I had the opportunity to fill in for a colleague's mid-week Lent service last Wednesday. I could pick any text I wanted (the joy! the struggle!) and landed on Hagar for a few reasons. First, it's a story about a woman and it's not in the lectionary; second, it had connections to the week prior with Jesus also in the wilderness; third, we always need the reminder that God is the God of seeing.
I don’t know if the story of Hagar is familiar to you. We don’t hear it in the lectionary, and when we do hear about Hagar, it’s often as a footnote to the much more familiar story of Abraham and Sarah. So, first, a quick summary:
Abram was a descendent of Shem, one of Noah’s sons. At some point, God called Abram to leave his father’s house and go to a new place, to the land God would show him. God promises to make Abram’s name great so that he will be a blessing. Abram listens to God, taking his wife, Sarai, and his nephew, Lot, and they head to the land of Canaan. Time passes, and again and again God promises to give the land to Abram’s offspring.
But, there’s only one problem. Do you remember what it is? Abram and Sarai have no offspring. They have no children to inherit the land, they are growing older, and God’s promise feels awfully empty because of it. So, again, God reassures them, this time with an official covenant. Abram and Sarai will have offspring – so many, in fact, that their descendants will number as many as the stars in the night sky.
Assured of God’s promise but still unclear about the way forward, Abram and Sarai decide to take things into their own hands. Sarai, whose barrenness almost certainly negatively affected her social status and sense of self-worth, sends her Egyptian slave girl to be with Abram and bear them a child. As Hagar was the property of Sarai, any child she bore would be Sarai’s.
It doesn’t take much to see how this story is likely to end badly, people and relationships and jealousy and status being what they are. And end badly it does. Hagar gets pregnant, which is what Sarai wanted. But, instead of bringing favor and new status to Sarai, instead she feels that Hagar is looking at her with contempt. Filled with hurt and bitterness, Sarai tries to make herself feel better by mistreating Hagar. Eventually she abuses Hagar so much that Hagar flees.
Alone, hurt, and powerless, Hagar ends up in the wilderness near a spring of water. Only, she’s not alone for long, because God in human form finds her. “Hagar, slave-girl of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” God tells Hagar to return to Sarai and Abram, promising to greatly multiply her offspring, giving her security and a future. God gives her child a name – Ishmael – which means “God hears”, for the Lord has given heed to her affliction.
Hagar, for her part, gives God a name – El-roi – which means “God who sees.”
This is an amazing story. Hagar is right to be surprised! How is it that she, of all people, has both seen God and lived to tell about it? Much more powerful people than her have not had such a privilege. And, perhaps more basically, how is it that God – the God of the whole universe – has sought her out?! She is a foreigner. A woman. Pregnant and alone and in the wilderness.
Ah. But should it really surprise us that the God of mercy and love, notices, seeks out, and gives a promise of a future to a foreign enslaved pregnant woman? Should it really surprise us that God sees the hurt of a vulnerable person who has been treated as the means to an end? Should it really surprise us that God hears the cries of the struggling and lonely?
So often it is us who feel alone, unseen, and hurt. So often we are the ones who find ourselves in wilderness places unsure of where we have come from and where we are going.
Hear the good news today: the God who saw Hagar also sees us. God's care and attention are not reserved for the powerful or well-connected or deserving. God does not give preferential treatment to the super-Christians (whoever they may be!) or the especially holy.
Instead, God looks with love on the vulnerable and hurting, the lost and lonely. God seeks us out in wilderness places of grief, uncertainty, hopelessness, and pain. God assures us that we are seen, and sends us on our way accompanied by a promise.
In the waters of baptism, we are joined to Christ - to his death, and to his resurrection. In the waters of baptism, we receive the promises that we are seen and claimed, forgiven and set free. We give thanks for a God who saw Hagar, sees us, and sees all those who are hurting and vulnerable.
1 "I will come to you in the silence,
I will lift you from all your fear.
You will hear my voice,
I claim you as my choice.
Be still and know I am here."
2 "I am hope for all who are hopeless,
I am eyes for all who long to see.
In the shadows of the night,
I will be your light.
Come and rest in me."
Refrain
"Do not be afraid, I am with you.
I have called you each by name.
Come and follow me,
I will bring you home;
I love you and you are mine."
3 "I am strength for all the despairing,
healing for the ones who dwell in shame.
All the blind will see,
the lame will all run free,
and all will know my name." Refrain
4 "I am the Word that leads all to freedom,
I am the peace the world cannot give.
I will call your name,
embracing all your pain.
Stand up, now walk and live!" Refrain
Text: David Haas, b. 1957
Text © 1991 GIA Publications, Inc., 7404 S. Mason Ave., Chicago, IL 60638. www.giamusic.com. 800.442.3358. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
...
I don’t know if the story of Hagar is familiar to you. We don’t hear it in the lectionary, and when we do hear about Hagar, it’s often as a footnote to the much more familiar story of Abraham and Sarah. So, first, a quick summary:
Abram was a descendent of Shem, one of Noah’s sons. At some point, God called Abram to leave his father’s house and go to a new place, to the land God would show him. God promises to make Abram’s name great so that he will be a blessing. Abram listens to God, taking his wife, Sarai, and his nephew, Lot, and they head to the land of Canaan. Time passes, and again and again God promises to give the land to Abram’s offspring.
But, there’s only one problem. Do you remember what it is? Abram and Sarai have no offspring. They have no children to inherit the land, they are growing older, and God’s promise feels awfully empty because of it. So, again, God reassures them, this time with an official covenant. Abram and Sarai will have offspring – so many, in fact, that their descendants will number as many as the stars in the night sky.
Assured of God’s promise but still unclear about the way forward, Abram and Sarai decide to take things into their own hands. Sarai, whose barrenness almost certainly negatively affected her social status and sense of self-worth, sends her Egyptian slave girl to be with Abram and bear them a child. As Hagar was the property of Sarai, any child she bore would be Sarai’s.
It doesn’t take much to see how this story is likely to end badly, people and relationships and jealousy and status being what they are. And end badly it does. Hagar gets pregnant, which is what Sarai wanted. But, instead of bringing favor and new status to Sarai, instead she feels that Hagar is looking at her with contempt. Filled with hurt and bitterness, Sarai tries to make herself feel better by mistreating Hagar. Eventually she abuses Hagar so much that Hagar flees.
Alone, hurt, and powerless, Hagar ends up in the wilderness near a spring of water. Only, she’s not alone for long, because God in human form finds her. “Hagar, slave-girl of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” God tells Hagar to return to Sarai and Abram, promising to greatly multiply her offspring, giving her security and a future. God gives her child a name – Ishmael – which means “God hears”, for the Lord has given heed to her affliction.
Hagar, for her part, gives God a name – El-roi – which means “God who sees.”
 |
| Photo by Edi Libedinsky on Unsplash |
This is an amazing story. Hagar is right to be surprised! How is it that she, of all people, has both seen God and lived to tell about it? Much more powerful people than her have not had such a privilege. And, perhaps more basically, how is it that God – the God of the whole universe – has sought her out?! She is a foreigner. A woman. Pregnant and alone and in the wilderness.
Ah. But should it really surprise us that the God of mercy and love, notices, seeks out, and gives a promise of a future to a foreign enslaved pregnant woman? Should it really surprise us that God sees the hurt of a vulnerable person who has been treated as the means to an end? Should it really surprise us that God hears the cries of the struggling and lonely?
So often it is us who feel alone, unseen, and hurt. So often we are the ones who find ourselves in wilderness places unsure of where we have come from and where we are going.
Hear the good news today: the God who saw Hagar also sees us. God's care and attention are not reserved for the powerful or well-connected or deserving. God does not give preferential treatment to the super-Christians (whoever they may be!) or the especially holy.
Instead, God looks with love on the vulnerable and hurting, the lost and lonely. God seeks us out in wilderness places of grief, uncertainty, hopelessness, and pain. God assures us that we are seen, and sends us on our way accompanied by a promise.
In the waters of baptism, we are joined to Christ - to his death, and to his resurrection. In the waters of baptism, we receive the promises that we are seen and claimed, forgiven and set free. We give thanks for a God who saw Hagar, sees us, and sees all those who are hurting and vulnerable.
...
The hymn I selected to be sung after the sermon was You Are Mine (ELW 581)
1 "I will come to you in the silence,
I will lift you from all your fear.
You will hear my voice,
I claim you as my choice.
Be still and know I am here."
2 "I am hope for all who are hopeless,
I am eyes for all who long to see.
In the shadows of the night,
I will be your light.
Come and rest in me."
Refrain
"Do not be afraid, I am with you.
I have called you each by name.
Come and follow me,
I will bring you home;
I love you and you are mine."
3 "I am strength for all the despairing,
healing for the ones who dwell in shame.
All the blind will see,
the lame will all run free,
and all will know my name." Refrain
4 "I am the Word that leads all to freedom,
I am the peace the world cannot give.
I will call your name,
embracing all your pain.
Stand up, now walk and live!" Refrain
Text: David Haas, b. 1957
Text © 1991 GIA Publications, Inc., 7404 S. Mason Ave., Chicago, IL 60638. www.giamusic.com. 800.442.3358. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
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