Thursday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 374

So Sarai said to Abram: "You are responsible for this outrage against me. I myself gave my maid to your embrace; but ever since she became aware of her pregnancy, she has been looking on me with disdain. May the LORD decide between you and me!"

I have been reading FDR at War, a trilogy by Nigel Hamilton about President Roosevelt and his leadership during World War II. Professor Hamilton intends with this enormous project to tell FDR's side of the story, which is quite different from that of his British partner, Sir Winston Churchill. Roosevelt did not live to write his own account, or to respond to Churchill's six-volume version of the war. The Prime Minister's tragic meddling in military adventures during the First and Second World Wars, his foot-dragging during preparation for D-Day, and his suppression of liberty in British colonies did not appear in his epic Second World War. He did not say how he pressed ahead with his effort to capture the symbolic city of Rome as Roosevelt succumbed to congestive heart failure. He did not notice that Hitler and his people wisely followed Napoleon's advice, "Don't interfere with your enemy when he is making a mistake."

Hamilton, who seems to struggle and lose the effort to write history dispassionately, finally concludes: "The sheer amateurishness of the Prime Minister's concept of modern war would, in retrospect, be mind-boggling -- even criminal in its folly. But Churchill was Churchill: a force of nature." He would have his way and Americans would die on the beach at Anzio for no strategic or military advantage.

The Genesis story of Abram, Sarai, Hagar and the baby Ishmael reminds me of Hamilton's account. Although wise leadership and common sense dictate otherwise, people are driven by deeper, darker forces and others are made to suffer for no good reason. If Sarai changed her mind about Hagar, Abraham could not argue with her. He might have tried to pull rank on her, being the "head of the family," but it would have done him no good.

Some commentators believe Genesis is the story of God learning how to deal with human beings. The God who appears in Genesis is not exactly all-knowing and all-wise. His sage advice to Adam and Cain were ignored. His attempt to squelch wickedness with a world-wide flood failed catastrophically. He had to back down when Abraham prepared to obey his insane demand concerning Isaac. God had much to learn about managing his own creation.

I find a confirmation of this notion in the writing of Saint Irenaeus, "...when the Son of God became the Son of Man, the Spirit also descended upon him, becoming accustomed in this way to dwelling with the human race, to living in men and to inhabiting God's creation." Why would God become human if not to learn how difficult human life can be? 

The forces of righteousness often see things in black and white. But inevitably their white becomes grey -- and more grey -- and eventually black. They cannot see color. So God and his faithful learn to negotiate in a political world where the wicked have rights and even the humblest, most marginalized have influence. Where "good" armies commit diabolical deeds and "evil" enemies play show compassion.

The story of Abram, Sarai, Hagar and Ishmael introduces another people into salvation history. Ishmael is said to be the ancestor of Arabs and Muslims. To this day they retain the promise: "I will make your descendants so numerous," added the LORD's messenger, "that they will be too many to count." Some might argue Sarai's impulse was irrational and Abraham was foolish and there shouldn't be any Ishmaelites! But with God's compassionate, ever generous and joyful Spirit, we deal with it.