Year A The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, June 25, 2023
St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA
“Call Me Ishmael”
Collect: O Lord, make us have perpetual love and reverence for your holy Name, for you never fail to help and govern those
whom you have set upon the sure foundation of your loving-kindness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Genesis 21:8-21
The child grew, and was weaned; and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. But Sarah saw the son of
Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, playing with her son Isaac. So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave
woman with her son; for the son of this slave woman shall not inherit along with my son Isaac.” The matter was very distressing
to Abraham on account of his son. But 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 the 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 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 has 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.
God was with the boy, and he grew up; he lived in the wilderness, and became an expert with the bow. He lived in the wilderness
of Paran; and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
Matthew 10:24-39
Jesus said to the twelve disciples, “A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master; it is enough for the disciple to
be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they
malign those of his household!
“So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known.
What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. Do not fear those who
ill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 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.
“Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies
me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the 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.
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.”
Good morning, friends. Today’s Gospel reading is one of the harsh ones in our lectionary.
Many pastors take vacation on Sundays with readings like this one. They may say that it is
June, but I blame the readings.
We hear Jesus very clearly spelling out for his disciples, his true followers, that the road they
have chosen is not an easy one. Discipleship to Christ is not always fun, but it is the way of
life. Our Romans reading makes that clear.
Walking through the Gospel reading Jesus makes promises about how hard it will be, and not
to expect anything other. But he also makes it clear, despite the promised hardships, it is the
only choice we have for life, eternal, hopeful, and satisfying.
We could spend hours unpacking these verses, but I will summarize things so that we can
focus on the end. Remember, these are Rock+ summaries, not Jesus verbatim.
First paragraph: Jesus said, “If they call me Satan, how can you expect anything better for
you? They will probably treat you even worse.”
Second paragraph: Jesus said, “Don’t fear. All they can do is kill you, just your body that is.
You should be more concerned about what can consume your soul! God counts the hairs on
your head, so think of how much God loves you!”
Third paragraph: Jesus said, “Speak up for me amongst yours, and I will speak up for you
with mine, namely the Father.”
Fourth paragraph: Jesus said, “I came to bring division, old ties will be severed. Getting to
where we need to go requires it.”
Fifth paragraph: Jesus said, and this is not a summary, as this is where I want to spend our
time this morning…
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 one of the hardest things we can hear Jesus saying, but I hear in this what he says in
another passage, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and God’s righteousness and all these
things will be added unto you.” Matthew 6 verse 33 from the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus
is telling us for this to work, really work, for it to be the life-transforming and death-
destroying relationship we hope for it to be, then the only way for it to work is for Jesus to
be first in our lives.
If we do that, then we lose nothing. This is no zero-sum game, where for you to win
someone else must lose. What we find is that our love grows exponentially, and that things
can be a bigger, grander, and more beautiful than we could have ever hoped for. But for us
to get there, we must put first things first, and then, as Jesus says, “All these things will be added unto you.”
If you ever saw the movie Apollo 13, I loved the scene when all the NASA scientists were
arguing over what was the first and most important priority. In a room full of literal rocket
scientists, we have people arguing about trajectories and velocities, and then a simple voice
reminds them that all of that is moot if the astronauts get back to earth dead. They have to
breathe. They breathe oxygen, and the oxygen they have is about to run out. They have to
start cleaning the CO2 out of the command module lifeboat or they will most certainly die.
Breathing is what must come first. Seek you first breathing, and then let all these other
things be added unto the mission.
And for us, that breathing is Jesus, the only thing that can and should be the breath in our
lungs, the longing of our heart, and the priority on our agenda. Because if it is, then the rest
it will fall into place.
But Rock, you may be saying, this sounds so easy, but it is so hard to do. Yes. It is. But the
thing that is also promised is that no matter how far we have fallen, or have run from God,
there is nowhere that we can go where God is not already there and waiting for us.
Our Genesis reading this morning is one of the most heart-breaking and, I find, one of the
most believable stories in the Scriptures.
You might not recognize the heartache and heartbreak in the tale we find in this passage, but
when we ROYALLY mess up, when we actually defy the will of God, then, EVEN THEN,
God will still find a way back to Grace.
Abraham and Sarah were promised a child to be born to them, even more, that the children
springing from them would outnumber the stars in the sky. But in their doubts, Sarah
encouraged Abraham to take Hagar, her handmaid, and beget an heir through Hagar.
Abraham did so, and a boy, Ishmael was born. You may know the name from Moby Dick,
“Call me Ishmael.” But in the Bible, and in Melville’s masterpiece, both are poor lost souls
that need salvation.
Sarah, once Isaac was born, was distressed to have Hagar and Ishmael still around. She
wanted to ensure that the lineage went through her child, not Hagar’s, even though Hagar’s
came first. She wanted to be the mother of the heir apparent, not her handmaid. So she
nagged and nagged and nagged until Abraham did what she asked and send Hagar and
Ishmael away. What made it worse was that they were sent away with nothing but a waterskin
and some bread. Think of a gallon jug and a Wonder loaf, and nothing more, to help you
survive heading into an arid, desert land.
Abraham was against it until God spoke to him, that even though meant for harm and
jealousy, it would be okay. Even though not his heir, Ishmael was still a child of Abraham
and would be the father of a nation as well. Abraham had to trust as he had to send his son,
his first-born, away.
Hagar and Ishmael headed out, even though there was little hope for them. And they began
to walk. And they walked. And they walked. They walked and I am sure there was weeping
and wailing, and fear. So much fear.
The bag soon ran dry and the bread, though sparingly eaten, was too soon gone. And then the
last thing to go was that last shred of hope.
Hopeless Hagar and clueless Ishmael had reached their end. Hagar places Ishmael under a
bush and walks a bowshot distance away because she did not have the heart to watch him die.
would? Being a parent is living with your heart outside your chest forever.
And as Haagar sits and wails, she prays. And we are told, that despite being a foreigner,
despite being a slave, despite being outside of God’s plan that she was brought into through
no choice of her own, we see that God steps in and speaks to her. She was not the only one
praying. Ishmael was praying too!
And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. And God heard the
voice of 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 has 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.
Friends, when we have run from God, God is still there. When we do not put God first, or
God’s ways as our ways, God is still willing and able and wanting for us to find our way home
to him, and, I believe, working for your best behind the scenes.
Ishmael’s prayers were heard. Hagar found the well in the middle of nowhere and they were s
aved, and Ishmael grew up into the great nations of the Middle East that we still see there
today.
If God can take this nightmare of a situation and redeem it, what more can he do with us?
We are not forgotten, forsaken, or for naught. God calls us to faith, through faith in his one,
only begotten son, to follow him in our lives. It is more than a well in a desert, it is an
eternally spring instead of eternally death.
You might seem to be in a hopeless situation, but hear this. Hagar, the name, has a meaning
in Hebrew, “flight” which she did, or “forsaken” which she unquestionably thought she was.
And Ishmael, what of his name? If mom is “forsaken” what of the child?
Ishmael means “God will hear.” And God did. In Genesis, and for that matter in Moby Dick,
too, God heard the cry of the one left abandoned and brought salvation.
Friends, you may think that I preached two sermons today. One of Jesus’ hard words, and
then the heartbreaking yet full of Grace story of Hagar and Ishmael, but they are one and
the same.
Jesus’ statements speak to the truth of discipleship. Sitting on our hands is always easier than
taking up the plow. But Jesus must believe that there should be truth in advertising. And he is
only speaking this truth to us because of the nature of this God he came to point us to.
God is sought for, and God may seem so far from us, making us think that we have to work
hard to gain this distant God’s attention. But do not be tricked or dissuaded because of your
feelings. When God seems far, we find that God has been with us, working for us, and even
in us the whole time. Hagar may feel forsaken. But Ishmael will be heard. The second half of
our sermon today is a reminder that even at our worst, caused by us or not, God is even there
pulling the strings of Grace to bring all things together for good for those who are called by
God.
That is you. That is me. And that call is the same each and every morning God wakes us up,
until God brings us home.
Call me Ishmael. I’ll call you Ishmael, too. God will hear! Amen
