Sara

The name Sara or Sarah means "Princess or Noblewoman" and indicates a woman of dignity, elegance, influence and goodness. The scriptural Sarai had her name changed to Sarah by God in the life-changing covenant He established with Abraham and Sarah and seemed to strengthen the good and strong meanings of the name. Strangely (to us), she was half-sister (same father, different mother) and wife of Abraham. In that culture (and Muslim societies even today) the incest taboo was less rigid and allowed for such combinations of blood relationship and marriage. We see this reflected even in the love poetry of the Song of Solomon where the groom refers to his Beloved as his "sister"...something strange and dissonant for the modern ear. Her beauty was so extraordinary that Abraham made a habit of introducing her as his sister, not wife, lest his hosts kill him to possess her. Twice she cooperated, loyally and obediently, in order to save his life.  Both times she was accepted into the household of the hosts, Pharoh and Abimelech, in order to be wed. Both times God intervened to save her from defilement and her husband from death. The modern reader sees here perversion. But the ancient scripts are boldly free of moralism and of excuses:  she, and her husband, lie and risk adultery to save his life: period. It is not excused; it is not rationalized! These early texts are refreshing in their candor about the unvarnished failings of the protagonists:  what always emerges is God's gracious hand in delivering His people in spite of their glaring sins and failings. Here Sara can be seen as emblematic of so many women who are betrayed by their men but mysteriously protected by Another. Overall, perhaps the most striking quality of Sara is her loyalty to and deep communion with Abraham. Although polygamy was common at that time, especially for those as affluent as Abraham, they seem to have been monogamous. And she is faithful and close to him in all their adventures, including those we find morally abhorant. Her great curse, of course, was her infertility, the greatest deprivation an ancient woman could face. God had promised that they would be father and mother of many nations but she bore no children. Out of desperation, she gave Abraham her slave Hagar (clearly there were no other wives) who bore him Ismael. This act on their part showed a lack of faith in God's promise; but it did not frustrate His promise, which was slow but steady in coming. Hagar then has contempt for her mistress because of her barrenness and Sara responds in deep envy by getting Abraham's permission to mistreat the slave then who runs away. Here again we see the candor and honesty:  again she is far from praiseworthy but is significant, despite her moral failings, because she is God's chosen and He loves her.  She is also here a counter-example of insecurity, jealousy and resentment. Abraham, unable to resolve the conflict, reluctantly sends Hagar and his son Ishmael away. God, as usual, comes to the rescue and assures him that the two will be protected and also become mother and father of many nations (today's Muslim Arabs!) Later, Paul in Romans, will see her as an example in that God worked through her and her husband not through their own effort, exertion, will or goodness, but in their very poverty, weakness and barrenness through His great mercy. It is ironic however, that this icon of faith, like her husband, weakened and acted out of disbelief and distrust. She did this on another occasion at Mamre where the three mysterious strangers promised that she would be pregnant within a year and she laughed in contempt. Again, a failure in faith and yet God's plans were not frustrated by her unbelief! And so, she is emblematic for the poor in spirit, those who are unfruitful and even weak in faith and morals and who are nevertheless visited by Mercy from on high. This noble Beauty is far from perfect: indeed, she is deceitful, almost adulterous, jealous, resentful, weak in faith. Yet, she is fiercely and intimately loyal to her companion Abraham in the covenant, mission, a communion they share with God. The Bible says she lived to be 127 years old (a sign of greatness and goodness) and she was honorably buried by Abraham who was later buried with her...together even beyond death. Rabbinic legend has two versions of her death, both iconic of maternity and connected to the story of Abraham's (aborted) sacrifice of son Issac. According to the first, she died of sorrow at (mistaken) news of her son's death; in the second she dies of Joy upon learning that Issac was still alive. Surely, both versions point us to the sorrow of Mary(the Pieta) and her Joy at the Resurrection! Later in our Scripture, in the first letter of Peter, Sara is used an an example for women to adorn themselves, not with outward ornaments, but with inner qualities of quiet, gentleness, graciousness, generosity, and strength. This is not the contemporary ideal of an "empowered woman" where power is a mimesis of crude machismo strength as "force against force." Rather, this is a premonition of the influence, the inspiration, the encouragement and ennobling femininity we find quintessentially in Mary our Lady and Mother!