Today's reading in Genesis is rich, indeed. We see extravagant hospitality from Abraham and Sarah in that three measures of meal would be enough to make perhaps a dozen loaves of bread. Jesus uses this same language in his parable of the leaven from Matthew 13:33 when he states, “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”
Jesus is likely referring to this extravagant meal of Abraham and Sarah. His twist was that yeast was not considered necessarily kosher. The Greek word for "mixed" has some sense of subterfuge in it as if she concealed the yeast in the dough. The kingdom of heaven is surprising indeed!
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It's hard to get mad at someone when they
are laughing unless they are laughing at you!
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Another interesting note to chapter 18 is that Sarah gets in trouble for laughing. In the previous chapter, in verse three, Abraham falls on his face out of respect for God. Then in verse 17, he falls on his face laughing when he gets this news about a child coming through Sarah! Even their son Isaac's name means "he laughs." So why does Sarah get scolded and Abraham's mirth is ignored?
Could it have been the perspective of how Abraham and Sarah understood their encounters with God? (Sometimes we read into another's behavior what we would expect).
Could it have been the author's deference to the patriarchy since that was the culture of the time?
Could it have been different sources (authors) in the two chapters which would understand reverence before God differently?
All I've got today is three questions. Let me know which you prefer or what you might propose.
Finally, I really like Abraham's wrestling with God over the mercy toward Sodom. Is God playing with Abraham in that God is using this as a teachable moment to move Abraham (and thus, God's people) to a greater mercy? While this might be nice to think so based on future texts such as the fourth chapter of Jonah, there is no indication of it here.
Jesus may have been influenced by this story in the parable of the widow and the unjust judge. Just as the widow continues to wear down the judge and just as Abraham continues to wear down God, we should not be afraid to approach God in prayer.
Grant us grace, almighty Father, so to pray as to deserve to be heard. Amen.
Prayer by Jane Austen, English novelist, 19th century
Photo by Rodrigo Valdivia via Flickr.com. Used under the Creative Commons license.
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