Genesis 18:1-15, (21:1-7)

This text is used for the Lectionary Year A on June 18, 2017.

“When Faith Turns a Smirk into a Smile”
Laurens Vander Post, a South African explorer who lived among the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert, realized that they would only tell “their stories” to him after months of living in their midst. First, they had to trust him. For to them, their stories possessed the secrets of their soul. To tell their stories was to risk their lives. If an enemy came to possess their stories, they would be destroyed.

Like them, most of us are only willing to tell our personal stories to people we believe are trustworthy. We want people to laugh with us, not at us. We don’t want our stories to be distorted and spread around for others to trample upon. We are vulnerable as we share our stories.

The Bible is God’s storybook. God wants us to know His story. Not because He thought everyone would love Him because of the stories, though that was His hope. Not that He thought everyone would get it, though that was His aim. Not that He thought everyone would live better lives because of lessons learned from the stories, though that motivation moved Him. He had the stories written because they give witness to His glorious acts of salvation and that whosoever had “the eyes to see and the ears to hear” would personally trust God enough to step into the salvation being offered.

The Laughing Side of Faith
God is a promise maker and a promise keeper. Abram & Sarai were called out from the land of Ur as people of promise. Through them, God would reveal the Promise Land. Theirs is an intriguing story of how God can draw out extraordinary growth by stretching believers into extraordinary levels of courageous faith. Abram and Sarai became Abraham & Sarah (Genesis 16-17) by seeing the shortcomings of their current level of faith and being stirred by God into a new faith dimension.

Early in their married life, God promised Abraham & Sarah that they would have as many descendants as grains of sand on the seashore. (Genesis 12:1-3) Years later, God reminded Abraham of this promise by saying that Sarah would soon become pregnant – Abraham laughed. (Genesis 17:15-22)

They understandably thought of themselves as being in the sunset of life. Abraham was 100. Sarah was 90. He laughed in disbelief. Weeks later, when Sarah heard their surprise three guests affirmed that she would become pregnant. She too laughed. Their laughter was in ironic disbelief. With something like, “after all these years of enduring the grief and embarrassment of being barren, You, God, are telling us that our long deferred hope is going to be realized. Really!? Why should we again trust Your promise and become vulnerable by getting our hopes raised?”

But God creates sunrises to follow sunsets. The seeming close of Sarah’s life would be revealed as a new beginning. One that would be talked about through the ages. Isaac would be born within the year that the three messengers delivered their message. The baby was born and called “Isaac” which in Hebrew means “laughter.” (Genesis 17:19; 21:3)

Their story helps us to know that God gave us laughter for good reasons. Among them are: the expression of joy; the release of tension; keeping us sane; stretching us into awe & wonder; bonding us with others; sharing in the mental agility of stories with puns and irony; staring down our fears; and shaping our humility.

But our human nature gets tempted to turn upside down what God intended for good. People also use humor to: stiff arm intimacy by keeping people at a distance; maintain our fears and insecurities; avoid being serious; cover up our sadness; show cynicism and derision; bully people; and shock people.

Sarah and Abraham pushed through their cynical laughter into the laughter that comes by believing beyond their disbelief. In Hebrews 11:11-12, frequently called the Bible’s Hall of Fame chapter, the author encouraged Christians of Jewish heritage who were being persecuted for their faith to remember Sarah because “she considered him faithful who had made the promise… even through one who was good as dead came descendants as numerous as stars of the sky and sand on the seashore.”  And the Apostle Paul highlighted the ongoing promise of their story, “Now you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise.” (Galatians 4:28)

Keys to This Story
God rewarded Abraham with a visionary experience while he prayed in the shade trees of Mamre. He was at home in Hebron. There he offered his midday prayers in a familiar place of worship. (Genesis 13:18) Before three heavenly messengers, Abraham assumed the prostrate prayer position at their feet. He pleaded with them to reveal an update on the promise of a son that God had recently offered him. (Genesis 17)

Abraham & Sarah hosted them with a graciousness that set the tone for later generations. (Hebrews 13:2) The messengers then inquired about Sarah. They wanted her personally to hear the good news they had to deliver. In hearing the news, Abraham offered dismay. Sarah responded by laughing out her disbelief, just as Abraham had done when he initially heard the news.

To this, the messengers delivered the ultimate spiritual truth, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?”. The answer is NO. That is the truth each of us has to learn. (Job 42:2; Isaiah 40:29; Jeremiah 32:17; Matthew 19:26; Romans 4:21) And by learning it, we come to trust in God with a courage that leads to one breakthrough after another.

In fear, Sarah laughed with disdain and then tried to cover up her cynicism with a lie. But nine months later she and Abraham would name their newborn son – Isaac. We can hear their laughter of delight to this day.

D. Leslie Hollon
Senior Pastor
Trinity Baptist Church, San Antonio, Texas
lhollon@trinitybaptist.org

 

 

 

Tags: stories, story, laughter, vulnerability, delight

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