The lighter side of Jesus
Like many people, I’m so used to the “serious” topics of being a follower of Christ – but the fact is, we’re made in God’s image, and we LAUGH! And we smile. We can’t keep joy and happiness from spreading to our faces. It’s been said that some of the greatest learning moments come after a good laugh.
So for the fun of it, here are several references to times that Jesus was being humorous…
Take, for instance, his relationship with Peter. Naming this impetuous, overly eager apostle “the rock” is amusing. You can almost envision the sly smile as Jesus says, “Upon this rock I will build my church.” Time after time, Peter was anything but a rock in difficult situations.
The encounters with the Pharisees are full of brilliant one-liners. “Render to Caesar the 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 comical visual 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).
But wait, there’s more… 😉
His eldest son 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 son began to laugh.
Elton says he tried to shush his son, and admonish him against laughing at Scripture. His son objected, “But Dad, the picture is funny!” Elton says he looked down 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 sawdust from the eye of a friend. The very idea is ludicrous (The Humor of Christ
, p. 9).
Just at that time some Pharisees approached, saying to Him, “Go away, leave here, for Herod wants to kill You.” And He said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I reach My goal.’ Nevertheless I must journey on today and tomorrow and the next day; for it cannot be that a prophet would perish outside of Jerusalem. – Luke 13:33
He’s basically saying, “I know you Jews love to kill your prophets. Far be it from me not to trek back to Jerusalem to give you the opportunity.
And Jesus did go back to Jerusalem.
The sons of commotion
Jesus used a bit sarcasm and a bunch of good-natured humor when he selected his 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 recognition of their sometimes misplaced and impulsive behavior, and well as their over-the-top zeal that would be manifested during his ministry (see Luke 9:51 – 55, Mark 9:38, 10:35 – 45).
We finally found one!
Jesus shows us his sense of humor, early in his ministry, soon after he calls Philip. When Philip tells Nathanael that the Messiah has been found he sarcastically replies, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46).
The Lord, as Nathanael approaches to meet him states, “Here is a true descendant of our ancestor Israel. And he isn’t deceitful” (John 1:47, CEV)! The slight sarcasm comes from the fact that Israel’s original name, 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!
News of him at once reached a woman who had a young daughter with an unclean spirit. She came and threw herself down at his feet. She was Greek, a Syrophoenician by race; and she asked him to cast the demon out of her daughter.
“Let the children eat what they want first,” Jesus replied. “It’s not right to take children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”
“Well, Master,” she said, “even the dogs under the table eat the crumbs that the children drop.”
“Well said!” replied Jesus. “Off you go; the demon has left your daughter.”
So she went home, and found the child lying on the bed and the demon gone. (Mark 7:25–30)
There is something in the look of Jesus’ eyes, in the tone of his voice, in the expression on his face that enables this woman to realize she is being asked a riddle of sorts, and she nails the answer.
(I imagine Jesus with a grin on his face in this story, on the verge of laughter all the way through, nodding his head in proud approval of the woman’s quick wit, and finally giving his bewildered disciples a look of “Isn’t she wonderful!”)
At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.”