Passage: Galatians 4:21-31
Purpose: To taste the freedom, delight, and abundance of grace and the despair of the law, as represented by Sarah and Hagar.
Time: 5 minutes
Setting: Two women enter from opposite sides of stage and stand facing the audience. Sarah is on stage right and Hagar is stage left. They do not look at each other. Between monologues, they “freeze” with their gaze fixed on the floor.
Photo courtesy of Sheila via flickr.com
Script:
Childless
Sarah:
We thought that Eliezer of Damascus would inherit, since the way of women had long passed with me. A mere servant, inheriting all that we had! I was 76. But one day—I can remember it as if it was yesterday—Abram came into our tent bewildered and excited. Yahweh had come to him again, had promised him son a out of his own loins—a son to inherit! Yahweh would do this for us! Clearly, though, not through me. But, if Yahweh had promised, there would be a way. Perhaps he meant to give us a child through one of our slaves. Yes, then my husband would have a true blood heir, and I in my old age would have an adopted son! Praise Yahweh for his promise!
Hagar:
Today my mistress came and told me that, tonight, I must go into my master. They had chosen me to provide them with a son, “if it pleases Yahweh” she said. Her request surprised me. Certainly such things can be demanded of a slave, everyone knows that. A slave owns nothing, not even her own body. And it is common for masters to build their families this way, especially when their wives are barren. But why now, after all these years? And why bring their god into it? Based on how the midwives talk, tonight is a good night for me to get pregnant—it has nothing to do with their god, nothing special, just the way a woman’s body works.
The Promise
Hagar:
I served my master that night as demanded of me. Two weeks later the first sign came, or rather, didn’t come. The midwives were right. My stomach swelled, as expected, and my service continued with morning sickness, constant fatigue, and swollen ankles. For nine months my body served them, shaping and nurturing the child within in me—the child, that like my own body, would not be mine—not in the real sense. He would be Abram’s and Sarai’s.
Sarah:
I laughed. Abram laughed. And I wouldn’t be surprised if Yahweh laughed, too. He didn’t need our help. He actually meant to give us our own son! My flesh and blood as well as Abram’s. Here I am 90 years old, worn out, and with child these last 6 weeks! When the three visitors came last year and promised that I would bear a son, I laughed in unbelief. But now, I laugh in amazement at this gift, this miracle. We will have a son, a true son, to inherit all we have. Praise be to Yahweh!
Persecution and Expulsion
Sarah:
Last month Isaac was weaned and Abraham threw a great feast. It was a time of celebration. Yahweh had kept his promise! But at the feast I saw Ishmael, the slave woman’s son, mocking my Isaac. I saw hatred in his eyes. And suddenly I understood the threat he posed. Abraham had raised the young teenager with the expectation that he would to inherit everything and, from Ishmael’s point of view, Isaac had robbed him of all that. My son was all that stood between Ishmael and the inheritance. They could not stay, for Isaac’s sake, for the sake of the promise. The slave woman and her son must go! At first Abraham resisted. But Yahweh came to him again and told him to not be displeased about this matter, that it was through Isaac that his offspring would be named. So Hagar and her son were sent away.
Hagar:
And so we left, leaving behind the tents and the animals and all that Ishmael had ever know. We headed out into the wilderness of Beersheba, with nowhere to go. Ishmael carried our dwindling water supply, while I carried the remaining bits of bread. I let him walk ahead of me. I did not want him to see my anguish. He almost had everything. We could have lived in those fine tents, with thousands of sheep, cattle, and servants. He would have owned it all. But instead we face the wilderness, alone. And, even if we survive, we have nothing.
