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.