Adult Bible Study September 23, 2007

Lesson Text: Genesis 21:9-21
By Melanie Zuercher
E-mail: mz606@cox.net

“God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, ‘What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there’” Genesis 21:17TNIV.

The story of Hagar and Ishmael wandering in the wilderness resonates deeply with a parent or anyone who cares for a child. Most of us don’t know firsthand what it’s like to see a child hungry, thirsty, terrified or in pain, and be unable to help. But we can empathize with mothers and fathers in Iraq, Darfur, or Peru who may have experienced just that.

One story in the news lately has some similarities with (and also some important differences from) the one in today’s text. Elvira Arellano came to the United States from Mexico illegally in 1997. She gave birth as a single mother to a son, Saul—by law a U.S. citizen—in 2000. In 2002, she was arrested at her workplace, O’Hare Airport. She fought deportation for four years, finally taking refuge in a Chicago-area church in August 2006. One year later, she chose to leave “sanctuary.” On August 19, less than a month ago, she was arrested in California and almost immediately sent back to Mexico.

Elvira says she should not have to choose between being able to live with Saul and depriving him of the benefits of his U.S. citizenship. Some critics say she is exploiting the child in order to remain in the United States. Clear differences between the stories of Elvira and Hagar are that Elvira broke the law, and she had choices that Hagar did not.

Yet the story of Elvira Arellano can call up images of desperate people choosing to cross the desert border between the United States and Mexico, wandering lost (and sometimes with children in tow) through the vast, inhospitable landscape without sufficient food or water—just like Hagar. The tensions in the United States over what should be done about illegal immigration mirror in some ways the tensions in Abraham’s household; on one side Sarah, who wanted the problem gone, and on the other Abraham, for whom the “problem” was also family.

The text does not give ready answers for this difficult problem. But it does show that God meets needs, as with Hagar, and may be calling us to help others see a solution to their difficult situations today.