Love at First Laugh

Genesis 24:34-67

        I have been told by more than one person that preachers are really only needed three times in a person’s life. When you were born I baptized you, when you fell in love I performed your wedding, and when you die, I will bury you. The rest of the stuff I do is little more than idle chatter. Maybe that is why I feel a closeness to Isaac, the son of Abraham. In the stories of the descendents of Abraham, Isaac is mentioned three times. The first story reveals his near baptism by fire. Today’s story describes the “courtship” of Rebekah. The final story comes when Isaac is an old man. Baptism, Marriage, Death; these stories tell us all we know about the man whose name means “laughter”.

        But today’s story does not begin in laughter.  Sarah died. I suspect no one was more important in the life of Isaac than Sarah. Her death brought a void that only those who have lost a mother can understand. Isaac was beside himself. His half-brother Ishmael was gone, his mother was dead and I doubt Isaac had much desire to go on another overnight camping trip with his dad.  Abraham considered finding another wife to raise the boy but there were two small problems. There is no indication that Isaac wanted another woman to replace his mother. Second, just how easy is it to find a wife when you are over 100 years old?

        Eliezer, Abraham’s faithful servant, had a better idea. In a conversation with Abraham, Eliezer suggested perhaps Isaac would be best served with a wife. Abraham found this to be a marvelous idea. Therefore in the 24^th chapter of Genesis, right after the burial of Sarah and right before Abraham the Remarkable had many children with his new wife and concubines, we are given the courtship of Rebekah. Let the laughter begin.

        To fully appreciate Genesis 24 one must recognize the humor in the weaving of this tale. Normally this would not be difficult but when we are talking about a quest which leads to marriage, let me remind the men in attendance that weddings are no laughing matter to wives and daughters.  To women, weddings are sacred ceremonies in which every detail must be perfectly synchronized, every color perfectly matched, and every word perfectly harmonized in order to perfectly glorify the Angel that awaits her coronation. In my experience as an officiator, I have found mothers of the bride all agree on one thing. Every wedding would be perfect if the groom and his henchmen could be eliminated.        

        Why then should we be surprised that the courtship of Rebekah included everyone but Isaac?

        The first thing that Abraham decided was that none of the local girls were good enough for his son. That actually was very fortunate because it doesn’t appear that any of the local girls had given Isaac a second glance. Second, Abraham decided Isaac wasn’t going to be involved in choosing a wife.  I doubt the poor boy had probably never been on a date. After being traumatized on Mount Moriah, and then suffering through years of therapy, Isaac was pretty much of a loner who hung out in his mother’s tent and would have played video games if they had been invented.  Abraham had little confidence that Isaac would ever find a wife.  For that reason he gave Eliezer ten camels, some gold and a few pieces of jewelry. The father’s final instructions were, “I know you don’t have much to work with but please don’t return until you have found me a daughter-in-law.”

        Eliezer traveled all the way to city of Nahor near Abraham’s old stomping grounds. He figured folks would remember Abraham’s name and assume Isaac was the apple of his old man’s eye. Then Eliezer used one of the oldest tricks in the book. He played the animal card.

        According to people who are supposed to know, the best way for a guy to get himself noticed by a woman is to go to a pet shelter and purchase a rescue dog. Evidently if a guy shows compassion to a helpless mutt, he might be salvageable as a member of the human species. While Eliezer did not have a rescue dog, he did have ten camels. He took the camels to the local well and prayed that God would have mercy on his master Abraham. Please note the whole mission to find a wife was not for Isaac’s benefit but so Abraham might find happiness and perhaps a few grandchildren before he died.

        Anyway, the animal trick worked. Rebekah arrived and asked if she could water the poor thirsty camels. One thing led to another and Rebekah invited Eliezer home to meet the family. Over dinner Eliezar was introduced to Rebekah’s brother Laban.  The storyteller let’s us know that Laban was a shrewd operator, a quality Eliezar used to his advantage. Eliezar displayed his gifts confident that Laban would be enamored with the idea increasing his personal wealth.       Laban asked, “Why are you traveling alone with so many riches?”

        Eliezer responds, “My master Abraham is looking for a daughter-in-law.”

        Again Isaac is never mentioned by name. The transaction depends solely on the reputation of his father and Isaac’s future depends on the small fortune that Eliezer has brought with him as proof of Abraham’s reputation.

        Laban took one look at the camels and did not waste any words. “You prayed, and my sister showed up to water your camels. Obviously this is a sign from God. Who are we to stand in the way of the Almighty? Take Rebekah that she might be a blessing to Abraham. We will keep the camels and the gold to remind us of this wonderful day.”

        And that is how the one called “laughter” came to meet his wife Rebekah whose name means “tied together”. Soon Isaac and Rebekah did tie the knot and the covenant God made with Abraham continued into a second generation.

What are we to make of this story?  The one called laughter, the one who survived a fiery altar and the death of his beloved mother, found completeness with Rebekah. Together they produced two children who ironically were no laughing matter, but that is another story.

        Shouldn’t there be more? Shouldn’t we find some great moral imperative secretly begging to be revealed? Sometimes we need to remember this gloriously sacred book is filled with absurd stories. By taking the Bible too literally, we often miss the grace and the wonders that are being revealed. We forget the Bible is this holy interaction between a terribly flawed people and a God with an implausible sense of humor.

        Let me refresh your memory banks. The Hebrew people were slaves in Egypt. Did God send a mighty army? No. God sent a guy who has been talking to a bush in the middle of the desert. And what were the enlightened instructions of this great liberator? Wade in the water.

        Later Israel was threatened by an army whose champion was over seven feet tall. Did God send Shaquille O’Neal? No. God sent a little kid with a sling shot.

        Remember Mount Carmel? Who but Elijah would have thought to use water instead of lighter fluid on the holy barbeque pit? 

Remember Jonah? His disposition was so bad that even a whale couldn’t stomach him.

        And what about Jesus? The king of the world was born in a barn in a backwater town to a couple of refugees. Don’t tell me God has no sense of humor.

        I realize the story of Isaac makes us wish the one called laughter could have been named survivor. He survived the misguided hand of his father. He survived the death of his mother. He survived the matchmaking of his father’s servant. He even survived the bitter rivalry between his two sons. And yet, when Jacob left home in the middle of the night, when Esau raged in the darkness swearing an oath against his conniving brother, what do you think Isaac did?

        He laughed. He chuckled to himself because he knew that the second born had always been a step ahead of his brother. Isaac laughed and said, “God, after all you have put me through, my joy is now complete because you are going to have your hands full with Jacob.”

        What can we learn from this story? I believe the first survivor in the Old Testament teaches us that it is possible to suffer and despair and still laugh. The story of Isaac does not demean our experiences. It serves to remind us that our drama, and our pain, and our tragedy sometimes can only be healed with that God given gift of laughter.

        I suspect Isaac never freed himself from his traumatic childhood. Yet, in spite of everything, he never lost the ability to laugh. Instead of rebelling against life, he rebelled against despair. Instead of becoming a bitter man, he became of loving husband and father.   (Stop)

        When I pour water over the head of an infant and claim she is a child of God, the hearts of the young mother and father are filled with joy. Together we laugh.

        When I have the honor of pronouncing a couple’s love for each other, they smile, kiss and the room is filled with joy. The festivities that follow are punctuated with laughter.

        Even while standing by the grave, shrouded with the reality of death, hope begins to emerge. Stories soon unfold and memories flow quicker than tears. It is the laughter that helps us to begin the journey home.

        Laughter is more than the best medicine.

                Laughter is a gift from God.

                        To God be the Glory.               Amen.

Faith or Senior Moment

Genesis 22:1-14

Week after week I do my best to bring you an authentic interpretation of the text.  There can be no dispute that my understanding of scripture is influenced by my cultural background, my educational training, and my experience in life.  My desire is to be true to the Word, but I come to the text with all of life’s experience placing a filter upon my eyes and heart. 

With this in mind allow me to say there is nothing easy about the story of Abraham going to the mountain to sacrifice his son.  If we don’t pay attention to the details, Genesis 22 appears to be a great example of one man’s faith and his ability to follow the instructions of God.  But we have to pay attention to the details, for it is in the details that we wrestle with the mindset of Abraham, the complexities of God, and finally the demands this text places on one who dares to claim to believe in the Almighty.

The story unfolds on many different levels.  I remember hearing the sacrifice of Isaac as a child.  It was presented as the ultimate expression of faith.  Abraham was tested by God.  The scenario was simple.  Who do you love more, God or your only child?  When I first encountered this story, the love of a child had no real meaning.  I was nine years old, it was Sunday morning and Yahweh was the guy.  I was constantly reminded that God was King, God was in charge, God knew things I would never understand and all I had to do to stay in the God’s good graces  was to do whatever the Lord demanded.  In order to do this, I was told to love God and love my neighbor.  There was nothing terrible complicated about that.  Of course I loved God.  I went to church every Sunday.  I prayed at every meal and before I went to bed.  I saw the sun rise, the seasons change and knew all of this happened because of God’s plan for creation.  As for my neighbor, he was my best friend.  We played together, went to school together, spent weekends together and attended Church together.  Of course I loved my neighbor.  If God tested me, I would always be up to the task.  I would remember Abraham as the example of what it meant to trust God.

But children grow up and the demands of being faithful become increasingly more complex.  Let me conduct a little test.  If God suddenly appeared before us this morning and asked that we sacrifice our first born to prove our faith, what would we do? 

How many of you would comply with God’s wishes and begin plans to sacrifice your first born?

How many of you would deny the request made by God?

Now we have officially entered into the complexities of this text.  From my vantage point, as a father and a grandfather, I don’t know how on earth Abraham could have placed his son on that alter, lifted up a knife and planned to plunge the weapon into Isaac’s heart.  That may be faith, but it seems to be faith blinded by everything God claims to be.  I understand that Christianity holds sacrificial obedience as practically sacred, but Abraham did not place himself on the altar, and   Abraham did not insist on taking the place of the child.  In fact I cannot find it in my heart to identify Abraham’s actions as anything other than cowardly.  Do we really want to worship a God who would ask us to sacrifice our youth as a test of loyalty?  That is a very loaded question which has many complicated implications.

Why would Abraham do what he did?  Let me give you a couple of explanations that you may or may not find helpful.

The most attractive but I believe the least helpful is to remember that we are talking about a very primitive culture where sacrifices were not uncommon.  To the original readers of the text the death of a child was common.  In this culture children were not considered to be human until they reached their 12^th birthday. Half the children born died in their first year of life.  Children then were not held in as high esteem as children today. But let us not forget this was no ordinary child.  Isaac was a child of promise, the heir of a great nation.  The entire story of Abraham revolved around the birth of Isaac and what the parents went through in order that this birth might occur.   Also, while the sacrifice of children was prevalent in other cultures, that was not so among the Hebrews.  Each Hebrew child was considered precious because each child was understood to be the bearers of destiny.  From the bulrushes of Egypt to the insanity of Herod, every precaution was taken to spare children from death.

A second explanation would be that Abraham knew and trusted that God would spare the child.  Do you think Abraham’s hunch was enough to convince Sarah?   The couple is called on to prove themselves to God once again.  They know in their hearts God would not take this promised child.  But they dared not call Yahweh’s bluff. Abraham tells the mother not to worry.  They will go along with the game. Certainly at the last moment God, rejoicing over Abraham’s faith, would present a substitute for the boy.  The father and son go off into the mountains, leaving Sarah at home.  God does provide.  Isaac and his faithful father returned home to the loving arms of the anxious but relieved mother.  That sounds plausible except for one very important detail.  Abraham and Isaac returned to an empty home.  While they were in the mountains, Sarah died.  The Midrash tells us that she was overcome by a broken heart.

  If I read the text correctly, a heavy hearted Abraham went to the mountains feeling certain he would return without Isaac. It would be hard for me to come up with any other explanation for his actions. The critical question concerning Abraham was, why did he believe killing Isaac would fulfill the wishes of God?  What does this say about Abraham?  Equally important, what does this say about God?

I might be on very shaky theological ground here, but I find that the command and the promise of God are in contradiction with each other.  The promise of God is that Isaac would be the beginning of a great nation.  But the command of God was for Abraham to kill the promise, ending the birth of Israel.  Certainly the argument could be made that Yahweh is a jealous God demanding complete loyalty.  Certainly one could suggest in the eyes of Abraham and Sarah the child had become more important than God, therefore the test.  But I refuse to believe this argument.  I believe the command of God and the promise of God are never in contradiction.  If we follow God’s supreme directive to love one another, even the consideration of taking the life of an innocent human is wrong.      

I would like to suggest Abraham was not exhibiting faith but rather was having a senior moment.  If you are under 60 you have no idea what I am talking about.  Trust me, when you are over 60 you had better start putting your car keys in the same spot every night because if you don’t you may find yourself walking to work. When you are over 60 church directories with pictures are really important because it is amazing how quickly familiar names seem to vacate your mind.  When you are over 60 all of your security codes become the same four numbers, and just to be on the safe side you write them down and insert them in your wallet. 

Abraham had a senior moment.  He forgot that God is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and steadfast in love. Abraham forgot that God celebrates life.  Abraham forgot that God abhors death especially the death of a child.    When God suggested that the life of an innocent child was to be used for a sacrifice, the great father of the Hebrew people had a brain freeze.  No questions were asked, no dialogue took place. Abraham just loaded up the donkey, fetched Isaac and headed for the hills.  If this was faith then it was blind faith.  God gave us free will.  When we use that gift we are expected to do so with our eyes wide open.  Abraham failed the test when he refused to question God’s ungodly command.

In an equally familiar story you might remember that God informed Abraham that the city of Sodom would be destroyed because of its wickedness.  Lot, the nephew of Abraham resided in the city.  Abraham goes to great lengths to argue with God over the destruction of a city of sinners.  Do you remember the discussion?  Abraham bargains with God if 100 righteous folks can be found in Sodom the city would be spared.  Then Abraham reduces the number to 50.  Finally he had God agree on a final number. If 10 righteous folks could be found, the fire storm would be called off.  So why did this man who argued for the lives of some pretty unsavory characters fail to offer any resistance at the demand that his innocent son be sacrificed?  Why did he give in so easily? Why did Abraham fail to observe the Torah?  Why did he not say to God, “If I kill my son, I mutilate the very image of God?  If I kill my son, I break your sacred commandments.  If I kill my son, I renounce all that is sacred; I renounce life.” 

Why did Abraham lose his voice?  Why could he not find the will to fight for his son?  How could he have been so overcome by the moment?    How could he have forgotten that the basic principal of this God called Yahweh was life over death? Perhaps choosing the mores of culture have always been easier than selecting the radical demands of this God who celebrates life.

I suspect each of us, in a weak and regrettable moment, sacrificed our children for the god of fortune, the god of fame, or the god of pleasure.  That is what a lesser god demands.

BUT NOT THE GOD OF ABRAHAM.

The God of Abraham always chooses life.

                                 To that God be the glory!    Amen.

 

Old Testament Family Values

Genesis 21:8-21

        Tighten you seat belts. For the rest of the summer we are going to take a rollicking ride through the book of Genesis. I am so excited. Some of my favorite stories in all literature come from this book. The writer begins with creation, then moves to and from the Garden, the murder of Abel, and the Great Flood. The prologue is neatly tied up with the hysterically funny story about building a tower to heaven.  All of the major themes of biblical theology, i.e. creation, transgression, forgiveness, redemption and re-creation,     are introduced in those twelve chapters. There is even an encore to remind us of God’s sense of humor.

        Those stories are wonderful and worth examining over and over again, but this summer we are going to skip the prologue of Genesis and concentrate on the family of Abraham.  Jewish scholar Elie Wiesel writes, “Once upon a time there lived a man for all seasons, blessed with all talents and virtues and deserving of every grace. His name was Abraham. He was the first enemy of idolatry, the first to rise up against the “establishment”, the first to reject civilization to form a minority of one, and the first to suffer for his beliefs.  Alone against the world, Abraham affirmed that God is present wherever God’s name is evoked. And yet, Abraham was far from perfect.”

        As you might remember Abraham grew up in city of Ur, nowhere near the land of Israel. He had a profitable vocation and was nearing retirement age. In a dream, Abraham received instructions to leave Ur, travel 600 miles across the desert, and start a new life. The motivation for this madness was the promise of a son. For years Abraham and Sarah had dreamed of a family. They believed a child would secure their legacy. But now retirement was near. Abraham had already moved up to the gold tees. The hopes of a son were all but forgotten. Then in a dream, a reckless dream, a ridiculous dream, their lifelong bequest was once again placed upon the table. With nothing more than the promise in a  vision, Abraham and Sarah headed west. Sometimes a dream is all anyone needs.

        If you remember the story, the child did not come immediately. In fact it looked like the child was not going to come at all. To wretch up the intensity of the story we are informed that the couple was approaching their eightieth birthday. I know numbers are a bit skewed in the telling of any Old Testament story, but the writer has our attention. Abraham and Sarah are too old to think of anything other than rocking on the front porch. Even if Abraham could have renewed his Viagra prescription, why would the ancient Sarah have entertained the idea of pregnancy?

        So Abraham decided to step in and help God out. As so often happens when things are not going according to our plan, we step we decide we have a better way of doing things. Can we really blame Abraham? He was getting restless. He had done everything asked of him and still had no son. He begin to suspect the problem was not with him, but with Sarah. Of course wives know what husbands are thinking long before we husbands know what we are thinking. Realizing Abraham would eventually blame her, Sarah initiated a very interesting conversation. “Abraham, my beloved whom I love more than life itself, I know you want a son. If I could give you a son I would, but that seems impossible. So take my good and loyal servant Hagar. Implant your seed within her that we might have a son.” Then Sarah added the kicker, “Perhaps this is what God planned all along.”

Let’s step outside the story for just a moment. A couple of incredibly dangerous things are happening here. First, there is the obvious. You don’t celebrate your 60^th wedding anniversary by impregnating another woman no matter who gives you permission. Abraham was supposed to say, “Sarah, love of my life, how could you suggest such a thing? Either we get pregnant together or we don’t get pregnant at all.” That is what Sarah expected hear. That is what God expected hear. But sometimes men can be found guilty of not thinking with their heads or their hearts. Abraham’s response was, “What a wonderful and caring woman you are. I accept your gift.”

        And that answer leads a second observation. So often today when folks are trying to figure out the complexities of sexual ethics, someone will inevitably say, “What we need to do is to return to the family values of the Bible.” 

        ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Abraham had sex with his wife’s servant. Jacob had twelve children by four women and he didn’t even play in the NBA. David committed adultery and had Bathsheba’s husband killed. Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines and was still considered to be the wisest person in the land.  If that was what the really good guys in the Bible were doing can you imagine what was going on with everyone else? Even so, Abraham should have been bright enough to have seen the hornet’s nest he was creating. Thankfully, our transgressions always give God the opportunity to show us how we are supposed to live.

        Let us return to the story. As we all might have guessed, when Abraham agreed to Sarah’s solution, Sarah had a fit. She wanted nothing to do with a son that was not hers. Abraham couldn’t understand the problem. I can hear him now. “But honey, it was your idea.”

        Meanwhile, Hagar gets wind of the plan and decided to run away. Believe it or not she runs smack into an angel of the Lord who tells her to go back to camp, jump in bed with Abraham       and bear him a son. She is to call him Ishmael, which means, “God hears her affliction”.  Eventually she bore Abraham a son but Hagar was less than thrilled to be caught in this tension between husband and wife. Sarah was furious over the whole episode and Abraham, well Abraham was just happy to play catch in the back yard with his son.

        But then things really got complicated. True to God’s promise, Sarah gets pregnant and has a boy. Abraham was beside himself. Having two sons made him doubly blessed. It also created a problem. Ishmael was the oldest. He would receive the blessing and birthright. He would become the leader of the tribe. Abraham was so overcome with joy none of this occurred to him. But it occurred to Sarah, and she quickly acted on behalf of her son.

        She cornered Abraham and said to him, “Cast out Hagar, the Egyptian, and let her take her son with her.”

I think it is worth noting when there were no children, Hagar was the loyal companion. Now that a second child has been born, the first child somehow threatens to cause great harm to the economic structure of Abraham’s estate. Hagar, who is no longer needed, was seen as an illegal alien who probably crossed the border illegally. Sarah pointed out that Abraham could not possibly grant her the status of citizenship within the chosen people. 

The plan all along was for Abraham and Sarah to have a child. But Abraham was impatient and an outsider was brought in to the plot. The plot thickens with the birth of Ishmael and it boils over with the arrival of Isaac.  The plan all along was for Isaac to be the blessed child but human wants and human desires and human needs and human egos tripped up the best laid plans. And now someone had to go.

I have spent much time in the two great states of Texas and North Carolina. Both states depend greatly on agriculture and both states have a problem finding folks who are willing to work the fields. In Texas this problem was solved by turning a blind eye to folks from Mexico who would work for less than fair wages. In North Carolina, migrant labors have been used to pick the fields of everything from blue berries to tobacco. It seemed to be a good system, at least in the eyes of the owners of the farms. But want happens when the Ishmael and Hagar’s want to be treated fairly? What happens when they want to settle down and become neighbors? Imagine them wanting to be citizens? We who are chosen, we who identify with Sarah and Abraham are never sure they are ready for this new and troublesome development. 

What might the text say to this situation? A thin reading of the text makes the solution quite obvious. Abraham gave Hagar a flask of water and a loaf of bread and said, “You need to go back where you came from.” He probably kissed her on the cheek and told Ishmael to become a man that would make him proud. Then Abraham pointed toward Egypt and told them to be on their way. Soon they ran out of water. Soon all options were gone. Soon it appeared death would be their only companion.

But then Hagar cried out, God heard her cries and the story becomes more complicated. Water was provided. Ishmael was taught how to hunt and with God’s help they turned the wilderness into their home. There is no doubt Isaac was the favored son/nation. But when reading the story please remember Hagar, for perhaps she represents every outcast and refugee of this world. In Hagar those who are rejected find hope for  Hagar represents every exploited maid, every expelled wife, every rejected pregnant woman, and every “illegal” worker.

No one wants to hear their story…. except God, and hopefully…….. us.                To God be the Glory,  Amen.