Holy Hilarity
And Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me.”
Genesis 21:6a ESV (Monthly Watchword for February 2023)
I remember when I first became interested in reading the Bible. I was a ninth grader. I dusted off my Bible that I received in third grade, and I began to make discoveries. Through it, God was speaking to me! It was an exciting time, stepping into a larger world and learning about God’s will for my life.
One thing I found fascinating was comparing different translations of the Bible. I often wondered why a verse in my third grade “Today’s English Version” sounded different from what I would read in the “Revised Standard Version.” Not only was the wording different; every once in a while, the meaning of the verse differed a bit from version to version.
When I began to study languages later in high school, I came to realize that translation is hard work and far from an exact science. Words and concepts in one language don’t always translate easily into another. Especially in the Old Testament language of Hebrew, there is also a good amount of ambiguity surrounding the meaning of certain words and parts of speech. This explains in part the diversity and proliferation of Bible translations over the last few centuries.
The challenge of translation comes out in this verse for February. Abraham and Sarah were promised a child in their old age. The son’s name given to him by his father was Isaac, which means in Hebrew, “he laughs.” Upon the unlikely birth of her son, Sarah commented: “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.”
At least that is how the English Standard Version (which we use in church on Sunday morning) puts it. The key to interpreting the verse is the preposition in the sentence. This translation renders it as “for me.” Yet another version says, “to me.” Still others choose a different route. Prepositions are hard to translate. One letter in Hebrew can sometimes mean “to,” “for,” “at,” “with,” “on,” “above,” “in,” “over,” or other things. And it isn’t always clear what the author intended. The sentence obviously has something to do with laughter in relation to Sarah’s situation, but the details are hard to pin down.
One way of thinking about this is that God made Sarah laugh because of the surprise at having a child at her age. That is why some versions say, “God has made me laugh.” However, it could also mean that “God has laughed at me.” It could also mean that “God has laughed with me,” among other possibilities.
When we think about the complexity of our lives and emotions, it could very well mean all these things at the same time. Perhaps it is ambiguous intentionally. We can imagine ourselves in Sarah’s situation. Sarah knew she was an unlikely candidate to bear a child in her old age. Perhaps God laughed at her because He knew that this event would surprise her and change her life. And in response to this divine laugher, Sarah herself laughs at the unpredictability of life in relationship with God. Maybe Sarah also felt that God was mocking her by placing such a responsibility literally in her lap. Perhaps she was also worried that others would laugh at her unusual situation.
“The strangeness of this life cannot be measured.” That’s a line from the 1990 movie “Dances with Wolves,” where a US Army soldier discovers friendship and a new life with a band of Lakota (Sioux) Indians in South Dakota in the 1860s. There is a saying that goes, “If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.”
When I think back to my teenage years that I mentioned above, I can understand something of Sarah’s situation. Prior to ninth grade, I didn’t give a lot of thought to God and the church. For a time in middle school, I felt that if I laughed at and mocked the Christian faith, it would make me more popular.
But I guess that God had the last laugh. Unlikely as it was, I found my life changed in an important way as the good news of Jesus began to sink into my head. God has a way of surprising us and changing our direction. Because of our faith in Jesus, we know that God’s laughter at us is not of the malicious type, for as the Apostle Paul tells us, God is for us, not against us (Romans 8:31).
More than a year into my time here at Grace Lutheran in Thornville, Ohio, I can honestly say I have felt something of this ambiguous laughter over the last couple of years. Never did I expect to be in this part of the country. I laugh with surprise and gratitude when I see how things have developed, leading us here among the good folks in Thornville and specifically in this congregation.
As we have just begun this new year, we of course know that life is not always filled with joyful laughter. There are moments of anxiety and tension, confusion and sorrow, not unlike what Sarah experienced. But God delights in us and has proven that through the life of His Son Jesus Christ. And so we move forward, knowing that God desires us to see joy in this life and sometimes new possibilities. And our times are in his hands (Psalm 31:15).
Pr. Tom Jacobson