Rev. Don Erickson

Instead of going into details myself about this oft-abused and misunderstood text, I'm shaing a succinct and clear look at the text by biblical scholar and influencer Dan McClellan. He perfectly summarizes my thoughts on the text. So why reinvent the wheel?

  Sometimes, a song lyric moves the theme for a Sunday meditation. This week is an example. I read the lectionary scriptures for this week, focusing per usual on the New Testament readings from Hebrews and Mark. The Hebrews passage references Jesus as our brother. Mark, while not explicitly referring to Jesus as father, describes him as a fatherly figure.   This picture that to us Jesus is both father and brother recalled a lyric from Michael Card’s 1986 song, “Forgiving Eyes.” The song is musical rendition of the Woman Caught in Adultery story from John 7. The song is written from the perspective of the woman. The first verse describes the woman being caught in the act and being brought in front of an ad hoc Jewish court. Rabbi Jesus happens to be there, and he’s asked his opinion. The moment Jesus begins speaking, the woman understands that there’s hope for her. The woman cries, My judge a man from Galilee In His eyes so gentle I could see A father and a brother and a son A father, a

We come now to a narrative that in some ways is the worst story in all of scripture. The reason it is so bad is because many trace the present-day conflict between Jews and Arabian peoples back to the story, the narrative of Abram, Sarai, Hagar, and Ishmael. A deadly feud that is always in danger of breaking out in full out war, like now - that many see this story as the start of it all certainly makes it a haunted story. It all begins in Genesis 16. The story basically goes like this: Abram and Sarai grow increasingly impatient that the child God promised them isn’t arriving. Sarai especially is having difficulty waiting. Without consulting God, Sarai hatches a plan. Have Abram marry one of their enslaved. Hagar is chosen. Hagar and Abram consummate their union and indeed a child is conceived, a boy who will be named Ishmael. But as the story goes in Genesis 16, the pregnant Hagar makes her lack of fondness for Sarai increasingly known. Sarai responds in kind and worse. A feud begin