Pentecost 2 / Year A
22 June 2014 / Meadow Lea
Genesis 21: 8-21
Those of you who have been watching the latest news from Iraq will know that the
Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a religious militia, is now moving through Iraq in a very
violent takeover of that nation. They are executing members of the Iraqi army, one town after
another, and mowing down any others who stand in the way of their religious cause.
On Thursday, this article appeared in the CBC online news: "Farah Mohamed Shirdon, a
Calgarian in his early 20s, is fighting overseas with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Shirdon,
who was enrolled in the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology until at least 2012, appears in
an ISIS video released two months ago. Before burning his Canadian passport, Shirdon, in full
view of the camera lens, issued a threat to Canada, the U.S. and "all oppressors." "We are
coming and we will destroy you by the will of God," Shirdon says on the video.
Now this young man comes from a prominent and well-educated Somali Canadian
family. His uncle was a former prime minister of Somalia who survived numerous attempts on
his life by al-Shabab militants. Al-Shabab is fighting for an Islamic state in Somalia under the
banner of al-Qaeda. They are the same terrorists that attacked the Nairobi market when Heather
and I were visiting Kenya last month.
Shirdon is the latest radicalized young man from Calgary to be identified by CBC News.
His mother and sister live in Calgary and are deeply involved in the religious life of their
community. The family says they are "confused and pained by Farah’s choice," and they have
asked for privacy from the media.
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It often seems as if young Moslem males are easy targets for this kind of radicalization.
Does it have anything to do with their religious beliefs? How do religious differences start
anyway? The scripture lesson today from Gen 21 can actually help us think about this.
Look at the story. Hagar and Ishmael are treated very badly here. Hagar is completely
powerless. She is a black woman, used by a male; and then abused by Sarah. She is a surrogate
mother. And she is a resident alien without any legal recourse for being mistreated.
The story ends badly. Abraham was a wealthy man, who could have given them enough
food and provisions to last them the rest of their lives. But he gives Hagar and Ishmael a loaf of
bread and a bottle of water; and he sends them off to die in the desert. Clearly, injustice, racism,
and ethnic hatred were alive and well in Abraham's time. So let us admit, right up front: those
issues are often interwoven with religious differences!
But there is so much more to this story. Remember what was said in Gen 21: God had
plans for Ishmael. God had made promises. God was going to build out of Ishmael a mighty
nation. And this all becomes part of another story: the story of Islam.
In the Bible, what we know about Ishmael ends here; but in the Koran, Ishmael goes on
to Mecca and builds a mosque. He becomes the physical father of the Arab peoples, and the
spiritual father to the Islamic community.
Now it's not my job to tell you whether the account in the Koran is true or false. But what
is important here, in Gen 21, is that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob - and the God of
Jesus - is clearly also the God of Ishmael. We share the same family tree. Abraham is the father
of our faith. And it is pretty clear from Genesis 21, that our God is also Ishmael's God.
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This is a head-scratcher. Because Paul tells us in the Christian Scriptures, Hagar and
Ishmael are not the mother and father of faith. They are not chosen by God in the same way that
Isaac and Jacob are. So it would seem that these people are NOT our people, and their story is
NOT our story...but our God is their God too.
With the violence that is being perpetrated by Islamists, there are Christians who feel
uncomfortable at being spiritually connected to Ishmael, and to moslems. And the perspective of
a modern Jew is not much different in this regard. Today's Jews feel no sense of kinship with
their Palestinian brethren; and of course, it is the Palestinian people who are the modern
descendants of Ishmael. At this moment, on the West Bank of Israel, both sides continue to
argue violently, saying "this land is not your land".
But Genesis 21 is clear. God loved Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; and God loved Ishmael
and his children too. So God is the Lord of both nations - both Jews and Palestinians. And their
God is our God. The same God who heard the cries of Israel, and heard the cries of Hagar and
Ishmael, hears our cries and our prayers as Christians.
Why can't we all just join hands and sing "Kum ba Yah"? Because a lot of other things
come into play. History, politics, and culture, to name just a few. Think of the struggle that
Anglophone and Francophone Canadians have had since Confederation. We live in the same
country too. It doesn't stop us from disagreeing violently over issues; even wanting to partition
Canada. Remember the referendum vote!
But doesn't it seem at times as if it's only young Moslem males that snap, and become
violent, and begin shooting people? Well - if we really thought that only happens to Moslems,
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then we should read the story of Justin Bourque, who was arrested just this past week for
shooting three mounties in Moncton. It's in the June 23 issue of Maclean's. Justin Bourque grew
up as a normal kid in a devout Catholic family. But something happened to convince him that he
had to take action on his own, to right a wrong. And Justin Bourque, a 24 year old white, middleclass, Catholic boy went on a violent rampage. A rampage that, at the end of the day, was really
no different from the kind of violence chosen by the Moslem Canadian,
Farah Mohamed Shirdon.
So where is the good news here? What is the takeaway? It seems clear to me that we
may never say Moslems have a different God than we do. They do not. We are all children of the
one God, through Abraham. We are part of Abraham's family tree. And whether we like it or
not, Ishmael is our first cousin.
I think the gospel is this: as people of faith, we will understand one another better when
we admit that we are first cousins, and we may not use religion as a reason for being suspicious
of one another. The choice between good and evil has been given to all people of faith, all
Moslems, Jews, and Christians.
But speaking of choices between good and evil... let's recall that Abraham and Sarah
didn't do so well in their treatment of Hagar and Ishmael.
May we do much better in our treatment of Ishmael's descendants, the Moslems of today.
Amen.
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