A Late Start

Mangayamma Yaramati and her husband Sitarama Rajarao gave birth to twin girls in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. They were ecstatic to hear the sounds of two healthy girls enter the world. They were also thrilled to finally have children of their own.

You see, Yaramati is 74 and her husband Rajarao is 82. She is now the oldest woman in the world to give birth to children. They were conceived by in vitro fertilization and born by c-section. The babies were 2.2 pounds each and the only complications during the whole process were some breathing issues the mother experienced and that was solved and the pregnancy and birth went without further issue.

Some ethicists argue that this was an irresponsible act to have children at such an age. There is no way to know how long the parents will live and what kind of life the girls will have as they grow up.

How old is too old? I remember my mom gave her best friend a button at her friends 40th birthday party that said I’d rather be 40 than pregnant because her friend had recently found out she was pregnant and was now celebrating her 40th birthday. However, karma then revealed a short time after that, that my mom was pregnant with my younger brother. So how old is too old to have children? Is there a set age? Do you think the couple was ethically wrong to conceive and give birth to children at 74 and 82?

A Promise Fulfilled

Well if you think that is old then you might consider the story of Abraham and Sarah. Although it wasn’t necessarily their idea, after Sarah realized that having Hagar give birth to Abraham’s son Ishmael wasn’t such a good idea, God steps in and promises to Abraham that Sarah will have a son of her own. In Genesis 17 God and Abraham have a conversation about promises and covenants and in that God promises to Abraham that he will have a son from Sarah.

The New Revised Standard Version The Sign of the Covenant

“Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?”

When Abraham and Sarah have their son as we see in Genesis 21 he is 100 years old and Sarah is 90. Now that is quite a bit older for both of them than it is currently for Yaramati and Rajarao. This is the fulfillment of the promise that God made to Abraham. God promises that his own offspring will be their heir of his possessions as well as the promise and covenant that God made with Abraham.

Now the whole reason that Yaramati and Rajarao went through the process of IVF was because they were, like Sarah and Abraham unable to have children. Obviously there are lots of people who don’t and aren’t able to have children. The doctors response to the initial backlash from the ethicists who said they shouldn’t have done this at such an age said that giving birth to a child is a fundamental right to anyone on this planet. The couple themselves said that not only had they always wanted children, but in the small village where they live, that ancient stigma that if you are childless then you are looked down upon and treated differently still exists. This was their chance with the technology of today to be able to have that joy in their lives and to be fully accepted members of their community.

Joy Returned

Joy had been returned to the lives of this couple and that is similarly what happens to Abraham and Sarah. And isn’t that what happens when a baby is born in most situations? There have been some births in our own church as well as to families of members of our church and there is nothing but joy and excitement at the realization that there is new life in this world and in their family.

There is also laughter. And in our story and in our lives there are different kinds of laughter. When we talked about Sarah and Abraham’s age I left out the first part of that verse because I wanted to wait and talk about it now. There is laughter but it is more a laughter of doubt and disbelief than anything else. There is also belief because we see that Abraham does as God tells him to do, but really, at 90 and 100 years old are we really going to have a child?

Then we have the holy visitors come and spend some time with Abraham and while they are eating the meal that his slaves and his wife Sarah have prepared for them they want to know where Sarah is because they once again share the news that Sarah is going to have a son in a year. Now we don’t know how long it has been since God made the covenantal promise with Abraham but clearly Abraham didn’t share that ‘good news’ with Sarah because as she overhears the conversations between these visitors and her husband she is shocked and surprised at the claim that when they visit her in a year she will have a child. So she, like Abraham laughs at the notion that she will have a child.

Genesis 18:12 CEB

So Sarah laughed to herself, thinking, I’m no longer able to have children and my husband’s old.

She doesn’t just laugh at the idea of a kid but also the idea of her and Abraham having a child by natural means at 90 and 100. I believe this laughter is that same laughter of doubt and disbelief. Do these visitors really think that after all these years of being barren that I, Sarah, am going to have a child? After all, Sarah and Abraham don’t have the convenience of modern medicine to have a baby by IVF. That is the reason, after all, that Sarah tells Abraham to have a child with Hagar the Egyptian slave. There is no other way to have an heir, to have someone to carry on the family name, to carry on the promise, the covenant, to receive the blessing that God wants to pass down; unless there is a child from Abraham.

A Laugh-Filled Birth

Yet as we skip ahead to Genesis 21 we see that God does indeed give Abraham and Sarah a child and they name the child Isaac, which means laughter. As Abraham laughed when God told him he would have a son from Sarah, God told him that he would have to name his child Isaac. Then we saw that Sarah laughed as well and was called out for it by the holy visitors and so there is no better name for a child born to them. Not only is is a perfect name because it was in response to the laughter of disbelief of both parents, but I also think that it is a way to heal Abraham and Sarah.

Genesis 21:6 (NRSV)

Now Sarah said, “God has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.”

Look at this verse from Genesis 21:6. The laughter that Sarah is experiencing and I am sure Abraham is as well is the laughter of real joy and excitement and understanding that God’s promise and God’s covenant are faithful and true. Out of the sadness and sorrow of not having their own child. Out of a stigma that they were barren. Out of disbelief and doubt God brings joy, laughter and understanding. God fulfills the promise that God made with them. Everything that God said that would come true did come true. It may not have been to the timeline that Abraham and Sarah wanted or had hoped for, but God was true to God’s word. And because God was faithful despite the doubt and ways that Sarah and Abraham tried to do things their own way, God not only fulfilled the covenant, God brought joy and laughter back into their lives.

May each of you, no matter how young or old you are, experience joy and laughter with God. May you find the ways that God brings hope to your life even in the moments of disbelief or frustration that things aren’t happening the way, or in the timeframe you would want them to happen. May you know that God is a God of joy, hope, and laughter. May you always seek out the joys of this life knowing that all good things and all joyful things come from our God, who loves us and laughs with us. And may everyone who hears the name of the Lord laugh with excitement of all that God does in our lives. Amen.

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