Recovering Sarah
Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.” Genesis 21:6 NASB
Laughter – Why does Peter list Sarah as a heroine of the faith (1 Peter 3:6)? With all that we have learned about her, it seems that Zornberg’s assessment, a life of “grim realism,” is more accurate than Peter’s praise. Betrayal, abuse, vengeance, revenge, anger, frustration, misunderstanding, humiliation seem to be the proper words to describe her. Certainly not submissive, dutiful or a role model of godly obedience.
But perhaps we haven’t really heard the story. Perhaps we are so familiar with the narrative that we didn’t hear the cry inside the outrage. Avivah Zornberg pushes us to see something much deeper than the common human reactions to the situations Sarah had to endure. When God finally addresses her concern, not having a child of her own, the famous “laughter” passage is engraved on our recollection of Sarah. But what we need to do is enter into Sarah’s thought if we are going to really know who this woman was. And Sarah’s thought is all about the impossibility of changing the way that human bodies work in the world. As Zornberg notes, Sarah lives in the internal world of conception. When it’s too late, some things just can’t be fixed! Abraham lives about promises. Sarah lives about menstration.
“Sarah’s experience is direct, physical, definitive. Matter is intractable and encloses her. God is more effectively hidden in her world; hers, therefore, is a more difficult faith than Abraham’s, which is based on promises, transcendent intimations.”[1]
Have you thought about Sarah like this? That her faith had to be even stronger than Abraham’s. He only had to believe that God would accomplish what God said. But Sarah has to believe that something physically impossible would happen to her, in her. Her faith came from the inside-out; Abraham’s came from the outside-in.
Perhaps Peter was right. Sarah is a model of all godly women. Sarah believed that what was entirely impossible in every human sense could still happen. Everything in her experience said, “No chance!” Everything she knew about what it means to be a human being in this world shouted, “Too late!” And yet, she laughed. “Maybe it will still happen. Maybe the world is not what it seems. Maybe even my own body is still territory for the divine.” Without laughter, it remains impossible.
When Isaac is born, Sarah laughed. “Yes, God did what I thought could never happen.” Zornberg notes: “ . . to laugh is to make a choice; laughter is two-faced: ‘here for mockery, there for joy.’”[2] For Sarah, it’s joy. For others, it mockery. They don’t know that internal, physical faith. They see only the external. But does it really matter?
Topical Index: laughter, Sarah, faith, 1 Peter 3:6, Genesis 21:6
[1]Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg, The Beginning of Desire: Reflections on Genesis, p. 113.
Yes, I think it matters. Without the physical faith life is a laugh (mockery). At least that’s what I’ve experienced.
While I was reading this I realized God sees all our stories redemptively even mine thank you for your writings.To God my story is redeemed already even if I am not seeing it …..how bitter root judgements about myself ,others ,life hinder my sight of redemption and cause us to misinterpret & create false narratives …
I have seen the impossible.
God has allowed me to witness a man recover his sight and
another fellow lame for 26 years to run a 5K marathon.
These men, I have always assumed, deeply believed in
God’s promise of healing, despite their seemingly impossible
physical situations.
We never really know how deeply the waters of faith run in any
individual, Sarah included. We do know that Jesus told us if our
faith is only the size of a mustard seed, anything is possible.
I, for one, believe Him!
Yes, it matters. It is good to be reminded through this powerful story, that God is at work in our lives even if we can’t see the big picture. Sarah waited years to have a child. No child comes. She becomes obsessed with getting a child with no thought to the consequences. But then the scheme backfires. After the child arrives, the obsession to get what she wants is replaced with how it will be seen. It is easy to get lost or pulled in to what the world thinks. I can relate to Sarah’s bitterness and anger. Life not working out according to my plans. It seems that Sarah was eventually able to look into or over the horizon.
I think I should have added after the birth of Isaac she was able to see over the horizon. Although she still seemed to be concerned with appearances initially.
The birth of Isaac is NOT the end of the story, for her or for all the rest of the family. Try reading my book Crossing.
Two words that come to mind as I read today’s blog. Desire and faith. We have to remember that from him and through him and to him are all things. The word says that he gives us the desires of our hearts. So Sarah, whether naturally or God-given had a desire for a child. In order for her to see her desire fulfilled it required faith. Now faith, is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Faith comes by hearing, Sarah heard God say that she would have a child. She believed God, she believed what she heard and it was as good as having it. The “how” wasn’t the important question, it was the
“Who” that is so important in the story. God. If I would break it down real simple it would be similar to the Chia plant that used to be advertised on TV. Regardless of what it looked like, it said, “ just add water!”. Eventually, due to fulfilling the requirements , you get a chia plant! Faith and desire. Desire and faith.
Just rambling here. Trying to figure how it pertains to my daily life, life today. Blessings on you all!
Yes, it definitely does matter. I wonder if instead of laughing, Sarah would have said “…I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham”. How different would her life, family and marriage turned out?, and how it would affect us today…
I’ve always looked at this episode in their lives from the practical. The questions for me center on the act of intimacy required to produce the child. Did Abraham and Sarah engage in intimacy on any regular basis or was it as unusual as I think it would have been for Abraham to suggest they engage in something that had been so fruitless and possibly no longer engaged in. It seems his and her emunah, acting upon what He had told one of them required a tremendous amount of surrender to Him, for them both.
Skip, for me, these words are the ‘supernatural’ aspect of life. “Maybe it will still happen. Maybe the world is not what it seems. Maybe even my own body is still territory for the divine.” Without laughter, it remains impossible.
I see it as the divine essence of “all is possible with Yah”. It’s like the gold standard of living. It’s the result of high intense pressure to form a diamond. Or something hidden, like the unusable/ill defined part of our DNA. Does laughter indicate that ‘secret’ place within us… the place we somehow believe Yah will make good on his promises although it appears impossible? Is it “unspeakable joy”?
Does Yah’s divine authority surpass what our five senses dictate? I believe it does. Life has shown the supernatural or divine authority of Yah weaves in and out of this realm. Perhaps that’s the way we are made… meant to grow, learn or otherwise mature in this realm as preparation for a full expression of YHVH in the realm of “the world to come”… His majestic Kingdom. Just my thoughts.