One
of the greatest gifts that God has given us is the ability to laugh. Some people say that this is what really
separates us from the animals, the fact that we can laugh at ourselves, and
with each other. Although, sometimes I
think my dogs are laughing at me; I’m not sure if I want to know whether they
are or not.
There
are not many places in the Bible where the word laugh comes up. But you can find it the most in Genesis; it
appears seven times in that book, six of those in just two chapters. Those chapters are seventeen and eighteen,
early in the story of Abraham and Sarah.
Though
we can recognize laughter as a positive gift, here it is something that gets
Abraham and Sarah into a little trouble.
Back in chapter 17, before today’s reading, Abraham fell on his face
laughing at the idea that God would promise a child to such an elderly couple.
In
the next chapter, Sarah’s response is no better. The Lord has come to their home in the guise of three
strangers. Abraham has welcomed them
and instructed the members of his household to prepare a feast for their
visitors. Sarah overhead their conversation,
and couldn’t contain her own laughter.
And God made sure she knew it was heard.
To
us, laughter seems like a strange response to an encounter with God. We often sing of worshipping God with praise
and thanksgiving, but not with laughter.
But then, this wasn’t worship that Abraham and Sarah were offering, was
it? No, not by a long shot. Instead of laughing with God, sharing a joke
or a particular joy, this couple has laughed at God! On two separate occasions, no less! They heard what God had to say to them, and
all they could do was double up in laughter.
Well,
you can hardly blame them. Listen to
this outlandish promise that God is making to them. Abraham tells us that he is one hundred years old, and that Sarah
is ninety. And to this elderly couple,
God is going to give a child. And God’s
not just going to give them one; Sarah is actually going to conceive,
she is going to carry this child around in her ninety-year old body for nine
months, and then deliver. And it’s not
like she had any experience in child-bearing before, this is her first baby.
In our day, we have seen some pretty remarkable things. A few years ago, a sixty-five year old woman gave birth to a child, though with significant help from science. For a while it seemed like every other month there was a new record of multiple births being set, and it seems almost routine to hear of four children being born at one time. Though I’m sure its anything but routine for the mother and father.
But
that was not the reality that Abraham and Sarah knew. They didn’t know of anyone who had given birth to child at this
age; certainly no one who had entered menopause. Abraham and Sarah must have begun to wonder about God a little
bit. God’s reliability was being called
into question now. God had taken good
care of them up until this point, but this business about having a baby was
just a little too much to take.
It’s
not always easy to trust in God’s promises.
It may even sound sometimes like God is joking, and we just want to
laugh at loud. But we are witnesses, we
are hear to give testimony that God does live up to God’s promises, that God is
faithful, and just, and reliable.
Throughout
the Old Testament, we read of how God delivered the people of Israel from their
oppressors; whether it was setting the slaves free from Egypt, or releasing
them from captivity in Babylon, or lifting up a judge to deliver them from
neighbors who had invaded. God promised
to deliver and protect this small nation from its mighty foes, and God followed
through.
And
the wonderful thing about the promises of God is that they are given not on our
merit, but on God’s. What did Abraham
and Sarah have to do to earn this child that was promised, but to trust? Did they have to do something to earn the
child, was their a condition on his healthy birth? No, not a one.
That
is what is so amazing about God. Not that through the power of God a
ninety-year old woman could become pregnant; the amazing thing is the scope and
the breadth of God’s love. The amazing
thing is that God loved the world so much that he wanted to create this people
through Abraham and Sarah, this people who would be set apart to be a light
unto the nations, that all people may come to know God.
But
God’s love does not stop even there.
Hear what Paul has to say on this subject to the Romans, from the fifth
chapter of his letter to them. Paul
writes: “For while we were still weak,
at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for
a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we still were
sinners Christ died for us.”
For
God, it was not enough to be in covenant relationship with just one group of
people on earth. God wanted to have
that relationship with each and every one of us, with all people that on earth
do dwell. As John wrote in his gospel,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who
believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”
And
was there anything that we did do deserve this relationship? Was it our own merit that caused God to be
so impressed that he simply had to come and dwell with us, to come to us in
Christ Jesus and die on a cross for us?
Maybe if that were so, it would have made some sense. After all, as Paul writes, “perhaps for a
good person someone might actually dare to die.”
But
that isn’t case. That’s what makes it
laughable, almost, that “while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” And through his death, we die with him and
are resurrected through our baptism, to live that new life in Christ, justified
by our faith in him for our salvation.
What
is laughable is that it was done not because of any merit of our own, but only
because of the character, and the quality, and depth of God’s love for this
world. There is nothing that we could
ever do to make God indebted to us, therefore all we receive is a gift of
grace, a gift of the undying love of our God.
And
it is this grace that justifies us.
Justify, of course, means to be without blame, as in our sins have been
blotted out for us by Christ. But it
has another meaning also. When typing,
and you have the margins justified, it means that everything is set up in a
proper line. Everything is lined up to
move along in the right way.
So
it is with our justification by God through Christ. We have been justified in that we have been set straight, we have
been given the ability to live according to God’s will, to live out the
promises that God has made for our lives, and for the life of this world.
And
it was through grace that Abraham and Sarah were able to have a son. And that son went on to have children of his
own, and their were descendents for Abraham and Sarah so numerous that they did
indeed became a nation.
As
Sarah had laughed at the initial promise of God, she also laughed when it
finally became a reality. That is the
other reference to laughter in Genesis, when her son Isaac is born. In fact, Isaac’s name means “God laughs”,
and she talks about this blessing she received in chapter 21, verses six and
seven.
And our laughter, with hers, turns into a laughter of joy at seeing the wonderfulness of God’s love, and the reliability of his promises.