Don't Laugh

Genesis 18:1-15 and 21:1-7 (Narrative Lectionary)

A-maze-ing Laughter bronze sculpture by Yue Minjun

“You need to have the faith of Abraham!” I’ve heard that one in hospitals, war zones, and on homicide scenes. 

References to Abraham as the most faithful servant of God in human history goes beyond Christianity. The Muslim community and the Jewish community also lift up Abraham as an example of the type of faith we should all aspire to. But faith is a complicated topic, especially in a Lutheran context. 

Dr. Brian Gerrish wrote extensively on the topic of faith and claimed that faith has two sides; belief and trust. Every dictionary in the Western world seems to agree with Gerrish because belief and trust are the most frequently used terms to describe the essence of faith. Most Lutherans struggle with this understanding of faith, because at the center of our faith tradition and theology is another term for faith; gift. Gift as a descriptor of faith allows us to pawn off our own shortcomings regarding faith, as a fault not of our own but rather the fault of God. As if God is some cranky rich miser that withholds faith from some, while lavishing others with it in abundance. It certainly takes any responsibility for faith out of our own hands. 

Which leads us to a question; Would we prefer the choice to trust in God, or would we rather sit back with our feet kicked up and our arms outstretched awaiting God’s “faith handout” when things get a little rough or our “faith tank” is running on empty?

Faith as belief is without a doubt a true gift. As we heard last week, God gives, God creates, God builds an intricate design out of the desire for companionship and goodness. In that intelligent design we are given a chance to fathom a creator. Go to the Grand Canyon, the mountains, sleep out under the stars, or look up at the night sky while you are at the ocean and tell me you don’t consider the evidence of a higher power. This creation itself serves as the fingerprint or even a footprint of a creator. It is in that revealed goodness we receive the object of our belief; God.

Trust on the other hand, is far more complicated. My dear mentor and friend, Dr Eric Crump was notorious for his reminder during every theology study session he lead, when he would forcefully remind us: “NO ONE can do your believing for you!” It was a very passionate topic for him, not surprisingly since his mentor Dr Gerrish was equally passionate about the topic. As we are given evidence of the object of our belief it becomes our responsibility to further engage that object.

Today we see in the story of Abraham the journey of faith beginning. As Abraham begins his journey that faith is not without fault, and God shows up in our lesson today to investigate that faith. God seems to be embodied in the form of three creepy travelers who are traveling through the desert during a time of the day when no one in their right mind should be traveling. Even to this day people in the Middle East, especially in secluded regions do nothing in the middle of the day, especially travel. Just consider what would happen if you traveled through the desert on foot as temperatures reached upwards of 130 degrees! The circumstance is so strange that Abraham doesn’t even seem to realize these travelers are really there, the first time he looks up to see them. It’s only on his second take that he realizes it isn’t a dream or a mirage. What is more, a tribal society would rarely see three men traveling alone. People in bedouin tribal societies traveled in groups for protection from other tribes, criminals, and nature. It would have been most likely that three men traveling in the middle of the day were nothing but trouble. Abraham is a good bedouin man who extends the most essential and beautiful cultural courtesy I have ever seen; Middle Eastern hospitality. While not always practiced, it is a common custom among many to this day to extend not only your best food and drink but your protection as well. In so doing you not only assured the survival of those travelers but you could very well invite trouble if those travelers were criminals, outcasts, or raiders. 

Abraham is a good man, yes, but a faithful man? Not just yet. 

This story loses its edge because we know that God is present among these three travelers. For a middle eastern community, even today, the story is eerie and mysterious. Abraham takes a chance because he is a good bedouin. Sarah takes just as much of a chance as Abraham. 

An example of bedouin hospitality today

While this may serve as an example of good bedouin hospitality, even today, when a group of mysterious travelers come into my home, knowing my wife’s full, and might I add only recently changed name,  -keep in mind Sarah’s name was only changed from Sarai to Sarah in the previous chapter- I would certainly be a little bit on edge, not to mention if one of them decides to offer their medical advice as a high risk OBGYN all of a sudden! 

The creepy scale does go off the charts though when Sarah laughs WITHIN herself, and one traveler simply asks “Why is Sarah laughing?” This is the point at which the Friday the 13th music starts fading in and you start screaming at the TV screen “Don’t run into the graveyard!” It’s any wonder the text reports that Sarah was scared and you can bet she is even more freaked out when one of them outright calls her out on her halfway honest denial because she didn’t even laugh out loud!

Sisters and brothers, we may not fully appreciate this story because we take the identity of these three travelers for granted but it puts any modern thriller to shame. The cliffhanger of the story is when Abraham is put on the spot; “Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?” claims one; challenging Abraham to acknowledge that to deny God’s ability to perform the task of granting Abraham a child would be to deny the very existence of the one true God that has created everything in the known world. For Abraham to deny such a thing would be to deny the very existence of God. 

Of course Abraham won't say that it cannot be done! After all, this is the God that created all Abraham can see with his own eyes, how can God not perform the simple task of granting Abraham a child after creating the entire world!? But not long ago, in Genesis 17,  Abraham literally fell on his face in laughter. For us we know this is God, throughout this wonderful, eerie, and spooky story but if you carefully read this text it is difficult to tell at what point Abraham realizes that these three have anything to do with God. It is all part of God’s shaping of Abraham’s faith. Testing him, questioning him, making sure that he is the best choice for this job.

Sarai offering Hagar to Abraham
(Stom)

Despite the fact he handed his wife over to the Pharaoh to save his own skin in Genesis chapter 12. 

And 

He responds to the promise of rewards so great they are beyond his imagination with “What good is all that if I don’t have a child to pass it onto?” in Genesis 15

And

Then, after God promises Abraham a son, Sarah insists that they use their slave Hagar to bear them a son who they end up treating so badly she runs off into the desert to die, only to return because God told Hagar that she would be protected. Genesis 16

And 

after all this, Abraham falls on his face laughing at God’s assurance that Sarah will bear a child in chapter 17. 

How’s that for the three strike rule? Do you still think that we should model the “Faith of Abraham?”

The culmination of Abraham’s faith is exemplified through Isaac. Isaac the name given by God. Often mistakenly interpreted to mean “laughter” the name actually literally means “HE laughed”

“He laughed”?

Sacrifice of Isaac (Caragaggio)

How would you like your only child to be named in order to remind you every time you looked in their eyes that you laughed at God’s promise, you laughed at God’s power, you laughed in the face of the One who created everything? The one who gave you everything, and could take it all away in the blink of an eye? How’s that for a little motivation?

So it is any wonder that Abraham is reminded “Don’t you laugh” when he is ordered to take his son named; “oh by the way you laughed at God” up on Mount Moriah to be sacrificed.  It is any wonder that Abraham is reminded “Don’t you laugh” when he is ordered to bind his son named; “oh by the way you laughed at God” to the altar. It is any wonder that Abraham is reminded “Don’t you laugh” when he is ordered to plunge a knife into his son named “oh by the way you laughed at God”. And it is any wonder that Abraham is reminded “Don’t you laugh” when his quivering hands froze just short of his son named “oh by the way you laughed at God” as God assures Abraham that unlike the other gods of the time, this God does not require the blood of children in sacrifice but only the faith, the belief, the trust, of those who follow the object of that faith; the God. 

You see, I don’t want the faith of Abraham. I want the faith that God carefully tempered in Abraham. A faith that was tempered like steel.  A faith, belief, and trust in the God who has, does, and will continue to provide.

But unlike Abraham, I don’t have to look into the eyes of my children to be reminded not to laugh at God’s power. I don’t have to look into the eyes of my children to remember the blessings I receive through God the creator. I don’t have to look into the eyes of my children to remember the love and grace of God, the One who first loved us.

Because God didn’t give me a son to remind me not to laugh, God gave me THE Son.

The Son who loved us. 

The Son who taught us. 

The Son who showed us God. 

The Son we nailed to the cross. 

The Son that we all laughed at. 

So every time you look on that cross remember we too once laughed at the power of God and remember that by that cross we too have the opportunity to be reminded of the true witness to faith in God through Jesus the Christ. 

Amen. 

Mocking of Christ (Carracci)

Sources

Gerrish, B A. “Saving and Secular Faith: An Invitation to Systematic Theology”. Fortress Press, August 5, 2015.