Genesis 18:9-15. 9They said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “She is in the tent.” 10The Lord said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. 11Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. 12So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” 13The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ 14Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” 15But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.”
Human beings love to laugh. There are entire industries built around our need and desire to laugh. There’s an entire field of science dedicated to studying laughter (gelotology). This comes from The Scientific American: “A long-standing explanation of humor is the theory of incongruity. People laugh at the juxtaposition of incompatible concepts and at defiance of their expectations—that is, at the incongruity between expectations and reality.”
Hmmm, that sounds about right as an explanation for why Sarah laughed at God – the incongruity between expectations and reality.
That’s what these past few decades have been all about for Abraham and Sarah, living in the gap between God’s promise and reality. It hasn’t helped that God’s promise has been revealed to Abraham over time (a long time). Abraham, you will be a father of a great nation, no of many nations. Through Lot? Through Eliezer? Through Ishmael? No. No. No. Through Sarah.
Genesis 17:15-17. 15And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 16I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” 17Then 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 child?”
Was this idea so absurd that Abraham didn’t even tell Sarah? Was it so unbelievable that Sarah didn’t even try to believe it? Is this all just a cruel joke? Did the three visitors come to Sarah’s home just to make fun of her? To spoil the gag and watch her be embarrassed?
The heavenly visitors ask for Sarah by name – where is Sarah your wife? But Jesus (yes, Jesus) didn’t come to make fun of Sarah, or to embarrass her, she will do that all on her own. Her hidden, internal laughter is still heard by Christ. Her laughter at the “incongruity between expectations and reality.” Her inner dialogue’s attempt at humor with an off-color joke – After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have [sexual] pleasure? It drips with her sarcasm. Fortunately, her guests did not hear her from inside of the tent.
Every one of us who has faced the silence of God, his hiddenness over the years, his absurdity in promising the impossible, can sympathize with Sarah in this moment. Even with her lie to God – Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. I can’t even begin to count all the little white lies of told out of fear. Usually the fear of man, but sometimes the fear of God too.
Laughing at God and lying to God’s face. Yikes. Surely the covenant is now void. I mean if we aren’t going to believe God when he makes promises to us that are outside all the principles of science, nature, and reality, then when will we believe him (OK, now who’s dripping with sarcasm)? But this is where the grace of Jesus shines through Sarah, and us, in our moments of unbelief. God will use us, answer our prayers, keep his promises, and never break his covenant with us NO MATTER HOW WEAK OUR FAITH IS.
You see, with Jesus it’s never about the amount of faith that we have (Sarah had very little in this moment), but it’s about the object of our faith – Christ, our promise. And Sarah had just enough faith, the faith of a mustard seed. Enough faith to keep her in the game. Where is Sarah’s faith in this story? It’s in the hospitality. Sarah welcomed God into her tent, her home, her heart. Yes, her heart is resisting hope, but she’s still listening. Eavesdropping if you will – Sarah was listening at the tent door behind [Abraham].
We can call Sarah’s reaction to the Lord disrespectful, or distrusting, or we can call it being real. And God would far rather deal with the real you than with the fake you. Sarah, kept her true self inside, but God heard her anyway. God answered her prayer without her perfect faith. Why? Because, honestly, it’s not about Sarah and it’s not about you (or me). God answers us when he wants, how he wants, and to the extent he wants in order to prove his glory. Why did God wait so long to give Abraham and Sarah the son of promise? Why wait until they are so old and so frustrated, and have exhausted all of their human resources, before finally getting specific with them – this time next year…? Because God needs us to know that nothing is too wonderful (too hard) for the Lord!
This includes your own salvation, Christian. I mean isn’t that just as laughable as Sarah having a baby. For Sarah to be fruitful and multiply, for her to be the new Eve, she will need to experience a literal resurrection of first her body and then her soul. Isn’t this true of us as well? For us to be spiritually fruitful, don’t we also need the impossible to happen? The resurrection of first our soul then our body? Just as God’s covenant with Abraham restored Sarah to honor and glory while proving his goodness, isn’t the same true for us in covenant with Christ?
Do you believe that nothing is too hard for God? Even your own sanctification and fruitfulness? Is that thing you fear too hard for him? Those doubts? Those temptations? Those unfulfilled dreams? No they’re not. So why not laugh at God out loud about them, rather than trying to keep it all inside like Sarah did? Why not come boldly to the throne of Grace to find help in time of need?
In Christ, Jesus is at your tent, and he’s asking for you by name. Where is ___? Stop hiding inside, eavesdropping on Christ, something I fear many of us do at Church on Sunday. We listen to Jesus from our safe place of hiding, rather than exposing ourselves to him with all our laughter at his suggestions and promises.
Come out of your self-talk, the echo chamber of your own rationality, and talk to Jesus. Come with all your shattered hopes and dreams. Come without the lies and the embarrassment. What he’s promising you is far better than anything you were expecting. Not easier? Not simpler. But better. Christ is better.
You: Is there anything that God promises to you in Christ that you still laugh at?
You in Christ: How does your own personal union with Christ prove that nothing is too wonderful (hard) for God?
Christ in you: How can you live more openly, honestly before Christ today?
Prayer: Father, your promises are absurd in the natural. New life. Cleansing. Resurrection. Perfection. I fear that often I am laughing at these truths rather than embracing them. Help me to laugh with you and not at you today, as I embrace every promise that is mine in Jesus. Amen.
To Live is Christ 