“Sarah denied, saying, ‘I did not laugh’; for she was afraid. He said, ‘Oh yes, you did laugh.”
Having lost his wife after a long marriage, Albert went to the undertaker to arrange a headstone for her. She had been a devout and faithful Christian so he wanted the words “she was thine” on the stone. Imagine his horror when the stone was done and erected and he visited the cemetery to see it said “she was thin.” Albert rang the undertaker. “They’ve left an e off!” he said. “I’ll put it right” said the undertaker. So next time Albert visited the cemetery he was confident all would be well. It wasn’t. The stone now read “Eee, she was thin!”
Well, it makes me laugh that old joke.
What makes you laugh? What about classic television sketches that are really old but we laugh like we’ve never seen them or maybe because we know what is coming. We know every word of the twelve episodes of Fawlty Towers, or the Andrew Preview sketch on the Morecambe and Wise Christmas show: “I’m playing all the right notes but not necessarily in the right order.” Or what about maybe the funniest piece of writing ever. The wonderful Victoria Wood Two soups with amazing timing from Julie Walters. “One soup, and another soup.”
Are there times we can only laugh because what is happening to us or suggested might happen to us feels so ridiculous it’s laughable? Today we are invited to consider Sarai, renamed Sarah and her reaction to divine plans for her. Who was she? She was married to someone on a mission from God. And, not just any mission. God told Abram (who would become Abraham) that he would be the father of a great nation. Not only that, but he would have to leave their home country to do it. This wasn’t some fly-by-night fantasy of youth, either. Abraham was 75 years old when he set off on this mission. He didn’t have any biological children at this point. He took up his family, including his nephew Lot, and all of everybody’s stuff and took off to follow up on God’s promises. That was a laughable plan wasn’t it. Imagine Abram’s neighbours'reaction. “Where are you going? You’re going to be the father of how many nations, at 75?” You are having a laugh! Imagine Sarai’s reaction when Abram told her they were moving with no idea where they were heading to live in tents as foreigners with no abiding city. Remember Abram was a man of considerable wealth and influence in Haran and he was prepared to give that all up to follow his God.
So I imagine Abram and Sarai pondering often how on earth Abram could be the father of many nations when as Romans says he was as good as dead. We will return to that phrase.
Can we predict or anticipate what God will do in our lives and our world? Story after story in our Scripture, tradition, and experience points to an unpredictable God. God moves, calls, and pulls in ways that are surprising, creative, and yes, laughable. Billy Graham once had a question-and-answer session.
“Did Jesus ever smile or laugh, or was hesolemn all the time? I have a friend who's very solemn, and he says he doesn't believe in laughing or cracking jokes, because Jesus never laughed, and we ought to be like Jesus.
I feel sorry for your friend, because a balanced sense of humor can save us from taking ourselves too seriously and help us see through the pride and pretence of our sinful world. Did Jesus have a sense of humour? I’m sure He did. Think, for example, of His comment that it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a prideful, selfish rich person to enter heaven (you can read it in Mark 10:25). Can you picture a camel trying to go through the eye of a needle—without laughing? I doubt it.”
The story of Abraham and Sarah is one of surprise. They have made a logical assumption that they won’t be able to have children of their own together (to read about how they have taken matters into their own hands, read the story of Hagar and Ishmael!) They have no idea what is about to happen.
Then God moves. God blesses Abram and Sarai in ways no one could have predicted– not only with children but with the blessing of covenant. Like a marriage, like a religious vow, like a sacred contract, God solidifies a relationship with Abram and Sarai through a covenant and a promise, and they are transformed.
They are so transformed they even get new names that demonstrate their new blessing, their new identities. The name Sarai signifies “my lady,” or “my princess,” the matriarch of one family. “Sarah” expands that identity to “Lady,” or “Princess,” one for the multitude, not just a particular line.
Similarly, in Hebrew, the name Abram means “exalted father” and Abraham means “father of a multitude.” Their new identities are without restriction, expanded in a way they could never have imagined.
What would happen if we were open to the impossible? Open to being surprised, open to being transformed? How would our lives – individual and communal – change if we walked around being open to being transformed, to meeting God in ways that are unexpected and surprising?
That’s Genesis chapter 17 but Abraham and Sarah still don’t know how they will aid the future unless it’s through Ishmael, but nowSarah has a huge role in the drama, and I get her reaction. We have these three visitors, later in icons seen as the Trinity. God himself visits these elderly souls to convince them of his future and his need of them. So, in Genesis 18 we read this:
They said to him, "Where is Sarah your wife?" And he said, "She is in the tent." The Lord said, "I will surely return to you in the spring, and Sarah your wife shall have a son." And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, "After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?" The Lord said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, and say, 'Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?' Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, in the spring, and Sarah shall have a son." But Sarah denied, saying, "I did not laugh"; for she was afraid. He said, "No, but you did laugh."
Beyond the dividing curtain in the tent, Sarah was listening to everything. She was doing the dishes just beyond the tent curtain, but she heard all the conversation between her husband and the visitors. She hears the question and the promise, and she realises it is God who is saying that she will have a son.
One commentator says “She looks at her ninety-year-old body, long since almost dead. She looks in the mirror and sees the whiteness of her hair, the wrinkles in her face. She feels the arthritis in her bones. And when she hears this, she laughs cynically to herself.”
She makes no sound at all, but laughs to herself, we are told. But beyond the curtains, the Lord reads her thoughts and says to Abraham, "Why does Sarah laugh in her heart? Is anything too hard for the Lord? I'll set a date for this: I'll be back next spring, and she shall have a son." And we read that Sarah was afraid. She saw that her heart was open and known to God.
She saw that there was one who reads hearts as we read books, and she reacted just like we do. She denied that she had laughed. And the word comes to her. "No, but you did laugh. Admit it, face it: you did laugh, Sarah."
Remarkably enough, the account ends there. Suddenly the subject is dropped, and another situation is introduced in the next paragraph. We are left to wonder what this means.
Back in Chapter 17, when God announced to Abraham for perhaps the fifth time that he was to have a son, we are told that Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, "Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah who is ninety years old bear a son?"This is the laugh of exulting joy over what God had promised. It is a laughter of faith delighting in what God would do in spite of every conceivable problem. Sarah’s laughter I think is a “don’t be daft” laugh.
Romans 4 summarises the story:
“Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be. Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead.
Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why “it was counted to him as righteousness.”
Let’s remember while this is a story about Sarah and Abraham, this is also a story about God making and keeping a promise.
Charles Wesley puts it like this:
Faith, mighty faith the promise sees,
And looks to God alone.
Laughs at impossibilities and cries, "it shall be done”.
I do love that Abraham names Sarah's child after her laugh. Isaac means laughter. Laughter, once the sign of her exhaustion and exasperation, in this child, becomes a sign of God’s grace and covenant. Sarah may have even told people this story, laughing again, this time at the goodness of it all. There’s a lovely verse in Genesis 21 which sees Sarah telling her story: And Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me.” – Genesis 21:6
What makes you laugh? What is God going to say to us when he visits our tent? Maybe it’s time to follow the ridiculous and laugh together it might come to be. Maybe it won’t be a child. But some new life will surely surprise us. Here’s now…
There’s not much to laugh about in the world this morning is there? It was the second anniversary yesterday of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We hardly hear about Ukraine now - it’s one of those situations that rumbles on and on. Then there’s Israel and Gaza and Yemen and the Middle East. Not much to laugh about.
The Gospel passage for today is Jesus’ call to take up your cross. Nothing to laugh about there.
A cross was the way you rid of someone. Jesus calls Peter and the other disciples to carry their crosses, not yet a symbol of Christianity, but a tool for Roman power and control. The disciples and early Christians were called to lead what would have been considered nearly criminal lives under Jesus’ alternative kingdom, the kingdom of God. Carrying the cross always ends with one’s death, either death at the hands of the Romans, as happened to many disciples, or death to self and ambition, as often happens to us when we follow the way of Jesus. Not much to laugh about.
But there’s a verse in the Gospel that Jesus would have us notice this morning. We have to lose our life in order to save it. Maybe we are being called to follow the God of laughter and hope and joy to the cross but remember he doesn’t leave us there. Maybe the God of laughter and hope and joy is found in the brokenness and mess of the world and tells us he will have the last laugh. No one expected resurrection. We are called to live laughter out of despair, hope out of hopelessness and new life out of death. The God of laughter and hope and joy calls us to be faithful and to share a different story to the miserable one about us. Our God turns mourning into dancing!
God of grace and God of laughter,
singing worlds from nought to be
sun and stars and all thereafter
joined in cosmic harmony:
give us songs of joy and wonder,
music making hearts rejoice;
let our praises swell like thunder,
echoing our Maker's voice.
When our lives are torn by sadness,
heal our wounds with tuneful balm;
when all seems discordant madness,
help us find a measured calm.
Steady us with music's anchor
when the storms of life increase;
in the midst of hurt and rancour,
make us instruments of peace.
Turn our sighing into singing,
music born of hope restored;
set our souls and voices ringing,
tune our hearts in true accord:
till we form a mighty chorus
joining angel choirs above,
with all those who went before us,
in eternal hymns of love.
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