Galatians 4:21-31
Hagar and Sarah
21Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says? 22For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. 23His son by the slave woman was born in the ordinary way; but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a promise.
24These things may be taken figuratively, for the women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. 25Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. 26But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. 27For it is written:
"Be glad, O barren woman,
who bears no children;
break forth and cry aloud,
you who have no labor pains;
because more are the children of the desolate woman
than of her who has a husband."
28Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29At that time the son born in the ordinary way persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now. 30But what does the Scripture say? "Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman's son." 31Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.
St. Paul tells us the story of Hagar and Sarah...God had a covenant with Abraham and Sarah...Abraham our first patriarch had two sons...One was by the slave woman and his wife's maidservant, named Hagar...This son was named Ismael...The other son was born in the ordinary way; but this son was born by the free woman, his wife, Sarah...This son was named Isaac...Isaac was the son born of the covenant with the LORD...Ismael, who was born first out of Sarah and Abraham's impatience of not trusting in the LORD, and awaiting for the right time for his son, with Sarah...Isaac was born out of a promise from God...God's promise means everything...This promise was a covenant He made to Abraham, which He kept with him, despite Abraham having a son with the maidservant, Hagar...
Like life, the story of Hagar and Sarah and the two sons, Ismael and Isaac become complicated, difficult, and confusing...And it is not because of God, it is because of Sarah and Abraham...God has promised the couple a child, but they could not wait, as they advanced in their years of old age...But God can do miracles to any one at any age...God can make all things new...Abraham was eighty six years old when he had Ismael and one hundred years old when he had Isaac...Sarah was ninety, when she gave birth...
When God makes a promise it is kept...Sarah is like the holy, heavenly city of Jerusalem, the mother of Isaac...In St. Paul's allegory, he tells us we are descendants of Abraham and Isaac can be free...And now He has a new promise and a new covenant...Even the Gentile believers of Galatia, if they believe in the new promise that God sent His Son, they are a part of this new promise.. Those that hold on to the New Teacher's teachings, and this good news are His disciples...Then we will know the truth, and this truth, and this new promise will set us free (John 8:31-32)....Those that are believers in Jesus by their faith in God's original promise are made a part of the original seed of Abraham, according to the original covenant made to him... We then are like the true descendants of Abraham, and children of God by His promise to Abraham...
St. Luke gives us Jesus' lineage, from God to Adam, all the way to Jesus (Luke 3:23-38)...St. Matthew also gives us the family tree of Jesus (Matthew 1:1-16)...Abraham is a great, great, great grandfather of Jesus in both of the genealogies...Jesus is a true descendant of Abraham...We also know that Jesus tells us before Abraham was born I AM (John 8:58)...Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing Jesus' day; and Abraham did see it, and he was glad (John 8:56)...Jesus is divine...Jesus' grandmother is Sarah, and she represents the city of Jerusalem...Sarah is the mother of all believers, those believers are all free, these believers are born of the Holy Spirit...St. Paul's story teaches us the history of the two mothers of Abraham's children and their relationship with him...Sarah's lineage is the covenant with God...St. Paul's story also teaches us how God relates to His people and to everyone...Since, we know that Jesus is from the seed of David and the seed of Abraham, He is the Messiah...He has fulfilled Scripture...He is part of the covenant with God and Abraham, yet Jesus is a new covenant and has a relationship with everyone...Even though the old covenant with God and Abraham is still there and in affect, something has changed, since His Son's birth...This new covenant with the Father, the Son born of the power of the Holy Spirit is superior to the old covenant of God with Abraham...