Hagar's Story Preached on June 25th, 2017 at Wollaston Congregational Church Scripture: Genesis 21:8-21 My story is in three books! Yes, three books. You may not think that is very many – you who have so many books. But my story comes from a time before books. And now my story is told by those who read from these three books. Who would have thought that the story of Hagar the slave girl and Ishmael her son, would be told by people all around the world? People of those three books: the Hebrews, the followers of Mohammad, and you, the followers of the Christ. The Abrahamic faiths. Oh, how you revere Abraham, father of many nations. The one who received promises from God, with his wife Sarah. The ones who were to be the parents of a great nation, whose descendants would outnumber the stars in the sky. But let me tell you a few things about the great Abraham and the gracious Sarah. These are not such good things. These are the things they did when they were not faithful to their one God, Elohim. These stories tell of their shadow sides. At first as Abraham and Sarah wandered the wilderness they were blessed with many good things: plenty to eat and drink, animals for food and to trade. Life was good. It is easy to be good, when life is good. But then there was a famine in the land and so they went to Egypt for survival. This is where it gets interesting because as they approached Egypt they made a plot to tell the Pharoah that Sarah was Abraham’s sister. Yes, you’ve heard it right! In those days they knew she was a beautiful woman. They knew that Pharoah might be attracted to her foreign looks! And the plot worked. Pharoah took Sarah into his harem. But let me tell you, the God is Israel was not pleased with this arrangement and afflicted the Egyptians with plagues.(Yes, you’ve heard stories of plagues in Egypt before haven’t you). When Pharoah found out that Sarah was Abraham’s wife, he was shocked and he sent them away! But they brought with them things from Egypt and one of those things was me, Hagar. I was a slave in Egypt then I was a slave to Sarah. The wandering began again. He is a strange God, this God of Israel, Elohim I like to call him. He does not manifest himself in mighty kings. He doesn’t require gold and treasures. He does not ask for great constructions of idols and replicas. Instead he wanders with his people through the wilderness. Well, when someone is a slave, they take the God of their mistresses and masters. I think you have this in your history too. But, I didn’t mind, I liked this Elohim. A good thing too, because Elohim became my salvation - but I’ll tell you more about that soon. Time went by, and Abraham and Sarah remained faithful to their God. He had promised them that they would become parents of many children. But that didn’t seem likely to happen. They were older now, old people wandering in the desert. This nation thing seemed unlikely. And, so they too began to lose faith. This is when Sarah came up with the next plot. Not very pleasing to the God of Israel, I don’t think. She decided that Abraham would lie with me, and that way they would have their child. Well, truly he didn’t take too much persuading. Weak man! Sarah was sure that this would make everything perfect. She had forgotten that the woman who bears the child is his mother! As I grew round and full, with the child who was to be born, she became jealous. And she can be mean when she is jealous. She became so mean, I decided to run away and have my baby alone in the desert. But Elohim called me back, he assured me that everything would be alright. Our child Ishmael fulfilled Abraham and Sarah’s dreams. All was well for quite some time. They doted on him and played with him, really they were like his grandparents. He lapped it up. We were happy, life was peaceful and he was well cared for. Until the day, some years later, when low and behold, who would have thought Sarah became pregnant! Of course, giving birth at that age, and in those times there was the usual worry about the child. They named him Isaac: one who laughs. Really everyone laughed about them having this child at their age! Ishmael was pleased to have a baby brother. But soon he noticed that Abraham and Sarah were favoring this child. He’s a clever one, he saw what was going on. But all was well, until Isaac was three years old and weaned. At this age the parents can breath easy at last. It is the age when the child will almost certainly survive. Past the likelihood of a tiny grave. Abraham threw a huge party. What a celebration! Ishmael played so happily with his little brother. Until, well it was almost nap time, and Ishmael being a older and a little jealous, teased his baby brother. Meltdown! That shadow side of Sarah erupted! The Tiger momma came out! “Cast out this slave woman with her son; for the son of this slave woman shall not inherit along with my son Isaac!” That was it. Abraham could have stopped it. He could have saved us. Of course, he claimed that Elohim spoke to him, telling him to do as Sarah said. Weak man! There have been more occasions when Abraham has “done as God told him.” Let me tell you, sometimes you need to question God! So Abraham took me and his own son, his firstborn, Ishmael. And here, he gives me a bread and a skin of water as though that would be enough. He points, go to the next settlement, they’ll take you in there. Which way? How far is that? How will I get there? I was terrified. And then, of course, Ishmael was mad! Can you blame him? His own father casting him and me out into the wilderness to die? He just ran and ran, under the hot sun, ran from his cruel step-mother and his weak father. I was chasing him, but of course soon, he collapsed in exhaustion. We had no more water and he was parched. I couldn’t bear it. I dragged his limp body under a bush. Then I left him. Think what you will. I couldn’t bear to watch my child die. I just fell down on the ground and wept. My life was over. The life of my child was over. Poor, insignificant Hagar and Ishmael. Lost in the wilderness, forgotten. But then I heard it, a voice like an angel coming from Heaven. It was the voice of Elohim. He had not forgotten me. He had not only remained with Abraham and Sarah and their child Isaac. He had come with me, into the desert. He saw me, as I suffered! “What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid; for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. Come lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make a great nation of him.” When my eyes opened, I saw in front of me a well of fresh water. How could I have missed that before? Did Elohim, the God of Israel, bring this out of nothing? I filled my water skin, and ran to my dusty child, pouring out the water into his mouth. He gulped and swallowed. He was strong, he would survive! God would make a great nation of him, too. As well as his brother Isaac. God had looked kindly on us. When all seemed lost, Elohim was paying attention. Well, my son Ishmael grew. It turned out that the desert life suited him quite well. He became an expert with his bow, and learned to provide us with the food we needed. Yes, Ishmael would become the father of a great nation. But Elohim, this God who travels with the wandering in the wilderness. This God who writes the story of the poor and the afflicted. This God who reveals himself to the slaves of the ones who manipulate and confuse his words. This is the God I will follow. And so, my story is written in three books. The God who is with us also tells our story. And you, followers of the one named Jesus, who came much later than my child Ishmael. This One who was born of humble origins too. This one who knows what it means to be deserted and betrayed too. Listen to his teachings my friends. Hear what he has to say about the God of Israel, the God of all. The God who sees a slave woman lost in the desert. The God who sees a sparrow fall in the street. The God who knows every hair on your head. Listen to him.
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