by Leah Hitchens of Pop ChristianIs there anything in the Bible that gives evidence of the Savior's sense of humor?
All things were created through Him. - Colossians 1:16
I believe that God is the Creator of all things. Nothing exists in and of itself except for what God has made. So, if humor exists, It's safe to say that God created it, right? I'm going to indulge myself in a tangent really quickly, but I feel like this brings up a pretty relevant point: God creates. Satan doesn't.
Anything evil that exists is OF Satan, but was not CREATED by Satan. Creator is a characteristic that belongs exclusively to God. Satan doesn't have the ability to create. What he does instead is that he takes what God has created and contorts it from its original purpose. Thus, there is evil and sin.
Easy example: Music isn't evil. When anyone argues that rock or rap or insert-your-genre-here is sinful music, they are seriously misguided. Music in and of itself was created by God. Watch Satan take musicians who want to sing about greed, immorality, selfish and self-glorifying things, then you have something evil. It's not the music that is evil, it's what Satan contorts it to be that is evil. It's simple function versus dysfunction that can define sin. On that note, humor is created by God and in its original form is good.
Ecclesiastes 3:4 says there is a time to laugh and a time to weep. Jesus wept, we know that from the passage in John 11 that says so explicitly. So, I could reach for the connection and say Jesus laughed, too. Maybe it's not written explicitly but Ecclesiastes seems to make the point that, sure, is someone finds a reason to laugh, eventually he will find a reason to weep. And vice versa.
One other thing that sticks out to me, personally, is this part of Hebrews 4 that I read a while ago.
14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
I know this is talking about when believers are tempted, but I can't help but think that this same sentiment can be applied across context. Maybe it's a stretch, but these verses say that Christ is the High Priest who can sympathize with all of our weaknesses, because he has experienced them all. There's good reason to believe that Christ, while on earth, encountered every temptation, every weakness, and every emotion. Why? Because he was 100% human and his life and death were meant to be the covering for all people.
What kind of God would I have if I could say, "Well, Lord, I can't trust you right now, because you really don't know what I'm going through. You just don't know how hard this is or how hurt I feel." Nope. In Hebrews it's clear that Christ has experienced all and has conquered all so that, no matter what we are going through, we can draw near to him and find our hope in him.
Once again, maybe that was a bit of a tangent, but I think Jesus experienced all of the emotions on the spectrum. He is described as "a man of many sorrows" in Isaiah 53:3, but there's also evidence of Jesus using hyperbolic talk in his parables, of his parables in John 15 all ending in a feast or party, and of his even attending parties like the wedding at Canaan where he turned water into wine so that the celebrations could continue.
Jesus said in Matthew 19:14, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." What is the likelihood that children, known so much for their carefree joy and laughter, would be coming to some stern, stoic, always serious guy? And I could guess that when Jesus says "such as these," he's referring to people who experience unhindered joy and uncomplicated hearts.
After all, even the Proverbs make it clear that "a joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones." I can only imagine that the Savior was able to crack a smile, laugh and have a good time, bringing life to the people closest to him.
Comments (28)
Agreed! I am so tired of having arguments with people over this kind of stuff, I have had people tell me I will be eternally damned because of the music I listen to and the comedy I go to see (I try to find the cleanest stuff possible, and I have ever only gone and seen Jim Gaffigan, and he is as clean as they get without being cheesy... or bacony.. haha). Just because rock music wasn't in the Bible doesn't make it evil (and I listen to predominately Christian stuff.)
I'm pretty sure Jesus laughed, mainly becaues I know how silly we must look to him sometimes haha he would have had a lot of stuff to laugh at
He was human, they just wrote about the important/big things, not every aspect of his life.
A great resource on the topic (though a bit dry) is J. Elton Trueblood's The Humor of Christ. He first explains some of the cultural differences between American sense of humor and first-century Palestinian humor, and some clear examples in the gospels. Then he uses this idea to make some of Jesus' more offensive statements more tame, like when he told the Canaanite woman he wouldn't heal her daughter, because he came to Israel, and "It's not proper to give the children's food to the dogs."
Why wouldn't Jesus have had a sense of humour? To inspire such devotion in his followers he must have been someone they felt comfortable around. As solemn as the Last Supper was, surely he would have taken the time to have one last moment of laughter with his disciples. As a boy surely he would have done all the things any other child would do, including laugh. Given the values of love and forgiveness that Jesus preached, surely he would have needed a sense of humour to demonstrate those.
i agree w/ nickdon... from Trueblood which states that unless u understand that Jesus had a sense of humor, the parables and some of His allusions won't make sense... camel through the eye... seriously...
there are even instances of scatalogical humor as well...
When he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" He could've been smiling like Hey, gotcha
AMEN to this post!
I think Jesus laughed. Heck, I think he STILL laughs at us.
You know he did. "Ok Paul I've got one for you. So two Jews walk into a bar..."
I really liked this, especially the music part. When I told my dad about two years ago that yes, there are Christian rappers, he told me I was lying since it's an oxymoron.
Since when the a genre define the lyrics?
What kind of God would I have if I could say, "Well, Lord, I can't
trust you right now, because you really don't know what I'm going
through. You just don't know how hard this is or how hurt I feel."
Nope. In Hebrews it's clear that Christ has experienced all and has
conquered all so that, no matter what we are going through, we can draw
near to him and find our hope in him.
I completely agree. Which is why our God is awesome and caring, and One we can always go to.
Jesus, a Jew without a sense humor or chutzpah. As any fool can plainly see, that would be impossible!
There are quite a few examples of Jesus' sense of humor, as well as many of the prophets, and Paul.
Mark Driscoll has a sermon where he talked about them.
I'd hope that Jesus has a sense of humor, because I have trouble being serious!
Interesting thought, Jesus and the children. I guess I never associated Jesus much with laughter. He was certainly completely human, as well as divine. He had a lot on His mind, consider the Garden of Gethsemane. Had I the destiny of this Man, I would have been doing a lot of weeping. But, I'm not Jesus, so perhaps He found something to laugh about. I'm sure He smiled a lot, love smiles on us, in spite of our failures. And when Jesus thought on the Resurrection, that just had to bring a laugh to His voice. After the night, comes the morning. HALLELUIAH!!! I did think of this scripture, Psalm 2:4, "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh....."
I love how people have taken over religion, molding it to conform to their beliefs; so now they're doing the same with Jesus too, ha, ha! Guess we'll all find out in the end, won't we? I'm sure he had a sense of humor, but I bet a lot of people are taking it to the extreme like they do everything else.
The Gospels are full of Jesus's humor. He teased James and John, nicknaming them "Sons of Thunder" (sounds like a WWF tag team). He probably found Peter as amusing as we do, good ol' bombastic Cephas with his foot frequently in his mouth. I'll bet people got a kick out of Jesus's down-to-earth parables and illustrations. Folks invited him to parties because he was good company.
@Roadkill_Spatula@xanga - Peter makes me laugh too. It's great to be reminded of Jesus' human qualities, the thought of Him laughing makes me happy!
Finally a revelife post worth rec'ing. (;
According to the Gospel of Judas, he laughed quite a bit.
Jesus was a kind, gentle, patient, loving person, therefor the must have had a sense of humor.
God laughs... Psalm 2:4. =] Jesus definitely laughs, he'd seem inhuman to never laugh...
We were made in his image.
Most of us have at least a small sense of humor.
So yes, I believe that Jesus does.
:) Thanks for posting this!