A Tale of Two Fathers – A Father’s Day Sermon

Genesis 21:8-21

The Coincidence That Isn’t

It is one of those wonderful coincidences that brings together a special day like Father’s Day with a scripture reading like the one from Genesis 21. Because when you look closely at this story, you realize it is a perfect Father’s Day text — a fascinating, funny, and finally moving tale of two fathers.

One of those fathers is a lot like me. And probably a lot like you.

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The Burden of Being a Guy

The first father in this story is a man full of good intentions who, down deep, has a genuinely loving heart. But sometimes — like me, and perhaps like you — he just can’t quite deliver on those good intentions. He suffers from a particular disabling condition. He was born…a guy.

And you know how guys are.

There are good things about us. And not-so-good things about us. But beyond the good and the bad, there is a whole lot of something that can only be described as guy-ness.

You men here today who felt a secret twinge of sympathy for Ray Barone in Everybody Loves Raymond — the episode where Ray taped over his and Deborah’s wedding video to record a football game — you know exactly what I’m talking about. It could have been any one of us. Couldn’t it?

That’s guy-ness. And it is not easy being a guy.

Consider the young father in my hometown who had responsibility one day to watch the baby. He took the child to the grocery store, came back out, and set the infant’s car seat — with the baby in it — on the roof of the car while he loaded the groceries into the back seat. Then, in a classic moment of guy-ness, he got in the car and drove away.

He made it all the way onto the Expressway, zipping along at fifty-five miles an hour, before noticing that every single car around him was honking. He pulled over. Got out. And got the surprise of his life.

The baby was still there. Safe and sound. And smiling.

Thank the Lord. And every guy here today knows the quiet, uncomfortable truth: it could just as easily have been one of us.

Guy-ness. It is not easy being a guy.

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Abraham: A Guy’s Guy

Which brings us to the first father in today’s scripture. His name was Abraham — and Abraham was just a guy like the rest of us.

Abraham had a decent life going. But then one day he got the itch to make a big career move. Sound familiar?

So Abraham sat down with his wife Sarah and told her about this dream he’d had — a dream about going off to a land he’d never even seen, where he would start a family business that would one day grow into a massive multinational corporation, with offices in New York, London, and Tokyo. The number of employees, he said with a gleam in his eye, would be like the grains of sand on a beach.

Only a guy could come up with something like that.

Sarah looked at her husband the way only a wife can look at a man she knows has completely lost his cotton-pickin’ mind. How exactly did he plan to start a family business when they had no children? And no real hope of ever having children? You see, Sarah was unable to conceive. Somehow Abraham had not factored in that small detail.

Not only that — how many times before had he gone off half-cocked to pursue some new scheme? There had been Amway, and too many others to mention. And now this. Sarah wasn’t sure she wanted to leave behind the comfort and security of home for yet another one of Abraham’s grand visions.

But then Abraham played the G-card: “Honey, it’s God who wants me to do this.”

And that was that. You never stand between a man and his God-given dream — no matter how impractical it may appear. So Sarah packed his bags, kissed him goodbye, and sent him off. Then she stayed home to pack the furniture, sell the house, arrange the moving company, and handle every detail involved in supporting a guy pursuing his God-given dream to build a global enterprise on a son who hasn’t been born yet — to a mother who can’t have babies.

Only a guy.

But wait. It gets better.

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The Plan That Only Made Things Worse

Ten years go by. No baby. No family business. No multinational corporation with offices in New York, London, and Tokyo.

And you know what happens next.

They cook up the idea of a surrogate mother. Sarah’s maid, Hagar, is young, beautiful, and fertile. Maybe through her, Abraham can get the son he needs. Now, everybody here today can see that this is not a good idea and will lead to unbelievable complications.

But Abraham is a guy.

So Hagar conceives. Nine months later, little Ishmael is born. Now the dream can be realized!

And then comes one more surprise. Just about the time Abraham is ready to bring Ishmael into the business — a miracle happens. Sarah gets pregnant. And nine months later, little Isaac is born.

The Bible paints a vivid picture of this happy family. There’s Sarah. There’s Hagar. They cannot stand each other. There’s Ishmael and little Isaac. Same story. And there’s Abraham — down at the local tavern, wondering how in the world he ended up here.

It is not easy being a guy.

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When Good Intentions Aren’t Enough

You know what happens next — we heard it read a few minutes ago. Abraham decides to send away Hagar and Ishmael. He packs them a lunch, fills a canteen with water, and sends them on their way.

Let’s not be too hard on Abraham. He was doing what he thought was right and best for everyone. The trouble is, the choices life presents us with are rarely clean. Sometimes the choice is not between right and wrong — it’s between two wrongs.

Like me — and maybe like you — Abraham was full of good intentions. But sometimes good intentions are not enough.

And in this case, they nearly turned to tragedy.

Genesis 21 tells us that Hagar and Ishmael ended up lost in the desert. Out of food. Out of water. Out of hope. Beyond the reach of Father Abraham.

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The Second Father Steps In

But remember — this is a tale of two fathers.

Listen to what happens next:

“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.'”

The second Father stepped in where Abraham was unable to go. God reached where Abraham could not reach. He took hold of that boy and his mother — way out in the desert, where no human father could follow — and he saved them.

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The Desert Every Child Enters

I remember the moment I first understood the limits of a father’s reach. It was when my children went off to school.

Life comes at our kids fast. Sooner or later, every one of them walks out into a desert where we can’t follow. You watch your little girl head off to her first school dance. Your son strides to the pitcher’s mound for the first time. And there is nothing you can do.

They walk across a graduation stage. They walk down an aisle to be married. They move away to begin a life of their own. They have children of their own.

All kids move out to the desert eventually.

Sometimes they go there simply because that’s what growing up requires. Other times they end up there because something went wrong — cancer, divorce, addiction, depression, a bad choice made at the wrong moment. And sometimes, honestly, they end up in the desert because of our own failures as parents.

One of the hardest truths I know as a father is this: I cannot protect my children from life. I’m just a guy. And guys can only do so much, reach so far, protect so long.

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The Gift in This Story

So God’s Word gives us something beautiful here.

We dads are not the only fathers to our children.

Life is a tale of two fathers. One of them an ordinary guy — full of love, full of good intentions, and painfully limited. The other, a loving and faithful God who hears our children’s cries when we cannot, who comes to their side when we are unable, who takes care of them in life and even in death when we can no longer take care of them ourselves.

The story in Genesis 21 is a beautiful Father’s Day gift — not just to dads, but to every parent. God reassures us that our children are never beyond his reach, never beyond his sight, never beyond his love — even when they are far from ours.

So trust God with the lives of your children. Pray for them. Picture them held in a love far greater than your own. Teach them to walk with the God who walks with them. Be an example of what it looks like to follow God — not a perfect example, but a faithful one.

And reach out to the children of other fathers and mothers, too. In the same way that God reached into the life of Abraham’s child, we are called to listen for the cries of kids in the desert around us — and do what we can to help. We are all in this together.

To all the dads here today — along with the golf balls and the ties and the cards with bad jokes you’ll receive this afternoon — I pray you receive one more gift: the deep and settled confidence that God is with you, and that he holds your children safely in the hollow of his hand.

Happy Father’s Day.