Once upon a time,
there were two people named Abraham
and Sarah [pause]
Perhaps you've heard of them.
They were the superstars of their day
—larger than life,
more faithful to God than anyone
around,
blessed with a miraculous child in
their old age,
the lead actors in the story everyone
was in
—think less Brad and Angelina and
more Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward
Abraham and Sarah were the patriarch
and matriarch of a great nation,
chosen by God,
given not just a promise but The
Promise
—their descendants would number as
the stars
and they would be remembered unto
ages of ages.
But this is not their story.
This is the story of one of their
supporting actresses
—not even that, an extra with a
couple of lines.
This is the story of Hagar.
Once upon a time,
there was a woman named Hagar.
Hagar was not a newspaper comic strip character,
not a Viking warrior a la "Hagar the Horrible."
Hagar was Sarah's slave.
She was a woman of little consequence
—no money, no family, no status at
all
and like all
women of her place and time
she
was property, like a toaster oven or a family pet
she had no legal existence of her
own,
no recourse, no personal bank account
yet she was
happy
she
was a part of a family, not mistreated but useful and needed
she
went about her daily life
doing
the laundry
weaving
and mending
helping
with the grocery-ing
shuttling the children of the camp to
and from school, lacrosse, and band practice
it
wasn't a bad life
so we begin with act one:
the first hiccup came when Sarah,
despairing of ever having a child of
her own, said to herself:
"it has
ceased to be with me in the way of women"
at
least that's what the King James Bible tell us
"I've got a plan…" she said
and Sarah went
to Abraham and said,
"it has ceased to be with me in
the way of women
—so I want you to take my slave Hagar
and get her pregnant and that child
will be mine"
and Abe said,
"ok"—what, did you think he'd say no?
so they went to
Hagar and Sarah said,
"it has ceased to be with me in
the way of women,
so I want you to get pregnant by my
husband
and give me the baby"
and Hagar, a
woman of great poise and wit, said, "what?" [deep Dr. Who]
but
this kind of arrangement wasn't unheard of in those days
so… Hagar slept with Abraham and
conceived a child
and
even in the midst of a kind of Jerry Springer-like mess
Hagar
was happy
—she was bringing life and prosperity
to her family
she was pleased and proud to be
needed and wanted and included
now she was part of The Promise
everyone talked about
now she was in with the
"in" crowd
the
first time she felt the baby move it brought her to tears
there
was life in this body, joy in this hard life
and even though
Sarah didn't take Hagar's pregnancy as well as she'd hoped
and
cursed and beat her and drove her away to the desert
Hagar
didn't give up
in the
desert, she met God—I mean really met God
God
spoke to Hagar
God
saw her misfortune and God saw her
and
God gave her a promise, too
—her children would one day number as
the stars
and she would be the matriarch of a
great nation
and
Hagar, this unknown, inconsequential slave girl, named God
not
a title or a description but a name
becoming the only person in the bible
to name God
"el-Roi"
she called God—"God who sees"
and so Hagar returned to the camp and
to her adopted family
rejoicing in the divine knowledge
that she was truly a part of the Promise
rejoicing
in her physical and spiritual wealth
act two:
Sarah, no
longer a spring chicken, felt her age
when strangers came into the camp
proclaiming that she would become great with child
she
laughed—nervously? deeply and heartily?
knowing what she had lost?
either way, it
came to pass that she was again in the way of women
and
lo, she became great with child
and as
amazing and wonderful as it was, she was scared
she
went to Hagar, her slave, and wept and laughed and learned
they
talked about their aches and pains,
their hunger, their deep connection
with their babies
they
discussed birthing plans and breathing techniques
and prenatal yoga
When Hagar gave birth she named her
son Ishmael after the narrator of Moby-Dick
and soon after, Sarah also gave birth
and named her son Isaac after the
Ancient Near Eastern fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi
and Sarah looked upon the child of
her slave
…and she hated him
she said,
"my Isaac will not grow up playing with the help"
and she went to
Abraham,
who, after a hundred years of wedded bliss,
was used to his wife telling him what
to do
she
said, "Abe, my Isaac will not grow up playing with the help"
and
Abe looked out into the yard at Ishmael his firstborn son
and at Isaac his miraculous child
and he
went along with it
Abraham turned
Hagar and his own son out into the desert
with only a single bottle of water
and
Hagar asked, "where is God and God's Promise now?"
out
here in the wilderness,
we wander the literal desert and the
metaphorical one
out here in the wilderness where
there are no street signs
and no restaurants
—not even a trickling stream
Hagar was alone, unmourned, and
unloved
a secondary character in a made-for-TV
movie
all she could think of was the look
of triumph on Sarah's face
even her friends in the camp couldn't
look at her in her shame
her family, her group, her clique
had
kicked her out like a dog
because
of who she was, what she'd done or said or seen
Hagar wandered,
carrying her toddler son and the bottle of water
the
one getting heavier
the
one getting lighter
her
heart breaking
and
her eyes were opened
and behold, she knew they could not
survive on their own
so
she laid Ishmael under a bush
not
able to watch her own son die of starvation
and
she stumbled away, hot tears streaming down her face
and
she lifted up her voice with her son's
and wailed with no one to hear
[pause]
but God hears
act three:
God hears her cries and joins her
there in the wilderness
God
sits with her, suffers with her
a few hard paces from her squalling baby
boy
and
God mourns with her for all she has lost
and God reminds
her of the Promise she already has
you
will never be alone
I will
be with you
I will
make you the matriarch of a great nation, too,
and you will be remembered unto ages
of ages
there
is light here in the midst of your darkness [gesture
to the Table]
there is hope here in the midst of
your wilderness
and God shows her a well in the
desert
and
she drinks deep
so, Hagar names God el-Roi,
"the God who sees"
and God hears her cries in the
wilderness, "the God who hears"
and God does not leave Hagar or Ishmael
or Sarah or Isaac or us
"God is with us," Emmanuel
God
sees,
God hears,
God is with us
And
we all lived happily ever after.
* * *
Questions
for conversation:
·
What stood out
for you in Hagar’s story?
Share a story about when you felt God’s
presence—what happened? How could you tell it was God? What did you learn from
the experience?