I preached this sermon on Sunday, June 14, 2026, at Christ Presbyterian Church in Milford, Ohio.
The lectionary text is Genesis 18:1-15, 21:1-7 – The Three Visitors, plus Romans 5:1-8 – Peace and Joy
Laughing with God – it doesn’t get any better than that! The Bible encourages us to clap our hands, dance with delight, and shout with joy. Psalm 126 says:
1 When the Lord restored the well-being of Zion, we thought we were dreaming.
2 At that time we laughed loudly and shouted for joy.
3 The Lord did indeed accomplish great things for us. We were happy.
What a wonderful emotion and reaction to joy for us to experience! God wants us to laugh loudly.
Laughter shows up in many areas of our lives and emotions, like laughing with joy as was just expressed in Psalm 126.
We sometimes use laughter as a defense mechanism. You get a phone call about your car warranty expiring soon. You can laugh at the ridiculousness of it.
Laughter can come when something is beyond the realm of possibility. You’re told you just won the lottery. We laugh to protect ourselves from being fooled.
We sometimes use laughter to let off steam, as a release. You’ve been holding in emotions, and the valve finally lets loose with involuntary nervous laughter. Think of Mary Tyler Moore at Chuckles the Clown’s funeral.
God wants us to laugh loudly. We have seen and laughed with George Burns and Morgan Freeman portraying God in the movies, and laughed at Bill Cosby doing a comedy skit between Noah and God some 60 years ago, though that one didn’t age so well.
While laughing *with* God is a wonderful experience, laughing *at* God – not so much. And that’s what we see in this story building up to and including the birth of Isaac. It’s a different emotion, a different laugh. Not a laugh of joy, or ridiculousness, or emotional release. Here we see a laugh of disbelief, of incredulousness.
I gave you the highlights from the first eleven chapters of Genesis last week, the Primeval Prologue. After our scripture reading in Chapter 12, where Abram got called by the Lord, [SLIDE – Summary of Genesis since the Call of Abram] here’s what happened in the life of Abram and Sarai [SAY-rye] leading up to today’s reading.
· Rest of chapter 12 – Abram and Sarai [SAY-rye] went to Egypt due to a famine, where Abram lied about Sarai being his sister instead of his 65-year old wife. This helped Abram become wealthy.
· Chapter 13 – Abram, Sarai and Lot return to Bethel, where Lot and Abram separated [amicably].
· Chapter 14 – Abram rescues Lot from four marauding kings.
· Chapter 15 – God’s covenant with Abram, [promising him and his descendants a great land].
· Chapter 16 – At age 86, Abram impregnates Hagar [HAH-ger], who gives him a son, Ishmael. [Spoiler alert: Who’s Hagar? She is Sarai’s maidservant, offered to Abram by Sarai herself. That raises all kinds of drama later, which we will cover next week.]
· Chapter 17 – Covenant of Circumcision – Abram was 99 years old when God made a covenant with him that he would be the father of many nations. [Abram means exalted father. God renamed him to Abraham, which means father of many. God also renamed Sarai to Sarah and promised she would have a son. She was 89 at the time, and Abraham fell down laughing at the absurdity of it, the first mention of laughter in the Bible. God graciously ignored Abraham’s demonstration and said their son would be named Isaac, which means, he laughs.]
Have you seen any of the videos from the BibleProject.com? It takes you through an entire book of the Bible in 10-12 minutes, all while drawing pictures faster than DJ can sketch. I think that’s what I just did with a portion of the book of Genesis.
Now we’re up to today’s first scripture reading, Genesis chapter 18, studying God’s promise to Abraham and Sarah of the upcoming birth of their son, Isaac.
Our text starts off with the ancient near east custom of hospitality. It is an offense not to offer food and shelter to a traveler at your door. So when three visitors stood near Abraham’s tent, he sprang into action to greet them and show them hospitality, even though he was recovering from just being circumcised. He ran to greet them. Abraham was 99 years old!
I want to be running when I’m 99 years old! I’m already the oldest finisher in some races, like the race two weeks ago, and one in April. Abraham’s setting the bar high for me.
Some scholars try to explain why the ages are so high in the Old Testament. Perhaps they were counting months instead of years, some have argued. If that were the case, then some of the characters would be fathers at age ten. That didn’t happen. Other scholars point out that some numbers are just guidance. 40 is one of those numbers where it means, “For long enough,” not necessarily 40 days and 40 nights of rain in the Flood, or in Jesus’ desert temptation, or 40 years of wandering in the Wilderness for Moses and the Israelites.
Other scholars feel that 99 years old is actually 99 years, and aging didn’t affect the body quite as much back in the days of Genesis. Case in point, in chapter 12, Sarai was 65 years old when Pharoah’s advisors saw her and knew Pharoah would be smitten by her. Life in the desert was a bit harsh and she didn’t have Sephora or Mary Kay products to keep her skin as soft as a rose. She solicited the same reaction at age 89 in chapter 20 from King Abimelech [uh-BIM-uh-lehk], but I’m getting ahead of myself.
I believe the answer is a combination of all those, and is something we can’t get hung up on too much, but we keep it in mind, since age was mentioned so much our narrator.
Abraham hosted the travelers, they washed their feet, rested in the shade and ate a wonderful meal prepared especially for them, which probably took a couple hours to bake the bread and bar-b-cue the veal. God asked Abraham where Sarah was, as though He didn’t know, just like He pretended not to know where Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden. God knew Sarah was eavesdropping just inside the tent. So when God announced Sarah would have a son, she laughed, just like Abraham did shortly before this, laughing at the image of her birthing a child when she would be 90 years old. There’s also some cynicism mixed in, since God made this promise 24 years earlier too, but without the timeline.
God heard Sarah laugh, though she denied it, and God called her out, saying, “Yes, you did laugh.” He asked her the famous question, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” She tried to hide her doubt from God, minimize her lack of faith, but God was putting a spotlight on it, making her face her doubt, her disbelief.
When do we doubt God, question his timeline, laugh cynically at a situation? The Bible is full of examples where God has the last laugh himself, fulfilling his promise, and turning doubt into joy. God is setting up Abraham for a tremendous display of faith, starting with a miracle birth.
The rest of today’s scripture reading from Genesis is in chapter 21, [SLIDE- Summary of Genesis 18-20] so this is what happened in this gap left by or skipped by the lectionary:
· Rest of chapter 18 – Abraham pleads with God to save Sodom.
· Chapter 19 – God destroys Sodom and Gomorrah, but spares Lot and his family. Also included in this chapter is the story where Lot’s wife looks back at the destruction and turns into a pillar of salt.
· Chapter 20 – Abraham traveled again, staying in Gerar [GE-rar], where the king kidnapped the 89-year-old Sarah. [If you’re the king, it’s not kidnapping, it’s called, “sent for and took Sarah,”] Abraham got her back, with even more livestock and silver as compensation.
There are plenty of details I left out and invite you to read for yourself. It’s a quick read.
This takes us to the rest of today’s reading from Genesis, and it’s the birth of Isaac. In one short verse in chapter 21, Sarah becomes pregnant and gives birth. All in one verse. You can tell that a man wrote this part. No mention of cravings or morning sickness or overheating in the desert sun. In fact, no mention that Sarah was 90 years old, only that Abraham was 100 years old. She did the heavy lifting!
But what a change of attitude Sarah had after this event. Verse 6, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” It’s no longer a quiet, cynical laugh in the back of a tent. Sarah’s laugh is now public, contagious, ecstatic. It’s a laugh of joy, knowing that God has kept his promise to her and Abraham.
And God delivered the punchline, naming their son Isaac, meaning “laughter” or “he laughs.” God took their doubt and turned it into a permanent monument of his trustworthiness. Every time Abraham or Sarah calls Isaac’s name, they are reminded of God’s power and promise in this miracle birth, or “mirth.”
Centuries later, the Apostle Paul looks back at Abraham’s faith to explain our own relationship with God. Let me read from Romans chapter 4, then I will read the second reading from our lectionary, Romans chapter 5. [SLIDE- Romans 4:18-22]
18 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” 19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. 22 This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.”
Because of his faith, Abraham was justified, declared righteous. The miracle birth of Isaac was God’s promise fulfilled. Paul continues in his letter to the Romans in our second reading, where Romans 5 reflects a direct result of this faith, including the outcome of a second miracle birth, that of Jesus. [SLIDE- Romans 5:1-6]
1Therefore, since we are justified by faith [“declared righteous” by another translation], we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,2through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast [rejoice] in our hope of sharing the glory of God.3And not only that, but we also [rejoice] in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance [perseverance (endurance + overcoming obstacles)],4and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,5and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
I heard the quote this week, “Where there’s laughter, there’s hope.” What a great summary for this sermon, starting with Abraham’s and Sarah’s laughter before and after the birth of Isaac, God fulfilling his promise, and Abraham being declared righteous. Then through the same faith, we are declared righteous as well, and have hope of sharing the glory of God. As Paul writes, this hope will not disappoint us.
Go ahead and laugh with God, have faith that he will fulfill his promises, and be declared righteous.
In Jesus’ name.
