two sons

The Psalm we shared this morning asks : How long will this go on, LORD?

I wonder if that is how Abraham felt, after all God had promised Abraham and Sarah that their descendants  would be as many as the stars in the sky, and yet into old age still no children.

 

I wonder if that is why Sarah and Abraham hatched the plan for Sarah servant Hagar to try and bear a child. And then Abraham has two sons, one born to Hagar, and one born to Sarah.

I wonder how often we try and hurry God's promises,
how often we get impatient,

I wonder if we, in our lament of how long, also wonder if God is ever going to act?

This section of Genesis which we heard this morning is not an easy passage. It raises some uncomfortable questions. Abraham is considered one of the fathers of our faith, someone who trusted God, someone we look up to. If we look at Hebrews Chapter 11 from verse eight:  

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going. ⁹ By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. ¹⁰ For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. ¹¹ By faith he received power of procreation, even though he was too old—and Sarah herself was barren—because he considered him faithful who had promised.^{[e] 12} Therefore from one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, ‘as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.’

¹³ All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, ¹⁴ for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. ¹⁵ If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶ But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.

¹⁷ By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac. He who had received the promises was ready to offer up his only son, ¹⁸ of whom he had been told, ‘It is through Isaac that descendants shall be named after you.’ ¹⁹ He considered the fact that God is able even to raise someone from the dead—and figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. ²⁰ By faith Isaac invoked blessings for the future on Jacob and Esau. ²¹ By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, ‘bowing in worship over the top of his staff.’ ²² By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave instructions about his burial.^[f

 

The writer to the Hebrews does not mention Abraham's first born son, Ishmael. Abraham was a man of great faith, in response to God's call he left his land, Sarah and Abraham waited many years for the birth of a child, and then a son Isaac, which means laughter.

There are many other parts of the story of Abraham that we have not yet touched on, such as his pretending that Sarah was his sister so that he could travel safely through Egypt.

I find these passages troubling, and that is a good reason for us to spend some time considering what they may have to say to us.

A couple of things that I think will be helpful for us to reflect on. Other people at the time of Abraham, other nations that lived around the Hebrews, sacrificed children as part of their society and their faith. God had made it clear that there was no place for child or human sacrifice for God's people. This was just one way that the people of God were to be different to their neighbours. yet, Abraham understood God was asking him to sacrifice his son as a burnt offering. One of the difficulties I think many of us have at times is understanding whether something is from God or not. Being able to discern if a call to an area of ministry, to a particular set of actions, is it really from God?

It seems hard for me to believe that God was the God of the living would ask Abraham to keep up his son Isaac.

When we are unsure if something is from God or not, we need to think about what we are sure of about God. God who is the life force in all creation, God who is the one who brings life. God, in Jesus, who came to restore a broken world to himself.

Just as the Hebrew people was surrounded by a plethora of gods, so we have many competing voices, demanding our attention and obedience.

Which God do we listen to?

The God of life?

The God who knows all people?

The God who named creation as good?

The God of consumerism?

The God of apathy?

The God of reputation?

 

In the world around I see others who are treated the way Hagar and Ishmael were treated; people who are used and then rejected. Such as people who are victims of modern-day slave traders; young people who are given a job while there is a subsidy, but are ‘let go’, as soon as the subsidy finishes or the young person is old enough to earn adult wages.

I also see people who are sacrificed.

As a nation we are asked to sacrifice our young people for the sake of our military reputation; we are asked to sacrifice our elderly by the god of convenience; we are asked to sacrifice our poorest people to the god of self-interest.

it isn’t only in national and international events that this happens. it happens in families and friendships as well. There are times when we consider people disposable, times when we exclude people, times when we sacrifice people. And at times it is our own self that we give up, at times we deny ourselves the life that God dreams for each one of us.

I wonder what would have happened if Abraham and Sarah had waited patiently for God to fulfil the promise that God had made. I wonder what would have happened if Abraham had taken responsibility for the life of Ishmael and Hagar. By not taking responsibility for the people around us, we diminish God's creation.

There is a quote I've heard a few times by G.K. Chesterton:
"The Christian faith has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult, and left untried."

Do we recognise as the voice of the living God, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the God who came to us in Jesus Christ?

 

Do we listen to the voices that speak of life or death?

Do we listen to the voices that exclude, that separate, that counts some lives as worth less than others

or do we listen to voices that offer life, community, hope, love.

 

thanks to Rev. Teri Peterson for ideas on sacrifice and the gods we listen to.