Word to the Wise
Thursday, June 25, 2009 - Thursday in the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
[Genesis 16:1-12, 15-16 and Matthew 7:21-29]Hagar, maid of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?
Sarai's anxiety and shame about her barrenness are understandable. Hagar's flight from abuse is understandable. Abram's possible confusion [I did what you told me to do and still it's all MY fault!] is understandable. I don't know very many abuse counselors who would give the same advice to Hagar that "the Lord's messenger" did. But, then again, there were no shelters for abused women in those days. Hagar's choice is between survival of abuse from an emotionally distraught mistress and death from starvation, since no other tribe would take her in. However, our modern concerns, legitimate though they may be, cannot be imposed on the story which is not about domestic abuse, terrible as that is. The story is about the origin of other peoples related to the Jews but not believing as Jews do. In our own time, we call these peoples ARABS. Muslims, in particular, trace their descendance - spiritual and physical - to Ishmael, whom the messenger says will be "a wild ass of a man, his hand against everyone, and everyone's hand against him.." Sarai's shame will eventually be removed by the same Lord who would give an equal posterity to Hagar's offspring. Sarai would show herself less willing to believe that God could do this (cf. Friday and Saturday's first scriptures) than Hagar did! Hagar put her trust in the message. Sarai remained skeptical. Jews, Christians and Muslims will eventually have this story to tell as part of their faith heritage. The twists and turns of human relationships interacting with God's mysterious providence are the stuff of the way we proclaim that faith - often in stories like this one. AMEN
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