Laughing at the Darkness

Over the last two days we reflected on laughter and faith. We continue that theme today.

In the book of Genesis, Sarah laughed. For years, she and Abraham had been trying hard to follow God’s lead—trying to do the right thing. And, like most of us, they were sometimes succeeding and sometimes failing. God had promised them a family, but at this point in the story, the years were getting on. Sarah was an old woman, and she’d never been able to have children.

Her laugh may very well have been a cynical laugh. Think about this: after years of waiting, it is possible that this couple had settled into a kind of joyless despair. After all, it is hard to imagine in our own time the social significance of barrenness. In that day, people counted on children to work with them in the fields or in the family business. And they relied on them to provide security for old age.

At one point Abraham and Sarah even try taking matters into their own hands. Abraham bears a son by their maid Hagar. Sarah is heartbroken. And everything feels so deadly serious.

There are times when our lives can become like that, when our relationships, our faith, even our worship can become joyless, deadly serious.

What happens when life becomes so serious that we can’t laugh?

What gets in the way of our laughter?

Fear? Resentment? Perhaps anger that we haven’t dealt with? Maybe taking ourselves too seriously?

Ultimately, Sarah laughed. And in chapter 21, the story ends with her final word of witness. She names her son Isaac, meaning “Laughter.” And she says, “God has brought me joy and laughter. Everyone who hears about it will laugh with me.”

May God grant you, and me, the ability to laugh even at the darkness. May God grant us that same spirit of joy that Sarah expressed, the same spirit of joy the disciples must have felt at the empty tomb, and the same spirit of joy that has compelled people of faith through the centuries.

Let us pray: Gracious God, we pray again that you would open our hearts to the joy that you promised. And we ask that even in the darkest times we might laugh with people of faith across the ages: the laughter of eternity, the laughter of disbelief turned to faith, the laughter of death overcome by resurrection and new life. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.