Then Jesus called to the
crowd to come and hear. “Listen,” he said, “and try to understand. It’s not
what goes into your mouth that defiles you; you are defiled by the words that
come out of your mouth.” Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you
realize you offended the Pharisees by what you just said?” Jesus replied,
“Every plant not planted by my heavenly Father will be uprooted, so ignore
them. They are blind guides leading the blind, and if one blind person guides
another, they will both fall into a ditch.” (Matthew 15:10-14)
The Bible uses the word “laugh,”
“laughter,” or some form of the word more than 200 times. Sadly, the Bible has
been all too often mishandled by a bunch of religious people who take thick
coats of varnish and lacquer over the Bible, masking all of the humanity and
silly stories about sinners like us. The result is that Ecclesiastes 3:4 is completely
overlooked which says, “There’s a time to laugh.” So, did Jesus know how to
laugh? Did he have a sense of humor, or was he like Spock from Star Trek? You know – serious and
logical, walking around spouting out syllogisms? Remember that before beginning
his public ministry, Jesus was a construction worker. And now he’s hanging out
with a bunch of blue collar guys and much of their life is spent walking around
and camping. I don’t know about you, but if you get 12 blue collar guys
together, eventually somebody’s going to be telling a joke, or pulling a prank.
To be fully human, Jesus would have
had to have had a sense of humor. But the sense of humor that Jesus had is
often overlooked. For instance, take the 1927 film, King of Kings (one of the first movies made about Jesus), by Cecil
B. DeMille, who was a devout Christian. In that movie, Jesus comes off as super-human
with an aura, or a glow about him. Kind of like he’s radioactive. You could always
tell it was Jesus in the movie. You’re like, “Which one’s Jesus?” “He’s the one
that’s glowing. See him? He’s right there.” “Oh yeah, now I see him.” But
that’s not how Jesus really looked. “He had no beauty or majesty in him.
Nothing in his appearance that we would be attracted to him,” Isaiah the
prophet declared. (Isaiah 53:2) But that picture of Jesus, the one of him sort
of floating around, stroking his beard, imitating Spock, and glowing like a
night light is the kind of thinking that has led to a lot of misunderstanding about
Jesus’ sense of humor.
There are some 17,000 books about
Jesus in the Library of Congress, and insofar as I’ve found, there’s only one
about Jesus’ sense of humor. It’s a great, understudied aspect of Christian
theology. It’s called The Humor of Christ
by Elton Trueblood. But it’s almost – well, it’s almost 45 years old. So, it’s
been a while. Here’s what Trueblood said: “There are numerous passages which
are practically incomprehensible when regarded as sober prose, but which are
luminous once we become liberated from the gratuitous assumption that Christ
never joked. Once we realize that Christ was not always engaged in pious talk,
we have made an enormous step on the road to understanding.” Trueblood goes on
to say later that “Christ laughed, and he expected others to laugh. A misguided
piety has made us fear that acceptance of his obvious wit and humor would
somehow be mildly blasphemous, or sacrilegious.”
But religion is serious business, right?
Think finger pointing, furrowed brow kind of stuff. Think serious religious
types. Religion, we think, is serious business, and serious business is
incompatible with banter. But the Dictionary of Biblical Imagery says, “If
there is a single person within the pages of the Bible that we can consider to
be a humorist, it is without a doubt Jesus. Jesus was a master of word play,
irony, and satire, often with an element of humor intermixed.”
But we can miss the humor of Jesus
and the funny parts in the Bible. Why? Because we become overly familiar. For
instance, sometimes we’ve heard a particular Bible story so often that we kind
of miss the crazy, shocking, funny, human, earthy, silly parts of it. Secondly,
the centerpiece of Christian theology is the death of Jesus on the cross, where
God substituted himself and died to pay the penalty for our sins so that we
might have salvation. That’s serious. It’s no wonder then why these issues can
dominate our thinking, reducing Jesus’ life to little more than not sinning to
prepare himself to die, rather than living as a human being with friends and a
sense of humor. Remember, Jesus got invited to a lot of weddings, house parties
and meals. His critics accused him of being a drunkard, a glutton and a friend
of sinners, which is untrue. He didn’t drink too much. He didn’t eat too much.
And his friends were pretty crazy, but we’re all grateful that Jesus was willing
to hang out with people as jacked up as we are.
But the religious people couldn’t
understand him. They’re like, “You know what? All the sinners invite him to
their house to have dinner and be their friend. There must be something wrong
with him.” No, maybe he was just fun to hang out with. Maybe the true mark of a
Christian is someone you can eat pizza and shoot pool with, or throw darts
with, or go to the game with – not just if they can exegete the Greek text and
beat you in Bible Jeopardy like some
Sunday school nerd. And Jesus was that guy – people loved to hang out with him,
and we tend to overlook that fact because religious people tend to ignore that
facet of his life.
Also, there’s a cultural distance
between the days of Jesus, some 2,000 years ago, and our present culture. How
many of you have learned that culture is really the container for comedy? For
instance, how many of you have watched British comedy (think Monty Python) and you’re like, “I don’t
know what’s so funny.” Well, it’s because British people have a different
culture which shapes their sense of humor. Or, how many of you have been to
another country and everybody’s laughing, and you’re like, “Ha-ha. I have no
idea what they’re laughing about, but ha-ha,” because it’s a different cultural
context?
Jesus’ favorite target was religious
people. That’s because Jesus and religion are different. We should be big on Jesus – not on “religion.” We believe that the Bible
is altogether true, so we’re big on the Bible, too. But what we see in the
Bible is Jesus making fun of religious people because they take themselves so
seriously. They judge others and overlook their own shortcomings. They like to
think that their righteousness is of their own doing (by being so serious), rather
than a gift from God so that they can lighten up just a little bit. So, Jesus
says of the Pharisees, the religious folks, that they’re a bag of snakes. Yes,
he tells them that. (Matthew 12:34) And he also says that their father’s Satan.
(John 8:44) Now, before you get too carried away, don’t forget that that was
the Pharisees’ opinion of Jesus just three verses earlier when they referred to
him as being “illegitimate.” (That’s a polite way of call him a bastard) So, if
you’re a serious, devout, religious type like these Pharisees, well, what Jesus
said was not very funny. Or, maybe you’re thinking, “That was kind of funny,
but I don’t know if I should laugh.”
Well, you should because Jesus even made
fun of the way religious people pray, and you’re like, “You can’t make fun of
the way religious people pray.” Sure you can. “When you pray, do not pray like
the hypocrites. They love to stand and pray in the synagogues and the street
corners, that they may be seen by others.” (Mathew 6:6) Let me put that in
perspective. Maybe you have this religious uncle who comes over every year for
Thanksgiving and says, “Hey, let me say the blessing, OK?” And you’re thinking,
“Ugh. This is going to be an hour of King James English.” At which point your
uncle launches into his, “Lord God Almighty, we beseech thee on behalf of this
thy bird. We thank thee for the bird, and may thy bird nourish us so that we might
go forth from this thy place to do great works of service pleasing unto thee,”
yada, yada, yada. And you’re sitting there thinking, “This is going to take forever.
Just give me the knife and I’ll start carving the bird before the food gets
cold.”
Jesus even made fun of the way the
Pharisees tithed. Now you’re probably thinking, “Tithing isn’t funny.” Well, it
can be. “Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and
dill and cumin and have neglected the weightier matter of the law – justice and
mercy and faithfulness.” (Matthew 23:23) What Jesus was saying was this: “You
guys are tithing out of your spice rack.” They’re so serious, these religious
people; ten percent of everything!
“Okay, Lord, here’s 9 peppercorns for me, 1 for you; 9 mint leaves for me, 1
for you; 9 poppy seeds for me, 1 for you.” And then they show up at church and
say, “Okay, God, here’s a tenth of my spice rack, individually packaged and
arranged in alphabetical order. It’s all yours. Love you. Bye!” Jesus even made
fun of the way the Pharisees led others. Now, if you want to really make fun of
a religious person, just go ahead and mock the religious leader and his followers
. . . and then run for your life. But Jesus said that “If one blind person
guides another, they will both fall into a ditch.” (Matthew 15:14)
That’d be like you visiting a new
city and wanting to see the sights. So, you say, “I’m gonna sign up for one of
those guided bus tours.” You get on the bus, and find out that you’ve got a
blind tour guide who says, “Off to our right is …. Oh, sorry. I have no idea.” “And off to our left you’ll see …. Uh, I got
nothing.” “Moving right along, I see utter darkness ahead, and have no idea
where we’re going.” What Jesus was saying was that religious leaders couldn’t point
out anything, and they couldn’t take you anywhere because they were totally
blind to the truth.
And do you think some of these religious
people got offended? Sure; they totally did. And it’s kind of funny because in our
text the disciples come to Jesus and ask him this very peculiar question, “Do
you know that the Pharisees are offended?” “Really? All I said was that their father
was Satan. Oh, and I made fun of their tithing and their leadership. Really?
They’re offended? I’m shocked!” About the only post-modern sin anymore is to
offend someone because, after all, there is no truth, just perspective, right?
And your religion? Hey, if it works for you, it’s good for you. But you can’t
say that someone is right or that someone is wrong. You can’t say that any
perspective is right because we all have our own opinions, don’t we? And we went
to college, and we know what we’re talking about, because, well … that’s what
the grad student said.
No, some were definitely offended by
Jesus. Those were the ones who murdered him. Look, we worship a Savior who was killed,
so you know somebody was upset. And Jesus says, “Blessed are they who are not
offended by me.” (Matthew 11:6) Really? Well then, how do we not be offended by
Jesus? Answer? Repent of our sins because – and here’s the truth – we’re all
Pharisees. All of us. Some of us are religious Pharisees, and some are
Spiritual Pharisees. Some are just moral Pharisees. Political Pharisees.
Recycling Pharisees. Eco-friendly Green Pharisees. Whatever. We think we’re
better than everyone else because we know how it should be done, and that’s the
way we do it. And those who don’t? Well, we make fun of them. We make fun of
them behind their backs. We blog about them. We send anonymous tweets to them
by grabbing an online identity and just start firing away - 280 characters at a
time.
But the truth is that the only way to
not be offended by Jesus is to understand that we’re all Pharisees to one
degree or another. We’re self-righteous. We’re proud. We’re judgmental. We’re
hypocritical. And the only way to not be offended by Jesus is to repent of our
own religion. To repent of our own self-righteousness. To repent of our own
holier-than-thou attitudes. And then to have a good laugh with Jesus – at our
own expense. People take themselves too seriously and take God way too lightly.
They just do. Their political party, their cause, their issue, their agenda, their
morality – they take themselves way too seriously. Just ask Hollywood. And,
sadly, they, and we, take God way too lightly.
Granted, there are some things, and
maybe even some people, that are not to be taken too seriously. For instance, not
long ago, I was talking with a guy and he said, “I don’t believe in God,” to
which I responded, “Well, where do you think everything came from.” His
response? “It made itself.” I was like, “Seriously, you want me to respond to
that? How does nothing make everything? Come on, man. That’d be like if I came
home and found a new TV, a new car and seven kids, I’d be like, ‘Wow. Nothing
did this.’” That’s just silly.
You see, humor can heighten our other
passions. It’s the person who can’t laugh, who can’t grieve, who can’t mourn –
it’s the person who’s emotionally constrained by saying, “Oh, I don’t want to
laugh. I don’t want to cry. I don’t want to feel,” that’s pitiable. You know
what? Our God is a passionate God. He hates and he loves. He weeps and he
laughs. Our God has the full range of emotions, and we’re made in his image and
likeness, and Jesus was the perfect man. Emotion and passion are good,
providing it’s cultivated in a healthy way.
One of my favorite preachers is Charles
Haddon Spurgeon. He’s a dead, reformed Baptist minister. He was an eccentric
guy, had a weird sense of humor, and was quirky, passionate and had tons of
critics. But he wrote a little book called Eccentric
Preachers. It’s out of print, but in one section I think it really
expresses the heart of what I’m trying to say: “Well, then, let each servant of
God tell his message in his own way.” (I love that line) “Well, then, let each
servant of God tell his message in his own way. To his own Master (that would
be Jesus) he shall stand or fall. Judge the preacher if you like, but do
remember that there is something better to be done than that. Namely, to get
all the good you can out of him, and pray his Master to put more good into
him.”
I don’t think it irreverent to appreciate
the humor in the Bible when it’s right there in front of us. And I also think
that Jesus had a sense of humor and used it, appropriately, during his
ministry. Of course, not everything is funny. But if you can see the humor in a
giraffe or a platypus, isn’t it refreshing to think that the Creator of the
universe has a sense of humor? It takes our picture of that Gandalf-like (think
J.R.R. Tolkien and his Lord of the Rings)
God of the Old Testament who, after a sufficient number of anger management
courses, changes into the God of love in the New Testament.
Maybe he’s the same God after all.
Only now, he looks at us through the lens of his Son since, if we’ve seen the
Son, we’ve seen the Father. (John 14:9)
Grace,
Randy
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