Contempt or Rebellion on
the Way to Maturity
The Rt. Rev. Peter M. Buss Sr.
Lessons: Genesis 16:1-16; Arcana Coelestia 1911, 1936
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And Hagar saw that she had conceived, and her mistress was despised in her eyes.
(Genesis 16:4)
ne of the amazing things that the Lord revealed in the teachings for the
New Church is how He created the human mind, and how it develops
from childhood through adult life and into eternity. What is perhaps even
more wonderful is that He has shown us how, with infinite mercy and wisdom,
He has adjusted to humankind’s choice of evil so that the mind can still develop
despite the negative influences of this disorderly world.
Our topic this morning is how our rational mind develops, and the
challenges parents and indeed adults face when it is beginning to show itself.
The secrets about how the Lord provided for this are contained in the spiritual
story of Abram, Sarai, and Hagar and her son, Ishmael.
First let’s look carefully at the story. Abram and Sarai were the progenitors
of the entire Jewish and Israelitish nation. All the millions now in the world
sprang from these two. But at first Sarai couldn’t have children. They were both
desperate about this, because Abram had been promised that he would father
a great nation, but where was his child? In fact, if he died childless, Eleazar of
Damascus, his trusted steward, would inherit all he had.
Sarai had a solution. She took her handmaid Hagar, an Egyptian woman,
and gave her to Abram as a concubine. The idea was that when the time came
for delivery, the baby would be born onto Sarai’s knees, and be regarded as her
child.
So Hagar conceived. But clearly she was a strong-willed young woman,
and when she saw that she was going to have Abram’s child she despised her
mistress. Try to imagine the situation. Sarai was mistress of a large encampment.
Suddenly her own handmaid was treating her with contempt, and probably
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