I don't remember how it started or what spurred it on. It was last year. Maybe I was thinking of a friend who shares the same name but I do know how it ended. Me, realising how much Ishmael (Judeo-Christian narrative) was a single parent child and worse, that blessed 'Father Abraham' was an absentee father.
For those who may have missed the Judeo-Christian storyline: Abraham (formerly Abram) gets told he will be the father of many nations; which is all fine and dandy except he and his wife Sarah (formerly Sarai) are old and childless. Yet, as promised by God and spoken by the three (angelic) visitors, Abraham knows he's going to be a father. Sarah, realising - this is ridiculous, i'm old - GIVES HIM her handmaiden Hagar to basically marry and have a child by her (i say 'marry' because I don't see him just sleeping with her without some type of ceremony taking place). Hagar has a son - Ishmael. Praises Be. Some thirteen years later, Sarah - with whom he was supposed to have the child with ANYWAYS bears a son - Isaac (the promise). So now we have two major religions living in one roof (Judaism and Islam). Sarah decides that "that woman's son will never share in the inheritance with my son.." and gets Abraham to kick her AND THE BOY out. If you're loving religion so far, read on. Hagar and her son Ishmael is wandering in the desert; she gives him the fast bit of grub they have and walks a little away because she can't bear to see him die (young Ishmael's cries reaches to God by this point). The angel tells her (Hagar) not to worry; the boy will become a great nation; long story short, a well is seen, they are saved. I don't hear about Ishmael again until Abraham died and the two brothers bury him... together. This hurts me. THIS.... HURTS ME. And logically, i hypothesize that over the course of the years, Abraham probably visited his son (special holidays, birthdays maybe). But I don't think so. Yet, hurray for Abraham - a model of faith and THE Patriarch of patriarchs. This is not disrespect; give father Abraham his due, but as a single parent kid who has seen his mother work out Hagar style miracles.... i'm a little peeved at this, my religion's hero. And at myself for not seeing it earlier.
Abraham is just one of many in the Earth who are hailed as hero but the question must be asked, how different (vastly?) are our heroes and villains? Recently a good man died; a national treasure; a hero. But i recall a time when the country wanted to crucify him for interfering with COLA - cost of living allowance (back in the late 80's) and more recently, when his morality shifted the balance of power in the land. Two acts considered villainy at the time. Two acts... of a hero.
Speaking of crucifixion....
Twelve men follow The Lord for 3 years. TWELVE MEN run away in a very Monty Python sense (run away! run awaaay!) when He was at His lowest. One of them not only denied but swore and "called curses on himself" in defense of his position - he didn't know Jesus; another one took a bribe and is forever known as d informah. History will record Judas as the ULTIMATE symbol of betrayal and Peter, as the rock that built the church ("You are Peter and upon this rock..."). Somewhere in the gospels and over the years, you grow to know that Judas was a money hound of sorts though (and here's my brilliant theory) if someone YOU loved and YOU held in high esteem was betrayed by a ('supposed', you'd say) friend, every move they made leading up to the event and every move afterwards would be watched with a smattering of suspicion. The I-did-always-know syndrome.
Even if we take it from the Judas-was-always-evil line, Peter (one of the heroes) was at the Transfiguration (which makes his denial all the more worse) , he saw the Son God in His glory... and denied him. And lest, you say the devil entered Judas, may I remind you that Peter had his moment with the devil too (Matthew 16:22-23 look it up). I mean even the ROMANS got forgiveness. It's priceless isn't it? Some of our heroes are but a hair's breath different than our villains. What makes Judas different from St. Peter when both (essentially) denied the presence and power of the Man? Is it that Peter was penitent? Because if that's the case, cue Judas, out of guilt hanging himself.
This goes far beyond religion but I use it because a). it's Easter Week and b). if we can find the right answer here (to the hero's villainy), in the accounts that define the lives of so many, maybe we can find and understand the concept in all life, where the hero and the villains don't seem to be worlds apart.
Pax
Genesis Chapter 16. Start there for the full tale...
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