God Who Brings Laughter

Homily – Sunday, the 18th June 2023

Reading: Gen 21:1-7

Sarah said- God brought me a laughter. Everyone who hears will laugh with me

We know that there are different kinds of laughter

When in chapter 18 the three visitors came to Abram and Sara they were already very old and had almost given up the idea of having children

The guests announced that Sarah would bear a child- she laughs

The visitors see that and ask Why did you laugh?

Sara denies

That is the laugh of impossibility

Was there sarcasm, disappointment

Disbelief

This is not going to happen

Surely not going to happen

Here in Chapter 21

Now the son is born

And Sarah laughs

She acknowledges

God has given a laugh in my life

We live in a world where there are several people who have forgotten to laugh

Going through tough situations in life

Some say- I do not recall the last time when I genuinely laughed!

War and violence steal laughter from people

Imagine the pain and agony victims of war and domestic violence

People live thinking they will never laugh again!

The Story of Sarah is a story reminding us not to lose hope on laughing again

In their tradition

Not having a child was not considered a blessing

People accused

People pointed fingers

People blamed

They said the tribe of Abram would not continue

Sara would have waited and waited and waited

Nothing happened

Finally one day Abram comes up with the idea of Hagar

Imagine what Sara would have gone through

Then Hagar bears him Ismael

Imagine what would have gone through the mind of Sara

And then the angels come

They promise a son

Exactly in the appointed time Isaac is born

Impossible has become possible now

Darkness has turned to Light

Despair has turned to Joy

Brokenness has turned to New Beginning

Sarah says,

God has given me laughter.

Have you ever thought of  a God given laughter!

Whatever be the situation that we are going through

God can restore a laugh in our hearts and a smile in our lips

This laughter is a contagious laughter

Everyone who hears of this will laugh with me

Will rejoice with me

When other people suffer

We do feel for them

When people say life is going through a tough patch

Our heart aches for them

It is said when we laugh many might come to laugh along

But when we cry it is usually only our shadow that goes with us

Here Sara says all who hear of this will rejoice with me

What is the kind of laughter that would come to us

When we hear that a 90 year old has conceived from a 100 year old

Laughter of disbelief?

Laughter of joy and happiness for them

We have a God who can restore our smiles

We have a God who can transform our hopelessness into new HOPE.

GOD HAS BROUGHT ME LAUGHTER

That’s fine

But are we people who are happy at the happiness of Others?

Happiness Projects for School Children

Create a smile within the family

Create a smile for a friend

Create a smile for a stranger

God Who Never Ceases Doing Miracles

Do you believe in miracles?

Are miracles always extra-ordinary things.

Do we see miracles in extra ordinary manifestations of ordinary things

Abram and Sarai were chosen ones of the Lord. Yet they did not have children.

At a time when Abram thought waiting was enough we have the Hagar story unfolding

But surprisingly in God’s appointed time the angels of the Lord appeared and promised Abraham a son

Sara was already 90 and Abraham almost 100

Impossible in human standards

Sara just laughed

But a miracle did happen

Sara conceived and bore Abraham a son

Sara said God has brought laughter for me and everyone who hears will laugh with me

The Smile that God brings

The Smile that People share with us.

Impossible in human standards but possible for God

And it is in making the impossible possible that God creates a laughter in us.

God whose promises are Impeccable

It is worth thinking of the Promises of God and the Limitations of Our Faith

The Lord dealt with Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as he had promised. 

When Abraham and Sara walked the valley of despair the promise of the Lord came. Sara shall bear a son.

God knew what exactly was the promise that this elderly couple wanted that would bring them the greatest joy- a panacea for all the pain and shame they went through in life.

Friends remember,

When the going gets tough all we need to do is open our ears to hear the promises of the Lord

When our children see us clinging to the promises of God, they will grow up trusting in His goodness. If we fail as adults in praying for and praying with the next generation, then they will become spiritually unsure. (Michael Yousef)

God’s promises should be the light that shines in all the dark patches that could come your way

Hebrews 10:23 “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.”

God whose timing is perfect

The Timing of God and the limitations of Our Timing

Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the time of which God had spoken to him. 

Let us take a look at the timeline in the life of Abraham

Abram was the third son of Terah and was born in Ur of the Chaldeans

At 70 Abram moves with Sara to a city called Haran in ancient Syria

At 75 God calls him to leave Haran to Canan

It is at 85 he is first promised a son but he devises a human solution and Ishmael was born of Hagar when he is 86

At 99 Abraham again has a God encounter he and Ishmael now 13 are circumcised and he is promised that Sara will bear him a child

At 100 Isaac is born in Sarah

At 115 his faith is tested by asking to sacrifice Issac

After about 67 years of marriage Sarah dies, Abraham is 140

He then marries Keturah and lives to see his son Issac turning 75 and grandson Jacob turning 15

He dies at the age of 175 and buried next to Sarah

The timings of God is very important and God’s timing for Abraham and Sara is also very specific.

God is never late and rarely early- God is always exactly at the right time- God’s time.

God works a miracle at the most appropriate time in each of our lives.

God’s timing is perfect

When we understand the mystery of this timing we laugh with God.

God whose possibilities are limitless

The Possibilities of God and the limitations of Our Comprehension

Who would have ever told Abraham that Sara would nurse children

Yet I have born him a son in this old age.

Yes Sarah would have given up

Abraham would have given up

All around would have given up

But God did not give up on them

Joan Anderson says- What does angels do. They bring good news. They open our eyes to moments of wonder and to the lovely possibilities that God opens before you, to exemplary people and to the idea that God is here in our midst- whatever be the reality that we are living with. This understanding of the possibilities in God lifts our hearts. It gives us wings. It helps us start all over again.

Yes God causes us to laugh again

Life is worth the living as long as we allow God to create a laugh in us

Vinod Victor

June 18, 2023