There are a few things to wrestle with in today’s readings. The old testament and gospel readings, in particular contain things with which we might want to take issue. Poor Hagar. Her story is ancient but is very relevant to our situation today: an age where millions find themselves cast out of their homes and countries, wandering from place to place – on the road with their children, seeking sustenance and a place to call home.
What is difficult about the story, I think, is that there is no hint of a moral judgement about the situation – indeed God seems to collude with it, is party to the dreadful act of throwing a woman and child out of their home and vanquishing them to the desert – an incredibly harsh place to live.
It all turns out alright in the end because Hagar is protected by angels and is given water to drink and we are told, in a roundabout way, that they both survived. But not before she was brought to the place of utter despair. What a terrible story: a story where the actions of God and Abraham cannot, in truth, be justified. We should be angry that God treats people in such a way!
But isn’t this typical of many people of today who, even now, drive people from their homes and commit acts of terrible violence – they ALL think they’ve got God on their side! They kill and maim in the name in the name of God. This is the ultimate blasphemy – to wound or kill a child of God and then to claim the support of God.
If we want to know God’s way, we Christians need only to look at the life of his son, Jesus, and listen to his teachings, to see how people should be treated. Jesus had a special love for the vulnerable – the sick, the poor, the outcasts, and, yes, even the sinners. Jesus calls us to follow him in these actions. His teaching is relevant to both our personal lives as Christians, but also as ‘his people’ living together in his world. We are called to struggle for a world where people are welcomed, not driven away: where there is hope and love for the dispossessed – those on the road with nowhere to lay their heads at night, and living from hand to mouth.
The story of Hagar has another meaning for us too, for Hagar’s son was Ishmael, and he was the founding father of the Islamic faith. Isaac, the founder of Judaism and, thence, Christianity, and Ishmael, the father of Islaam, had the same father – our faiths are siblings, we are all children of Abraham. We would do well to remember that.
But, just when we think we’ve got it all sorted out, we find Jesus telling us that he’s come to set us against our families, that we have to love God more than our families. What are we to make of this?
For us, family life has it’s foundation in our Christian faith. That’s why we marry in church and, in time, bring our children to be baptised. So we look at this through very different eyes from the first few generations of Christians – those who were around when Matthew wrote his Gospel. In those first days, choosing the Christian faith would, very likely, have caused arguments and division in family life. Many of the first Christians would have had to choose between their faith and their family – this would have been a much wider group of people than our concept of ‘Mum, Dad and 2.4 children’. Families were whole villages, more like a clan, than a household. There was much at stake.
Even though this passage is tough, it can still speak to us today. How often do we put our faith at the bottom of the list – after holidays, kids’ activities – dancing, martial arts, football, gymnastics, the weekend lodge or caravan, and so on. It seems no
longer even to occur to people that they might put their faith first. We have come a long way since ‘Chariots of Fire’.
Our faith is supposed to be costly – this is what it is to be a disciple of Jesus. Our stewardship adviser, addressing the PCC recently, commented that, if our giving of time, money and talents doesn’t make any difference to our lives, then it isn’t true giving. Whatever we give, in whatever way, should be a sacrifice – it should be costly to us. This has been part of faith since they days of Moses when the faithful were asked to give 10% of their wealth (a ‘tithe’). Imagine what we could do here if people gave 10% of their time to church, 10% of their money. For some of us 10% would be a very small amount but it would be sacrificial – as Jesus taught us in the story of the widow’s mite. This is the costliness of our faith and we need to consider this if we want to call ourselves Christians – followers of Jesus.
In all of these demanding and difficult things, we are promised God’s love – the one who sees the sparrow fall, sees us too, with our chaotic lives, our problems, our weakness and our giving – our sacrifice of praise.
Question, can you look God in the eye concerning what you giveand what you do for the church?