It’s complicated

Pentecost 26B
St Paul’s Church, Ipswich
17 November 2024

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From widows to rival wives

Last week we had readings that featured several women whose husbands had died, leaving them in particularly vulnerable situations as widows in ancient societies where there was no public social security system.

Today the first reading features the rivalry between two wives: one of whom was the mother of several children, while her rival was unable to have any children.

To use a modern catchphrase: It’s complicated!

Some of us—perhaps most of us—come from families that are a bit complicated at times. For sure I do.

I have been told that were the story of my family offered to a TV studio, it would be rejected as too far-fetched.

Yes, sometimes life is complicated.

Life is complicated. Families are often far from story book perfect. And we are complex people as well.

Even church families.

Last week we had the story of Ruth and Naomi. It was set at Bethlehem, and in the fields of Ephrathah. Echoes of Christmas reaching across the lectionary, since Ruth was not only identified as the great grandmother of King David but—in the Gospel of Matthew—becomes a direct ancestor of Jesus!

That was one complicated family story indeed.

As is the story of Jesus’ immediate family, for that matter.

This week we have two rival wives—Hannah and Peninnah—who were both married to Elkanah son of Jeroham.

There are lots of families like that in the Old Testament. Indeed, King Solomon—supposedly the wisest man ever to live—had 700 wives and 300 concubines (1 Kings 11:4).

Such families were complicated, as we often see in the biblical narratives.

Elkanah comes across as a caring and compassionate husband, even if Hannah had to share her husband with another woman. But the other (perhaps younger) rival was cruel and Hannah found her life was both complicated and bitter.

We all know stories like that. Some of us may have families like this, and the cruel control games may be played by men just as much as by women, not to mention intergenerational abuse.

And, yes, it happens even in church families.

As the story unfolds this nasty plot is resolved when Hannah does eventually have a child—Samuel—who she promptly donates to the elderly priest at the temple! 

Another complication.

Not to worry: God gives Hannah 2 more sons as well as 2 daughters, while Samuel stays at the temple with Eli the priest.

Yes, it is definitely complicated.

It all ends well, but a happy ending does not take away the pain and the abuse in the middle of the story.

Not then and not now.

So where do we find holy wisdom in stories such as this?

For me, that wisdom is especially to be found in the raw faithfulness of Hannah.

Hannah comes across as a woman who lives with domestic and family violence, and yet keeps her dignity because she has such a strong faith.

Elkanah also emerges as a good character in this complicated story. He supports, protects and loves Hannah. He even allows her to donate the long-awaited child to the temple.

Their personal situation was complicated but they were there for each other, and they were people who practised their faith.

As the story goes, their faith did not waver.

In real life—and not just in this archetypal story—their faith may have been a bit more complicated as well. We shall never know.

But the storyteller added to this story the beautiful Song of Hannah that we read together a few minutes ago. That song was fashioned by countless anonymous women from ancient Israel who discovered that God was with them, with the powerless and the vulnerable. It comes from a later time when there were kings and princes in Israel, but its message of hope is timeless.

Yes, life can be complicated.

Yes, our faith can gives us hope and enable to survive and thrive.