by Fr. Bill Garrison
Please note that the following sermon text was provided prior to the audio recording. The two versions may differ substantially.
The child grew, and was weaned; and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, playing with her son Isaac. So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son; for the son of this slave woman shall not inherit along with my son Isaac.” The matter was very distressing to Abraham on account of his son. But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed because of the boy and because of your slave woman; whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be named for you. As for the son of the slave woman, I will make a nation of him also, because he is your offspring.” So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered about in the wilderness of Beer-sheba.
When the water in the skin was gone, she cast the child under one of the bushes. Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot; for she said, “Do not let me look on the death of the child.” And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. And God heard the voice of the boy; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, and said to her, “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.” Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. She went, and filled the skin with water, and gave the boy a drink.
God was with the boy, and he grew up; he lived in the wilderness, and became an expert with the bow. He lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
—Genesis 21:8-21
Today is Father’s Day and with that in mind I thought we might start off with a father and son story.
A young boy had just got his driver's permit and inquired of his father, an evangelist, if they could discuss the use of the car. His father took him to the study and said to the boy, “I'll make a deal with you, son. You bring your grades up from a C to a B- average, study your Bible a little, and get your hair cut and we'll talk about the car.”
Well, the boy thought about that for a moment and decided that he'd best settle for the offer, and they agreed. After about six weeks the boy came back and again asked his father about the car.
Again, they went to the study where his father said, “Son, I've been real proud of you. You've brought your grades up, and I've observed that you've been studying your Bible and participating a lot more in the Bible study class on Sunday morning. But I'm real disappointed since you haven't got your hair cut.”
The young man paused a moment and then said, “You know dad, I've been thinking about that and I've noticed in my studies of the Bible that Samson had long hair, Moses had long hair, John the Baptist had long hair, and there's even strong argument that Jesus himself had long hair.”
To which his father replied, “You're right, son. Did you also notice that they all WALKED everywhere they went?”
And now in light of Father’s Day I am going to use as my text the first lesson from Genesis. I normally concentrate on the gospel but today I feel compelled to recount a famous story.
I am going to make a statement to you much like one I have made to many a Bible student. The reading from the Hebrew Scriptures, our first lesson read this morning, is a snippet from a larger story that has immense meaning in the history of humanity. It is fundamental in the background, and for the self-understanding of at least four billion people. What is happening in much of the world, and especially the middle-east yesterday, today, and tomorrow traces its roots back to this story. So, let’s take a look at it.
Abraham and Sarah are senior citizens. As the story begins Abraham is 87 years old and Sarah is 77. They have a problem. Abraham does not have an heir. It doesn’t appear likely that he will. Yet God tells him and Sarah something they do not expect. God tells them that Abraham will be the father to many nations and the father to more people than there are stars in the sky. Sarah even laughs at the idea of it, but Abraham has faith and thinks God is telling them the truth.
As often happens in these stories, time passes and it looks like the promise God made will not be fulfilled. So, Sarah comes up with a scheme for Abraham to have a son. It works like this. Hagar, the servant girl, is offered to Abraham as a substitute for Sarah and she becomes pregnant by him and a son is born named Ishmael. Voila! An heir is produced. It looks like the plan has worked.
But something happened to mess things up. God’s prediction comes true. Thirteen years later Sarah in her very advanced age of 90 becomes a mother and a second son is born to Abraham at age 100. Isaac the new son is named.
This is Sarah’s child. She wants him to be the heir, not the 13-year-old Ishmael, the first son of Abraham and the servant girl, Hagar. So, she tells Abraham to run the servant girl and the thirteen year old Ishmael off.
“Get rid of them!” And Abraham does it, giving Sarah her way, sending away his oldest son. I can’t imagine how he must have felt.
As we heard a bit ago God took notice of Hagar and her son in the wilderness and saved the child’s life. God made promises to Hagar about Ishmael. “He shall be a wild ass of a man!” And so off to the Arabian Peninsula they went with God’s good wishes and backing.
And here is the end of the story. Isaac becomes the father of the Jewish people and ultimately the father to all of Christianity. Ishmael, in the meantime, becomes the father to those in the Arabian peninsula and ultimately Islam. All told four billion people, who have rarely gotten along, see Abraham as their father, hence all three are known as the Abrahamic religions.
Now I am not terribly concerned about the historicity of this story. Perhaps some of it is historical and maybe not. But what I do know is this. God speaks to us through this scripture in an important way. Abraham is understood to be the patriarch in all three Abrahamic religions and things would be different in some important way if Abraham and Sarah had been patient and believed God when God told them they would have a son. All the trouble and strife in the region and in many other parts of the world is based in this story and their lack of trust in what God had to say.
The point I am making? Believe God when God says something is going to happen or when God gives us advice. It’s much like the advice from a good father or mother. Pay attention for your own good. If you don’t there may be a price to pay that will be of your own making. It’s sort of an if-then statement. If you do this something is going to happen, good or bad, depending on the choice you make.
I think we often forget the reasons behind God’s advice. We often concentrate on the fact we should or should not do something according to the teachings of God, but we rarely think about why. Why did God give us the advice God did? Was it to make us jump through a hoop or was it meant to help us in some manner?
Think about yourself as a mother or father, or think of yourself as a child listening to the adults in your life. Why did you tell your children to stay out of the street? Why did you advise your children to share what they have with others? Why did you advise them to brush their teeth? Why did your mother tell you to forgive others for hurting your feelings or to play nicely with your friends?
It’s pretty obvious isn’t it? It was done for the good of the children to keep them out of trouble, to keep them from getting hurt, to teach them how to be in meaningful relationship with others.
Well folks that is, simply put, what God does with us. Take a look at the commandments we hear from God and Jesus. Think about how life giving they are, how they are meant to keep us out of danger, how they teach us to have meaningful relationships with others.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Who better to have a relationship with?
Love your neighbor as yourself. What a great way to maintain a relationship with those in your life.
Don’t take other people’s stuff and try not to wish you had what they have. These are after all their things and learn to live with what you have. Maybe this could strengthen you to work to earn what they have.
Tell the truth. It’s the right thing to do. Yes, I know we hear lies constantly and we sometimes think it’s more effective than the truth, but we all know in our hearts lying only works for a little while and makes no friends.
The list of suggestions from God and Jesus, those just mentioned and others I am sure you are familiar with, are worth considering. They are there for our benefit not for God’s. God has already figured this stuff out.
And please remember this. Every one of us is a leader in some sense. People are watching. And just as children compare what their parents say with what they do, so does everyone as adults continue that habit. If you don’t believe it listen to the conversation at the table next to you during lunch.
And so, for every leader, no matter how small or how great, take God’s advice. Be an ethical leader no matter who is watching, even if no one else is there in that moment. Be in relationship with God. Tell the truth. Leave other people’s stuff alone. Take care of your neighbor, those whose life yours touches just as you would hope they would do for you.
Be the best example you can be. Nobody is perfect. But remember, people are watching. Try not to give them an excuse to do the wrong thing more often than you can help.