Word to the Wise
Wednesday, July 1, 2009 - Wednesday in the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
[Genesis 20: 5, 8-20A and Matthew 8:28-34]What is the matter, Hagar? Don't be afraid; God has heard the boy's cry in this plight of his. Arise, lift up the boy and hold him by the hand; for I will make of him a great nation.
Family dynamics are ever a challenge! Abraham's family was no exception. But there are two things to remember at the outset. We want to appreciate the story as well as the message. In other words, we need to be aware of our own 21st century reactions to the story so that we don't miss the message. That being said, we visit once more the Abraham, Sarah, Hagar triangle and the Isaac-Ishmael "dyad." We have two moms who have plans for their sons. There is a lot at stake! Who will be Abraham's heir? If we think that was settled at the time of the boys' birth, we are mistaken. This may be due to the fact that different story tellers may have provided the two accounts - I'll leave that to the scholars. Sarah outranks Hagar and so Abraham has to give in and send Hagar and her son, Ishmael away. In the desert, that would mean certain death. When the boy begins to cry, God hears and sends a messenger once more to Hagar about Ishmael (progenitor of the nomadic Arabs) saying that he would become a great nation - which, of course, means Hagar will survive as well! The stakes are very high for the moms as well as the sons! Isaac and Rebecca will face the same problem when one of their two sons, Jacob, will deceive his brother, Esau! Stay tuned for this one later on. What Abraham does would seem heartless and cruel to our modern sensitivities. To the polygamous tribal folks of Abraham's time, it made painful political sense. One might call it a kind of biblical soap opera, but the message is clear. God can make of anyone a great nation and the descendants of Ishmael were a group that the biblical story tellers could not just ignore in telling the story of Abraham. Big decisions need to be accounted for. One thing we CAN do is to ask ourselves how we would like our own story of faith to be told? Which decisions of ours that have a great impact on the subsequent history of our families do we want to have preserved for posterity? Which decisions of FAITH do we hope will survive all the story telling that goes on after us? Can we see the hand of God in the history of our families? AMEN
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