Liberation In Spite of God’s People

As we continue to experience the Word of the Lord together, Let us Pray. Ever-present God, you are always involved in our lives, always providing for us and taking care of us. Be present among us now, moving us toward a closer relationship with you. Speak Lord, your servants are listening. If these words are not Your Word, may they be forgotten and come to naught. But if they be Thy Word, may they adhere to our hearts, forever transforming us from glory into glory, into the creatures you would have us be, Thou who art our Rock and Redeemer, Amen.

As we look at today’s scripture, we pick up where we left the story of Abraham and Sarah last week. Now, Isaac is a young child. Remember, this is the child that Sarah thought the idea of having was laughable. She was too old, too barren to have children. God had promised to make their descendents more numerous than the grains of sand on the beach, and would again promise that Sarah would have children in Chapter 18. But between those two promises, Sarai didn’t get pregnant. Granted, God had made a promise, but it hadn’t come true. And when she couldn’t get pregnant, she sent her maidservant Hagar to Abram to bear them a son. Shortly after that, Sarai’s servant Hagar bore Ishmael, Abram’s first son. Shortly after, God reminds Abraham of the promise originally made, and it is greeted by Sarah’s laughter. But then, the miracle happens. Sarah becomes pregnant and bears Isaac. But the miracle that didn’t happen is the miracle of instant harmony. Sarah was jealous, mad, upset to put it mildly. God had made a promise and had fulfilled that promise, even though Sarah hadn’t followed the plan exactly as drawn up. So, the Abraham Bunch is experiencing a little tension. If only Alice were around to say something funny.

But something funny does happen. Remember, laughter is a key in the whole Abraham and Sarah narrative. It is the running joke, if you will allow me to say so. Sarah laughs, and names the child of promise Isaac, which means laughter. She has taken the theme of laughter and made it her reminder that God is good, that God keeps promises, that she is part of the covenant. Laughter is special to Sarah. It belongs to her. When we get to verse 9 today you should know that the Hebrew word used for playing is a form of the word laughter. When Isaac and Ishmael “play” together, the word used is a deliberate play on the name for Isaac, the word for laughter. Maybe that is what got Sarah’s goat, or became the last straw; her special thing is thrown into her face by the very person who reminds her of her unfaithfulness, or at least her unbelief in God’s promise, and brings up her feelings of jealousy and anger, and all Ishmael is doing is being an innocent child.

So, listen to The Word of the Lord as we find it in Genesis. Open your ears and your hearts. Genesis 21.8-21. The Word of the Lord…Thanks be to God.

Did you hear the foreshadowing? Abraham lamented his decision, because of his care for his son, and when he made his choice, he “rose early in the morning,” took provisions, and set Hagar off on her journey. Sound familiar. One day soon, he will, with his other son, wrestle with a decision on account of his care for his son, and will rise early in the morning, and set off on his journey.

Do you notice, as I do, how many things go not according to plan, or at least, God’s plan. God makes a promise to Abraham and Sarah. Along the way, Sarah laughs at the idea. When patience has run out, Sarah sends her maidservant to Abraham to bear a child. Can you picture God, like I can, asking, “Sarah, Abraham, when did I mention this as part of the plan?” Can you identify with it, like I can? How many times have we made things much more difficult on ourselves than they needed to be? Do you fit right into this story, as I do?

Two main points about salvation come from this passage. The first is found in the story of Sarah. Sarah symbolizes the established people of God in the narrative. We remember her unbelief, her child’s miraculous birth, and her words of praise. She is one who has been transformed through an experience of the salvation of God, and, while she holds the gift of salvation in her hands and breast-feeds Isaac, she has only words of praise for God. Yet, the juxtaposition of this portrait of Sarah in the verses immediately before we pick up the story today with her wish in verse 10 to drive out Hagar and Ishmael underscores how quickly gifts of salvation can be reframed into the language of legal rights \\ and how this changed attitude not only goes against the very nature of what salvation means, but can actually turn us into God’s opponents. Laughter has gone from Sarah to Ishmael, showing the transformation in Sarah from being the recipient and conduit of God’s grace into being the opponent of it. Sarah perceives a threat to the rights of her son. And because of this perception, she becomes the opponent of Hagar, and even God.

I’m not going to sugar coat this for you. {} You are Sarah in this story. {} So am I. We know salvation. Each and every one of us has experienced it at points in our lives. That is why we are here. The temptation that each and every one of us faces on a regular basis is how we view that salvation. How easy it is to view the gift of salvation as a right! And anyone who wishes to alter our salvation, or our understanding of salvation, as a threat! How easy it is to, like Sarah, and without knowing what we are doing, become God’s opponents.

Yet, God is not stopped by us. Salvation is liberation from oppression. Had Hagar stayed, she and her son surely would have been oppressed day and night. Again, do we know if this sending of Hagar and Ish out is part of God’s plan or not? We don’t know, but it doesn’t seem likely. While this may not have been part of God’s plan, God has made provisions for this very contingency. Nowhere can anyone travel to be apart from God’s presence. God offers the salvation from oppression to Hagar, take Ishmael, and makes out from him a nation. This is where Islam claims their heritage.

The point is this. We are all in need of salvation, the great gift which is not a right. God’s liberating power is open to all, even those who we think threaten us, even when the people of God would disagree with that fact. Second point, God is in control. God can and does liberate even in spite of God’s people, sometimes.

Does this mean that we should continue to do whatever, knowing that God will set right our mistakes? Well, yes and no. Whatever power we think we have, God always has the ability to correct our mistakes. But wouldn’t you rather not be the opposition to God? Wouldn’t you rather make God’s work easier, not harder?

Enjoy salvation. It is God’s gift to you. Spread it around, it is a gift for all. And in so doing, experience the salvation of God flow through you to others, which is also God’s gift to you. Amen.