The Rev. Paul J Cain, Jr.
Genesis 18:1-14
Laughter
Proper 11C (Eighth Sunday after Pentecost), 18 July 2010
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Sheridan, Wyoming
In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
The old axiom "Laughter is the best medicine" holds true when it comes to protecting your heart, according to a study conducted by the University of Maryland in Baltimore. Dr. Michael Miller, who conducted the study, says laughter releases chemicals into the bloodstream that relax the blood vessels. In addition, hearty laughter reduces blood pressure and heart rate.
Citation: Reuters News Service and CBS radio news (11-15-00); submitted by Greg Asimakoupoulos
You don’t need a Doctor to tell you that laughter can be good for you. You don’t need me to tell you that laughter can also be hurtful. Laughter, when it adorns ridicule, hurts when that verbal abuse is directed toward us or someone we love. “Laughing with” is a good thing. “Laughing at” is quite another. What about the one making fun of others? What of the one who is doing the “laughing at?” What of the person who says by their injurious laughter, “You think that you can do what? Ha!”
This morning, as we begin our two-week journey through Genesis 18, listen for who gets the last laugh.
And the LORD appeared to him [Abraham] by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him.
This is not an ordinary day. The Lord does not appear in bodily form to His servants very often. When He does, the Lord has something very special in mind. Dr. Nagel writes: “Three men dropped in on Abraham, and he and Sarah got busy to get something good on the table for them. Somehow, Abraham knew who they were. We are told Abraham was God’s friend. Abraham dealt with one of these men as with God. He is the one who in the Old Testament is called the Angel of the Lord. God made use of a human form, and when God thus deals with a man, we know it to be God the Son.” [Sermons, 294]
The Old Testament tells about the Word Becoming Flesh. “Jesus isn’t an angel; He is God and man,” “having permanently taken on our human nature and become one of us by being born of Mary.”
When he [Abraham] saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth and said, "O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, while I bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on— since you have come to your servant."
So they said, "Do as you have said."
And Abraham went quickly into the tent to Sarah and said, "Quick! Three seahs of fine flour! Knead it, and make cakes."
And Abraham ran to the herd and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to a young man, who prepared it quickly. Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them. And he stood by them under the tree while they ate.
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 about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son."
It’s quite a promise. The blessing to Abraham has been waiting as a promise since chapter twelve: “And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."
If the Lord was to make of Abram, “exalted father,” into a great nation, Abraham, “father of many nations,” he would have to have some offspring. Between Genesis 12 and 18 Abraham has been in Egypt, spent time with Lot before Lot moved to a town called Sodom—more about that next week, rescued Lot a first time, and was given a covenant with the Lord.
And then there was Hagar. Hagar was Sarah’s Egyptian maidservant. Sarah made up her mind that the Lord couldn’t possibly deliver an heir through her, she would further things along by giving Hagar to her husband as a second wife. Did she really think that would solve the problem? Ishmael was a son of Abraham’s, but he wasn’t the miraculous heir promised to Abraham and Sarah.
Chapter 17 brings about the Lord’s covenant of circumcision and new names. Abram is now Abraham. Sarai is to be called Sarah. And the Lord explicitly promised Abraham a son through Sarah. And Abraham laughed then, mocking the Lord’s promise. Guess who’s laughing now, in chapter 18?
The 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. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, "After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?"
Sarah laughed, in near ridicule of the Lord Himself. Abraham did it too, back in 17:17. He doubted that a man of a hundred could beget and that a woman of ninety could conceive. Abraham fell facedown and laughed. Could medical science pull it off even with Viagra and hormone replacements? We’d probably show our doubts by laughter, too.
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 about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son."
There’s no laughing this time. Life intervenes. Abraham will have to rescue Lot yet again next week. Stay tuned—same time, same station. The promised son would be born on time, as promised, in chapter 21: The LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did to Sarah as he had promised. And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
Why the name Isaac? I’m glad you asked. Let’s ask Sarah, herself. And Sarah said, "God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me." And she said, "Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age."
Isaac means laughter, literally, “He laughs.” An appropriate name for such a son. Sarah puts this name nicely into context. She speaks of joyous laughter, not mocking laughter. She speaks out of happiness at the Lord’s gift. Her disbelief has been smashed. The promise to Abraham has not only been fulfilled, it has been filled to bursting. This is the son promised, through whom the Lord would bless all the peoples of the earth. The God of Abraham and Isaac used these servants, these patriarchs, as His instruments and as the human forebears of our Lord Jesus, the ultimate fulfillment of this promise
“And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." And we have been blessed. Father Abraham had many sons and many sons had father Abraham, the old song says. I am one of them and so are you.
So who got the last laugh? Abraham and Sarah both had their share of faithless laughter and the laughter of faith, rejoicing in God’s gift of a son named after laughter. The Lord got the last laugh here. As He said Himself, “Is 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."
No, nothing is too hard for the Lord. He who created heaven and earth with mere words could certainly aid these special senior citizens with procreation. And He could bring a virgin to conceive and bear a son named Jesus, named for His purpose, to save His people from their sins. Resurrection from the dead? Not impossible at all. Even this was not too hard for the Lord. Remember that the next time you don’t feel like laughing.
No matter how bad you think you have it, your small problems are not too big for the Lord. His forgiveness covers even your sins. His truth trumps all human fictions. His miracles defy scientific explanation. He is faithful. He fulfills His promises to overflowing, bursting even our most wild expectations. And the Lord laughs in joy, delighting to give His gifts to you. By faith, we rejoice in that heavenly laughter, with Him, He whose laughter is the best medicine. Amen.
In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
