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Friday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
(Genesis
17:1-9-10.15-22; Matthew 8:1-4)
Laughter
signifies joy. Among a group of friends
over food and drink people are likely to laugh.
They share odd stories and even make fun of themselves and one another. Rather than creating embarrassment or anger,
they increase the bonds of their affection.
In today’s first reading, someone is laughing.
One may
wonder about Abraham falling to the ground and laughing when God assures him
that he and Sarah will have a child. It
is fair to ask, is he ridiculing God for suggesting that old people can have a
baby. Perhaps, but evidently God does
not take offense. God tells Abraham that his son is to be named “Isaac,” which
literally means “man laughs.”
Which man laughs? Abraham who is already on the ground bursting at the
seams. Perhaps Isaac himself for all the
joy he will bring his parents. But maybe
it is God who laughs thinking how limited human imagination is. Abraham would be happy if Ismael fulfills God’s
promise of making him the father of a great nation. God, however, will make a great nation of the
progeny of Abraham and his beloved wife Sarah.
Like
everything else, laughter runs both ways.
It can signify genuine joy but also sinful mischievousness. We may laugh at immodest jokes even more than
guileless humor. It is not always good
to laugh, but we should laugh sometimes. We should laugh with joy to have God
as our Father and Jesus, our brother.
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