December 5, High Hopes
“Divine Comedy?” by Dr. G. Van Buskirk

Genesis 18:12-15
So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I be fruitful?” The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ ¹⁴ Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son.” But Sarah denied, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “Yes, you did laugh.”

Theme:
Have you ever stopped to think if God has a sense of humor? I mean, beyond just the silliness of the duck-billed platypus.

Illustration:
Think about how much of our Christian tradition is premised on truly ridiculous (Latin, “laughable”) beliefs: God’s Salvation (Yeshua) is to come not through political, military, or otherwise prestigious channels, but through the birth of a powerless child in a Middle Eastern territory occupied by Imperial forces—a child whose teenage mother is an unwed virgin. That’s not the way things work in this world. Perhaps more ridiculous still is what we Christians witness about that baby: he is the Son of God, executed by the very occupying Empire, and yet resurrected in the power and to the glory of God. It’s absurd when you stop to think about it: virgins don’t have babies; dead people stay dead. Anyone saying otherwise would be considered a laughingstock—right?
Well, as it turns out, Jesus’ birth is not the only “laughable” birth story in the Bible. In fact, God’s original covenant with Abraham—that out of barrenness shall come fruitfulness, generations of blessing, everlasting covenant with God (Gen. 17)—is a promise premised in laughter itself. In today’s Advent reading, Sarah laughs at God when she overhears the absurdity of the promise that she, a 90-year-old woman, is supposed to give birth. The ensuing conversation is nothing shy of humorous—not out of disrespect, but because it’s just too much to take in without…laughing!
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 wonderful for the Lord? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son.” But Sarah denied, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. He said, “Oh yes, you did laugh.” (Gen. 18:12-15)
I can’t help but chuckle myself when reading it. “I didn’t laugh,” Sarah backpedals, caught off guard by the absurdity of God’s promise. “Oh, yes you did!” God snaps back. Hilarious!
But why do we laugh? It’s practically useless, really. If anything, we show that we are letting our guard down and forfeiting our very breath to another. It’s an escape of oxygen, of breath, of spirit. And yet it’s one of the most binding human activities we know. To laugh together is to bond, to share spirit with one another.
Maybe that’s why the names in this story are so important. In the previous chapter (Gen. 17), we read about Abraham and Sarah’s changed names—from Abram and Sarai to Abraham and Sarah. I always thought about it as the Lord (Yahweh) “giving” to Abram and Sarai part of God’s own name—ha! and ah!—as part of their new, covenant identity. Not to mention that their promised son is to be named Isaac, which straight up means “laughter” in Hebrew (Yitzhak). In other words, the family of God’s original covenant with humanity is a family of laughter, a family of incredulity over the miraculous promise that is to unfold—not only for them but for the entire Creation.
And it is from this lineage, this promise, this divine comedy—not tragedy—comes a new people, a covenant people, out of whom shall come the Messiah, God’s Salvation. Yes, this plays out in a world marred and marked by fear, oppression, occupation, crisis—by tragedy—but it is one into which the Lord Most High descends, to laugh through an infant’s coos—to embrace the miraculous, the impossible, the ludicrous.       

Takeaway:
“Is anything too wonderful,” too impossible, too ridiculous, too laughable, “for the Lord?” God asks Abraham and Sarah (Gen. 18:14). Forty-two generations later (Matt. 1:1-17), the definitive answer came to Mary: “For nothing will be impossible with God” (Lk. 1:37).

Prayer:
God of promise and of hope, open me to the marvelous work that you are birthing in our midst every day. Fill me with your joy, your laughter, in the face of what seems impossible. Amen.