June 21, 2026 Sermon
Sermon Title: “Abraham and Hagar”
Scripture: Genesis 21: 8-21
(Other lectionary suggestions include Psalm 86:1-10 and 16-17, Romans 6:1-11, and Matthew 10:24-39.)
Genesis 21:8-21
Hagar and Ishmael Sent Away
8The child grew, and was weaned; and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. 9But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, playing with her son Isaac. 10So 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.” 11The matter was very distressing to Abraham on account of his son. 12But 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. 13As for the son of the slave woman, I will make a nation of him also, because he is your offspring.” 14So 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. 15When the water in the skin was gone, she cast the child under one of the bushes. 16Then 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. 17And 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. 18Come, lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make a great nation of him.” 19Then 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. 20God was with the boy, and he grew up; he lived in the wilderness, and became an expert with the bow. 21He lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
Happy Father’s Day, except the scripture we heard this morning is anything but a Happy passage. Sarah apparently grew jealous of seeing Isaac, the son she bore, playing with Ishmael, the son Hagar the slave girl bore. And remember that Sarah had urged Abraham to have sex with Hagar in an attempt to get an heir for Abraham. But she didn’t want Ishmael, Isaac’s half-brother, and Hagar to stay around her and Abraham, so she told Abraham to get rid of them. Not a very nice thing to read in our Bible, right? Remember that God’s ways are not our ways, as Isaiah will say later. But still, this is hard to read and to understand. But maybe this is an example of our needing to have faith, especially when we do not understand.
Says the scholar John C. L. Gibson, “a feast was held to celebrate Isaac’s weaning, and it was then that Sarah saw Ishmael, a lad of 15 or 16 now, playing with her own little boy, and all her latent jealousy and resentment rose to the surface. Not even God’s miracle in giving her a son in her old age could remove the bitterness in her soul, and she demanded that Abraham cast him and his mother out.” In Sarah’s words, “the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.”
Again, quoting Bible scholar John C. L. Gibson, “The promise would work itself out through Isaac alone, and though Ishmael as his son would have a great future, he had of this moment to be excluded. The compromise which with the best of motives Abraham had attempted to weave was blown sky-high by a piece of divine savagery that can hardly be equaled in any other part of Scripture. Abraham could only obey, but it must have been with a heart near to breaking that the next morning he gave some bread and water to Hagar and sent her and Ishmael out into the desert.”
Please notice that the commentator Mr. Gibson called what we heard today a piece of “divine savagery,” not I. But it IS hard to disagree. We are told that Ishmael grows up and becomes a skilled bowman, and we are told that Hagar procures a wife for him from Egypt.
While this story may not sit right with us, the whole point is that Abraham obeyed God - and Abraham believed because he was convinced that what he did was God’s will. Says Gibson, “It was the cruel demand that faith made on him.” The storyteller or author here places the responsibility for what has happened directly on God. You and I may think that Hagar and Ishmael got a raw deal, and the storyteller does not disagree, although he does believe that it was God’s will. But so also was the miracle of Isaac’s birth, and very undeserved. Says Gibson, “The prejudice is plainly God’s. The Bible’s word for it is grace.”
In today’s sermon perhaps I need to point out something that I have not mentioned before. Abraham and Sarah did not trust God fully, and they decided to take matters into their own hands. God had said earlier that Abraham and Sarah would conceive and have a son, Isaac. And it would be through Isaac that God’s blessings would pass. But Abraham and Sarah “laughed” at the idea, thinking they were too old. So, Sarah urged Abraham to have sex with Hagar the slave girl, and he did. Definitely not God’s plan but Sarah and Abraham’s plan! The boy Ishmael was born, and we know the rest. The point is, they did not trust God. If they had, then perhaps much pain could have been spared. Perhaps one of the points of this story is to trust God, even if doing so seems foolish. As we said last week, is ANYTHING too much for God? Is there ANYTHING that God can’t do? Says the commentator John C. L. Gibson, “it is the consistent message of the Bible that the workings of God’s grace are not only marvelous but can be very perturbing, quite beyond our ability to understand. We can never hope to explain or account for them by rational means and at the end of the day, have, like Abraham, simply to accept them.”
Sarah and Abraham attempted to rush God’s plan by turning to their own strategies. When their efforts produced strife, it displayed the consequences of not waiting on divine timing. We should trust in God’s timing. We need to avoid the trap of taking matters into our own hands. Faith calls for patient waiting. Despite human failing and doubt, God remained faithful to fulfill His covenant with Abraham. Isaac’s miraculous birth demonstrated God’s faithfulness. Sarah’s impatience and Hagar’s contempt offer insights into human weakness. Yet, God’s promise to Abraham did not fail. This story shows God’s grace reaching individuals of different backgrounds, reaffirming that He orchestrates events for His purpose despite human failings.
Despite the turmoil, Hagar’s encounters with the angel of the Lord show compassion toward the marginalized. She was an Egyptian servant, yet God acknowledged her plight and promised blessings for her offspring. We should have compassion toward others. Believers learn to treat everyone-particularly those in vulnerable positions-with dignity, following the example of divine care for Hagar. God doesn’t overlook people who the world considers insignificant. Hagar was a slave; many people wouldn’t have cared what happened to her after she was put out of her master’s house… but God cared. Repeatedly in the scriptures, we see God’s kindness towards people who are typically categorized into the “lower-class.” When Jesus came to the earth, He didn’t spend His time with the elites of society, He spent the balance of His time with the common people. You don’t have to be special in the eyes of your society to be special in the eyes of God.
The unique birth of Isaac, from a barren woman advanced in age, underscores that the fulfillment of God’s plan is His work, not human engineering. We should have hope in God’s plan. Even when circumstances appear impossible, this story reminds us of God’s power to bring life out of barrenness and transform hopeless situations.
Even though Ishmael received blessings, Isaac alone inherited the covenant tied to Abraham’s lineage. This distinction highlights God’s sovereign choice and the unfolding plan of salvation that would eventually point to the Messiah. Links to the continuity of this promise appear in the New Testament, showing that God’s redemptive design is not thwarted by human error. Though the covenant continued through Isaac, God providentially cared for Hagar and Ishmael, promising to make Ishmael a great nation.
The apostle Paul uses Sarah and Hagar symbolically to describe two covenants. Hagar represents the covenant from Mount Sinai (the law), while Sarah stands for the freedom found in the promise. This teaches spiritual truths about reliance on faith rather than human works.
The account of Sarah and Hagar in Genesis holds lasting significance. It highlights the tension between human efforts and divine promise, exemplifies God’s concern for the outcast, underscores profound lessons about faith, and illustrates how the covenant unfolds despite human mistakes. Its portrayal in both the Old and New Testaments connects to the broader salvation message-a timeless reminder of the reliability of Scripture and the necessity of trusting in God’s sovereign provision. Amen.
Pastor Skip
