Saturday, June 23, 2001
Saturday, June 23, 2001
For I fear that when I come, I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me
not as you wish; I fear that there may perhaps be quarreling, jealousy, anger, selfishness, slander,
gossip, conceit, and disorder.
Hagar and Sarah didn't get along; there was deep resentment and bitterness on Sarah's part. Sarah
saw Ishmael playing with her son Isaac. She was filled with jealousy and anger. She wanted
Abraham to get rid of this woman and her son. You would have thought that Sarah would have
been grateful for having a son in her old age. Instead she was so eaten up by jealousy that she
wanted Hagar and Ishmael out of her life forever.
Don't let jealousy hurt your life or the life of others.
(2 Corinthians 12:20
NRSV)
Abraham was a father. It's hard to imagine what it must have been like for Abraham to finally
have a son by his wife, Sarah. It was a miracle. Abraham named his son, Isaac. As was the
custom of the day, when Isaac was about three years old he was "weaned" and a celebration
ensued. In the midst of this celebration something unsettling took place. Sarah saw her son Isaac
playing with Ishmael. Ishmael was also Abraham's son. His mother was the slave woman, Hagar.
Abraham had taken God's promise seriously that he would father a great nation. When God was
slow to act, Abraham decided to take matters into his own hands and have a son with this slave.
Dear God, root out the jealousy of my life. Amen.
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