"God who keeps promises" - Sermon for Pentecost 3 2017

Sermon:

Text: Genesis 21:8-21

Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ who keeps promises.

            We left off last week in the Story of the Israelites with Sarah giving thanks to God for providing a son for her and Abraham despite their laughter at the proposition. It’s a story of God’s promises being stronger than our understanding. God can do more than we think. We have begun to see Abraham and Sarah become the full father and princess of many nations as they were named, they start to become the heroes of the bible as we know them.

             As we move forward in the text though we will realize something. Outside of Jesus, we have to be aware that most of the people that we consider the heroes of the bible have sections and stories that display that they are not perfect. King David commits adultery and rapes a woman and has her husband killed to try and hide the fact. Solomon worships false gods at one point. All of the kings of Israel and Judah make mistakes, the disciples argue about things that don’t matter, they debate who gets to sit on Jesus’ right and left side, they deny Jesus, they doubt what happens. We see that the people we call heroes are regular people who make mistakes. It does not lessen them as heroes, but makes us realize that God at work is not about them being perfect, but God working through these imperfect people.

            Our text: 

9But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, playing with her son Isaac. 10So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son; for the son of this slave woman shall not inherit along with my son Isaac.” 

            It’s amazing how fast Sarah goes from joyous laughter at the birth of her son to jealousy and anger in the face of another’s child. Hagar is Sarah’s handmaiden, her slave, a black Egyptian woman that she owns and controls, and when Abraham and Sarah first heard of this promise by God to make them the ancestors of many nations, Sarah told Abraham, I want you to mate with Hagar to produce an heir for yourself. Hagar has no choice in the matter, again this is equivalent of rape. The only thing she has going for her is that, at that point, she and her son will be provided for. The son’s name is Ishmael, which means God hears. We don’t actually see his actual name in this whole passage however, it is referenced in the Hebrew which we’ll get to later.

            But, when we do look at the original Hebrew we see our text has actually added some words that do not appear in the Hebrew, the original simply says that she sees him playing, nothing about with Isaac. And if you look at commentary from over the millennia, you often see outside suggestions. That Ishmael was a horrible elder brother, that he somehow tortured Isaac and tormented him. That he was mean and cruel. But, the text says nothing of this sort. He’s not beating Isaac up, or calling him names, taunting him, or hurting him. He’s simply a child playing. His mother Hagar didn’t sneak around Sarah to get with Abraham, Abraham didn’t mate with Hagar outside of Sarah’s knowledge. Sarah sets up that idea which results in Ishmael being born.  Nothing of what happens next is his fault or Hagar’s fault, it is all based on the jealousy of Sarah. And so she asks Abraham to cast them out. Which she knows would lead to their death. In this text, our hero Sarah is the cruel one, purposely seeking what will most likely be the death of another. But, she is still blessed by God, she is still the princess of many nations. And luckily for Hagar and her son, God obeys promises and hears the cries of the needy.

            We often think that we ourselves have to be perfect to be Christians, that we can’t make mistakes. And yet, God here still continues to work through Sarah, God still cares for Hagar and her son. Who we are, our work as disciples of Christ is not about us, but about God in our lives. Even with our mistakes, our sins, our breaking of relationships, God forgives us and works through us.

Abraham does not like the idea sending Hagar and her son away, he’s distressed about it, but God calls to him and tells him it’s ok, Isaac is the one to bring about many nations, and I will also create a great nation from Hagar’s son. So, Abraham gives them some water and some bread, not near enough but something, and sends them out. They wander the wilderness of Beer-sheba, a desert land with little for food or water.

We probably won’t find ourselves lost in an actual wilderness, but I do think that we find ourselves in different kinds of wildernesses. Wildernesses of doubt, fear, grief, anxiety, depression, addiction, loneliness.

Let’s read on. 

15When the water in the skin was gone, she cast the child under one of the bushes. 16Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot; for she said, “Do not let me look on the death of the child.” And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. 17And God heard the voice of the boy;

It’s a tragic situation, full of heartache and pain, having to watch your only child die with nothing you can do about it. Whether Hagar here just doesn’t want to see her son die, or whether she wants to die first is unclear, but it’s tragic and terrible.

The text says that she’s the one crying, but it says that God hears the boy’s voice. I feel like it’s a case of accenting the boy’s name, as I said earlier Ishmael means God hears. In this text his name is never used, except mentioned in this line, where God does exactly that, God hears him in his distress.

And through that know God hears you. No matter where, no matter the cause, or situation, God hears you. Even in the most dire and darkest of places, God hears you.

When we cry, when we grieve, when we mourn, God is with us. When we are in our own wildernesses. In these places of physical, mental, or spiritual distress God is with you. You are not alone in your wilderness. You are not unheard in the desert you may be facing.

Our text closes with God’s repeat of the promise. God keeps God’s promises, Ishmael and Hagar may not be of the chosen people of Israel, but God’s promise made through Abraham is theirs as well. When God opens Hagar’s eyes she sees a well of water, they drink and survive. Ishmael grows, marries, and later in our story, his own descendants will appear again.

God keeps God’s promises. The promise made to us through Jesus Christ, of resurrection and eternal life, is ours, no matter our wildernesses, no matter our mistakes and sins, God’s love overcomes and continues to work through us.

Let us pray,

Be with us Lord in all our ways and wildernesses, hear us, hold us, work through us. Remind us that you are a God that keeps promises. Amen.