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SERMON
I want to come at our text this morning from two directions. First let's draw some lessons from the historical record. Then I want to look at the story through the mind of St. Paul and reflect on it allegorically as he does in the fourth chapter of his letter to the Galatians.
I. Isaac was a miracle baby. Even his name (Laughter) testified to the joy of his unlikely birth. His conception had been impossible, his birth exceedingly dangerous, and his infancy hazardous. But the boy had survived all this. So when Isaac was weaned, probably at about age three, Abraham hosted a party to celebrate this rite of passage. Keep in mind that Isaac's half-brother, Ishmael, would have been a teenager at the time of this "weaning party." And, as is typical among siblings, perhaps especially in a rather dysfunctional "blended family," the older one was caught teasing, perhaps even taunting the younger one who was getting all the attention.
Whatever Ishmael had done, it's clear that his stepmother, Sarah, had come to the end of her patience. So she told Abraham to get rid of Hagar and Ishmael once for all. "That slave woman's son," she hissed, "will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac!" And although the idea clearly distressed Abraham greatly (because after all, as it says, Ishmael was his son) once again he did what he was told; comforted only by the reassurance that God would make Ishmael into a great nation as well because, as God put it to Abraham, "…he is your offspring."
A. In Abraham's dilemma the story teaches us our first lesson. The painful choices that life seems to present us often grow out of strained relationships of our own making. You'll remember that having a child through Hagar was Sarah's idea, not God's. And both Abraham and Hagar had been more-or-less willing participants in this plan to help God fulfill his promise of a son. We also know that Hagar hadn't helped matters. From the time she became pregnant, she strutted her stuff in front of her barren mistress. Without ever having to utter a word, Sarah could hear this uppity slave girl saying, "One of us was able to satisfy your husband, and obviously it wasn't you. I, at least, was able to give him what he deserved."
The Bible has a word for following the ways of the world rather than God's way - it's "sin." And the painful truth of the matter is that there are consequences to our sin. We know that Abraham's household was in conflict from the time Hagar realized she was pregnant. In fact, I suspect there were problems the first time Abraham took to Hagar's tent. Sin has consequences. And though I'm sure God forgave Abraham, and even promised to bless Ishmael when Sarah had sent them away earlier, that didn't erase the negative consequences. Now granted, when we sin and then confess that sin, we are forgiven. We have God's word on that. But the consequences of those choices carry on.
For instance, those who engage in illicit sex, regardless of their regrets afterward, still have to deal with the possibility of disease or pregnancy, of broken relationships and guilt over having given away something precious. Those who lie, even when they are forgiven, will have to try to rebuild the trust that was destroyed. Those who habitually abuse substances that do them harm have to face the effect those substances have on their bodies and minds and relationships. Those who abuse their families, no matter how sorry they are, will find it hard to build any kind of relationship with those they have abused. Those who feed their minds on pornography will have a difficult time shaking those images as they seek to live a life of purity.
B. You get the idea, I trust. Sin has consequences, and sometimes the consequences are painful. But sometimes those who had little or nothing to do with the choices still suffer the consequences. Hagar was a slave. She was ordered to try to have a child by Abraham, whether she wanted to or not. What about Ishmael? He had no choice in being born into this dysfunctional family. True, he may have teased and taunted little Isaac. But, speaking as the youngest of seven children, that's the primary job description of older siblings. And setting that argument aside, wasn't Ishmael simply behaving in a way that his mother had modeled from the day he was born?
There are all kinds of people who are in situations they had little to do with. Think of the children of divorce, or who live in homes where there is substance abuse - or people abuse. What about those raised in profound economic hardship? Consider those people who suffer from a devastating illness or genetic disorder or injury they had nothing to do with. There are all sorts of things that happen in life that we haven't asked for nor do we deserve. Sometimes those difficulties come upon us and we don't know why.
Abraham was caught in a difficult situation, so he turned to God for help. At first glance it seems that God was on Sarah's side, telling Abraham to listen to his wife and send Hagar and Ishmael away. Now why would God tell him to do that? I don't know! We can guess at it all we want. Maybe Abraham had to learn to let go of his son. (We'll see that played out again, far more dramatically, next week when we look at chapter 22.) It may be that the only way out of this bad situation was to make a clean break. Sometimes we have to do that, you know. But I'll be the first to admit that it isn't easy.
Early the next morning, it says, Abraham sent Hagar and the boy away - probably with just enough food and water to make it to the next town. But evidently they made a wrong turn and got themselves lost in the desert of Beersheba. Soon the provisions were gone. Ishmael (who would have burned calories and perspired more than his mother because of his age) was the first to feel the effect of dehydration. Distraught at having been sent way, Hagar couldn't take much more. She found a bit of shade, laid her son there, and then went away - still close enough to keep an eye on him, but not so near that she could hear his anguished cries as he died of thirst. She began to sob. What a pitiful scene!
There's nothing to indicate that she or Ishmael asked God for help. Their only prayer was their need. But just then a voice came to Hagar, reminding her that in a similar predicament, years before, God had given her son the name Ishmael, a name that means, "God hears." The Lord had promised her then that her son would become the father of a great nation. So with all evidence to the contrary, an inner voice said to Hagar, "Go hold you son. Put your arms around your child. Hold on tight. Resist the temptation to distance yourself. Don't let despair drive a wedge between you and your son. I have plans for that boy. This is no time to be letting go."
So Hagar went to her son and took him in her arms. Just then, through her tears, she caught sight of a well. Now, there is no indication that God made that well magically appear. It was there all along. But in her state of mind Hagar couldn't see it until, as it says, "God opened her eyes." So once again we find God wrapping his arms around those who, according to others, were clearly outside his will. In fact, it says: "God was with the boy as he grew up." Don't discount that!
C. I believe that story is meant as great comfort to those who feel like they are the rejects of polite society. It's good news for those who feel trapped in situations far less than ideal. They may be those who are born outside marriage, or are the products of a broken home. They might be those who are helpless players in a bad situation. To them the message here may be simple, but it's profoundly important: God sees you, he hears you, and he cares for you more than you know.
Listen again, or perhaps really hear for the first time, these words from Isaiah that were claimed by Jesus as his mission: "The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor… to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair."
God may have told Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael away, but that didn't mean for a moment that God had abandoned them. They may not have understood why things happened as they did, but they were not alone. God not only provided for their need at the time, he helped them build a new life together. Ishmael became a great archer, and eventually married an Egyptian girl and, of course, became the father of the Arab nation.
This story cries out that there's hope for those with a scarred past. You may sympathize more with Hagar than with Sarah. You may feel more like Ishmael than Isaac in terms of your situation. But God has not forgotten you. You may need to make a clean break with your past, and it will doubtless be hard. But you won't be alone. Turn to him. He has resources to help you, and he will see you through.
II. As I said earlier, sometimes it's helpful to read the historical record and draw lessons directly from it. But there are also times when a story can help us get to the truth allegorically. Paul does that with this story in Galatians, chapter 4, beginning at verse 21. He suggests that Ishmael and Isaac represent two approaches to setting things right with God.
A. On the one hand, Ishmael represents those who try to straighten things out through their own ingenuity. Remember that Ishmael was not part of God's original promise. He was the product of Sarah's scheme and Abraham and Hagar's complicity. They thought they could "help" God who (at least according to Sarah) was having trouble delivering on his promise of a son. Likewise, there are those today, both within and outside the church, who teach that we're saved by our own efforts. They would have us believe that we can't make it unless we do certain things, have certain experiences or practice certain disciplines. There are plenty of examples today, just as there were in St. Paul's day, of people who teach the way of Ishmael.
B. Isaac, on the other hand, represents those who believe that it's only because God keeps his promises that things will be set right. Isaac was God's gift to Abraham and Sarah, pure and simple, not the product of human ingenuity. Abraham and Sarah were as good as dead - as far as being able to have a child. But Abraham, and later Sarah, trusted God to make good on his promise of a son. And Paul uses these two sons to contrast these two different ways of realizing God's perfect plan. One birth was on the fast track to disaster, humanly speaking. If God hadn't heard and intervened, it would have ended in tragedy. The same was true for those Christians in Galatia who were headed down the wrong path. And it is just as true for us. The other son was born of faith in God's sovereign grace, and it set in motion a lineage that would one day deliver the One who would save Abraham and Isaac and the Galatians and you and me. God alone gets the glory.
So Paul uses this story of a near-tragedy to teach the Galatians, and us, that we need to divorce ourselves from the wrong way. Just as you and I sometimes have to make a clean break with our past in order to find health and joy in our lives, so we need to banish any notion that we can set things right on our own. Those who place their faith in human effort or goodness have misunderstood the gospel. Those who try to add anything to God's grace diminish God's glory.
III. Here's why this lesson is so important. There are people (perhaps some people here) who feel they can't get to heaven because they don't deserve it - that they're not good enough. If that's what you think, congratulations! That may be one of the most incisive, cogent ideas you have ever come up with. Nobody is good enough for heaven! That's why the church is made up exclusively of sinners - like you and me. We all get to heaven the same way: by grace through faith.
There are those (maybe some people here today) who live in fear that they will somehow lose their salvation. They have come to believe that holding on to their ticket to heaven is based on their performance. Folks, our salvation always has, and always will be, based on what God has done for us in Christ. Heaven is God's promise; it is not our earned reward.
And there are those (maybe some of you) who are inclined to write certain people off regarding the gospel because of their past or present performance. We look at certain people's lives and conclude that they could never be saved - that they're not worth saving. What monumental arrogance on our part! As I see it, the proper response to wherever the sins of others may be taking them is to say, "There, but for the grace of God, go I." So whether you and I are children of Ishmael or Isaac, I'm here to tell you that the only reason we are God's children is because he loved us enough to die for us, to save us, and claim us as his own.
So having recounted this remarkable story today, let me ask you: Which part of the story does God want you to hear today? Are you one of those who feel tossed aside, rejected and unloved? Do you feel like you've been dismissed without ever being given a chance? Are you a victim in a bad situation? If so, then hear the words of comfort in our lesson today. God cares about you. It doesn't matter how or why you are where you are; he sees you, he loves you and he wants to comfort and care for you. He's been there all along. Turn to him.
Maybe you're one who is trying to live in both worlds. It may be that, like Abraham, you've been told today that it's time to make a clean break with your past. There are things, perhaps relationships, that you know are keeping you from living the life God wants you to have. Is it time to let them go? I know it will be hard. They've been an important part of your life. But it may be necessary. Let them go. Commit them to God. He'll take care of them.
Or perhaps you need to hear the clear teaching about the gospel of grace. Maybe you've been working hard but you still feel far away. If that's the case, please understand that the work is done. Christ has done what was necessary. You don't have to become something you're not or change anything first. Your job is to take him at his word and let him begin the process of giving life to that person inside that God designed you to be. Are you ready to do that today? Are you willing, in a simple act of faith, to trust God rather than your own ability? Are you ready to place your confidence in the work Jesus has done rather than the work of your own hands? If you are, then do it.
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