At a Distance

Genesis 21:8-21

Hagar sat at a distance from the child so she wouldn’t have to watch him die or listen to his agonizing cries. What a heartbreaking scene. How did this happen? Why are Hagar and Ishmael having to endure this?

To recap: Abraham and Sarah had been promised a child in their old age; they laughed it off, unable to trust God’s promise. Prior to this, Sarah, because she bore no children for Abraham, told her to have a child with her slave, Hagar. We can’t really judge this decision by our modern standards, it was a much more common practice at that time. But we can see in this decision a reinforcement of Sarah and Abraham’s lack of trust in God’s promise. But Abraham listens to his wife, does what she says, and Hagar conceived. Almost instantly problems arise, there is this issue of contempt between Hagar and Sarah. The Scripture reads that “Sarah dealt harshly with Hagar, and she ran away.”

In an interesting turn of events, an angel of the LORD finds Hagar in the wilderness and encourages her to return. I have real trouble understanding why God would encourage a person to return to submission in such an unhealthy environment. My only guess comes from looking at the large scale work of God in the world and through humanity. God’s purpose for a fallen creation is that of reconciliation. But there is to be no reconciliation. Surely God must have known this, and yet, God shows passionate reluctance to give up on this outcast. He sends her back with a promise that her offspring, too, would multiply greatly.

So Hagar returns and gives birth to a son, Ishmael. But God’s initial promise has still not been fulfilled. Despite their lack of trust, Sarah conceives and gives birth to a son, Isaac, whose name means “laughter”.

In today’s story, Isaac is old enough to wean and Abraham throws a party to celebrate. At the party, Sarah sees Ishmael laughing and playing with her son, and the mood of the story changes instantly. Again Sarah is filled with doubt and fear, this other boy represents a threat to Isaac’s inheritance. Despite the fact that the true inheritance of Isaac is contained in the promise of God, and despite the fact that this child exists at all is a powerful reminder that God keeps God’s promises, Sarah again falters. And her lack of trust sends Hagar and her son into the wilderness, again.

So before the scene of Hagar distancing herself from the immanent death of her son, we have Sarah and Abraham distancing themselves from Hagar, and before that they have distanced themselves, through a lack of trust, from the promises of God. It is this lack of trust that causes conflict and confusion in the narrative of God’s promises being fulfilled. God has to work overtime to fulfill promises against our reluctance to trust them. We learn from this story how a lack of trust in God’s promises and God’s vision of reconciliation causes conflict in the human community. Put another way, God’s purposes for and through humanity are thwarted by sin. Human sin has often been defined as a separation, a distancing of ourselves from God and God’s purposes and promises.

But we learn something else form this narrative: despite our lack of faith, our reluctance to trust, God does not give up on us. Hagar gives up, understandably; anticipating her boy’s death, and her own, she sits at a distance from him. She sits far enough away that she wouldn’t have to hear the cries of her dying child, and she weeps. Pay attention to this: while Hagar sat at a distance from the cries of her child, “God heard the voice of the boy.” Indeed, Ishmael’s name means “God hears.” We might distance ourselves from God or from one another, but God is never at a distance from us. God whispers a promise of the great nation he will make of Ishmael and then opens Hagar’s eyes to a nearby well. Classic God move, showing mercy and providing life.

We don’t hear much more about Hagar and Ishmael after this. The Biblical story of God’s promise of followed through Isaac and his offspring. It is worth noting, however, that in the Islamic tradition, Ishmael is believed to be an ancestor of the prophet Muhammad. Despite being a small part of the grand scheme of things, this story reveals God’s character to us in an important way. Hagar and Ishmael fall outside of the promise that sustains the Judeo-Christian tradition, but they do not fall outside of the promise and care and mercy of God.

From whom are we at a distance? Perhaps we could love our neighbors more. Perhaps we could get to know someone of a faith tradition other than our own. Perhaps our politicians will stop distancing themselves from one another and will reach out across parties and platforms. Perhaps nation will stop lifting sword against nation.

I was listening to the radio the other day on which an interview was being held between a bunch of U.S. American black Muslim parents were talking about raising children in the climate of fear and doubt that largely pervades our communities. The topic of “the talk” came up, the conversation that African American parents feel that they have to have with their children on how to engage with authorities—a conversation that I am at quite a distance from as a straight, white, protestant male.

One parent of a young girl had this to say. “Being black and Muslim, comes with having double the suspicions, double the assumptions, double mythology surrounded - by who you are as a human being. But I think, in a very real sense, I've had to walk [my daughter] through the realities of what it means to be black in America, being targeted and coming out of a lot of hurtful mythologies that have been codified by religion and even public policy. And so my hope is to navigate her around this to the best of my ability.”[1]

Another parent, of a 6-year-old boy, shared her own experience. She asked her son about going to the Mosque to celebrate Eid al-Fitr (the end of Ramadan, the holy month of fasting), and her son replied, “No, Mommy, we can’t go to the Mosque, maybe we’ll be attacked if we leave.”[2] God hears that child.

It is our sinfulness, keeping our distance from the promises and purposes of God, that complicates and confuses our human communities so much. We create outsiders and outcasts, not God. God loves the outsiders we create. God wishes we would love them, too. God is not at a distance from them, and God is not at a distance from you.

[1] Martin, Michele. From All Things Considered. June 24, 2017. < http://www.npr.org/2017/06/24/534248657/barbershop-reflections-on-a-particularly-difficult-ramadan>

[2] Ibid.