Month: June 2023

4th Sunday of Pentecost, Proper 7, June 25,2023: Genesis 21:8-21; Psalm 86:1-10, 16-17; Romans 6:1b-11; Matthew 10:24-39

In the flurry of book banning in the last year or so, an atheist requested that a library remove the Bible from the school library, because of its depiction of sex and violence. It was clearly a mischievous move, and the Bible was eventually restored to the library, as all books should be. But our readings today-both the Hebrew scripture and the gospel-are a reminder that our scriptures are full of dark things. Maybe we should read them with caution!

Sarah may have laughed at the promise of a child, but once that child came, she was jealous. We have a brief image of the two boys playing together, and then Sarah reacts. She wants her son to be Abraham’s only heir. She wants him to send Hagar and her son away. God intervenes, and tells Abraham it will be all right, but not surprisingly, Abraham is distressed. But he follows the instructions, and sends Hagar and Ishmael away with some bread and some water. In the desert, some water is not enough. The author of Genesis allows us to see Hagar’s distress: when she is out of water, she leaves her child under a bush, and moves far enough away that she can’t see him die. But God hears them, and suddenly there is a well next to her, and they live. In Islam Hagar (Hajar) is revered as the mother of Ishmael, who some believe was an ancestor of the Prophet Muhammad. So from this story of rejection and fear we trace another faith.

The gospel is equally hard on us: “I have not come to bring peace, but a sword”. This is not sweet Jesus, this is hard Jesus. If you love your parents, or your children, more than Jesus, you are not worthy of Jesus. We are asked to “take up the cross” to follow Jesus.

It is not surprising if your reaction is, “Why? Of course I love my parents/children more than anything.” But as we get older, we know loss: parents die, so (more painfully) do children sometimes. Life is not all fun and games. In all of this, good and bad, Jesus is there if we let him. As with Hagar in the desert, there will be water, and we will be cared for.

3 Pentecost, Proper 6: Genesis 18:1-15, (21:1-7); Psalm 116:1, 10-17; Romans 5:1-8; Matthew 9:35-10:8

Abraham is hanging out at the entrance to his tent. It’s hot, he’s not doing much. Three men appear, and he bows to them: he knows they are important. He invites them to rest under the tree with some refreshments, and to have their feet washed. Then he goes to Sarah, and tells her to make cakes; to a servant to kill a calf; and adds curds and milk. As told in Genesis, this doesn’t take much time, but preparing the calf, and making the cakes is not happening in five minutes.

Abraham somehow knows these are important men, so he stands while they eat. Sarah stays in the tent, outside the social world of men. Then they ask for her, and one of the men makes a promise, that “your wife Sarah shall have a son”. And she “laughed to herself”, wondering if “After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?”. The writer of Genesis is very frank about bodies and sex here: Sarah is old, long past menopause. And they are old, so apparently not having sex. But many societies assumed that women needed to have orgasms to conceive, so Sarah is wondering about that.

The Lord (now identified as one of the visitors) asks Abraham why Sarah laughed, and asks, “Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?” Sarah denies her laughter, afraid. But after her son is born, Sarah says “God has brought laughter for me.” Laughter moves from doubt to rejoicing.

I have always loved this story. In it we have two responses to the Lord: Abraham knows it is the Lord, and treats the Lord as an honored guest. Sarah, back in the tent preparing cakes, not part of the discussion (never even addressed directly) laughs at the thought she would have a child. She places herself in the story. Abraham acts with certainty, Sarah expresses doubt.

Paul tells us that we “are justified by faith”. Because they had faith, the disciples followed Jesus’ instructions to go out to “cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons”. Like Abraham, they just do it.

We can respond to God with certainty, but many of us are more like Sarah, astonished by the promises that have been made to us. We may doubt; but we too can be astonished by what God has done for us.