by the Rev. James B. Craven III
In the name of God-Father, Son & Holy Spirit. Amen.
Holy myths are a part of almost every religion, including Judaism and
Christianity, but also Islam. Think of the voice of God from the burning bush, Moses
controlling the tidal flow of the Red Sea with his magic stick upheld. The edible manna
from heaven that fed the hungry. All of those are in all three religions. Maybe even
walking on the water, which Fox News might well have headlined “Jesus can’t swim.” Or
the miraculous changing of the water into wine, which must surely have had something
to do with fermentation.
Monogamy was pretty much unknown in the ancient world, just as it is today in
the Islamic middle east and much of Africa. I don’t know the history of monogamy in
the West. Even Henry VIII was monogamous, in that he was married to his six wives
one at a time. Henry VIII frankly should be an historical embarrassment to us. Don’t
believe for a moment that the Church of England was a Tudor creation. There was a
Church of England more than a thousand years before Henry VIII.
When I was growing up in Morganton, the state Republican Chairman, Bill Cobb,
was a member of Grace Episcopal Church. I always liked Bill. He took me flying in his
airplane, and he had no children. He was married though, but because of his political
career he was out of town a lot. Lo and behold his picture appeared in Time magazine,
at the White House with President Eisenhower and other prominent Republicans. That
issue of Time was noticed not only in Morganton, but also in Roanoke, where he was
married to his other wife. Neither wife of course knew about the other. Throughout the
crisis he kept attending Grace Church, to the dismay of many, perhaps not
understanding that the church is a hospital for those in sin. One Sunday my
grandmother gave him a big hug in front of God and everybody, and that ended that.
She explained to me that while she disapproved of what he had done, she still cared
about him.
Unlike many of his vintage in that part of the world, ancient and modern, our
father Abraham had no harem, but he did have two wives, Sarah and Hagar. Hagar, his
second wife, was an Egyptian woman. Each had borne a son to Abraham. Isaac was
the son of Sarah, and Ishmael the son of Hagar. Remember Herman Melville’s opening
line in Moby Dick, “Call me Ishmael.” Sarah, who gave birth to Isaac at 96 or so,
speaking of holy myth, would have embraced monogamy. She wanted to be Abraham’s
wife and the mother of his only son and heir, so she demanded of Abraham that he put
Hagar and Ishmael aside, that he cast them out of the not so happy little family. Why
didn’t he say though, polygamy is legal here and I have two wives, and one son by each
of you. It is interesting, and not a little surprising, that Abraham gave in to Sarah. Folks
this is not only adult stuff, it is our family history, right out of Holy Scripture.
We know Abraham sought divine guidance about his awful quandary as a father.
And his prayer was answered: God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed because of
the boy and because of your slave woman; whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells
you, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be named for you. As for the son of the
slave woman, I will make a nation of him also, because he is your offspring.” So
Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water, and gave it to
Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she
departed, and wandered about in the wilderness of Beer-sheba.
When the water in the skin was gone, she cast her child under one of the
bushes. Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance
of a bowshot; for she said, “Do not let me look on the death of the child.” And as she sat
opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. And God heard the voice of Hagar and
the boy; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, and said to her, “What
troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid; for God had heard the voice of the boy where he
is. Come, lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make a great nation
of him.” Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. She went, and filled
the skin with water, and gave the boy a drink.
Just imagine what that must have been like for all concerned. For Sarah, she is
banishing her husband’s other wife and his other son. “Cast out this slave woman with
her son; for the slave woman shall not inherit along with my son Isaac. “Not this woman,
or your wife Hagar, but “this slave woman,” one of “the others.” And we are told that this
was all “very distracting to Abraham on account of his son,” his son Ishmael. Well I
guess so. Abraham was not exactly a tower of strength here, nor a profile in courage,
but he did hear God’s blessing in going along with Sarah’s hardhearted scheme. And
poor Hagar, wife #2, to be put out to die with her son, Abraham’s son. There are only
three innocent parties in this whole scenario, Hagar and the two young boys, friends,
playmates, and brothers, Isaac and Ishmael. And they were caught up in the middle of
this tragic adult scheme. There really is no modern counterpart to this. The most
amicable divorce is still awful for the children of the marriage. I have been asked how
long it takes to get over the breakup of my parents 73 years ago, and I always say “I’ll
let you know,” but the exile of Hagar and Ishmael was a zillion times worse.
There they were, Hagar and her son Ishmael, all alone except for God. When
the water was all gone, she put the baby down to die. And she and the boy cried out to
God, and God answered their cries, “Do not be afraid, for I am with you.” “Lift up the
boy and hold him fast, for I will make a great nation of him.” And there was a well, and
Hagar gave her young boy a drink.
Remember we are talking holy myth here, and remember that when you hear
myth, think truth. All this was 4000 or so years ago, in its telling over the centuries by
the campfires, from one generation to the next, light years before anything in Holy
Scripture was written down and preached. The great Jewish composers, George and
Ira Gershwin, religiously observant, surely grew up with these stories. I am convinced
though that they both well understood the concept of holy myth, from that wonderful
song of theirs, It Ain’t Necessarily So, from Porgy and Bess:
The things that you’re liable to read in the Bible,
they ain’t necessarily so…
now Jonah he lived in a whale, he made his home
in that fish’s abdomen, now Jonah he lived in a
whale, but it ain’t necessarily so.
Methuselah lived 900 years, but
it ain’t necessarily so.
And the Gershwin brothers could have chosen dozens of other examples. Nor is
that to in any way put down any of these stories which are such a big part of our
spiritual family history.
So God promised Hagar he would make her boy Ishmael “a great nation.” Fast
forward now 2600 or so years to the year 610 AD or CE, considered the birth of Islam,
when the young Arab prophet Mohammad began hearing divine revelations at Mecca.
Christianity, Judaism, and Islam are all Abrahamic faith traditions. They all go back to
the same Father Abraham. Islam looks back not only to Abraham, but to Adam, Noah,
David, Solomon and yes, Jesus and his mother Mary. The Quran is a remarkable book.
And it is sad to reflect on the fact that after the tragedy of 9/11, lots of folks didn’t realize
that Islam too was an Abrahamic faith. Sikhs and Hindus in this country were killed by
ignorant folks believing they were Muslim. There is no fear and hatred like the fear and
hatred of “the others,” those who don’t look and seem like us. There were serious
proposals then that Muslims be banned from the United States. So Islam too knows of
holy myth.
We have seen so far that our family history is at times the history of an awfully
dysfunctional family. It has been said that all families are dysfunctional if you look close
enough, but few if any can match that of our spiritual ancestor Abraham, Sarah, Hagar
and the two young boys. But they are our family and we cannot deny it. If we keep
reading and meditating on Holy Scripture though, we will see that generally it does get
better.
After all that, are you ready for some Good News, as the Gospel is often called?
OK, hear these comforting words of Christ to the Twelve, from Matthew:
Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth;
I have not come to bring peace,
but a sword.
For I have come to set a man against his father,
and a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.
Feeling better now? I thought not. Jesus is of course the messenger of peace in the
truest and highest sense of the word. The quote really mirrors the experience of the
very early church. The immediate result of the proclamation of the Gospel was discord
within the Jewish community, which affected even family relations, and Matthew would
have been aware of that. If the Gospel introduces a division into families, the disciple of
Christ has little choice but to prefer the new community of Christ to the community of
one’s birth family. Matthew goes on to quote Jesus:
Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me;
and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;
and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my
sake will find it.
This is a very tough lectionary today, but these lessons are worth reading and
pondering. Let’s go back in the Gospel from Matthew for some more comforting words
from Christ in his talk with the Twelve:
Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul;
rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body…
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will
fall to the ground apart from your Father. And even the hairs
of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid;
you are of more value than many sparrows.
And so too are we all, thanks be to God.
Amen.
stlukesdurham.org 