If God is as big as we claim, there is no scarcity in God at all.
In her recent address to the National Press Club, the Red Menace rolled out her usual poison about Islam. She reiterated a bunch of frightened and frightening tropes about Muslims. She claimed that Western civilisation and its values are under siege. She blamed migrants for shortfalls in housing and social cohesion. She insisted that Australia must be a monocultural society. And in all this, she reminded me of our ancestor Sarah.
Genesis 21 tells the story. The father of our faith, Abraham, is being bossed around by his feisty wife. Years ago, she had arranged for Abraham to have sex with her personal slave, Hagar, and conceive a son. At last, however, she has her own son, and now the older boy feels like a threat. God had promised Abraham the blessings of land, wealth, and descendants. From him would come a great nation – and Sarah didn’t want to share.
As she said, ‘The son of this slave woman will not inherit along with my son Isaac.’ Ishmael was the son of a slave, you see; worse, his mother Hagar was Egyptian. She wasn’t ‘one of us.’ And now Ishmael is seen laughing with Isaac: looking dangerously like her own precious son, whose very name means ‘laughter.’ So Sarah tells Abraham that he needs to get rid of the older boy. After not nearly enough fretting, Abraham does what he’s told, and sends Ishmael and his mother Hagar into the desert. (So much for Biblical family values.)
Like Sarah, the Red Menace and many others are wedded to the idea of scarcity. They are afraid there is not enough to go around. They can’t imagine taxing the rich. They believe that people do not generate wealth, but only take things away. They like to drive people out. And in their speeches about ‘radical Islam’ and the need to destroy it, and in the complete absence of positive words about Muslims, they imply that all Muslims are beyond the scope of blessing, even when they are Australian citizens. ‘Our wealth’ and ‘our way of life’ must be protected from ‘them’, and anyone else ‘we’ don’t like.
Going back to the story, it would seem that time’s up for Hagar and Ishmael. But there’s a twist. Just when it looks like they will die of thirst, an angel of God calls to Hagar and shows her a well. Then angel promises that, just as Sarah’s son Isaac would be the father of a great nation, so too would her son. And, we are told, God was with the boy as he grew up.
In other words, Ishmael was blessed like Isaac. In Genesis 25 we learn that, like Isaac, Ishmael, too, had twelve sons. And just as Isaac’s twelve sons became the twelve tribes of Israel, Ishmael’s twelve sons also became the tribal rulers of twelve tribes and led to countless descendants. The blessing given to Abraham poured into and through both of them.
This story is also about nations. Through Isaac, we see the birth of ancient Israel; through Ishmael, the birth of Edom. Sarah believed there was only enough for Isaac and his line, but the story is clear: in God’s economy, there is enough for both sons, both nations: ancient Israel and Edom, then flowing on down through the centuries.
Pulling back even further, this blessing reaches us. The line of Abraham to Isaac to Jacob began the Jewish line, and Christianity is a branch of Judaism: this is why we say Abraham is our common ancestor. But Ishmael is also Abraham’s son, and he is considered the forefather of Mohammed, the prophet of Islam. And so Muslims also share our common ancestor. In other words, Muslims, Christians and Jews are all children of Abraham, all inheritors of the promise. There should be no rivalry between us, only the celebration of blessings shared: because if God is as big as we claim, there is no scarcity in God at all.
In Genesis, the joke was on Sarah. She sent the threat away, but God met Ishmael in the wilderness and stayed with him and gave him a blessing, too. In Australia, the joke is on us. We have platformed a politician who insists that we cannot share the blessings of our national wealth with outsiders. At the same time, she has made her alliances with the uber-wealthy and used taxpayer money for private flights while railing against workers, arguing against paid parental leave, voting against raising minimum wage and giving herself a pay rise. It seems that, given half a chance, she doesn’t want to share the blessing even with ‘ordinary’ Strayans!
We might like to think that the nation’s wealth is our birthright, we might hope the Red Menace will protect us, but God has a way of surprising us. For God’s blessing is not limited to human boundaries. God listens to ‘us’, yes, but also attends to the cry of every Muslim in immigration detention who has limited access to water on a hot day; God hears the weeping of every migrant who is culturally isolated, lonely, and a long way from their father’s house; God sends holy messengers to those we exclude and promises to be with them, too.
If we want to claim God’s blessing and live in God’s presence, then we would do well to do likewise. We can do this in full confidence that, in God’s economy, there is plenty enough for everyone: Isaac and Ishmael; Christian, Muslim, and Jew; friend and enemy and even the Red Menace, indeed for everyone on the face of the earth. For, unlike Sarah and unlike the Red Menace, we know that gifts are given to be shared. In God’s economy, five loaves and two fish feed thousands. Whenever we give thanks, break bread and pass it around, blessings abound and there is always more, so much more, than enough. Thanks be to God. Ω
Where & when: Wurundjeri country, Waring (Wombat) Season. It’s a time of crisp mornings, cool days, evening shadows, and the rains have finally come.
A reflection on Genesis 21:8-21 adapting a piece first shared with Sanctuary on 25 June 2017 © Alison Sampson, 2026. *Red Menace: aka Pawleen Pantsdown, leader of the fascist party, we speak sideways to sidestep the algorithmic blockers. Photo by Jamalludin Khaer on Unsplash.
Alison and the whale 