It’s a sad and stressful thing to be caught in the middle of a family squabble. Most of us have seen first hand the scars such conflicts leave behind. And dysfunctional families don’t just make each other miserable; they drag down everyone around them. Unfortunately, we are currently in the middle of a family fight dating back hundreds, even thousands, of years.
Historically speaking, the three major world religions that
have had the most difficulty getting along all come from the same family and claim
Abraham as a common ancestor. This is
why Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (I’m listing them in chronological order)
are called the “Abrahamic Religions”.
Jews and Christians trace their linage through Abraham’s son Isaac, and Muslims
through Ishmael.
I will refrain from going into detail regarding the times
people from one group of Abraham’s family have oppressed or killed people from
another group, but no branch of his offspring emerges from the mud of history
looking clean
This long-standing lack of harmony is not really a surprise,
in light of the sibling rivalry running rampant through the Hebrew Scriptures
(the Old Testament). Abraham’s children,
Isaac and Ishmael, were not on the best terms.
In turn, Isaac’s children--Jacob and Esau--also had major
conflicts. And then Jacob’s brood took family
feuds to a new level, with their mistreatment of Jacob’s favorite son, Joseph. They say that family patterns repeat
themselves, and this seems to be the case with the conflicted family of
Abraham, right down to his present day descendants. In spite of this, I think there are some
things we can learn from Abraham’s ancient offspring, which can be useful to
Abraham’s family today. So I’d like to address all Jews, Christians
and Muslims, and lift up three lessons I believe we can all learn from our
Spiritual forefather’s family line: Isaac
and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau, and Joseph and his brothers.
First of all, we need to stop demonizing one another. God made promises to both of Abraham’s
children, Isaac and Ishmael. Regarding
Ishmael, God said to Abraham: “As for
Ishmael, I have heard you; I will bless him and make him fruitful and
exceedingly numerous; he shall be the father of twelve princes, and I will make
him a great nation “ (Genesis 17:20
NRSV ). Both of Abraham’s children had a
destiny, and both children were important to Abraham and God. Neither was purely good or evil.
So it is today. It’s
no secret that there are good people in each of the three Abrahamic religions,
and there are jerks as well. So we need
to resist the temptation to paint each other with broad good and evil brush
strokes.
Secondly, we need to refrain from violence against one
another. Christians and Jews
trace their spiritual heritage through Jacob, but in spite of the fact that Jacob
was no angel and took advantage of Esau, Esau refused to harm Jacob. When Jacob
returned home, afraid of his brother’s wrath, instead of seeking vengeance Esau
welcomed his brother with hugs and tears.
The older brothers of Joseph came close to killing him, but
they eventually decided against it, selling him into slavery instead. Ironically, this decision to let him live had
the unforeseen consequence of saving their own lives and the lives of their
families! There was no way they could
have known the end results of murder or mercy, and thankfully, they let him
live.
Even though the descendants of Abraham didn’t get along,
(and still don’t), mercy outweighed violence (and still should).
Third, we need to seek peace. Isaac and Ishmael came together to bury their
father Abraham in the cave of Machpelah. Esau embraced Jacob, kissing him and weeping when
he returned home. Joseph forgave his brothers, and the family was reconciled. Dysfunction was part of Abraham’s legacy, but
so was forgiveness and grace. It’s that
forgiveness and grace that we need more of today.
The Hebrew Scriptures say this:
Do not take revenge nor bear a
grudge against the children of your people. You must love your neighbor as [you
love] yourself. I am God.
(Leviticus 19:18 The Living Torah)
This sound a lot like this story from the hadith – oral
traditions regarding Mohammed:
A Bedouin came to the prophet, grabbed
the stirrup of his camel and said: O the messenger of God! Teach me something
to go to heaven with it. Prophet said: "As you would have people do to
you, do to them; and what you dislike to be done to you, don't do to them. Now
let the stirrup go! [This maxim is enough for you; go and act in accordance
with it!]" (Kitab al-Kafi, vol. 2, p. 146)
And this in turn sounds a lot like Jesus’ words, spoken
almost 600 years earlier:
"In everything do to others as
you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 7:12 NRSV ).
I think it’s time we all took this idea seriously.
David
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