Jesus was funny

JESUS WAS FUNNY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Was Jesus Funny?
Well, I’m no theologian, but if I had to guess whetheror not Jesus was ever
out-and-out funny, I would guess that he was.
John Shore
Writer, Editor, Author
Yesterday I askedfolks to send me in whateverideas they might like to have
me blurg about. One especiallyinteresting response that I gotread, “I have
always wonderedif Jesus evertold a joke, or was humorous at times. What do
you think?”
Well, I’m no theologian, but if I had to guess whetheror not Jesus was ever
out-and-out funny, I would guess that he was. He was, we are told, fully
human; people are funny; it seems to me a reasonable guessthat every once in
a while Jesus could be quite the crack-up. Especiallygiventhat his whole
ministry involved communicating with people—which, of course, almost
necessarilyentails at leastsome humor. That Jesus was sometimes funny
seems like a simple enoughcall.
But if there’s one thing I’ve learned about Christians and Christianity, it’s
that when it comes to matters of Jesus and Bible, things are never as simple as
they might seem. Plus, as I say, I’m hardly a Leading Bible Scholar. Whatdo I
really know about it? I don’t speak ancient Greek orHebrew. And I sure
don’t speak BiblicalAramaic; I found it astounding that Mel Gibsonwas able
to locate so many actors who do. I don’t know if it’s how he did it, but I’m

guessing that there are a lot of great, very old community theaters in …
Aramaia.
Anyway, I know a lot of people aren’t comfortable with the idea that Jesus
was ever funny. That makes sense,too. Maybe the proclivity for humor was a
human characteristic that, for some reason, the Lord simply chose not to
adopt for himself.
Of course, the whole “plank in your eye” metaphor does seempretty funny.
I think the best thing to do, after we’ve died and come directly into his
presence, is to wait, and see whetheror not Jesus cracksa joke first.
Frankly, I hope he does. Becauseif he doesn’t, chances are that, before too
very long, I will. And when I do, I want him to laugh.
Can you imagine, cracking a joke to Jesus, andhim going, “What? What are
you talking about? I don’t get it.”?
The Humor of Jesus
By Jeremy Myers14 Comments
Humor of Jesus

The humor of Jesus is not like that of many comedians today, whose
monologues are full of coarselanguage andperverted jokes. (Although, I must
admit, Jesus does tell a few “bathroom humor” jokes.)
But in general, the humor of Jesus is rich, deep, insightful, and most of all,
intentional. His humorous stories and witty remarks were always for the
purpose of making a point, and getting people to think about what they
believed.
Jesus was no serious, dour-faced, religious teacherwho never smiled and
lookeddown his nose at those who did. I believe one reasonJesus attractedthe
crowds He did is because ofthe sparkle in His eye, and the constanthalf-smile
which hinted at a secretjoke only He knew.
The Humorous Stories ofJesus
I did not realize this about Jesus for the longesttime, but when I first beganto
understand the humor of Jesus, I soonrealized that in the Gospels, Jesus is
telling a humorous story on almostevery page.
No, His stories will not cause you to burst into uproarious laughter. His stories
are like banter among friends, or the humor of a political cartoonthat takes a
humorous jab at an opponent. The humor of Jesus is probably closerto what
we would call wit, satire, and irony.

When understood, the humor of Jesus rarely makes you laugh out loud, but
you might smile, or even chuckle, when you see His point. That’s Christ’s type
of humor.
One of the sources thathelped me discoverthe humor of Jesus is a little book
by Elton Truebloodcalled The Humor of Christ. His book is barely an
introduction to the humor of Jesus, but it contains some goodinsights.
Elton says in the preface to his book that the idea that Jesus was humorous
came when he was trying to have family devotions one night.
His eldestson was four years old, and Elton was reading to them out of
Matthew 7. As he read along, feeling very serious about the weighty subject
matter of that portion of Scripture, all of a sudden, his young sonbegan to
laugh.
Elton says he tried to shush his son, and admonish him againstlaughing at
Scripture. His sonobjected, “But Dad, the picture is funny!” Elton says he
lookeddown at what he had just been reading and saw that in fact, his son
was correct. The image that Jesus had painted with words was indeed
preposterous. It was the image of a man with a trunk of tree sticking out of
his eye, trying to remove a speck of sawdustfrom the eye of a friend. The very
idea is ludicrous (The Humor of Christ, p. 9).
Don’t Be So Serious!

Mostof us adults have learned that Bible study is a serious matter, that God is
up there with His arms crossedmaking sure we don’t getout of line, and that
Jesus spoke some very weighty words so we need to getdown to business and
learn them.
Elton’s child did not know any of this nonsense, and so when he heard a funny
story, he laughed. Elton says that event got him started on the study of the
humor of Christ. He says the more he studied, the more humor he found.
Elton says,
There are numerous passagesin the recordedteaching which are practically
incomprehensible when [the humor is ignored].
Another author who has also noticed The Wisdom & Wit of Rabbi Jesus
noticed the same thing:
An occupationalhazard of any witty speakeris that hearers may suppose that
what was said with tongue in cheek represents the humorist’s viewpoint (p.
33).
And if an audience canmisunderstand witty comments that they hear, written
wit from another time and culture and language are even harder to discern.
Nevertheless,understanding the words of Jesus in the Gospels will be much
easierif we presuppose that Jesus may be telling a humorous story to poke
fun at the religion and theologyof His day, rather than the traditional idea
that a dour-faced Jesus is telling a serious story about how to live and behave
to truly be His follower.

Whenever you come across a difficult teaching of Jesus, it can often be sorted
out rather quickly if you considerthe laughter factor. When the teaching is
takenseriously, it doesn’t make sense. But when you imagine the sparkling
eyes of Jesus and the hint of a smile on his lips, with the disciples winking at
eachother and elbowing eachother in the ribs, the passagewill often make
much more sense.
This post is basedoff the Grace Commentary for Luke 5:33-39. There are
three stories in this passagewhichprovide goodexamples of the humor of
Jesus.
The Often OverlookedHumor of Jesus
Posted:May 30, 2013 | Author: FatherTim | Filed under: Church Humor |17
Comments
3904056793_3dca2544db_oThere’snothing worse than a humorless Christian.
You know the type — tight lipped, judgmental, unsmiling, Puritanical.
Someone who views frivolity as sacrilegeand humor as heresy. Perhaps
you’ve even met the type — online or in person.
But this understanding of the Christian life is incomplete. A more nuanced
reading of Scripture leads us irrevocably awayfrom this attitude of holier-
than-thou solemnity. Jesus uses humor to teach, heal, convert and, ultimately,
redeem. And he does this while modeling the factthat laughter and profundity
are not mutually exclusive.

The humor of Jesus is subtle, nearly imperceptible at first glance. The Sermon
on the Mount, for instance, doesn’tbegin with a joke to warm up the crowd.
But throughout his ministry Jesus displays greatwit, command of the
language, a gift for irony and word plays, and impeccable timing — all
hallmarks of greatcomedians.
The gospels aren’tfunny in the traditional sense. It’s not slapstick comedy;
there are no pratfalls. They’re passionnarratives, not anthologies of“The Wit
and Wisdom of Jesus Christ.” But then the story of our salvation, the death
and resurrectionof our Lord, is serious business.
Which is preciselywhy Jesus made his messageso accessible. Parables,with
their use of common language and commentary on everyday situations, spoke
directly to people. And so, while Jesus’messagesheld the keys to salvation,
they were couchedin language people could understand and relate to.
A master storytellerwould never forsake humor as a means to reachan
audience. Jesus, who spent much of his ministry breaking down barriers
betweenpeople, 2626790116a4954152147lknewthat humor does exactly this.
Humor disarms and unites; it sets people at ease andleaves them receptive to
the speaker’smessage.
Jesus recognizedthat humor is as equal a part of the human condition as
suffering and joy. It is integralto the human condition, and Jesus embodied
this just as much as he embodied forgiveness, compassionand hope. Jesus had
a wonderfully vibrant sense ofhumor, but it wasn’t employed merely to “get
laughs.” It is humor that seeks to inform and convert. Even when the humor
is directed at a certain group, such as the Pharisees,it is still a humor born of
love and compassion. Jesus mocksthe self-righteous evenwhile calling them
to open their eyes, repent and see.

Jesus exposesour human foibles not to embarrass or condemn but to
illuminate and transform. When we take ourselves too seriously, we commit
perhaps humanity’s greatestsin: trusting in ourselves rather than God. Jesus
shows us the absurd consequencesthatinvariably result.
The examples of Jesus’irony and wit are plentiful. Take, forinstance, his
relationship with Peter. Naming this impetuous, overly eagerapostle “the
rock” is amusing. You can almostenvision the sly smile as Jesus says, “Upon
this rock I will build my church.” Time after time, Peterwas anything but a
rock in difficult situations. The irony must not have been lost on the other
disciples. And yet, it indeed was upon this “rock” that the Church was built.
With Jesus, the line betweenthe deadly serious business of faith and the
human attempt to live out this faith blurs. And, because there is some of Peter
in all of us, it becomes untenable to take ourselves too seriously.
Which is preciselyJesus’point. Perhaps we canview the humorless Pharisees
as the ultimate straight men for Jesus. Throughoutthe four gospels the joke, it
seems, is on them. Their somberrigidity is paralyzing and their hypocrisy and
self-righteousnesskeepthem from true relationship with the divine. They are
the perfectfoils to Jesus’messageoflove as Jesus continually meets their
scornand contempt with quick wit and perfect timing.
The encounters with the Pharisees are full of brilliant one-liners. “Renderto
Caesarthe things that are Caesar’s,and to God the things that are God’s”
(Mt 22:21)is a perfect response dripping with irony. The blind leading the
blind is, of course, a comicalvisual image and a pointed commentary on the
religious leaders of the day (Mt 15:14). And think about the hilarious image of
straining out a gnat while eating a camel (Mt 23:24). His hearers certainly
chuckledat this purposefully ludicrous image. And it invariably stuck with
them.

There are hosts of other wonderfully amusing moments in the gospel
accounts. There is irony and humorous exaggeration, phrases that would have
brought smiles to the lips of his hearers, if not full belly laughs. Explaining the
efficacyof prayer he asks the Apostles, “Whatfather among you, if his son
asks fora fish, will give him a snake? If your son asks foran egg, will you give
him a scorpion?” (Lk 11:11-12)“It is easierfor a camel to go through the eye
of the needle than for a rich personto enter the kingdom of God” (Mk 10:25).
That’s a memorable image. What fool would place a lamp “under a bushel
basketor under a bed and not on the lampstand?” (Mk 4:21)
It is a bit odd that within the Church the humor of Jesus is so roundly
ignored. Maybe we’re afraid to laugh in the presence of the divine. We tend to
shy awayfrom visions of our Lord smiling and joking and engaging us in
laughter. Yet there is greatevidence that Jesus desires this important piece of
our humanity to shine forth. Laughter is simply good for the souland it allows
us to confront the darker sides of life with grace and composure. Since God
createdhumor, it makes sense that Jesus woulduse humor to communicate
with humanity. Without humor, life would be unbearable. Humor is used as a
means to deal with the burdens of life. It makes light the yoke of sin, death,
and human frailty.
One obstacle may be that Jesus’masteryof words is literally lost in
translation. Our Scripture is a translation of the Greek, whichis a translation
of Jesus’own Aramaic. Without knowledge ofJesus’native tongue, certain
wordplays are simply lost to us. Forinstance, an added layer of Matthew
23:24 is that the Aramaic word for gnat is galma and the word for camelis
gamla. We are deaf to this aspectof the exchange.
We also lose the facialexpressions and tone of voice so crucial to successful
comedy. David Letterman canmake us laugh with a simple facialexpression

or the inflection of his voice. A manuscript of his show wouldn’t be nearly as
amusing as seeing it live. And unfortunately the gospels have been handed
down to us as manuscripts, not YouTube videos.
The point here is not to place Jesus in the Comedy Hall of Fame. Rather it is
to encourage us to see and hear the message ofour Lord with fresh eyes and
ears, to discovera new aspectofhis divine brilliance and to meet him with
renewedjoy and laughter in our hearts. May we continue to take our ministry
seriouslybut not ourselves.
WAS JESUS EVER FUNNY?
LAYTON TALBERT | JUNE 5, 2019
NEW TESTAMENT
Attentive Bible readers are aware of humor in the Bible. Who can miss the
comedic undercurrent when Haman unwittingly prescribes his own recipe for
public humiliation before his bitterest enemy? And are we really supposedto
read Elijah’s taunts to the prophets of Baalwith a straight face? (Forother
examples, see sevencolumns of discussionin Ryken, Wilhoit, Longman,
Dictionary of Biblical Imagery.)
But is it proper to think of Jesus, the God-Man, as a humorous person? Did
Jesus evenhave a sense of humor? And if so, did he everexpress it? Is there
any evidence of it in the Gospels? And if there is, why might we have trouble
recognizing it?

The Gospelrecords are solemn accounts ofthe redemptive mission of God
incarnate. Nothing should ever minimize the gravity of his mission, diminish
the earnestnessofhis demeanor, or trivialize the weightiness ofhis teaching.
At the same time, a foundational fact of that redemptive mission was that
Christ was fully God and fully man. A logicaldeduction from that factis that
he possessedthe full spectrum of non-sinful attributes and emotions that
characterize the human personality. And one of the distinctive traits of a
normal, healthy, human personality is humor.
Calvin once reflectedon this: “When you think about it, it’s weird that we
have a physiologicalresponse to absurdity. We laugh at nonsense. We like it.
We think it’s funny. Don’t you think it’s odd that we appreciate absurdity?”
(If that doesn’t sound like Calvin to you, you have to remember that he was
speaking to Hobbes at the time.) The point is, humor is endemic to the human
condition and personality.
No one denies that Christ experiencedhunger, thirst, pain, and weariness,or
that he exhibited sympa-thy, sor-row, displeasure, disappoint-ment, anger,
aston-ish-ment, aversion(not to sayfear), love, and joy. So what about a sense
of humor? If you had been one of Jesus’originaldisciples, living with him and
listening to him day and night for three years, would you have everlaughed in
all that time?
We are not dependent on purely logicaldeductions to answerthese questions.
The Gospels recordoccasions whenChrist displayed a keensense ofhumor
that is surprising only if we resistrecognizing it as somehow demeaning to
Jesus’deity. I will be so bold as to suggest, however,that we demean both
Jesus’humanity and his deity by excluding such an innately human
characteristic from the one who, as the God-Man, consummately personifies
the imago dei.

Cultivating an ear for Jesus’use of humor contributes to a deeper
apprecia-tion for the round-ness and richness of his person-ality. Sometimes it
can even help us interpret a passageand graspthe gistof his teaching more
accurately.
Commenting on the miracle of the temple tax in the fish’s mouth, A. B. Bruce
remarkedthat Christ performed “miracles expressive ofhumor, not however
in levity, but in holy earnest. Such were the cursing of the fig tree; the healing
of blindness by putting clay on the eyes, as a satire on the blind guides; and
the presentone, expressing a sense of the incongruity betweenthe outward
condition and the intrinsic dignity of the Son of God” (Training of the Twelve,
223).
I think Bruce is probably on to something. But I’m talking about a sense of
humor that the Son of God expressedevenmore directly. But first, to avoid
misunderstanding, I need to define my terms.
When I raise the question of the Lord’s sense of humor, I don’t mean a
slapstick orjesting kind of humor just to make people laugh. Notthat I think
that kind of humor would be inappropriate for Jesus, anymore than it is for
us; I just do not find it displayed in the Gospels. But what I do find is evidence
of an incisive and purposeful use of humor. Christ’s humor in the Gospels was
always edifying in its aim. He made humor a conscious andeffective part of
his ministry to highlight spiritu-al incongru-ities and to illuminate spiritual
truth.
Humor “suggeststhe ability to recognize the incongruity and absurdity
inherent in life and to use them as the basis of expressionin some medium”
(American Heritage Dictionary). Wit “implies mental keenness,ability to
discern those elements of a situation or condition that relate to what is comic,

and talent for making an effective comment on them.” Irony calls attention to
the “incongruity betweenwhat might be expectedand what actually occurs,”
or focuses onthe discrepancybetweenappearances andreality. Irony’s
observations are frank but it does not seek to taunt or wound, and lacks the
cynicism of sarcasm.
In short, the humor in the Gospels “is not of the rollicking type but the subtle
and intellectual type for which the term wit is often an accurate designation”
(Dictionary of Biblical Imagery). That doesn’t make it any less amusing. Wit
is humor at its best.
All of this is necessaryto set the stage for the discussionto follow in my next
post. But I want to end this post with one example, from Elton Trueblood’s
The Humor of Christ. (Disclaimer:I am wellaware of Trueblood’s theological
problems. He subscribedto Bultmann’s demythologization process,
Schweitzer’s conclusions regarding the elusiveness ofthe historicalJesus, the
idea that the Gospels are the product of the later Christian community, and
the notion that the Gospelwriters themselves contribute to “excessive
sobriety” of the Gospelrecord. At the same time, his book is a helpful
contribution largely by default; there simply aren’t that many treatments of
this topic.)
Trueblood relates the event that first directed his attention to this subject. He
and his wife were reading Matthew 7 in their family devotional time. When
they read how Jesus saidthat a hypocrite was like a man with a log in his own
eye trying to get a speck out his brother’s eye, their 4-yearold son erupted
with sudden laughter. The child instantly visualized the outlandish absurdity
of Jesus’word-picture. The innocent, spontaneous response ofdelight that
Jesus’words elicited from a child, uninhibited by adult sophistication, is what
alerted Truebloodto the possibility of other passages thatmight also reflect
Christ’s sense ofhumor.

My own awarenessofJesus’humor began with quite a different passage.
More on that and other passagesnexttime.
2 RESPONSESTO “WAS JESUS EVER FUNNY?”
Matthew Masonsays:
June 6, 2019 at 11:30 am
Thank you for the post on humor, it’s refreshing to see humor/laughter as
part of the image of God and of God’s redemptive work. Cannotwait for the
next post on God’s perfecthumor. Are you thinking about doing a post about
how to more practically evaluate our humor?
Reply
Layton Talbert says:
June 6, 2019 at11:35 am
Thanks for the comment, Matthew!The post you suggestis not in my cards
right now. But I think we can always measure the nature of our attempts at
humor by Jesus’use of humor. As I mention in the post, we never read of
Jesus using humor in a cuttingly sarcastic waysimply to mock or shame an
individual. That’s one goodmeasure for how we use it.

Was Jesus funny?
May 30, 2018 by Ian Paul
For some time, I have been intrigued by the question of whether Jesus was
funny. In his teaching, did he tell what we might call jokes, anddid his
listeners find themselves laughing when they listened to him?
There are many prima facie reasons whywe might suppose Jesus was funny.
If Jesus was fully human—indeed, the perfectembodiment of humanity—then
we might expecthim to be funny since this is a hallmark of humanity. In his
1971 book A Rumour of Angels, sociologistPeterBergerarguedthat humour
was one of the sevensigns of transcendence in human life. And this accords
with our own experience—thatwe often find people who are funny are the
most alive, and that there are times when a good laugh can restore our sense
of humanity.
And if Jesus is the embodiment of the divine, that might also lead us to expect
him to be funny. It has been said that playfulness is the hallmark of
intelligence, so we might expectthe ultimate intelligence behind the universe
to be ultimately playful. We get a glimpse of this in Job 38–41, where God’s
accountof creationdoes focus on God’s power as creator—butalso on God’s
playfulness in the strangenessand variety in the creation.
And there are some direct clues about Jesus’joyfulness, and so we might infer
his laughter. The most obvious is in Luke 10.21:
At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you,
Father, Lord of heavenand earth, because you have hidden these things from
the wise and learned, and revealedthem to little children. Yes, Father, for this
was your goodpleasure.”

If someone is full of joy, looks to heaven, and talks of praise, it is quite hard
not to imagine them laughing. Another strong clue comes in the accusationby
his opponents (recorded in Luke 7.34 and Matt 11.19)that Jesus was ‘a
glutton and a wine drinker’. He was clearlythought to be a party animal, and
it is hard to imagine this without some laughter being involved.
Despite all this, I think it is fair to saythat Jesus is not often described as
laughing—there is no equivalent ‘Jesus laughed’to the Johannine ‘Jesus
wept’ (John 11.35). And Christian preaching and theologyhas generally
resistedC S Lewis’ dictum that ‘joy is the serious business of heaven’.
So can we find humour in Jesus’ teaching? Canwe identify it with confidence,
and how might it affectour preaching and teaching? Understanding humour
across culturalboundaries is notoriously difficult. We were recently on a
short trip to Morocco,and we discoveredthat Moroccans have quite a
distinctive, teasing sense ofhumour. Having had lunch at a localcafe one day,
I went up to the owner to ask if I could pay, to which he replied ‘Yes, if you
want to!’ The teasing humour of our driver on a trip to the desertdid not go
down well with a Dutch family we were travelling with, who interpreted his
joking comments as rude insults! If it is hard for humour to travel from one
modern culture to another, how much harder must it be to interpret humour
from the ancientworld?
One of the most extensive explorations of humour in the Bible (actually mostly
focussing on the New Testamentand the teaching of Jesus)is The Prostitute in
the Family Tree by Douglas Adams (not the same as the author of
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy—as he himself comments in the Amazon
reviews!). Adams begins by looking at the humour in Bible stories, and
describes them as ‘grandparent stories’rather than ‘parent stories’. Parents
want their children to behave, and so often tell serious stories with a moral

point. But grandparents can afford to be much more honest, and as a result
humour and irony emerge more commonly—and that is the usual approachof
Bible stories. Christian readers often try and impose a serious morality on
stories which resistsuch readings. As an example, Adams considers the
genealogyin Matthew’s gospel, with the ironic presence of Rahabthe
prostitute, who gives the book its title. Hie notes the comedy in the contrast
betweenthe (expected)goodcharacters listedand the (probably unexpected)
bad ones—andoffers an interactive, dramatic retelling in order to enable
congregations to engage withthe contrast, which is sure to lead to lots of
laughter.
Adams explores different aspects ofthe humour of Jesus’parables in three
chapters, before looking at the absurdity and humour in some of Jesus’
miracles, and humour in Paul’s letters. His examples illustrate some of the
challenges in looking for humour, but also the potential in both the gospels
and Paul’s letters.
The most obvious demand is knowing something of the historicaland social
context. Early on, Adams explores the so-calledparable of the prodigal son in
Luke 15. Mostof us will have realisedthe cultural significance ofthe younger
son being reduced to looking after unclean pigs, and we might be aware of the
expectationthat, on his return, he would prostrate himself before his father,
who would customarily have remained at a distance. But did we realise that
the expectationwould have been for the elder son to act as reconciler—a task
that he signally fails in? Adams also demonstrates the need for a careful
reading of the text itself: did we notice that the younger sonquickly drops his
plan to be a servantwhen he sees the welcome that he receives?
Adams also notes the surprise of many of Jesus’economic parables, which
draw on seeminglyunethical practices to illustrate the kingdom of God.
Should a goodJew be happy with speculating and investing the money

entrusted to him in the parable of the talents? What is virtuous about the
cunning stewardwho writes off the debts owed to his master in order to curry
favour with those from whom he will later seek employment?
But these demands also illustrate how precarious it is looking for humour in
another culture. Adams sees both insight and incongruity in Jesus’parable of
the kingdom as a mustard seed(Luke 13.19,Matt13.31). The mustard plant
grows quickly—but it also dies quickly, being an annual, and is something of a
contrastto the image of a cedar of Lebanon, a much more common
illustration in the Old Testamentof what God is doing. Is Jesus reallywanting
to talk of the kingdom as something transient that doesn’t last? Or do we need
to focus on the main point of the parable as Jesus tells it—that the kingdom
starts with small things, and grows surprisingly quickly and organicallywhen
we might not expect it?
The use of cultural insights canalso be precarious. Adams discusses the
parable of the neighbour who has a night-time visitor in Luke 11—whichI
happen to have preachedon lastweek. Here Adams disagrees withthe
cultural insights of Kenneth Bailey, and he sees boththe timing of the demand
at midnight, and the quantity of the demand (three loaves rather than the one
that is needed for one guest)as being absurd. I think it is more persuasive to
see this as something entirely expectedin a culture where people traveled in
the evening, rather than in the day, and where hospitality was a prized value.
What is more amusing is the comparisonof God with a grumpy neighbour,
reluctant to help, whom we are disturbing from sleepwith our constant,
untimely requests!
Adams omits reference to what I think is perhaps the greatestfailure of
humour by biblical commentators—inrelation to Jesus’comment in Matthew
19:23-26, Mark 10:24-27,and Luke 18:24-27 that ‘it is easierfor a rich man to
enter the kingdom of heaven than a camelto go through the eye of a needle’.

Cyril of Alexandria suggestedthat the word translated ‘camel’ should be read
as ‘rope’ (kamilos instead of kamelos), and mediaeval commentators
speculatedthat there was a small gate in the wall of the city called‘The eye of
the needle’through which camels could pass, if only they knelt. Both attempts
avoid the absurd humour of Jesus image, whichwas captured rather well by J
John: ‘You couldn’t geta camelthrough the eye of a needle if you passedit
through a liquidiser!’
Adams does include one fascinating observationabout humour in Paul’s
letters, where he sees 1 Cor11.34–35as a Jewishobjectionto Paul’s teaching,
which he then ridicules in the verses that follow—some 20 years before Lucy
Peppiatt Crawleyargued that same on other grounds.
I wonder if what Adams is doing is less highlighting the humour in Jesus
teaching and rather highlighting the underlying paradox, absurdity and
surprise in his teaching about the kingdom of God. Mosthumour depends on
leading us down a particular line of thought—only to surprise us with
something quite different at the end of it. And this is essentiallythe truth of
the goodnews of God’s love. When we look at God’s goodintention in
creation, when we considerall the ways God has provided for and blessedus,
and we then see what we have done with the world and the waywe have
mistreated and dehumanised our fellow creatures, we cansee where this story
should probably end. But the goodnews of God’s costly redemption comes as
a surprise ending—even an absurd one which we could not reasonablyexpect.
What Adams does is alert us to this absurdity throughout the New Testament,
and encourage us to make the most of it.
If Jesus did indeed laugh, use humour, and make his listeners laugh even as he
challengedthem, shouldn’t we do the same?

Did Jesus Have a Sense of Humor?
Samuel Lamerson| Thu, January 12, 2017 | Articles
did jesus laugh
“Jesus neverlaughed,” or so the pamphlet said. An adolescentboy at the time,
I found myself laughing at every little thing—too often during church
services. Reading thatpamphlet I wondered, “So he never laughed? What was
wrong with him?”
Perhaps we’re accustomedto thinking of Jesus only as “a man of sorrows,
acquainted with grief” (Isa 53:3). His crucifixion is certainly no laughing
matter. Or maybe the image of a laughing Jesus offends simply because it
makes him too human. Yet Hebrews 4:15 tells us that Jesus is able to
sympathize with us because he is exactlylike us (minus the sinning). God has
gifted us with a sense ofhumor; it stands to reasonthat Jesus had one, too.
Every culture has its own idea of what is funny. Watch a random selectionof
German, Spanish or Japanese comedyshows, andsometimes you’ll be rolling
on the floor, and other times you’ll be scratching your head. Why is that
funny? First-century Palestine would be no different: It had its own comedic
tradition, steepedin the cutting irony of the Old Testament(Job, Jonah or
Ezekiel)and the over-the-top parodies of classicalGreece(Aristophanes).

Aristotle famously wrote that comedies end with a wedding. That may be so,
but the gas that really fuels the fire of Greek comedy is exaggeration:Take a
simple gag and blow it out of all proportion. Rereadsome of Jesus’sayings
with this in mind, and you might find a chuckle or two yourself: Your
neighbor may have a speck in his eye, but you’ve gota log. The blind are
leading the blind—right into a hole in the ground. A priest, a Levite, and a
Samaritan are walking down the road . . .
Not Exactly the “A”-List
In the parable of the wedding feast(Matt 22:1–10), the king throws a banquet
in his son’s honor. It’s the socialevent of the year. Servants are dispatched
carrying invitations to all the VIPs. The powerful. The sociallyconnected. The
“in” crowd. The kind of people who know how to dress and how to actat a
royal banquet.
But the glitterati—the Pharisees withtheir clean robes and punctilious
manners, the scribes with their jots and tittles all in a row—simply can’t be
bothered to attend.
What’s a king to do? Fedup with those who think they’re too goodto come,
he decides to invite other guests. He sends his servants out to round up the
religiously and politically incorrect. The powerless. The socially
disenfranchised. The “out” crowd. The kind of people who hang out on the
streetlate at night.
Imagine a royal wedding feastfilled with homeless people. Scandalous!This is
a comedic break in expectation, exaggeratedto drive the punchline home: The

outsiders have become the insiders. And if you’re one of the insiders, the
joke’s on you.
I’ll Gladly Pay You Tuesday. . .
The parable of the unforgiving debtor (Matt 18:23–35)makes use ofwhat
comics today call the topper or call-back. While the audience is still laughing
at the lastline, you hit them again.
Imagine a slave who owes the king some money. Make that a lot of money—
10,000talents, even. We might not getthe joke, but Jesus’listeners would
have: That’s more money than the Roman government had! It’s as if your
freshman daughter had called up to sayshe’d run a little money up on the
credit card you gave her. How much? The national debt.
Betteryet, when the man is called to pay, he says, “Give me a little more time
and I will pay all” (18:26). This is like the girl telling her father that she
“plans to geta job at Christmas” to pay off that maxed-out credit card.
What’s a king to do? Instead of laughing the slave out of his court (or into
prison), he simply forgives the debt. She calls the credit card company and
whines a little, so they let her off the hook—justlike that.
Then the topper: The slave leaves and finds someone who owes him a hundred
denarii—a few months’ wages. Notonly does he demand the money, but he
chokes the poor guy. That goes beyondmerely uncharitable; it’s downright
cruel. One might even say comicallyso. In the end, the unjust slave gets his
comeuppance—tossedin jail until he can pay in full, which he never can.
Here, Jesus lays one exaggerationontop of another until the audience can’t
help but see how utterly ridiculous it is to hold a $10 dollar grudge againsta

neighbor when God, the gracious king, has wiped clean a fortune’s worth of
sin.
The Divine Comedy
By Aristotle’s rule of thumb, God’s plan for the ages is a comedy, because no
matter how tragic this world may seem, it ends with a wedding (Rev 19:6–10).
God has chosenfor himself a bride made of people who don’t dress or act
properly—drug dealers, prostitutes, and even a few recovering Pharisees—
former sinners all. Snubbed by the people the world counts as important, God
spends his incredible riches on the unwashed masses instead, inviting them to
join him in an exquisite meal.
And, one would like to think, more than a few goodlaughs.
Dr. Samuel Lamerson is professorofNew Testamentand president of Knox
TheologicalSeminaryin Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
This article was originally published in Bible Study Magazine, May–Jun’09
with the title “Jesus NeverLaughed?” and collectedin The Bible in Its
Ancient Context: 23 Fresh Insights. Biblical references are the author’s
paraphrase.
JESUS LAUGHS

Did Jesus, during his ministry, have a sense ofhumor? Did he laugh? How did
he use sarcasm, exaggerationand other humorous techniques to have a little
fun but also teachus valuable lessons?
This article takes a brief look at some funny events and humor that occurred
during the Lord's ministry. In spite of what some may believe, Jesus was not
always sorrowfuland deadly serious during his physical life on earth. He lived
his life knowing there was a proper time for everything including humor
(Ecclesiastes 3:1 - 8).
It is logicalto conclude that our sense ofhumor originatedfrom the two
Beings, Godthe Fatherand Jesus Christ, who decided what our collective
abilities and characteristicswouldbe. Since humans can find certainthings
funny, and make humorous comments from time to time, so can God!
Unfortunately, some of those who study the Bible can become so familiar with
its verses that they forget to step back and considerwhat they read from a
different perspective. This article reveals how humor played an active role in
the life of our Savior Jesus.
Laughing baby
The sons of commotion
Jesus useda bit sarcasmand a bunch of good-natured humor when he
selectedhis innermost twelve disciples. Found only in the book of Mark, he
jokingly renamed James and John (who were brothers) with the title
"Boanerges" (Mark 3:17, KJV). This nickname means "sons of thunder" or
"sons of commotion." It was no doubt given as a humorous recognitionof
their sometimes misplacedand impulsive behavior, and well as their over-the-
top zealthat would be manifested during his ministry (see Luke 9:51 - 55,
Mark 9:38, 10:35 - 45).

A log in the eye
In his famous Sermon on the Mount, Jesus exercisedhis humor when he
stated, "Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but pay no
attention to the log in your own eye? . . . First take the log out of your owneye
. . ." (Luke 6:41 - 42, TEV).
A small child reading the above verses would laugh at the idea of a man with a
big woodbeam in his eye trying to find something small on another person.
Literally, these verses appearludicrous and silly, which is exactly the point!
He is using a funny, exaggeratedanalogyto teachhumility and that we ought
not to pick on the tiny flaws we see in others.
We finally found one!
Jesus shows us his sense of humor, early in his ministry, soonafter he calls
Philip. When Philip tells Nathanaelthat the Messiahhas beenfound he
sarcasticallyreplies, "Cananything goodcome out of Nazareth?" (John1:46).
The Lord, as Nathanaelapproaches to meet him states, “Here is a true
descendant of our ancestorIsrael. And he isn't deceitful" (John 1:47, CEV)!
The slight sarcasmcomes from the fact that Israel's originalname, Jacob,
meant someone who is full of guile or who deceives. Jesus, playing off
Nathanael's criticism, is humorously noting that, finally, an Israelite has been
found who is not like his ancestor!
Puppy love
We find Christ displaying his humor side againwhen he partakes of a quick
conversationwith a Gentile woman who interrupted his meal. Kneeling near
him, the woman beggedto have a demon castout of her daughter (Mark 7:25

- 26). Jesus refusedher request by stating, "The children must first be fed! It
isn't right to take awaytheir food and feed it to dogs" (verse 27).
Jesus'statementrefers to the fact that he was sent to primarily save the lost
sheepof Israel(Matthew 15:24). He playfully challenges the woman by calling
her a "dog," a dismissive term Jews usedto refer to non-Israelites. She
responds with a wry answerthat brings the granting of her request.
Good, cleanhumor celebrates the goodnessofGod. It is the keycomponent to
joy, one of the primary attributes of the Holy Spirit which proceeds from our
Father (Galatians 5:22 - 23). The Christian walk should be a joyful one.
God the Father and Jesus do indeed have a healthy sense ofhumor and do
laugh! We, therefore, canbe assuredthat even after we are resurrectedfrom
the dead we will continue to have one as well.
https://www.biblestudy.org/humor/humor-of-jesus.html
Did Jesus everlaugh?
did Jesus everlaughaudio
Question:"Did Jesus everlaugh?"
Answer: There has long been a notion that Jesus never laughed. Traditionally,
paintings of Jesus have tended toward melancholy portrayals of a somber,
glum Savior. It is true that Jesus became our Sin-bearer (1 Peter2:24) and
that He “was despisedand rejectedby mankind, a man of suffering, and

familiar with pain” (Isaiah 53:3). Jesus was rejectedin His hometown(Mark
6:1–6), He wept at a friend’s graveside (John 11:35), and of course He
experiencedthe cross. However, this does not mean Jesus neverhad a
lighthearted moment or that He never had occasionto laugh.
The picture of Jesus that we find in the Gospels is one of a well-rounded,
magnetic personality. He carried children in His arms—and what child wants
to be around someone who never laughs (Mark 10:16)? He was accusedof
being too joyful on occasion(Luke 7:34). He told John’s disciples that it was
not a time for mourning (Matthew 9:15).
The very factthat we humans have a sense ofhumor indicates that God does,
too, for we are made in His image. (The existence ofpenguins, platypuses, and
puppies also builds a strong case forGod’s having a sense of humor!) Jesus, as
the Sonof God, shares the Father’s attributes, including a sense ofhumor.
As the Son of Man, Jesus shares in the full human experience. We cannot
imagine life without laughter; even those in dire circumstances have known
seasonsofjoy. Everyone laughs and appreciates goodhumor. To saythat
Jesus neverexpressedjoy through laughter is akin to denying His full
humanity.
Jesus evinceda sense ofhumor in His teaching. Jesus’discussionofthe “log”
in one’s eye is a purposeful exaggeration—anda lighthearted one at that
(Matthew 7:3–5) Also, the incongruous image of a camelgoing through the
eye of a needle contains humor (Matthew 19:24).
Jesus encouragedjoyful laughter, most famously in the Beatitudes, recorded
in Matthew 5 and Luke 6. Jesus said, “Blessedare you who weepnow, for you

shall laugh.” Jesus spoke ofrejoicing in His parables in Luke 15—the lost
sheep, the lostcoin, and the lost sonwere all found. The result in eachcase
was greatrejoicing. Even more telling is that Jesus told these stories as
illustrations of the “joy before the angels of Godover one sinner who repents”
(Luke 15:10).
Jesus had a serious mission to accomplishin this world, but He was not one to
be somber all the time. There is no verse in the Bible that says, “Jesus
laughed,” but we know that He empathized with us completely and felt all of
our emotions. Laughter is part of life, and Jesus truly lived.
https://www.gotquestions.org/did-Jesus-ever-laugh.html
Answers
By BGEA Staff • April 25, 2013 • Topics:Jesus Christ
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HomeAnswers
Q:
Did Jesus have a sense ofhumor? I seemto have been born with one, but
sometimes I wonderif I'm wrong to express it since Jesus didn't try to make
people laugh—atleastas far as I can tell.
A:
Yes, I believe Jesus did have a sense ofhumor and made people smile (or even
laugh) at some of the things He said. His purpose was serious, but sometimes
He got His point across by making people see the ridiculous side of life.

For example, think for a moment about the image Jesus used to describe how
hard it is for a proud, self-confidentrich person to enter the Kingdom of God.
He said it would be like a cameltrying to go through the eye of a needle (see
Luke 18:25). Can you imagine His audience not laughing as they tried to
picture this in their minds? I can’t. His point was serious—butHe used an
exaggerated, humorous image to get it across.
Remember, too, what the Bible says about God’s reactionto those who
arrogantly decide they don’t need God and are strongerthan Him. They want
nothing to do with God or with Christ, but God laughs at their pretensions
and rebukes them for their sin. The Bible says, “The One enthroned in heaven
laughs; the Lord scoffs at them” (Psalm 2:4).
Be grateful for your sense ofhumor, but don’t use it to hurt or embarrass
others, and don’t overlook the tragedies and heartaches ofour sin-filled
world. Jesus weptover the failure of His people to repent and believe the
GoodNews of God’s love and forgiveness—andso should we. Mostof all, the
Bible says, He was “a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering” (Isaiah
53:3).
Jesus's Humor Techniques
Jesus's popularity as a speakerduring his life was due to the factthat he was
extremely entertaining, and he was entertaining because he was funny. Jesus

got people laughing. Then he gotthem thinking. His humor was broad,
ranging from the intellectualto the childish. This seems odd today because
Jesus gets translatedso seriously, when, in fact, he was completelywilling to
make a fool of himself, or, more accurately, a child of himself, "the child of
the man," as he liked to say.
This site didn't begin with any idea of discussing Jesus's humor, but after over
a decade of studying the Greek, that humor is clearly the main aspectof
Jesus's teaching that is lostin translation. Accurate translation is often
impossible without highlighting Jesus's use ofhumor in his message. He calls
it the "goodnews" becauseit made people happy. In this article we explain
some of this humor, but a warning, jokes are not as funny when they are
explained as when they are heard.
The entire Sermon on the Mount, in the original Greek, reads like a stand-up
comedy routine. This has been translated out of the version you read in the
Bible, but Jesus’s originalwords have all the hallmarks of humor, including:
Setups followedby punch lines that surprise listeners
Repeatedcatchphrases,
Extreme exaggerations,
Alliteration and rhyming,
Story-telling with surprise endings,
The list goes on and on.
How Humor is TranslatedOut

You cannot see mostof this humor in translation because it is edited out. The
Gospelwriters do this to make Jesus's "message" clearer, becauseallthe
humorous techniques cited above "muddy" the meaning from the theological
point of view. A goodexample of this is the clearly humorous ending to both
Jesus's Parable ofthe Sower, (Matthew 13:23) an ending that is repeated, for
the sake ofhumor, it its later explanation. The ending of literally reads:
"This one of all people bears fruit and produces: this one, indeed, a hundred.
This one, however, sixty. This one, however, thirty."
Notice how the ending is drawn how with praise and adding of doubt with the
"however" as the numbers decline. This is funny, especiallyas I imagine it
being delivered to a live audience (see the SpokenVersion at bottom of the
article on Matthew 13:23). But look at how this gettranslated in the NIV:
This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times
what was sown.”
What happened to the ending? All the humor is gone and explanation is
added. Not only it is drier and more boring, but it treats the readeras if they
are too flow to get the context.
The Nature of Humor
We miss the humor not only because ofthe way the Bible is translatedbut also
because ofthe way we read it. We are not looking for humor. We are looking
for truth or inspiration or intellectual arguments. All of these things canbe
found in humor, especiallywhen the humor is about things that are not easily

expressedin "earthly" terms. However, in reading the Gospels this way, we
miss some of the most entertaining speeches andinterchanges everrecorded
in history.
How can we read the Bible looking for humor? Humor has a structure that
relies on surprise endings. Henny Youngman’s, “Take my wife…please!”
becomes a cry for help if translated to “Pleasetake my wife.” Set-ups are
cleverly structured to create expectations.Theymust be followedby
punchlines that turn those expectations ontheir head. This structure occurs in
verse after verse of Jesus's words in the Greek, but it is lost in translation
because Jesus’s wordorder is completely changed.
Jesus's words are usually not translated to be witty, at leastnot in the various
English versions I analyze. We can even see some of this "cleaning up" in the
translation from Greek to the Latin Vulgate. Even Luke's version of Jesus's
sayings was simplified to eliminate certainrepetitious elements that were
primarily humorous that we see in Matthew. For example, Luke eliminates a
lot of the "amens" meaning "truly" or "honestly" that is often associatedwith
the "I tell you" line because its value was primarily humorous. Notice how in
John, who wrote his Gospelto capture things left out of the earlierones, those
"amens" are not only common, but usually doubled.
The Official Approved Version
It is no wonder we don't laugh when we read these words today. They have
been "sanctified" ofall their original humor when put into their current
written form. However, originally they were not written at all. They were
spoken. (Readthis article on the differences betweenspokenlanguage and
written.)

The fact that Jesus's words were spokenmakes the GospelGreek different
from the restof the New Testament, which was written as letters. All those
who wrote letters, however, clearly spoken in Greek (see this article). This is
not the common academic view, which teaches thatChrist taught in Aramaic,
but that opinion is not basedon evidence as much as historicalpolitics. Those
that make the claim for Aramaic simply cannot explain the Greek words we
see today nor many aspects oftheir humor, specificallythe Greek plays on
words that don't work in other languages (a verse-by-verse description of
wordplay here). The oldestGreek versions of the words themselves make it
impossible to imagine an earlier Aramaic version that could possibly give rise
to the Greek we see todayas a translation. (NOTE:I would love to debate this
issue with someone who is honest and knowledgeable aboutlanguage
translation because everyarticle I read on this topic ignores all the key
evidence we see in the Greek words themselves.)
The Actual Words as Recorded
These words were not spokenlike formal, grammatically correct, written
language, cleanedup by editors. We see them that way. They are often
presentedin the Gospels that way. They were much more likely performed;
that is, many statements were structured in order to entertain as wellas
educate. To understand the difference betweenwritten humor and spoken
humor, think about Shakespeare.If you read Shakespeare's comedies, you
may not find them particularly funny. However, if you see any of them
performed, you will laugh from beginning to end. This humor is not stand-up
with simple jokes. It is a performance, creating humorous scenes and
situations.
Mostof all humor is in the performance and the interaction with the audience.
We must imagine the performance and interactions today because they were
not recorded. Shakespearewas writtenfirst, then performed later. In the case
of Jesus, however, his words were performed first, then written. However, like
Shakespeare,many of the words don't quite make sense unless you imagine

them performed by someone with greatwit, warmth and lots of shtick.
However, with Jesus, we also have to imagine the audience's interactions
because the complete script was not recorded, just his part of it.
The Common Forms of the Humor
This article discusses some ofthe most common forms and elements of humor
that Christ uses. Of course, jokes aren'tparticularly funny when they are
explained, so don't expectto laugh out loud reading this article. The goalis
only to give those reading his words a different way of understanding them.
This article also helps people understand how to read the "SpokenVersion"
versions of his verses on this site, which are written to emphasize Christ's
humor and imagine the type of shtick that the recorded words suggest. Some
of this business is clearly childish, but this is consistentwith Christ's title for
himself as "the son of a man," which has the sense of a "child of a man."
Let us start, not with Christ's words, but his silences.
The Pause betweenthe SetUp and Punch Line
The famous humorist Mark Twain observed, "No word was everas effective
as a rightly timed---pause." In translating Christ's words into a spoken
performance (see these verses here), it is easyto see where these pauses go.
Many of them follow what is translated as the "and's" and "but's" that, in
written translation, create so many run-on sentences.However, many of these
pauses occurbefore final keywords. Keywords at the end of a Greek sentence
or phrase is uncommon since Greek word order normally puts the most
important words first, not last (againsee this article).
The pause works in humor because it "sets up" the laugh. A surprising
number of Christ's verses canbe brokendown into classicalcomedyform

calledthe "setup", "punch line," and "tagline." The setup creates
expectations. The punch line confuses those expectations andgenerates a
laugh. The tagline is a secondpunchline to keepthe laughter going.
Again, Christ's "body of work" was spoken, notwritten. Punctuation, even
spaces betweenwords, didn't exist in written Greek at the time. The
translations here try to capture how the words would be spokentoday, which
includes the pause. Of course, this is not entirely possible because Greekis
constructeddifferently than English. The verbs are not usually in the middle
of the phrase but at the end. This is important because the word order is what
makes the pause work. At leastone example below shows why that is
sometimes necessaryfor the joke to work.
Of course, there are too many examples of Christ's use of the pause to capture
even a goodsample. In some "sermons" practicallyevery other verse leans on
that pause.
In the Greek, these places forthe pause are easyto spot. Whenever an
unexpected or surprising word appears following a "setup", it is easyto
imagine a pause before it. Of course, these surprises themselves are hard to
hear today because we think we are familiar with what Christ said. To quote
Christ, we hear but we do not listen. The truth is that many, many of the
phrases with which we think we are familiar often do not even come close to
what Christ actually said. They are changed, almostalways in word order and
too often to simplify meaning. The meaning that the translators think is
important is emphasized. This usually isn't the funny one. Of course,
wordplay based on word sounds is lost entirely. Still, let us start with some
easyexamples, starting with the basic pause.
The First Beatitude

This pattern of "setup"/pause/"punch line"/pause/"tagline"/pause, starts
very early in the New Testamentwith the "Beatitudes."This method is used
there almost to the point of zaniness. Of course, this is lost in translation
because these verses have been"sanctified" to a shocking degree. Theyare
changedto the point that not only is the humor lost, but Christ's point (pause)
and its sharpness (pause), is often blunted as well.
Let's start with the first beatitude. This is normally translatedas "Blessedare
the poor of spirit blah, blah." Now, this version sounds very religious,
especiallybecause itseems to praise the poor, but it isn't what Christ said. Not
really. I can't even imagine him saying something like that in the way we hear
it today. Too sanctimonious.
What he saidin these verses starts with a single word.
"Lucky!"
That word only means "blessed"in the sense that the lucky and fortunate are
blessedby goodluck. It doesn't mean "blessed" in the sense of "holy" at all. It
also means "happy," which works as wellwith most of the humor in the
Beatitudes. "Happy-go-lucky" might even capture the feeling of the word as
well.
Of course, we don't know how he said it, but it wasn't followedby a verb.
There is no "lucky are" and certainly no "blessedare" here. Justthe
statement: lucky! Perhaps it was addressedto someone as we might say, "You
are lucky!" Or perhaps Christ pointed to someone whenhe said it. Gestures
too have to be imagined when we read Christ. He didn't say these things in an

auditorium on a stage, but with a group of people around him, often huge
groups.
However, here is where the pause is critical. After Christ says, "Lucky!" the
pause gives the crowdtime to think, "Who is lucky?"
To which thought, after the pause, Christ responds, "Beggars!"
This is a punch line. No one sees beggarsas luckyand no one sees this word
coming. So, it is a surprise. Of course, translating "beggars" as "the poor"
makes this phrase seemmore caring, but it also waters down the joke. We will
see why in a moment. The word Christ used means "beggars."Saidwith the
right tone and twinkle, you can see how saying beggars are luckywould geta
laugh, though perhaps a few nervous giggles atthe very beginning of this
"sermon."
At this point, we need to imagine another pause as Christ waits for the giggles
to die. Then Christ adds:
"Forspirit."
Now, when I read this, the image I get is bums begging for booze. Calling
these guys lucky is crazy enough to work. Now in English, this joke works
because we callalcohol"spirits." Did it work in Greek koine the same way? It
is hard to say but in modern Greek oinospneuma (the words for "wine" and
"spirit") refers to alcohol. In ancient Greek, the word meant "wine spirit"
(or, more humorously, "wine breath") and referred to the courage fighters
got from drinking. Was "begging"associatedwith drinking as much during

Christ's time as it is in modern society? Well, the nature of drunks hasn't
changed, so we can guess how they behaved then when they were out of drink
and money.
However, the surprise works on other levels as well even if we abandon the
one that is obvious in English. The word pneuma means "spirit" but it
primarily means "breath." (You can read another whole boring article about
that word here.) So Christ is saying someone begging for breath is lucky. Not
a joking matter? Ahh, but the word has a double meaning which
automatically trips up the expectations ofthe audience.
Of course, the secondarymeaning of pneuma is "spirit" as in "spiritual."
Since Christ was a spiritual teacher, this meaning is obvious, though more to
us today than his listeners then. We cannot even hear the "breath" meaning,
but that was the every day meaning of the word and the idea of "begging for
breath" makes more sense than "begging for spirit, then and now. But that
meaning "beggarfor spirit" is funny too. What does it even mean? All these
people have come to hear him talk. Is he calling them "spiritual beggars?"
The end of this verse is so familiar today that it is difficult to hearthose words
just as those who heard it during that period, specificallythe first three words
here: "Lucky! Beggars!Forspirit!"
Again, we have to imagine the pause during what is likely laughter. As it dies
down, the audience wonders, "Okay, why are these beggars lucky?"
Christ says, "Because the kingdom of heaven is made up of them."

The joke here is that heavenis made up of beggars. (Or that it is ownedby
beggars, whichseems less likely.)
Of course, we cannot hear the "kingdom of heaven" in the same way as
Christ's audience. It was a new phrase then and nobody knew what it meant
really. Christ spends most of his teaching explaining what the idea is. They
knew what a kingdom was and they knew the word translated as "heaven,"
but not how we think of it. The word meant "the sky," "the universe beyond
our world," and, more specifically, the home of the "stars," thatis, the heroes
of history and mythology, both Greek and Jewish. Christ is not only putting
beggars among these heros but saying that it is made up of the beggars, not
the heroes.
Repetition and catchphrases
Another very common form of humor is the repeatedpattern. All humorists
use this technique because the audience gets trained by repetition. The
audience learns where the laughs are. This makes the timing of the pause all
that more effective. It also builds the laughs as more and more people catch
onto the pattern. When a bit is used the first time, it is too surprising for
many. But through repetition, they learn to anticipate the punch line.
Sometimes simply repeating a long list of words joined by "and" or "or" in a
series canbe funny. Jesus uses this technique a lot. Or course, we cannot know
if he was answering a series ofquestions or not, but if we simply assume a
pause before eachconjunction it is easyto see the humor. Matthew 10:10 is a
goodexample of an "or" series. Mark 12:1 is a goodexample of an "and"
series. There are many others.
Of course, the simplest repeatedpattern is the "catchphrase." The history of
humor is filled with repeatedcatchphrases,especiallythe golden age of TV,

where, for awhile, every successfulcomedyhad a charactercatchphrase. "To
the moon, Alice, to the moon." "Honey, I'm home." "Kiss my grits." "Dy-no-
mite!" "Na-noo, na-noo."Catchphrasesaren'tonly used in humor but in
commercials as well. They are memorable and all end up being funny, if only
through repetition. "Where's the beef?" "I ate the whole thing." "Doesit hurt
and have a temperature?"
Of course, Christ had his own catchphrases. "Amen, I sayto you" is the most
obvious, which is more like "Tellyou true!" This is repeated to the point of
pure humor in the Gospels. "The kingdomof heaven," and "the son of man"
are two more. One of the funniest is "Boo-hoo to you!" (discussedlater)
which, unfortunately, gets translated as "Woe to you." Of course, we have a
hard time hearing these phrases as humorous because we didn't hear them
that way originally, but eachone is rooted in humor. Even "the weeping and
gnashing of teeth" hits me as humor, though as a different kind
(exaggeration), whichwe will discuss later in the article.
Christ uses repeatedpatterns in many different ways. I may list a number of
them in the future, but for now, we will stick with the beatitudes because they
are an obvious example. They appearright at the beginning of the Gospels.
They repeat the same patterns and even words in different ways. Let us look
at how the fourth beatitude repeats the pattern setup in the first beatitude.
The Fourth Beatitude
Again, we start with "Lucky!" Now, when Christ pauses, the audience knows
what is coming next, and people are probably already tittering. The thought
is, "Who is 'lucky' this time?"
"The hungry and thirsty!" Obvious laugh line. By now, of course, the
audience is in on the joke. Of course the hungry and thirsty are every bit as

lucky as beggars!But the pattern leads them to ask, "Okay, hungry and
thirsty for what?"
"Forjustice!" The tagline. Of course, this turns the meaning of "hungry and
thirsty" completely around. Another laugh, bigger than the first.
But the audience now knows how this works. Theyare set up to expect an
explanation of why these people are so lucky. The pause waits for the laughter
to die down.
Then Christ says, "Becausethey will get their fill!"
This is a BIG laugh line, a tagline on top of the tagline.
It brings togetherboth the idea of being hungry and the idea of getting justice,
BUT getting "your fill of justice" is clearlya double edgedsword. Those who
think they want justice may want to rethink what they are asking for.
This is also a greatexample of how a verb at the end of the sentence works so
well in humor. The last part "gettheir fill" is not a series of words in Greek,
but a single verb.
Exaggeration
Of course, a lot of humor is basedon exaggeration. A lot of this exaggeration
suggeststhe humorous business that accompaniedit when it was delivered. A
lot of what Christ says is "over the top" and wouldn't have workedat all if the

people of the time didn't see the humor in it. A lot of it would have simply
come across as crazy.
No one can read Christ statement about seeing a speck in our brother's eye
while missing the beam in our own without being struck by how exaggerated
it is. Even then you have to imagine it being performed in front of a crowd
with Christ having one arm acting as the "beam" over one eye, while offering
to remove a speck from a friend's eye. This is very broad humor, slapstick.
Christ wasn'tafraid of embarrassing himself by seeming childish.
Unfortunately, people reading Christ today take every humorous
exaggerationas gospel. (Pause). Forthem "a beam in the eye" is a weird
outlier, rather than what is absolutely typical of Christ. They cannothear the
"perpetually flaming trash heap" as funny, partly because it has been
translated into the boring "eternalfires of hell," but partly because
generations ofpeople have been brought up to see Christ as "holy," "divine,"
and little besides that. So, we don't hear the "weeping and gnashing of teeth"
as a humorous illustration, as much as the Truth, with a capital"T." This
makes Christ a really grim character, like John the Baptist, but that certainly
isn't how he acts in the Gospels. He acts as though he doesn't have a care in
the world.
A greatrepeatedexample of this grimness is the repeated phrase "Woe to
you," which Christ uses many places, mostnoticeably in his long diatribe
againstthe religious leaders of his time in Matthew 23:13-39. "Woe to you"
sounds properly religious because you never hear anything like that said in
real life. The Greek term translated as "woe" is an exclamationof grief like a
wail or a sob, not just a term for sadness. It is an exaggeration.

However, people say something that means "woe to you" all the time in real
life. They say, "Boo-hooto you!" Notice, however, this phrase cannot be said
seriously. Closeris the Jewish, "Oyvey". "Oy vey" is often, perhaps usually,
used humorously, but it canalso be a sincere expressionof sorrow as well. The
Greek word translatedas "woe," ouai, is very similar. In English, we might
use "so sad" in a similar way, with multiple meanings. It has an ironic edge. It
can be used to minimize a list of people's complaints about their hardships,
rather than emphasize people's mistakes. Christ uses "So sadfor you" to
make fun of both. It makes the condemnation lighter, not heavierbecause it is
exaggeratedand entertaining.
In listening to thousands of sermons, it is clear that pastors prefer quoting
Paul, insteadof Christ, even when both make the exactsame points. Indeed,
most of Paul's points comes directly from Christ. Since the faith is called
"Christian" and Christ was the sonof God, you would think that every pastor
would go directly to the source, the words of Christ. But few do. Why?
BecauseChristexaggeratesandplays around so much that pastors cannot
explain his words in any logicalwayexcept as grim warnings. They cannot see
or admit that Christ could see the humor in very serious matters. But what is
humor other than the ability to see something from two perspectives atonce?
Paul takes Christ's messages andtones them down. Paul would be politically
correctand say "sadly for you," not "boohoo to you." Paul was a writer and a
preacher, while Christ went beyond preaching into entertaining. Christ's
work was spoken, not written. It takes a certainforce of personality to make
his material work in front of a crowd.
People clearly"got" Christ's exaggeratedhumor for centuries and centuries.
Remember, the movement was startedwith Christ's words written in the
Greek. People readit and gotthe exaggerations as entertainment. The
philosophy came later, but the sharpness of Christ's points was always there.

It fit the overall pattern of the historical Christ as an exaggeratedcharacterin
real life: the lowestof all men, a "bastard" who was condemned to death as a
criminal who rose from the dead to become the highest of the high, the son of
God, the most famous man in human history.
It wasn't until Christianity got"churchified" that the humor and
exaggerationwere completelylost. The Bible became the Vulgate and, in the
process, more formalized. That process continuedas the Vulgate gave birth to
the various translated Bibles, with every version focusing on the "religious"
issues of its age.
Adultery and Cutting off "Members"
To illustrate how Christ's exaggeratedhumor works, we will look at Christ's
discussionof adultery, also from the Sermon on the Mount, Christ's first
sermon in the Gospels. This is a greatexample because the exaggeration
clearly has sexual overtones. Christwas never crude, but here he comes close.
Everyone listening understoodexactly what he was saying, even if people
today don't get it.
First, he gives the traditional commandment, as follows the pattern in this
section, then he says:
"But I tell you what. Everyone staring at a woman..."
Imagine him exaggerating the "staring" and drawing out "woman" to make it
sound very, very womanly. The first necessarypause comes here.

"Pining for her," he continues, againexaggerating the passionof the idea,
with a very euphonic, multi-syllabic verb in Greek.
"Has already defiled her," he continues. Again, imagine an exaggerated
"defiled." Then comes the necessarypause.
"In his..." Here he stops again, perhaps seeming to searchfor the word that
keeps it clean. He comes up with it and says triumphantly, "Heart!"
Now, imagine this kind of exaggerationin the next section.
"So, if it is your...uh...," He says, searching for the word, "Eye trips you up."
Imagine him pointing at his eye and adding a little stumble.
"Pluck it out! Toss it away!" Again, imagine him acting this out.
"Because itis altogetherbetterto have your...uh," Again he searches forthe
word. "Memberdestroyed."
Again, a pause as the audience figures out the member to which he is
referring.

"Than have your whole body just tossed," he says, with the word "tossed"
having a lot of double meanings, making it one of his favorites in these
situations. "In the trash heap!"
Again, using the repeating pattern, Christ does the lastsection. Again, just
imagine a lot of exaggeratedwords and gestures.
"And if your, uh..." he says, starting a gesture downwardwith his hand,
suddenly lifts it up and flexes it. "Right hand! Trips you up, you should cut it
out! Knock it off! And toss away!It is SOOO much better to have a, uh,
'member' destroyed than have your whole body dumped into that trash
heap."
Now, try reading the "original" in any Bible you choose. Is it easierto image
the grim man who made that speechdrawing everyone from miles around or
this entertainer? Which makes his point about looking at a woman as a sex
objectmore persuasively, the "threatening" preacheror the moral humorist?
Christ and His Interactions with Others
How did Christ's contemporaries criticize him, as a stern moralizer or as a
party animal? John was the stern moralizer
and they called him crazy (Matthew 11:18 For John came neither eating nor
drinking,). Christ took his messageand made it something new, something
amazingly entertaining. So what did they callhim? A drunkard and party
animal (Matthew 11:19 The Son of man came eating and drinking.)

And when Christ joked, people jokedright back at him and he loved it! The
most famous example is the discussionwith the Canaanite womanwhere
Christ refers to her people as "puppies." Of course, in most translations, this
comes acrossas a cruel insult insteadof a joke. But if it was an insult, why
does the womancome back with what is clearlya joke about the puppies
getting the crumbs (Matthew 15:27). Christ liked her joke so much he granted
her wish instantly.
However, Jesus was notabove the humorous insult. When the Pharisees warn
Jesus that Herod wants him dead, Jesus sends word back to Herod referring
to him as a "vixen" (Luke 13:32). This is lost in translation, which renders it
as the more polite "fox." But the Greek wordhas both male and female
forms, fox and vixen. Jesus chooses the female form, which is much less of a
compliment than "fox", which simply means "crafty".
Or look at the apostles. Admittedly, they are not portrayed as the brightest
bulbs on the tree, but, again, that is because we don't see the humor inherent
in so many situations. A lot of times, these people are having fun. They were
criticized for enjoying themselves on a holy day, and Christ explains by
asking, "Canthe children of the bride chamber mourn, as long as the
bridegroom is with them (Matthew 9:15)?" So there was a sense ofcelebration
in their group. This explains a lot of verses with which many people seemto
struggle.
For example, when Christ says that people shouldn't divorce, Matthew 19:9,
the apostles come back with the statement, "if that's the case, it's better not to
marry!" This is clearly a joke. It is the same as, "Well, if I can't get divorced,
I can't marry." It is especiallyfunny because these apostleswere allor almost
all married men. During these times, hardly anyone got divorced, even though
it was legal. The comment is typical married men complaining about
marriage. It works in any era. Even today, with divorce so common, this joke

still works. We might phrase it as, "I was about to get married, but then I
found out what a divorce costs."
Christ's follow up to the apostles in this scene is just as light hearted. "Well,
everyone can't welcome this lesson[about staying married], exceptthose who
actually getit."
Other Forms of Humor
There are many other forms of Christ's humor, but it would take a book to
coverthem all. However, some of them are even more common than the ones
we've discussed. Among his other forms of humor are:
Playing with double meanings. This is perhaps the most common form of
humor. Any verse which seems particularly impossible in English translations
is probably a play on words. For example, the word for "mountain" and
"mule" are the same in Greek. So when Christ says that with enough faith, we
can command a "mountain" to move, is he really taking about a mule?
Playing with sound-alike words. Christ does this a lot as well. For example,
the first-person pronoun "ego"is usually unnecessaryin a sentence because it
is part of the verb. It is used only to emphasize the role of the speaker.
However, Christ most frequently uses "ego" withthe verb that means "to
say." Why? The phrase is "ego lego." Iam always reminded of the
commercial"let go my Eggo"whenI run into it.
Using complicatedwords for the sake ofhumor. Christ normally speaks very
simply, especiallyin conversations withpeople. However, sometimes,
especiallywhen confrontedby the scribes (the academics ofthe period) and
Pharisees,he will start to use big, complicatedwords that he almost never uses
otherwise because theyare the kinds of words they use. It is his way of making
fun of them. Wheneverwe see a verse with a lot of very uncommon Greek
words, it is usually this type of situation. For example, see Matthew 7:23.

Making up words. The Bible is written in koine, which is describedas the
"common" Greek, as opposedto educatedGreek. However, a common
feature of koine is the "coining" of new words. Putting the parts of other
Greek words togetherto make new words. Christ does this, not to make deep
philosophical points, but to be funny. For example, the word that gets
translated as "thee of little faith" is a made up word where Christ makes the
lack of faith into the form of a personaladdress. "Mr. Tiny Trust' is a close
approximation in English. This seems to be humorous to me.
In the parables, Christ usually uses a minimum of tricks to tell the story
simply. However, it is easyto imagine him doing funny voices portraying the
characters. He often tosses in a trick or two from the list above but nothing to
distract from the story. However, often at the end he will add a subtle punch
line. The "some a hundred fold, some sixty fold, some thirty fold" at the end
of the Parables ofthe Soweris a goodexample. Why offer diminishing returns
exceptto geta little laugh at the end? We only have to imagine the "hundred
fold" being said dramatically and the "sixty" being said with a little
disappointment, and the "thirty" being saidwith a shrug and a sigh.
Ancient Greek Humor
Finally, we should also note something of what we know about ancient Greek
humor. Humor was a common feature of the Greek theater. Aristophanes
made political jokes, imitating actual politicians. Greek humor, like all humor
and that of Jesus, uses exaggerationand caricature to make its points.
Symbolic characters, like those in the parables, were common. The caricature
of the "commonman", for example, was oftenan old man who is easily fooled.
The Greek-speaking people of the ancient world told jokes, just like we do
today. They actually had ‘joke-groups’who met and traded jokes. One such
group gathered regularly in the Athenian Temple of Heracles in the 4th
century B.

Jesus oftenmakes "actors"the foil of his humor. More commonly, the ancient
Greek foil for jokes was the idiot (buffoon). One such joke goes:“An idiot,
wanted to go to sleepbut wanted a pillow. He askedhis slave to give him an
earthen jar for his head. The slave said that a jug was too hard. The idiot told
him to fill it with feathers.” If we read some of the most severe statements
made by Jesus regarding cutting off members, we hear these ancient echoes of
jokes exactlylike this.
One of Jesus's favorite targets was the intellectualelites of his society, the
Pharisees,their lawyers, and writers. When we read his statements about
them, we should keepin mind the ancient tradition of jokes about all of the
"educated" classes, forexample, jokes about doctors. There was an ancient
Greek joke about someone who went to see a physician. He complained, "I
feel groggyfor a half hour after I getup, and only then do I feel normal." The
physician prescribed a simple solution, “Getup half an hour later.”
As researchcontinues, this article will be updated to reflect other common
types of humor as they are encountered.
http://christswords.com/content/jesuss-humor-techniques
Did Jesus everlaugh? What do the Scriptures tell us about his characterand
sense ofhumor?
I’ve heard some people answerthis question in the negative by saying that
laughter is always a sign of frivolity and a thinly veiled attempt to make light
of things that are sober. They say life is a sober matter; Jesus is describedas a
man of sorrows. He’s describedas one who was acquainted with grief. He
walkedaround with enormous burdens upon him. Add to that the fact that

there’s not a single text in the New Testamentthat explicitly says Jesus
laughed. There are texts, of course, that tell us he cried. Forexample, John 13
tells us that in the upper room Jesus was deeply troubled in his spirit. We
know that he experienced those emotions, and yet it’s strange that nowhere
does it tell us that he actually laughed.
You also askedif he had a sense of humor. When we translate any language
into another, we will often miss subtle nuances of speech. If we don’t have a
knowledge ofthe originallanguage and its idioms, we might miss the humor.
Also, different cultures have different ways of being humorous. Jesus usedone
form of humor we call sarcasm. In his responsesto Herod, for example, he
calledhim a fox and made other statements that I think had a touch of
oriental humor to them. It’s purely speculative whether or not Jesus laughed,
but I can’t imagine that he didn’t laugh for this reason:He was fully human,
and he was perfect. We certainly wouldn’t attribute to Jesus any sinful
emotions or forms of behavior, and it would seemto me the only reasonto
think he didn’t laugh would be if we first came to the conclusionthat laughter
is evil.
The Bible does say that God laughs. In the Psalms it’s a derisive laugh. When
the kings of the world setthemselves againstGod and take counselagainst
God, it says that he who sits in the heavens shall laugh. God will hold them in
derision. It’s sort of a “huh!” kind of laughter. It’s not a jovial response of
happiness, but nevertheless it’s laughter.
In the Wisdom Literature of the Old Testament—forexample, in
Ecclesiastes—we’re toldthat certain things are appropriate at certain times.
There’s a time to plant, a time to reap, a time to build, a time to tear down;
there’s a time to dance, a time to sing, a time to laugh, a time to cry. Since
God has, in his seasons, appointedappropriate times for laughter, and Jesus

always did what was appropriate, it would seem to me that when it was time
to laugh, he laughed.
Takenfrom Now, That's a GoodQuestion! Copyright © 1996 by R.C. Sproul.
Used by permission of Tyndale.
Do you have a question about the Bible or theology? Geta live response from
one of our well-trained agents whenyou ask Ligonier.
The Dry Humor of Jesus – dry except for one time when it was very wet
Postedon August 7, 2020 by Fr. Bill
Humor
When I first went to college, a church of my denomination sponsoreda supper
for us newcomers. As we ate, one guy made a cute remark. We laughed. The
pastor lookedatus severelyand said: “Life is a serious matter. We should not
make jokes about it.” We never went back.
I love humor, as long as it’s cleanand not mean. I’ve found it the best way to
deal with the absurdities of life, of which there are many. (OK, sometimes I
overdo it. Ask my wife.) WheneverI’ve discoveredthat I couldn’t find humor
in anything, couldn’t laugh, that signaledto me that something had gone
badly wrong, and it was time to make some changes orgetsome help. And
when I have found someone who rarely smiled, I have always figured
something was wrong there.

Humor and Orthodoxy
So, imagine my discomfortto find that my patron Saint Basilthe Great
agreedwith that grim pastor. Basilsaid that the Lord Jesus never laughed. In
his eulogyfor his sisterMacrina, he said that one of her greatestvirtues was
that she rarely smiled. He advised: “The Christian…ought not to laugh nor
even to suffer laugh makers.” Notonly that: Saint John Chrysostomagreed
that the Lord never laughed or even smiled, and said “This world is not a
theater in which we canlaugh.”
Oh dear. Basilhas been my patron and guide for these thirty years. I respect
and admire him and Chrysostomand the dear Macrina enormously.
So what do I do with this? I think that in this matter those two greatFathers
and one dear Mother were wrong. (If you think I should be excommunicated
or defrockedor burnt at the stake, please commentat the bottom.) I believe
they probably were reflecting the cultural norms of the time. Of course,
probably so am I.
But consider:Jesus Christ was fully human in all things except sin. Hebrews
2:17, 4:15 He ate and drank. He wept. He was frustrated and angry. He
suffered and died. So why should we think He did not smile? Human beings
smile and laugh.
However, I’ve read only one Orthodox source that dealt with the possibility
that Jesus had a sense ofhumor, and the author thought maybe, but probably
not. So maybe I’m on my own here.

Let’s get something straight. “Humorous” does not mean “not serious”.
Perhaps this just reflects my intellectual shallowness, but I have heard many
sobre sermons, read many solemn books – and today I can’t remember much
from most of them. But I do remember the teaching of G.K. Chesterton, for
example, or C.S. Lewis, or Father Thomas Hopko, who used a bit of engaging
humor. I’ve found that most Orthodox have a goodsense ofhumor – except
they can be so solemn about their religion. In this Blog, I have purposely tried
to counter this – for better or for worse is for you to say.
Now, am I wishing that Basiland Chrysostomhad put a few funny lines in
their Liturgies? Of course not. You’ll find this hard to believe, but I once
attended a wedding ceremony in a certain church (not Orthodox!) best left
nameless, where all through the ceremony the priest told jokes. It was
dreadful beyond description. I left early so I wouldn’t have to talk to him.
Nor am I suggesting that the Lord Jesus justwent for laughs like that priest I
mentioned. Do I want Christ grinning out at us from His icons. No! Here’s a
picture by some Protestantartist. I think it’s just short of sacrilegious.
The Dry Humor of Jesus
My wife said “humor” is the wrong word here. Probably it is, but we both
lookedand couldn’t find a better one.
I don’t mean “ha ha” humor. I mean clever humor, humor often so dry, so
nearly imperceptible that you might easilymiss it, unless you try to imagine
the situation and the intended effect of His words or actions. He used very
subtle, mentally challenging humor. Sometimes He had almosta mischievous
sense ofhumor, using impossible images and saying things that sounded
absurd – often without explaining Himself. He was going for peoples’reaction,
trying to startle them (and us) into thinking and imagining.

Over the years I’ve found that when I can’t understand something the Lord
Jesus says ordoes, I put a little twinkle in His eyes, and often what He meant
and what He was “up to” seems to come clear. It doesn’t always work, but try
it, and see whatyou think.
Outrageous images
“Why do you try to take a speck out of your brother’s eye when you’ve got a
log in your own eye?” Matthew 7:3-5 He could have said simply “You’re a
greatersinner than he is.” Why didn’t He?
“It is easierfora camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man
to get into heaven.” Matthew 19:24 I’ve readpossible explanations for this. No
matter, He chose to use this funny image.
Startling statements not explained, intended to challenge peoples’thinking
What He said above flummoxed His disciples, because everybodyknew riches
were a sign of God’s favor. They asked “Thenwho can be saved”? Jesusgave
them a non-answer:“With men it is impossible. With Godall things are
possible.” Put a little twinkle in His eye.
Jesus is invited to dinner by a “prominent Pharisee”. The Pharisee guests
wanted nothing to do with what He had to say. So He leans over and says to
His host: Don’t invite these people to dinner. They’re only going to repay you.
“Invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind” who can’t repay you. Luke
14:13 His host surely stared at Him in disbelief – but it’s my party – and I

suspectJesus “deadpanned” it. Finally He added “You’ll be repaid at the
resurrection…” Thatwas not quite what His hosthad in mind!
Astonishing actions which He used to playfully “tease”the disciples towards
belief
Early in His ministry, Christ and the disciples were out on the sea by night. A
storm came up. Jesus was asleep. The disciples wake Him: “Master, don’t you
care that we are perishing?” So He wakesand commands the winds and the
waves:“Be still!” and they are! Imagine the disciples sitting there, mouths
agape, awestruck. And He says to them, as if nothing much has happened,
“Where is your faith?” Didn’t you know I could do that? He’s teasing them.
Of course they didn’t know that! Notyet. You see:There’s a purpose in His
humor. He’s leading them on to ask:“Who is this that wind and waves obey
Him?” They would soonlearn who He is. Matthew 8:23-27
In last Sunday’s Gospelreading Mark 6, Matthew 14 five thousand men plus
women and children have come out into the desertto hear Him. They’re
enthralled and won’t leave. His disciples are in a panic. “Master, sendthem
into town to buy food.”
Again He teases them, “You give them something to eat.” Again try to imagine
their reaction:“But…but… but… us? that’s crazy!” This time He didn’t leave
them hanging. All the while “knowing what He would do”, He shows them
how they canfeed the multitudes: First bring their meagre gifts to Him, and
He will multiply them. Today the world is still feeding on the work of the

Apostles. Christ is still multiplying their gifts and ours – “thine own of thine
own, we offer unto thee” – both material and spiritual, now beyond measure.
But now comes this Sunday and a “slapstick” story. Definition: “Slapstick is a
style of humor involving exaggeratedphysicalactivity that exceeds the
boundaries of normal physical comedy.” That’s exactly what we have here.
Jesus walks onwater, but the Rock sinks.
GospelReading for the Ninth Sunday of Matthew: Matthew 14:22-34
Some of what follows here is paraphrased, with a few words of interpretation
added.
Christ had fed the multitude and sent them home. He told the disciples to set
out by boat for the other side of the Sea of Galilee, while He remained behind.
He went up onto a mountain, as He often did, to pray.
It is the fourth watch, the darkestpart of the night just before dawn. The boat
is out in the middle of the lake. The wind and the waves are up. The disciples
see this figure walking on the sea, Mark’s Gospelsays “as if to go past them”.
Mark 65:48
As if to go past them?! He’s teasing them, playing games with them. I mean,
what other possible explanation is there? That he’d decided to go for a 4 a.m.
stroll on the waves and just happened, by chance, to walk past the boat?

Their natural reaction:Fright. What is it? a ghost? and they cry out, afraid.
Then Jesus’voice comes to them across the waters:“Take heart. It’s me.
Don’t be afraid.” The disciples are doubtful, and Simon Peter(who, bless his
heart, always has to say something) this time blurts out something crazy, but
so full of trust: “Lord, if it is you tell me to come to you on the water”. I can’t
help but think that the Lord, in the darkness, allowedHimself a quiet loving
laugh as He says:Alright. “Come.” This is going to be fun.
Now, I’m sure you know that Christ gave Simon the name Peter. It means
“Rock”.
So Peter in faith gets out of the boat and walks onthe watertowards the Lord
across the waves!till suddenly he panics. You cantell he’s saying to himself:
Wait! I can’t be doing this. People can’t walk on water!The Rock starts to
sink, and thrashing about he cries out, “Lord, save me!” So Jesus walks over,
stretches out His hand, catches Him, and right there with the two of them
standing atop the Sea the Lord gently teaseshim: “O man of little faith, why
did you doubt?” Peter, where’s you faith? Didn’t you know you could walk on
water? Of course Peterdidn’t know that! And then He walks His disciple
across the waterto the boat, they getin, the wind ceasesand they arrive safely
on the other side.
A slapstick story, but merely slapstick? No. Eventhis kind of humor can be
used to make serious points, and this one like the sea is deep, with many
profound symbols and images. Rememberthat Christ’s parables and actions
often have double and triple layers of meaning.
For example, if you haven’t seenyourself in this story, read it again. We all
are sailing across the sea of life, trying to reachthe “otherside”. When it’s

dark and stormy Christ our God comes to us. At first we may not recognize
it’s Him, and He frightens us. Even when we recognize His voice, still we’re
not quite sure. But He finds a wayto assure us: “Don’tbe afraid”.
When He comes to us sometimes He plays little games with us to loosenus up,
open us up to new seeming impossibilities. But if we put our faith in Him,
Christ canallow us to “walk upon the waters”. If we begin to fear and lose
faith, as we almost always do, and begin to sink, if we call on Him He will
come and save us and lead us back to the boat.
The boat in which He has joined us is mankind, His Incarnation – but at the
end of the story, the boat is also His Church which gets us safelyto the “other
side”.
As I say, we can approachHis parables and stories from different angles,
sometimes all at once. No problem. Don’t think like a modern Western
literalist.
The lastline is most important. When it was all over, those in the boat
“worshipedHim saying, ‘Truly you are the Sonof God’.” This is where He’s
leading them. This the One who walks upon the sea, who rules the wind and
the waves and the world – and rules us. It is through this scarywonderful
process that we learn who this Man really is and to trust Him. “Truly you are
the Sonof God’.” *
Personaltestimony: When He first calledme to ordination, I didn’t know it
was Him. All I knew was that suddenly this thing was planted in my heart. I
did not yet believe in Him, didn’t know Who He is. I wasn’t especially
“religious”, knew very little about religion. I was scaredeven to speak in

public. Whatever was happening, I thought I had to do it all by myself. It
meant giving up what I had spent my college life preparing for. But by His
grace, I jumped out of the boat, and when I’ve failed, as I have many times,
He took my hand, and now sixty years later… I never could have imagined
what He would do for me. Do I know who He is now? You know I do.
Many serious points in this story. Yes. But it’s also very funny.
So my advice:
Brothers and sisters, loosenup. Be joyful about your Faith, and don’t be
afraid to show it. Despite the dark stormy state of the world, despite our sins
and failings, we have goodreasonto be happy: “Fearnot, little flock. It is
your Father’s goodpleasure to give you the Kingdom.” Luke 12:32 “Christ is
risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the
tombs bestowing life!”
G.K. Chestertontouched on this at the end of his book Orthodoxy (by which
he meant not EasternOrthodoxy but traditional Christianity):
“Joy, which was the small publicity of the pagan, is the gigantic secretof the
Christian. And as I close this chaotic volume I open again the strange small
book from which all Christianity came; and I am againhaunted by a kind of
confirmation. The tremendous figure which fills the Gospels towers in this
respect, as in every other, above all the thinkers who ever thought themselves
tall. His pathos was natural, almostcasual. The Stoics, ancientand modern,
were proud of concealing theirtears. He never concealedHis tears;He
showedthem plainly on His open face at any daily sight, such as the far sight
of His native city.

“Yet He concealedsomething. Solemnsupermen and imperial diplomatists
are proud of restraining their anger. He never restrainedHis anger. He flung
furniture down the front steps of the Temple, and askedmen how they
expectedto escape the damnation of Hell. Yet He restrained something. I say
it with reverence;there was in that shattering personality a thread that must
be called shyness. There was something that He hid from all men when He
went up a mountain to pray. There was something that He coveredconstantly
by abrupt silence or impetuous isolation. There was some one thing that was
too greatfor God to show us when He walkedupon our earth; and I have
sometimes fanciedthat it was His mirth.”
Does GodHave a Sense of Humor?
From the very beginning, we were createdin God’s image. What an immense
honor it is to have the features of God, to be like Him. If we have a sense of
humor, then the One who createdus has a sense of humor as well.
Molly Law
Christianity.com Editor
Does GodHave a Sense of Humor?
I’m a firm believer that God not only has a sense ofhumor but has a great
sense ofhumor. As someone who values humor, wit, and banter, I’ve come to
see it reflectedin Scripture from the One who createdthe world. God longs to
have a relationship with us and made a way for us to be with Him for eternity
(John 3:16). So, I can’t imagine that if we, His most valuable creation, have
wide varieties of humor that range through individual personalities, that the
God of the universe, who createdus in His image, does not have one.

Is it Irreverent to Think God Is Funny?
The history of religion has reflecteda God who is to be feared(Psalm 86:11),
respected(Proverbs 31:30), and revered (Deuteronomy10:12). And rightly so.
But that is only one side to our Lord, yet it has dominated the image of God
and Christianity. To unbelievers, God comes acrossas a vengeful, angry God
who fixates on being obeyed and on their unrepented sins. This view, of
course, comes from out-of-contextScripture, human perception, and
subliminal messaging.Christians, who have a relationship with the Father,
know that He is loving and kind. He loved us so much that He sentHis only
son to be crucified on a cross (John3:16).
In the Psalms, David reveals a very intimate relationship with God. There we
see a Godwho cares, who listens to David’s cries of anguish, who cries with
him in times of distress, and who also rejoices withDavid. “Delightyourself in
the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4). The
word delight means, “To take greatpleasure” or “To give keenenjoyment.”
This delight, this enjoyment, is given to us from the Lord and we are invited to
participate in it with Him.
God even gives us guidance on when to express our emotions. Ecclesiastes3
says,
There is a time for everything, and a seasonforevery activity under the
heavens:a time to weepand a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to
dance,… He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity
in the human heart; yet no one canfathom what God has done from
beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for people than to be
happy and to do goodwhile they live. That eachof them may eatand drink,
and find satisfactionin all their toil — this is the gift of God.

As we are in a relationship with God, we are given the gift of laughter,
dancing, and happiness, not apart from God, but with God.
God Reveals His Humor through His Creation
From the very beginning, we were createdin God’s image. What an immense
honor it is to have the features of God, to be like Him. As statedabove, if we
have a sense ofhumor, then the One who createdus has a sense ofhumor as
well.
In the beginning God createdthe heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1). Then
God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…”So God
createdman in his own image, in the image of God he createdhim; male and
female he createdthem (Genesis 1:26-27).
God reveals His sense of humor through the animals He created:ostriches,
elephant seals, platypuses, kangaroos, etc. (Genesis1:25). He first surrounded
Adam with these creatures to relieve Adam’s loneliness, andone way, in my
opinion, was by making Adam laugh. Adam was then chargedwith naming
the animals of the world. This, possibly, reveals Adam’s own sense of humor
(Genesis 2:19-20).
God Reveals His Humor through His Son
Jesus had a very important missionwhen He was sent in the form of a baby —
His ministry, death, and resurrection — but as He was both fully God and
fully man (John 1:14), He experiencedthe same emotions (John 11:35)and

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