Mind the Gap
Based on Genesis 21: 8-21
In order to understand today's story, we need to go back earlier in the story of Abraham and Sara. Abraham had been promised a son for many years, but Sara remained barren. Finally Sara took things in her own hands and told Abraham to take her slave Hagar and have a child with her. The result was Ishmael, Abraham's first born. Several years later Sara miraculously became pregnant and gave birth to Isaac. Our story today takes place when Isaac is a toddler, and tells us of what happened to the slave Hagar and her son Ishmael.
8 Isaac grew, and on the day that he was weaned, Abraham gave a great feast.
9 One day Ishmael, whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham, was playing with Sarah's son Isaac. 10 Sarah saw them and said to Abraham, “Send this slave and her son away. The son of this woman must not get any part of your wealth, which my son Isaac should inherit.” 11 This troubled Abraham very much, because Ishmael also was his son. 12 But God said to Abraham, “Don't be worried about the boy and your slave Hagar. Do whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that you will have the descendants I have promised. 13 I will also give many children to the son of the slave woman, so that they will become a nation. He too is your son.”
14 Early the next morning Abraham gave Hagar some food and a leather bag full of water. He put the child on her back and sent her away. She left and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba. 15 When the water was all gone, she left the child under a bush 16 and sat down about a hundred yards away. She said to herself, “I can't bear to see my child die.” While she was sitting there, she began to cry.
17 God heard the boy crying, and from heaven the angel of God spoke to Hagar, “What are you troubled about, Hagar? Don't be afraid. God has heard the boy crying. 18 Get up, go and pick him up, and comfort him. I will make a great nation out of his descendants.” 19 Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well. She went and filled the leather bag with water and gave some to the boy. 20 God was with the boy as he grew up; he lived in the wilderness of Paran and became a skillful hunter. 21 His mother got an Egyptian wife for him.
That's a harsh story, isn't it? It's hard to imagine one of the matriarchs of our faith behaving in such a way, sending a mother and child out to die in wilderness.Usually if people preach on this passage (which they rarely do), they focus on God hearing the cries of Hagar and Ishmael and providing for them in their time of need. But reading this story in the light of current events gave me new perspective.
For almost two weeks now, people across the US and Canada have been horrified as they follow the news. First there was the video of George Floyd, a black man in Minneapolis, being killed by a police officer kneeling on his neck.
Then the protests began as black people across the US rose up to say they had had enough of police brutality and of racism in general. At first the protests were peaceful, but then violence began to happen, looting and destruction. The reactions from those in authority has varied.
Canadians were appalled by what they saw happening in the US, but then protests started happening in Canada. I imagine some of you had same initial reaction to Canadian protests that I had, huh? Why are people protesting here?
We can't change American politics.
But then Canadian protesters started to speak up, to explain that they weren't just marching in solidarity with African Americans, they were marching to protest racism and police brutality in Canada, not just against black people, but racism towards Indigenous people, Asians, Middle Eastern, East Indian, the list goes on.
If you are anything other than white, of anything other than of European descent in Canada, then chances are that you have experienced racism. As Canadians we have a really hard time admitting that. We look at the US and say, at least we're not as bad as them. But is that a helpful attitude? And is it even true?
Our Federal Families, Children and Social Development Minister Ahmed Hussen, a Somali-Canadian, said in a tweet Sunday that he has "heard from people who have said that we should not worry about what is happening in the U.S. because that is not our problem." But he said racism is "a lived reality for black Canadians," and he asked other Canadians to "step up" and "raise your voices and ensure that real inclusion accompanies the diversity of our country."
He said black Canadians are disproportionately followed in stores by shop owners fearing theft, while black drivers have every reason to be anxious when they're pulled over by a police officer. (First Nations have the same experience)
"Check the unconscious bias around you and within you," Hussen said.
That “unconscious bias” is what I think we as people of faith are called to look at right now. It doesn't necessarily mean that we are racist, what it means is that we don't want to see racism where it's happening. We don't see the gap between how we want Canada to be and how it is in reality for people of different racial backgrounds.
We see that gap in the responses of some of our politicians. Quebec Premier François Legault said Monday he "stands in solidarity with people who denounce racial violence" yet he then denied there was a systemic problem in Quebec. He denied this, despite having read a 2019 report prepared for the City of Montreal which found that Montreal police engage in systemic discrimination in targeting Indigenous, black and Arab people.
And it's not just the police. Black Canadian journalist Asha Tomlinson wrote: “Yes, I've heard the argument that Canada is not like the United States.
But racism exists here, too. It may not be in your face all the time, although it lurks in the streets, in boardrooms, behind closed doors and online. It can get vitriolic on social media.”
The story from Genesis for today touches on many of these issues. Sara - who was once barren- who pushed her husband to have sex with a slave in order to conceive a child with her, now that she has borne her own child, is cruel to that slave. And let us not forget that Hagar had no choice about having sex with Abraham or bearing his child.
Sara justifies her behaviour, sending Hagar and Ishmael out into the wilderness to die, by saying that Ishmael's very existence threatens her son Isaac. Even translators have helped her out over the years. The original Hebrew version of the story simply said Ishmael was laughing or playing. The Greek version of the Old Testament added in, Ishmael was playing or laughing “with Isaac.” Almost as if they were trying to justify Sara's behaviour in some way. Surely Ishmael did something wrong in order for Sara to exile him and his mother. The Hebrew word laughing or playing could also be translated as “mocking” so scholars and translators put forward the theory that Ishmael was mocking Isaac, that was problem.
How often do we try to justify racism that way? Well, didn't the person who was treated badly do something to deserve it? Didn't George Floyd try to use a counterfeit bill to pay for cigarettes? Really? Even if he did, does that justify killing him? Is racism ever justifiable?
Then there's Abraham, the bystander. He is upset by what Sara asks him to do, but he does it. Now it's true that God tells him it's okay, but that does feel a bit like the author trying to figure out a way to justify Abraham's behaviour.
And what about God's role? When first reading the story, it's hard to understand what God is doing. Why tell Abraham to do as Sara asks? But as I spent more time with the story and did more research, I saw some other points of view emerge.
For one thing, had Abraham defied Sara, how would life have been for Hagar and Ishmael, continuing to live with Sara? Would Abraham have continued to stand up to Sara or would he have allowed her to be cruel to them and looked the other way? Telling Abraham to listen to Sara could be seen as God getting Hagar and Ishmael away from the source of oppression.
And then there's part in story where both Hagar and Ishmael cry out and God hears and sees them. That's very powerful. It made me think of South Africa and the importance of the greeting, “I see you.” Because so often people of other races, sometimes even where they are the majority, are not seen. To say, “I see you,” is to say that you matter.
God saw Hagar and Ishmael and we are called to see people of all races, to do like God, to see where they are being oppressed, treated differently, and to do something about it.
Biblical scholar Geoff McElroy sees the story this way: “God hears the cry of the outcast, the victim, the one excluded. When the people of the covenant, symbolized here by Sarah and Abraham, push others out, God is still there with those others.”
And that's what makes this story so powerful. In general the Old Testament focuses on the Hebrew people, the people of Israel, as being God's chosen ones.
But here, right in the first book of the Bible, we have God not just seeing people other than Hebrews, but others who have been put down by God's chosen people; we have God seeing these others as being of full value, as mattering.
In other words, we see God standing up to racism and oppression in word and action. And make no mistake about it, this story is about racism. Hagar is very clearly named as Egyptian, not just another race, but a race that goes on to oppress the Hebrew people.
What does all this mean to us today, as people of faith in Canada? Well, first off, we have to acknowledge that just about everyone in our particular faith community in Comox is white. That's been the case in every church I have served. So we are part of the group that has the most power in Canada. And while it might be easy to say that as a woman, or as someone with a lower income or as a member of the LGBTQ community you have less power, still, if you're of European descent in Canada, you're part of the main power group.
We have to acknowledge that this is one of the biggest gaps in our country. Yes, there is a huge gap between rich and poor, there are gaps between men and women and with members of the LGBTQ community, but all of those gaps are far bigger if you are black or First Nations.
That's why I called this sermon Mind the Gap. It comes from the UK, that's what is said when you're getting off the underground train, “mind the gap”, be aware of the gap between the platform and the train.
We need to mind the gap in Canada between racial groups, and not just mind it, but also be aware of how big it is if we ever want things to truly change.
If we don't mind the gap, then we're like Abraham, closing our eyes and justifying our inaction by saying that everything looks fine.
Minding the gap means challenging our assumptions when we hear stories that involve race, listening with an open mind beyond our comfort zone. It means saying something when others make racist comments- and that can be hard when it's a well meaning friend or relative.
May God help us mind the gap with open eyes, open ears, open hearts – and may we and our country be changed in the process.