The biblical accounts of God’s people do not hide the reality of the multiple shortcomings of those who seek to follow God. Here is the story of Hagar. She is a slave for the wife of one of the leaders of the faith community (Genesis 16:1). A slave! She was not a hired helper; she was a slave.
When the wife of this spiritual leader realized that it looked as if she and her husband would not have children, she suggested that her husband try to get the slave girl pregnant (Genesis 16:2). (This is not a TV soap opera; this is a biblical memory!) Jealousy (Genesis 16:5). Abandoned child (Genesis 21:15-16). Depression (Genesis 21:17).
Good grief! And this is supposed to be a Book with accounts of Good News!
That illegitimate son? Look at Genesis 16:10. That sounds like good news! Jealousy? Look at Genesis 21:10-13. That sounds like good news! Abandoned child? Look at Genesis 21:16-19. That sounds like good news. Depression? Look at Genesis 21:19-20. That sounds like good news.
Over and over again, God has taken human weakness and brought a scene of good news. (Some of the Muslim community see Genesis 16:10 and Genesis 21:21 as roots of Islamic faith. In the Quran, Muhammad sees Arabic Muslims as descendants of Ishmael.)
In no way are these turns toward good news supposed to justify the harmful, painful - dare we say sinful? - decisions that created the circumstances. The slavery of Hagar is not justified just because God was able to make something good out of it. This story is not an excuse for us to live any way we want to, “because God can fix it.” The apostle Paul recognized that temptation to sin and wrote, “What then are we to say? Should we continue to sin in order that grace may abound? By no means!” (Romans 6:1-2a.)
Hagar’s legacy is one of God’s sustaining presence in the midst of human brokenness.
