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
Ooh! TOUGH readings this week! We could take the safe way out and talk about
poor outcast Hagar and how God, who cares for the sparrows, cares for the
outcast and so should we, but that completely ignores the fact that God
encouraged Abraham to cast her out.
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 truly
was the “King of the Castle”. Isaac was
the “dirty rascal”.
As a little insight
into the current political climate; the Islamic people claim Ishmael as their
ancestor, and therefore we can see that Ishmael is still “Playing” King of the
castle with his little half brother Isaac.
As far as Ishmael was
concerned, Isaac’s mother was a frail old lady of about 93, and his father was
about 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
only because of a total miracle. He was
born by the intervention and work of God, and when you are a child, born of God’s
intervention, everything is different and you enjoy the undeserved favour of
God. We also, are children born of God’s
work through Jesus Christ. 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, what are we? Just 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
there is meaning and 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 and God’s favour.
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,…"
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 should 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 have compassion for the situation -But compassion should never
usurp the truth with compromise. ALSO,
God promised to care for her.
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, miraculously providing water for them. For Hagar and Ishmael… and those who believe
that life is about working to earn God’s favour, and in fact everyone- God
provides miraculous water… the water of rest… the water God provides – His gift
of faith, and to come to Him by faith also.
God cares for us – and our enemies – He calls to all of us, but there is
only ONE way to the father, and it is through the son, Jesus Christ! No Compromise!
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 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. 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.
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 do 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… ?
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