desert, many of whom
will later become Muslim, will emerge. And as for those of us who call
ourselves Christian, we too are children of Abraham, through the lineage of Jesus.
Our story tells us that God will hear –
hear the Jew, hear the Muslim, hear the Christian. And nothing in this story
suggests that God will not hear any other person besides – he is the God who
will hear. He will hear the slightest whimper of a dying boy, and he will hear
each sparrow fall to the ground, says Jesus.
Frederick Buechner, the American writer and
theologian, who is a Presbyterian minister, has said of the story of Hagar and
Ishmael:
“it is the story of how in the midst of the
whole unseemly affair the Lord, half tipsy with compassion, went around making
marvelous promises and loving everybody and creating great nations like the
last of the big-time spenders handing out hundred-dollar bills.”
This is a story about the great mercy and
compassion of the God who will hear, who will bless and who will walk with all
people.
Ishmael’s story ends with “God was with the
child as he grew up”, and in the very next part of this chapter of Genesis, it
is said to Abraham “God is with you in all you do”.
This is close to scandalous – God will hear
Ishmael, and will protect him against the evil, callous plans of Sarah &
Abraham; God is with Ishmael. This makes some sense – a God who helps the
helpless.
But then God is with Abraham, the
perpetrator of evil, the callous father of this poor boy – God will hear him,
too. What a shocking story this is – God does not take sides in this battle
between Ishmael & Isaac, the sons of Abraham and the sons of Hagar and
Sarah. There is not a difference between one race, who God will hear and protect,
and the other race - those whom God will ignore.
Ishmael – God will hear – and
he is listening to the cries of all humanity.
This is the news of a God of love which
really could change our world, for here is not only justice for the oppressed,
but mercy for the perpetrators.
On the 26th of May this year, terrorists
attacked a bus of Coptic Christians in Cairo, and shot and killed 28 people. You
might know that the Coptic church, originating in Egypt, is one of the oldest
Christian traditions in the world.
Bishop Angaelos of the UK Coptic church, was
asked if he had a statement to make about the so-called Islamic terrorists, and
these were his words
“You are loved. The violent and deadly
crimes you perpetrate are abhorrent and detestable, but you ARE loved.”
It seems barely credible, but the promise
of Ishmael is that God hears and loves those who show violence and hatred –
even while he stands alongside the victim and the injured.
What would this message of love mean for
the driver of the van at Finsbury Park mosque, for the people who should have
ensured the safety of the residents of Grenfell towers, for people who plan
knife attacks on innocent people going about their ordinary lives…?
Ishmael – God will hear.
God is with you.
You are loved.
And as for us – Ishmael – God will hear. God will hear us when we are confused, or
despairing, and when then news all seems bad.
And God will use us to share his good news
with the world, if we will let him – you are heard, you are blessed, you are
loved.
In the name of God – all merciful, and
ever-loving,
Amen.
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