Optional Memorial: Our Lady's Saturday
Saturday of the 12th Week in Ordinary Time
Saturday of the 12th Week in Ordinary Time
Readings of the day: Genesis 18:1-15; Responsorial Canticle: Luke 1:46-47. 48-49, 50, 53, 54-55; Matthew 8:15-17
Have you ever heard somebody laugh or be joyful when laughter or joy is unexpected? Or have you laughed or been joyful yourself in an unexpected situation? I can think of many situations in ministry when I have encountered joy and even laughter when it has been unexpected: Amid severe illness or that of a loved one, or when people share with me joyful moments they had with their loved ones who have recently passed away.
We know the healing effects laughter; a joyful spirit; smiling can have, even when we are not feeling very joyful: Relaxation; reduced heart rate and blood pressure, and so on… And laughter and joy have their place in our Scriptures.
Sarah despairs of ever conceiving a child with Abraham, despite God’s repeated promises to them of descendants. Who could blame Sarah for some despair? And so, in her despair (and with it some disbelief), Sarah laughs... at God. When I hear this story, I think of it as Biblical permission to laugh in unexpected, even difficult situations, and even to laugh at God. To laugh at God may not always be inappropriate or irreverent.
Here, God seems to reward Sarah and Abraham for finding comic relief at God’s expense. Of course, God returns Sarah’s humor even as God keeps his promise to grant her and Abraham a child. This child is named Isaac, Hebrew for “he laughs.” And so God gets the last laugh at Sarah and Abraham!
Sarah tries to deny her laughter at God today, but later in the Book of Genesis she will look back on her longing for a child with gratitude for her son Isaac, “he laughs.” “God has given me cause to laugh,” Sarah will say, “and all who hear it will laugh with me.”
The situation in our Gospel reading at first seems to be no laughing matter. A Roman centurion approaches Jesus and says, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully.” Jesus immediately promises, and delivers on his promise, to heal the centurion’s servant: “I will come and cure him.” But before this Jesus greatly praises the centurion’s faith, which is greater than anybody “in Israel”; the centurion’s faith we echo every time we celebrate our Eucharist: “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof. Only say the word and my servant shall be healed.”
What is so great about the centurion’s faith? Could it be his humility; his feeling of unworthiness to have the Lord “enter under” his “roof”? Could it have been his trust that Jesus could cure his beloved servant, even though the centurion was not of Jesus’ Jewish faith? Could it have been the centurion’s joyful spirit, even in the face of his servant’s illness? Could it have been all of the above?
Imagine the centurion’s joy, even though Matthew’s Gospel says nothing about how the centurion responded to Jesus’ healing of his beloved servant! The centurion’s hidden joy and Sarah’s open laughter invite us to the same joy; the same humble yet joyful faith. Our faith leaves us ample room for humor. I believe humor is even essential to a healthy life of faith. And sometimes, even amid the unexpected; even difficult situations, our faith leaves us room to laugh, even at God!
We know the healing effects laughter; a joyful spirit; smiling can have, even when we are not feeling very joyful: Relaxation; reduced heart rate and blood pressure, and so on… And laughter and joy have their place in our Scriptures.
Sarah despairs of ever conceiving a child with Abraham, despite God’s repeated promises to them of descendants. Who could blame Sarah for some despair? And so, in her despair (and with it some disbelief), Sarah laughs... at God. When I hear this story, I think of it as Biblical permission to laugh in unexpected, even difficult situations, and even to laugh at God. To laugh at God may not always be inappropriate or irreverent.
Here, God seems to reward Sarah and Abraham for finding comic relief at God’s expense. Of course, God returns Sarah’s humor even as God keeps his promise to grant her and Abraham a child. This child is named Isaac, Hebrew for “he laughs.” And so God gets the last laugh at Sarah and Abraham!
Sarah tries to deny her laughter at God today, but later in the Book of Genesis she will look back on her longing for a child with gratitude for her son Isaac, “he laughs.” “God has given me cause to laugh,” Sarah will say, “and all who hear it will laugh with me.”
The situation in our Gospel reading at first seems to be no laughing matter. A Roman centurion approaches Jesus and says, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully.” Jesus immediately promises, and delivers on his promise, to heal the centurion’s servant: “I will come and cure him.” But before this Jesus greatly praises the centurion’s faith, which is greater than anybody “in Israel”; the centurion’s faith we echo every time we celebrate our Eucharist: “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof. Only say the word and my servant shall be healed.”
What is so great about the centurion’s faith? Could it be his humility; his feeling of unworthiness to have the Lord “enter under” his “roof”? Could it have been his trust that Jesus could cure his beloved servant, even though the centurion was not of Jesus’ Jewish faith? Could it have been the centurion’s joyful spirit, even in the face of his servant’s illness? Could it have been all of the above?
Imagine the centurion’s joy, even though Matthew’s Gospel says nothing about how the centurion responded to Jesus’ healing of his beloved servant! The centurion’s hidden joy and Sarah’s open laughter invite us to the same joy; the same humble yet joyful faith. Our faith leaves us ample room for humor. I believe humor is even essential to a healthy life of faith. And sometimes, even amid the unexpected; even difficult situations, our faith leaves us room to laugh, even at God!
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