The following sermon was not an easy one for me to write, and I’m still not sure how much I like it or how happy I am with it. But I got a fair bit of positive feedback from women from both congregations where I preached this past Sunday. One thing in particular stuck with me. While saying goodbye at the door, one woman in her 80s reached for my hand with both of hers and said, “Thank you. That was a really brave sermon and so important.” Because of that, I decided to translate that sermon and share it with the wider world. But for anyone reading this: I also want to give you all a heads-up that I will talk about sexual and domestic violence. Not in a graphic or even detailed, but still. And I also talk about the emotional roller coaster of wanting children but not being able to conceive/carry to term. Again, not in much detail. But this definitely isn’t a light-hearted sermon.
The biblical text that forms the foundation of today’s sermon has accompanied us as a whole and in parts this past year. For vers 13b was the “Jahreslosung” in 2023:
“You are the God who sees me.”
Multiple sermons could be written about this verse alone. But today, I want to look at the story as a whole. This story that is so full of emotions and conflicts. This story I’m struggling with, to be honest. This story in which Abram and Sarai are anything but a moral role model and where they, instead, come across as sensitive, aggrieved, imperious, and vindictive.
But before we hear the biblical text in a moment and explore the story in detail, I want to briefly outline what happens in the chapter before and after this one.
Chapter 15 tells us about the covenant between God and Abram. About the promise of children and thereby of biological heirs for Abram, and the promise of land for him and his children.
In chapter 17, the covenant between God and Abram, and the promise of heirs, is renewed. It is said explicitly that Sarai will give birth as well and that the covenant will only be with Issac, but not with Ismael, the son born to Abram by Hagar. But God also promises to bless Ismael and give him many heirs as well.
It’s between those two chapters full of promises that today’s text takes place. In Genesis chapter 16 it says:
1Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; 2so she said to Abram, ‘The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.’ Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. 5Then Sarai said to Abram, ‘You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.’ 6‘Your slave is in your hands,’ Abram said. ‘Do with her whatever you think best.’ Then Sarai ill-treated Hagar; so she fled from her. 7The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8And he said, ‘Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?’ ‘I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,’ she answered. 9Then the angel of the Lord told her, ‘Go back to your mistress and submit to her.’ 10The angel added, ‘I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.’ 11The angel of the Lord also said to her: ‘You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard of your misery. 12He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility towards all his brothers.’ 13She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: ‘You are the God who sees me,’ for she said, ‘I have now seen the One who sees me.’ 14That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered. 15So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. 16Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.
This text seems pretty foreign in this day and age. At least, it does to me, and I’ll hazard a guess that I’m not alone in this. I can’t find anything positive in this text when I read this story through my usual feminist, and pastoral care lens. But I am also the daughter of a historian and cultural anthropologist. Thus, I learned at an early age that you have to keep the historical and sociocultural context of such texts in mind instead of looking at them merely from a modern perspective. So, let’s do this briefly.
At the time of Abram and Sarai, humans believed it was solely the woman’s “fault” when a couple didn’t have children which explains Sarai’s shame and guilt for not giving her husband and heir. Additionally, infertility was often seen as a punishment of God by which God closed a woman’s womb. Be it as a punishment for the wife or the husband.
Having children was very important. Thus, it wasn’t uncommon for a man to father a child with one of their slaves. The law at the time said that such a child would be considered his wife’s child. It was basically a form of surrogacy. Albeit against the will of the woman who had to carry the child. But let’s leave it here regarding the context of this text.
Does the historical and sociocultural context make the story better? Especially concerning how the two women were treated and treated each other? Not really, if you ask me. It explains it, though. In particular as I think that many of us are able to relate to all the emotions in this text.
I know the emotional roller coaster that is infertility when you long for a child only too well because of family and friends who have been through that ordeal. Today – in heterosexual couples – both partners tend to wonder if they are to “blame” for it. But back in the day, they didn’t wonder. As mentioned before: For Sarai, there was no question but that it was her fault. The guilt and shame that come with infertility were immense, and often still are.
Sarai’s emotions are even more understandable when considering that God had promised Abram heirs. Yet even ten years later, she hasn’t been able to conceive. This turns her bitter and – unsurprisingly – makes her accuse God of acting contradictory. So she decides to take matters into her own hands and tells her husband to have a child with her slave, Hagar.
Against her will, Hagar is impregnated. The mere thought makes me feel sick, to be honest. But Hagar doesn’t want to be used. She rises against Sarai as she believes that her pregnancy makes her more important. She sees Sarai differently. She rivals with her. Rebels against her, in fact. And in the end, runs away from the abusive situation she is in. What a fu- horrible situation…
And now? In the historical context, it makes sense that God’s messenger sends Hagar back. A woman alone in the desert had little to no chance of survival. A pregnant woman probably even less so. By returning, she saved her own life and the life of her unborn child. Yet here in Germany in 2024, it feels so wrong that she was sent back. I would never tell someone who is experiencing domestic and/or sexual violence that they should go back. Instead, I’d do all in my power to make sure that they get out of that situation and into safety.
At the same time I’m also aware that my view, my interpretation of this text is merely one among many. For Hagar is not only the first person in the Bible to meet a messenger of God, but she is also the first woman in the Bible to be given a promise by God. She is also the mother of Ismael, who – in Islam – became the father of the 12 Arabic tribes. And Hagar plays an essential part for female BIPOC Christians in North America and within womanist theology as they see her story as one of empowerment.
After all, it is Hagar’s decision to return. And what is more: God’s messenger is the first person in this story who calls her by her name. Because of him she feels seen; both by him and by God. And I can tell you as someone who – for various reasons – has often been overlooked and forgotten: When someone truly sees you and notices you – that does something to you. So I’m not surprised that Hagar gave God the name “El-Roi – God who sees me”.
Amen.
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds through Christ Jesus.
Amen.
My Road to my True Self 
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