Approximately 70 to 80 miles southwest of Joliet, between Powell and Cody, is the site of one of the Japanese interment camps from the second world war. Heart Mountain housed over 11 thousand people of Japanese ancestry who were gathered up by the government after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. They were gathered for the safety of the nation going to war against Japan. Those people were gathered up and sent to detainment centers and then eventually internment camps across the country. They lost their homes, businesses, farms, and ranches . . . everything just because they were Japanese. It did not matter that most of them were citizens of the United States. It was for the security and good of the nation’s safety that they were put away.
Despite most of them being citizens with constitutional rights that were blatantly ignored, they were picked up and hauled to places far from their homes. Imagine how they felt . . . was anybody listening?
Approximately 90 miles to the east of Joliet sits Crow Agency, the headquarters of the Crow Nation tribal land . . . which most of us refer to as the reservation. This is the final resting place of the Crow nation after hundreds of years of surviving the westward movement of the United States. This is the land that they were given for having survived what many call genocide again Native American people . . . surviving their land being taken, their food sources being destroyed, white people’s diseases, battles and wars, boarding schools, and numerous attempts by the federal government to wipe out the indigenous completely.
Reservations across the country have the highest rates of poverty, unemployment, hunger, drug abuse, and missing people. They were gathered up, thrown onto reservations, and hoped that they would disappear. Their life and culture destroyed. There are seven reservations in the state of Montana on which there are twelve recognized Montana tribes . . . and one tribe without a reservation—the Little Shell Chippewa. Imagine how they must have felt and how they feel . . . was anybody listening?
These are two sites within our area that serve as reminders of people being thrown out . . . being removed . . . of being thrown out of the picture. Our scripture reading this morning is such a story. It is the story of Hagar and Ishmael. Prior to last week’s story of the miraculous birth of Isaac, Abraham and Sarah struggled to have children, especially a son. God had even promised the two of them that they would have a child . . . but they laughed. With Sarah remaining barren, they took matters into their own hands. Sarah insisted that Abraham father a child with her slave Hagar . . . in which he did. The sight of the pregnant Hagar upset Sarah who banishes the pregnant woman to the desert. In the desert Hagar encounters God who then promises the same thing as Abraham had been given . . . God would make her descendants “too numerous to count.” So, she returns. That tryst produced a son named Ishmael.
Flash forward about fifteen years to our story this morning. The birth of Isaac tears open the old wounds of resentment and jealousy within Sarah towards Hagar and Ishmael. Again, she insists that the two be removed from the camp . . . kicked out . . . driven out . . . forgotten. Thus, they are banished and moved to the desert where they run out of water and food. The heat is unbearable. Hagar knows that her child is dying.
Imagine how she must have felt . . . banished, hated, despised . . . did anyone care? Was anyone listening?
Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Suess, started his career as an illustrator and cartoonist for various magazines and advertising firms. He was also a political cartoonist. Eventually he wandered over into the world of children’s books in which he wrote over 60 books. When the second world war broke out with the bombing of Pearl Harbor, he was like a lot of Americans . . . he harbored very strong anti-Japan sentiments. He had no difficulty in wanting to see all those of Japanese ancestry gathered up and placed in internment camps even though the majority of those people were American citizens.
Then he had a change of understanding and heart. After the war he visited post-war Japan and witnessed the devastation of the war and nuclear bombs on the people, the land, and their culture. He realized the great wrong that was done to those Americans who had been of Japanese descent. He realized the prevalent attitude of the nation and world of not caring . . . after all, they were the winners and the Japanese were the losers. He wondered if anyone was listening.
Horton Hears a Who is the book that came about from that experience in his life. It is the story of Horton the Elephant and his efforts to protect the people of Whoville from annihilation from the world around them. Whoville is a microscopic community filled with microscopic people that are so small no one can see them . . . they can barely hear them. But Horton does. Realizing the life that is there Horton swears that he will protect as he proclaims, “A person is a person, no matter how small.”
Horton hears them. Horton acknowledges them. Horton then protects them. Horton hears.
The story of Hagar and Ishmael is a story of those who are thrown out for whatever reason people come up. In their case it was the threat they represented to Sarah, Abraham, and Isaac . . . the lost of God’s promise. The solution . . . remove them, throw them away . . . out of sight, out of mind. In this case, death seems like a good means of solving the problem. But Hagar and Ishmael only stand as the metaphor for all those people and groups of people across the ages and across the world that no one wants . . . or they were standing in the way of something that others wanted.
The Native Americans . . . the Japanese at the start of the second world war . . . those are two examples just down the road from where we live. It is hard to ignore their stories. But they are not the only ones . . . they are the tip of the iceberg. What lies below the water? I imagine that we could all name groups of people that would fit into this category . . . those removed . . . those banished . . . those on the outside . . . those forgotten.
Where do we want to start . . . with those who have disabilities . . . to those who are poor . . . to those who are of a different race or culture . . . to those who are elderly . . . those who are hungry . . . those of different faiths and religions . . . those in prison . . . those who are naked . . . those who are the least of these? Who else?
Who hears the cry of these people?
God does. At least that is what we learn from the story of Hagar and Ishmael. One of the coolest things about this story is the name of Ishmael. Ishmael’s name means “God hears” in Hebrew.
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. Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. God was with the boy as he grew up.
And a great nation was born . . . Islam, cousin to Jews and Christians as all three trace their ancestry to Abraham. Ishmael bears a name that signals a promise to all. God is not deaf, dumb, or blind. God is not implacable, impersonal, or impassible, without feeling or emotion. God is not an absent landlord deity. As the followers of Jesus we believe that God sees every human misery, and that God hears every painful sob. God is with us . . . always with us.
God hears . . . and cares. Ask Hagar. Ask Ishmael. They will tell you. It was true then and it is true today. Amen.
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