2026 06 21 Pentecost 4 year A Proper 7(12)
Genesis
21.8-21 Psalm 86.1-10, 16-17 Romans 6.1-11
Matthew 10.24-39
Ever played that
game, “I’m the King of the castle and you’re the dirty old rascal”? Sarah was not upset with a mere game being
played, but that Ishmael, in mocking, was claiming his power and status over
Isaac. By the way, Ishmael was 16 or 17
years old and Isaac was 2 or 3 years old.
According to the law of the land, Ishmael, as the first-born son was the
heir - not Isaac. Legally, Ishmael was
the “King of the Castle”. Isaac was the
“dirty rascal”.
As far as Ishmael was
concerned, Isaac’s mother was a frail old lady of about 93 at this stage, and
his father would have been 103. In
Ishmael’s eyes, Isaac’s days of favour and protection were numbered. Isaac was very much the powerless “dirty
rascal” in the eyes of Ishmael and Hagar.
Isaac’s existence was
a miracle of God. He was born by the
intervention and work of God. When you
are a child, born of God’s intervention, everything is different. We also, are children born of God’s work. We are born of God through our baptism. We are spiritually born of God’s spirit
through our baptism. Without the gift of
God’s intervention, we are but dust in the wind. Here today and gone without hope tomorrow. Whether we experience losses or wins, riches
or poverty, good fortune or disaster, would, in the end, be meaningless, as we
go back to the dust of the earth – But this is not our reality. By the intervention of God, through the
sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus and the gift of the Holy Spirit, we are born
of God. It is the Holy Spirit, living in
us that sets us apart. We still
experience the highs and lows of life, but there is purpose and meaning and
there is a future that is sure. Through
the gift of God, we are inheritors of the Kingdom of God through Jesus Christ. Just as Isaac was an inheritor of his father’s
kingdom due to the promise of God. Like
us, Isaac did nothing to deserve this gift.
Our reading from
Romans explains that, in Baptism, we died with Christ and we will rise with
Christ. Through baptism and the Holy
Spirit we become children of God, and Romans 8:17 tells us, “Now
if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if
indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his
glory.” Therefore, we live with the
sure knowledge that we have eternal life assured through him. We will face persecutions in this life, and
in those times, we need to know that God loves and cares for us.
We are assured of our
eternal life through the Holy Spirit alive and active in our lives. This is the very Good News. However, there are those who mock the very
thought of Christianity and the hope we have in Christ. Sadly, due to this, instead of having the
courage to stand separate from the world, there have been many Christians over
the years, who strive to gain the approval of the world by compromising the
truth of God’s message. When I say
“compromise”, what they – or we- do, is the mixing of the truth with societal
views which ultimately water down the truth. “God loves everyone” is a true statement. “God accepts and approves all that you do” is
certainly not right. Another example
would be that the Bible tells us all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of
God. This “ALL” means “ALL”. But we water down the concept of sin so as
not to offend anyone – and this does not actually help anyone to come to
Christ.
What do we do with the
mocking of Christianity and the hope that we have? Instead of compromising the truth we need to stand
firm…. And we need to send compromise out into the desert…. Now, although we have this story of Hagar as
an analogy, we do see the human aspect and have compassion for the situation…. But
compassion should never usurp the truth with compromise.
Isaac is an analogy
of the spiritual life. Abraham had to do
an important and hard thing. To safe-guard
the spiritual life, he had to send away the son who represented the striving in
our own strength. As you can imagine,
Abraham was sad about this. He cared for
and loved his son Ishmahel, but God reassured him that he needed to do this
thing. In sending Hagar and Ishmael
away, this served as a statement to legally sever the inheritance rights and
ensure by every standard, the status of Isaac as heir in alignment with God’s
directive.
So, technically,
Hagar became divorced from Abraham, and she and her 16 or 17 year old son set
off with some provisions, but when the youth collapsed from heat exhaustion,
Hagar prayed and we see that God, who cares for the sparrows, also takes care
of them also, providing miraculous water for them.
Abraham learned that
sometimes following God is hard. God promised
blessing, but to ensure that blessing meant some sacrifices and hard choices
needed to be made. We too need to make
hard choices at times and there will sometimes be division between us and those
we love. We will have to continue to
stand on the word of God regardless… and some, even in our own families will be
offended.
In the end, Abraham
followed through with a God directed boundary.
We all need to have healthy boundaries where we lovingly follow God and
put away those things that come between us and the promise of God. It might not mean that those things are bad
in and of themselves, but that they come between us and God’s call on our
lives. Do we have relationships and
habits that cause us to compromise God’s call for us? Realistically, we’ve all had them – or have
them – that is why the letter to the Romans encourages the readers to “die to
sin”, because we all do tend to take the easy road and compromise with aspects
of life that are not good for us – more importantly, they get between us and
the inheritance that God has prepared for us – and that, my friend, is really
serious stuff. As Jesus says, “Do
not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, fear the one
who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”
We have been given
eternal life through a great sacrifice – the life of Jesus – and this was no
small thing. Through the death and
resurrection of Jesus, and us being baptised into Jesus, we become inheritors
of the Kingdom of God with Christ. This
also, is no small thing. This is a
position of absolute privilege, and should be regarded seriously, appreciated
and valued above all.
This message was
given to the early church, who were facing extreme persecution. They needed to be reassured of their eternal
life. Being sure of their inheritance
through Christ, they endured and stood firm, but many, like us all, were also
inclined to compromise. They, and we are
reassured, God who cares about sparrows, cares infinitely more for us. God loves us.
Last week, we looked
at the life of Sarah and how she may have felt that she was merely the “cheer
squad” for the plan of God’s work on earth and not an integral part. She was mistaken, God called her to be
absolutely integral and central to His plan of salvation. We also might feel that we are not as
important in the plan of God as others, like perhaps we are just to encourage
others, but this is not true. God calls
each of us to be an integral part of his plan.
His love for us is so great that he considers the count of every hair on
our head. We are precious to him, and we
are the inheritors of the Kingdom of God, and we all have a part to play in the
eternal Kingdom.
Hagar and Ishmael, in
the New Testament writings, were likened to the concept of the law and the
things that we DO for God – to manipulate and bring his kingdom into being by
our own effort. As in, Sarah gave Hagar
to Abraham to help God give him an heir, seeing as she was barren. There are many things we might DO, even in
our liturgy to “Help” God…. But in the end, if it becomes a “work” – that is,
something that we must DO, to earn God’s favour, then we have made Sarah’s
mistake, and created a Hagar and Ishmael situation.
The same can be said
for any of our good works. It isn’t that
any of our works are bad – we are called to do good works, but are they
“God-breathed”? Do we do them because
the Holy Spirit moves us? There was a
post on facebook recently about some of the charitable organisations and one
was making accusations against another.
Many good people do great charitable works. They are moved by compassion, but there is
also a sense of ego, and making ourselves feel like a hero. We talk about this in our street chaplaincy
training because it is a real challenge with us all. None of us are exempt from this temptation to
see ourselves as the hero, and if good is achieved, then the motive doesn’t so
much matter- except when facing God.
Because we are God’s children and inheritors of the Kingdom of God by
what Jesus has done and by the Holy Spirit alive and active in us, and not by
anything that we do and it is vital that we understand and remember this. In fact, being led by God’s Spirit may well
see us moved to Good works that are NOT popular.
As an inheritor of
the Kingdom of God, all we do needs to be in alignment with the Spirit of God
alive and active through us. God’s
kingdom comes through him moving, working and living his life through us. We are children of the promise. We are the called and the chosen. We need to live by faith, and this is by
living according to the Holy Spirit working through us.
So, the final
question for today is, who is the King of the castle in our life? Because this
is the only way to know if we are living according to the Kingdom of God. Is
Jesus our Lord and do we defer to him in all our ways? Is God our king whose direction we
follow? Or are we doing our own works to
make ourselves feel good about ourselves?
Or are we compromising, and is there a dirty rascal standing in the
place where God should be… ?
No comments:
Post a Comment