Laughter & Hope

Abraham and Sarah, the Father and Mother of nations. Let’s use our historical imagination to examine the promise of God to Abraham and Sarah by placing ourselves within the history, culture and religious context of their story so that we might discern the deeper meaning of their story for the Jewish people. Remember, to take this story literally or at face-value is to miss much of what it was meant to convey.

Marcus Borg, in his book, “Reading the Bible Again for the First Time,” notes that promise and fulfillment are an overarching theme in the Pentateuch (the first five books of the bible). Many of the stories follow this scheme:

1.  
   

   a promise from God,

2. some sort of obstacle, or threat, to the promise that they can’t fix on their own
3. and the need of God’s help

The continuous question for the Israelites is: will God really fulfill God’s promise even though… the people disobeyed, a flood has wiped out everything, they were corrupt, we’re slaves, Pharoah is killing all the male children… and so on?

Abraham and Sarah’s obstacle to becoming the Father and Mother of nations is that Sarah is barren.

It’s crucial, as we dig deeper into this story, to flesh out what barrenness might be a metaphor for. When we experience barrenness in our lives we feel hopeless, empty, without purpose, afraid of the future, desperate, lifeless, sad, and lost.

As we listen to the story of Abraham and Sarah, consider these meanings floating beneath the surface.

The first couple of verses in Genesis 12 is considered a pivotal passage. It marks the moment God is willing to bestow a blessing and a promise upon Abram and the future. But a huge commitment is required of Abram and his family. God essentially says, “Abram, I want you leave all you have ever known: your country, your people, your parents, and go to a place (unnamed) that I will show you. I will make of you a great people. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. Everyone on earth will be blessed because of you and your faithfulness.”(Gen 12:1-2)

Now, Abram was 75 years old when Yahweh made this promise. This was about the time he probably wanted to sit back on his front porch with his feet up, have a beer, enjoy the golden years, and watch his people take care of business. But Abram was nothing if not obedient, and so Abram went, taking his wife Sarai, his nephew, Lot, and all their possessions and dependents with them.

Now, much happens in the next 10 years, but what doesn’t happen is that Abram and Sarah don’t have a child. Sarah is barren. With no child, how can God “make of them a great people”? There is no hope for a future without an heir.

Imagine the pain and the disgrace… especially for Sarai. Afterall, a woman’s value was in her ability to produce male offspring. She waited and trusted, and waited and trusted, but it had been over 10 years and  they were just getting older. Sarai’s at the end of her patience with God and God’s so-called promise. Her plan? She convinces her husband to sleep with her slave girl, Hagar. But when Hagar conceives and bears a son, Hagar then turns and scorns Sarai. It’s about all Sarai can bear. Her pain and frustration come out at Abram and she blames him for the poor treatment she’s receiving.  Abram proves to be sort of a wishy-washy husband and simply says, she’s your slave, do what you want with her. Sarai then treats Hagar so horribly that she runs away for a time, but then returns at God’s nudging, bears 86-year-old Abram a son and they name him Ishmael, who becomes the heir apparent for a time (later, in an interesting plot twist, Ishmael eventually becomes the Father of Islam).

So, God finally shows back up when Abram is 99. At this point Abram and Sarai have become accustomed to their barrenness, and resigned to their future; their “hopelessness” is their new normal. However, this is a new moment for God, revealed in new names and a new covenant for Abram and Sarai. Yahweh promises (again) that they would be the ancestors of many nations and not through Ishmael. This would be an everlasting covenant, passed down through the generations. The Israelites would be Yahweh’s people and Yahweh would be their god.

Their new names were symbols of this covenant. Abram becomes Abraham which means “Father of Nations.” And Sarai becomes Sarah, “Noblewoman.” As she becomes the mother of nations her honor and dignity are restored.

What did God require in this new covenant? Circumcision of all the males in the household. Oy!

What the world doesn’t seem to remember is that, while Abraham was willing to be circumcised at 99, he apparently still had some skepticism about this plan. The scripture says that Abraham fell on his face and laughed saying to himself, I’m 100 years old and Sarah is 90… how is this supposed to work?

Of course, God heard Abraham’s laugh and comment and affirmed that her barrenness would be no more. Yahweh then instructed that the son she bore would be named Isaac which means “laughter.”

Not long after, the couple received a visit from God, who was disguised as three travelers. Abraham and Sarah showed them hospitality, and one of them commented to Abraham that when they return in a year Sarah will have a child. Sarah was listening behind the tent flap and laughed to herself. Really? I’m ancient and Abraham is even more ancient, and I’m supposed to know pleasure again?  Perhaps she is skeptical, but sometimes laughter is what cautiously optimistic hope sounds like when it first arrives.

Again, God hears and says to Abraham, why does your wife doubt this and laugh? Is anything to extraordinary for God to do?

Sarah tries to deflect… I didn’t laugh.

But God replied, Oh yes, you did indeed laugh!

And a year later Sarah has a new baby boy named Isaac, which means “laughter.” This time Sarah’s laughter is joyous, not skeptical. Laughter equals hope.

There may be many messages here, but the faithfulness of Abraham and the fulfillment of the promise by God are the two that the Israelites hold onto. If we jump ahead to the New Testament, we see that the Apostle Paul uses Sarah and Abraham as an example to the newly formed house churches who are following the teachings of Jesus. What a wonderful story to call people to faithfulness in a God who leads them down new paths.

Paul, in Hebrews 11:8-12

By faith, Sarah and Abraham obeyed when they were called, and went off to the place they were to receive as a heritage; they went forth, moreover, not knowing where they were going.

By faith, Sarah and Abraham lived in the promised land as resident aliens, dwelling in tents with their children and grandchildren, who were heirs of the same promise – for they were looking forward to the city with foundations, whose designer and maker is God.

By faith, Sarah received the ability to conceive, even though she was past childbearing age, for she thought that the One who had made the promise was worthy of trust. As a result of this faith, there came forth from one woman and one man, themselves as good as dead, descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sands of the seashore.

There is barrenness, hopelessness, no future at the beginning of Abraham and Sarah’s story. Then God comes, invites them to trust in what they cannot see, and calls them to pilgrimage. Metaphorically, we must sometimes move away from what we believe is “security” if we are to find the way out of barrenness and hopelessness and into new life. We have to trust that what feels impossible - to be happy again, to love again, to be fulfilled again, to know hope and new life again - is not really impossible, it may just take time, patience and trust in what we cannot see.

Consider our own lives and the times we’ve felt barren, hopeless, empty, without a foreseeable future. And then somehow, maybe over the course of a long time even (remember it wasn’t immediate, or pain-free for Abraham and Sarah either), new life emerged, a future became clear, hope was restored.

There is a great line from the movie The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel: "Everything will be all right in the end. If it's not all right, it is not yet the end." To get there we need to be courageous, let go of that which holds us back from the promise of our future, and trust that in time we’ll find our own promised lands.

Love & Light!

Kaye