Our scripture lesson from Genesis is not a pretty story. Any story that oppresses a helpless woman and penalizes a child because he is a child, is pretty harsh. It’s an even uglier story when we discover that the
person who drives the helpless woman and child into the desert to certain death is one of God’s own beloved people who has herself received grace. It’s sadder still when the one who had the authority and power to put a
stop to this monstrous act just stood there and let it happen.

I’ve never really liked this story of Hagar and Ishmael. I like the characters of Hagar and Ishmael, it’s just that I don’t like how they were treated by Sarah and Abraham. The background of the story is that Sarah
is too old to have children, even though God has promised her a son. So she takes matters into her own hands and gives her slave to her husband Abraham so that he can have a son by her. And Hagar has a son by
Abraham and names him Ishmael. Yet this does not fulfill God’s promise to Abraham and Sarah since Sarah has herself been promised a son. Sure enough, after Ishmael is born, Sarah becomes pregnant and has a child
whom they name Isaac. One day, Sarah sees the two boys playing together and becomes jealous that Ishmael shares her son’s inheritance from their father. So she nags her husband to exile the boy and his mother
into the desert, which means that they will surely die. And beyond all comprehension, Abraham agrees.

Sarah is not a biblical character who warms my heart; and while I generally like Abraham, I’m not fond of his participation in this act of destruction. I’ve always wondered how Sarah could forget the grace that
she was shown? Why couldn’t she show grace and love to another person because of what God had done for her. For 90 years Sarah could not have a child. And yet God was gracious to her and gave her a child. Why
couldn’t she show that kind of graciousness to her slave, the slave that she insisted have Abraham’s son? Our scriptures say that Hagar forgot her place and got a little uppity when she could provide a son to Abraham and
Sarah couldn’t. But is that any reason to send a child and a helpless woman into the desert to die?

I guess what troubles me more is that there are some Christians who do that today. God has shown them love and grace, forgiven their sins and saved their souls, so that they can become new persons. So what
do they do? They become super-Christians, “holier-than-thou”, calling themselves perfect and everybody else condemned to God’s punishment with them making the decision for God. Someone has said, “There but for
the grace of God go I.” How can someone who has received forgiveness not forgive others. How can a Sarah who has been given a child condemn someone else’s child to death? I just don’t understand that. Particularly
when we disciples of Christ are expected to carry the forgiveness and grace of Christ into the world. How dare any one of us judge another’s sins and have the audacity to condemn another?

The part of the Hagar story that I do like is when death is upon them in the desert after the mother and child have been exiled, God intervenes and saves them. And while Abraham’s son Isaac is destined to
become the father of the Jewish people, Ishmael is destined to become the father of the Arabic people. Both sons inherit a promise from God’s promises Abraham.

And that is our lesson for today. When we Christians fail to live as Christ and offer forgiveness and grace to those around us, then God intervenes and does the offering. If we won’t offer salvation, then God
will find a way to give salvation to those in need.

Over 2 thousand years ago, God’s chosen people still hadn’t got it right. Somehow, God’s chosen people wouldn’t offer salvation and grace to the world, so God had to find another way. Through God’s son, Jesus
the Christ, God has brought salvation into the world so that all might have the opportunity to experience God’s grace. If God’s people wouldn’t do it, then God would personally intervene, and continues to intervene
through Christ.

Our celebration of Holy Communion reminds us that God offers salvation and grace to everybody. And it is through Christ that all children and helpless people are refreshed and given new life. Celebrate
God’s wondrous salvation that includes you and me and the whole world. For Christ has brought us life when we were dying in our own deserts.