Sensing The Call
June 22, 2008
Genesis 21:8-21
An old friend, an experienced man in the world, once said to me, “There is nothing so cheap in this world as human life.” When he said that, all I wanted to do was take him to task for saying it.
But he is an old soldier –a WWII vet. His career was in the criminal justice system he was also a psychologist for many years, too. He’s traveled the world and he has seen a lot in life, so, I decided instead, to try to understand what he meant.
This world has so many tragedies and sad stories. In some places of the world, human life is the cheapest thing going. That is true in inner cities of America, or places like Darfur or the Congo or Central Asia and a lot of places. In some cities, preteen girls are kidnapped, sold into slavery and when disease takes away their usefulness, their pimps discard them without a thought. If you think about it, it will break your heart. If you think about it too long, it might harden your heart.
What a tragic thing – that in this world, there is nothing so cheap as human life. So, what does God have to say about that?
When God wants to tell you something important – really important – God tells a story. If you want to know how God feels about the way we cheapen human life, learn the story of Hagar and her son Ishmael.
She was an Egyptian and a slave – an outsider. She was a much younger woman than was Sarah – her mistress – though, in the technical sense, she was Sarah’s “property”. When Sarah wanted to help God out with this promise of an heir – a son fathered by Abraham, Sarah did the practical thing. She could no longer bear children, but Hagar could and Hagar was her property; so she gave her to Abraham and instructed him to have a son by Hagar. Abraham willingly complied. There was nothing Hagar could do or say about it. After Hagar conceived, Sarah was angry and jealous and beat her. Hagar ran away and who could blame her?
Running away, Hagar ran straight into God. But, God bid her return and promised he would be with her and that her child would be a son – a wild, untamed son of the desert. She returned to Abraham and Sarah and her son, Ishmael was born.
Fast-forward a dozen years – by a miracle, 90-year-old Sarah gives birth to Isaac – whose name means “Laughter.” Sarah was overjoyed, and jealous for her son, his future blessing. But one day, Sarah catches Ishmael mocking Isaac. His mocking went through Sarah like an arrow and in short order, Sarah demanded that Abraham throw that woman and her boy out. Whatever he may have felt or even said, the next morning, Abraham gave Hagar and his son, Ishmael, one, lousy, loaf of bread and a water bottle and showed them the door. What was she to do?
It really was the meanest thing Abraham could do. A woman and child a lone in the desert is nothing short of a death sentence! Even if Sarah was behind it all, still Abraham had done the deed. So, there they were – in the wilderness, alone, helpless and with nothing more than a skin of water and a loaf of bread.
The bread soon gave out and so did the water. Hagar knew this was it. She sat her son down in the shade of some bushes and went off a few hundred yards away, for she could not bear to see him die. She broke down and wept deep, bitter, wracking tears from the heart of a mother who must endure her son’s death before her own.
Who was this God of Abraham? Who was this deity Abraham walked with and made prayers to and of whom it was said his promises are sure? Where was he now that Hagar lay waiting to die? Does God also believe that there is nothing so cheap as human life?
That was the moment the Angel of God spoke to Hagar.
A sweet little movie, “Secondhand Lions,” gives us a picture of what it means to be alone, with no one who even cares if you live or die.
In this movie, Walter, a bookish, 14-year old is dumped off by his mother at the home of two eccentric bachelor uncles he’s never met. She tells him she’s going to secretarial school in Forth Worth. His somewhat wayward mother has disappointed him before and Walter is not sure he can do this. As she drives away, the two uncles are not at all happy he’s there. Later, after a few salesmen show up and are driven off by blasts from his uncle’s shotguns, Walter is scared to death and tries to run off and find his mother. (Go to movie clip)
There is an old spiritual that goes, “Sometimes I feel like a motherless child.” Hagar embodies it. Walter, experiences it. Maybe you have felt it, too.
When Hagar lifted up her voice in pain, God heard. Hagar represents so many voices – and God hears them, every one. God knows the pain of a single mom trying to raise three or four kids on her own and with no help at all. God knows the shame of the pregnant 15 year old who doesn’t know where to turn for help. God hears the silence of the autistic child whom no one wants to take the time to help. God sees the mother in Darfur who watches day by day as her children die of preventable diseases. Hagar represents so many, many people this world throws away. And that is difficult for we who are comfortable to hear and understand.
God met Hagar at the point of her need and gave her a future and a hope. When no one else cared, God cared. Thank God we have such difficult stories in our Bible! They make is discard the rose colored glasses so that we can see this world with Jesus’ eyes and from God’s heart. God is full of mercy. Outsiders are welcome. Cast-off people are wanted. No human life is a throwaway because God loves us and every life is precious to God.
In “Secondhand Lions,” the two uncles must put away their desire for solitude and open their hearts to 14-year old, gawky Walter. He has been a throwaway child and needs to feel wanted and safe after his mother’s erratic care. Those eccentric uncles fulfill that need. But, Walter gives those two old men a purpose and the sense that someone needs them. This movie helps us to see something: the God of all mercy uses people who are open to show how much God cares.
I don’t doubt that a lot of people in this world look upon human life as the cheapest thing going. But there are a lot more who know that life is a gift from God and the most precious, sacred thing there is. Such people as understand this are the ones through whom God will bless the world.
We are a gathered community of faith – not for our own sake; God has gathered us for the blessing of our world – at least, our little part of it. God’s blessing works through even our failures, faults, misunderstandings and blunders. God sends people to us and sends us to people, asking that we simply let God’s light shine through our lives. Thereby others catch a glimpse of his glory. We become a well in the wilderness that nourishes dry, thirty souls.
Somewhere near you is a 14-year old kid that has been cast off by a parent or guardian so often, they believe that no one cares if they live or die. God might send you to guide and teach and change their life for good. Somewhere, there is a pregnant 15-year old who thinks the world is judging her and the one thing she needs isn’t judgment but just someone who will walk with her. God may be asking you to be that someone.
If we believe God’s promises and live by them, we will bless the world. The promises of God are not only eternal life later, but also the new life now, a different way of living now, the power of the resurrection now. We will realize this to the extent that we live by the promise and the vision God gives in Jesus, the Christ. For the One who died for the life of the world, human life is not cheap at all. It cost all he had to give.
Lift up your eyes — take off the rose-colored glasses — see a life God sends you to bless! Amen.
Rev. Dr. A. Robert Cook