Is Jesus Funny?
Via Ross, here's Christian Wiman:
In the Gospels Jesus is always talking to the crowds in parables, which he later ‘explains’ to his disciples. The dynamic is odd in a couple of ways: either the parables are obvious, and the explanations seem almost patronizing, or they are opaque, and the explanations only compound their opacity. (Or could it be—and I confess to relishing this possibility—that the explanations illustrate Christ’s wry sense of humor, which is nowhere else evident?)
I confess to a strong distaste for this proposition. Wiman is right to admit that Funny Jesus doesn't appear anywhere ("else") in the Bible -- a book, I am convinced, without even one joke. No slapstick humor, no pun humor, no gross-out humor...and no 'wry' humor, either, not even between the lines. Jesus -- at least as I read him -- is no Socrates. Wiman is very smart about the place of metaphor in the reality of life, but while I'm confessing I might as well add that this fantasy of a funny Jesus makes me more skeptical about the rest of his work, not less.
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Jun '10
Re: Is Jesus Funny?
In illiterate societies, the way people remember things is with a memorable story. And if you didn't understand the moral of the story right away, you can ask someone else, "why was he angry about a fruitless fig tree? I don't get it." Then that person will give you their interpretation of what it means, and if you ask someone else, they may have a different better answer. If you can't cite chapter and verse notation, because you can't read, you can still say, "what's with the fig tree?"
Re: Is Jesus Funny?
Jesus may not have been that funny but some of his followers were. The Florentine St. Phillip Neri (1515-1595) was worked into such an ecstasy prior to saying each mass that he had to do two things to bring himself out of it. He had to pet a dog and read a joke book.
May '10
Re: Is Jesus Funny?
I prefer to think Jesus had a sense of humor, else dealing with the Disciples was a test of his perfection greater even than Satan's threefold test.
Consider that nearly every time Jesus told a parable, he ended up having to explain it to the Disciples, even though, near the end of his ministry, they had heard similar parables before. The Disciples also took a very long time to even understand that Jesus was the Son of God, much less God incarnate, even though Jesus has told them flatly that he was both. My conclusion is that the Disciples were not particularly bright people who needed to be a told a thing several times before it finally sank in. I can imagine Jesus' exasperation at times when he had to re-explain a fairly basic tenet of his teachings to, say, Peter. Only a keen sense of humor could have pulled him through without a flare of temper.
Also, Jesus used some pretty cutting wit when he dealt with the Pharisees, wit that seemed to be more clever than vicious.
Jun '10
Re: Is Jesus Funny?
In the context of the quote, I don't see humor as a driving factor in the explanantions of parable. However, I can well imagine an element of visual humor in the illustration of the speck in your brother's eye vs. the log in your own. I'd have to go back and pull some old notes, but I would also submit that humor in the Bible is there, albeit mostly situational rather than spoken in any sense. The person of Jesus was human, and I just don't buy the idea of a laughless 1977 Jesus of Nazareth interpretation.
Joy is too dominant a feature in the Scriptures, and the idea of a purely puritan no-humor-allowed rendering of this joy simply doesn't ring true to me.
My two cents.
May '10
Re: Is Jesus Funny?
"It's easier for a camel to get through the eye of the needle than it is for a rich man to get into heaven" (as I recall the verse), has been described as a joke, but I think it's more of an apt metaphor alluding to a type of opening in a city's walls.
More to your point, I find the tense you're using to be interesting. Whether Jesus is funny may relate more to whether he can appreciate the humor that's practiced (or happens) today.
Jul '10
Re: Is Jesus Funny?
Since I view Christ as perfection, I assume he has the greatest sense of humor that ever existed. If there was humor in his recorded comments, that feature likely has been drained through multiple translations, over-familiarity and an understandable reticence to laugh at the Word of God. But it seems fair to believe he employed humor to make his point. The absurd exaggeration is certainly present (i.e., pointing out a speck in another's eye while you have a plank in your own.).
May '10
Re: Is Jesus Funny?
A Jewish guy with a larger-than-life mother? Makes sense to me.
Jun '10
Re: Is Jesus Funny?
And now ladies and gentlemen lets welcome Shecky Jesus.
These two pharasies walk into a bar. One sez to the other, "Psst, order water, there's a guy in the back booth who'll turn it into wine. But, whatever you don't ask him to break that sawbuck you're carrying."
Jun '10
Re: Is Jesus Funny?
Someone is going to have to show me from primary sources of the biblical period that the Hebrew people had a sense of humor before I will believe that Jesus could be or would be "funny." Humor is by no means universal across all the cultures of mankind. What is viewed as "funny" by one culture frequently doesn't translate at all into another. I met a Peace Corps worker in Ecuador whose sarcastic New York sense of humor merely confused the locals.
Nevertheless, the divine nature of Christ most certainly manifested as joy. That does not necessarily mean the man Jesus indulged in horseplay or jokes. Any attempt to make the biblical Jesus funny by contemporary standards of humor is likely to be a rather poor historical interpretation.
May '10
Re: Is Jesus Funny?
All the oil is in the Middle East? Hahahahahahahahaha! Oh stop it, you're killin' me.
May '10
Re: Is Jesus Funny?
I couldn't disagree with you more, James. The Bible is filled with humans. It is a brilliant depiction of God's relationship to man and records the amazing and stupid things humans have done in relation to God. God made us humans to have a sense of humor. So, when we read stories of humans being... human, the natural response is laugh at inappropriate places because, hey, better them than us.
I can't help but read 1 Kings 18:16-46 and not laugh out loud at the scenario of Elijah taunting the prophets of Baal because they can't seem to get Baal to throw down fire from heaven. So, when it's Elijah's turn, and God "overcompensates" by not just lighting up the sacrifice but everything else in the near vicinity, I want to yell, "Booyah!"
May '10
Re: Is Jesus Funny?
Grr... that's supposed to read, "I can't help but laugh out loud when I read..."
Anyway, I echo Jim Chase and Ottoman Umpire about the humor in the "log eye" parable and the "eye of the needle" parable. There are also the surprise juxtapositions in Jesus' parables that would have caused his audience to giggle, if from not outright humor then from sheer surprise. Luke 11:11-13 is a great example.
If you believe in orthodox christianity that Jesus was fully human and fully God, then it seems rather impossible to dessicate Jesus of all humor. God created humor. Why would He not have it while a man?
Jun '10
Re: Is Jesus Funny?
I've heard--I don't know--that in the ancient languages, holy scripture contains quite a few clever puns. But they lose a lot of their original wit in translation.
May '10
Re: Is Jesus Funny?
The book of Judges especially the account of the left-handed assassin and the fat king, Eglon usually elicits a chuckle or two from me.
Balaam and the ass is a another favourite.
Jesus may not have been laugh out loud funny but he did use irony where needed. The apostle Paul uses a great deal of irony and sarcasm in his epistles to the Corinthians.
May '10
Re: Is Jesus Funny?
As others have said, humor doesn't translate well; not across languages and not across cultures. Thorough knowledge of the relevant culture is absolutely necessary for most jokes. And wording is everything (Rabbis David Aaron and David Fohrman have written many wonderful articles on the possible meanings of ancient Hebrew words in the Old Testament at JWR).
Still, I agree with Felicia that The Bible is full of humor. It's the sort of humor one encounters in a mother's stories about her naughty children.
Countless saints have been dim-witted and obstinant. God loves to use the most unlikely people to share His light with the world. But the apostles were not all dumb.
Why parables? Many reasons! Parables invite deep consideration and discussion better than statements of fact and straightforward arguments. They're accessible and useful to both the slow and the wise. They acknowledge that the human mind is more than a calculator by treating emotions as well as intelligence, intution as well as logic. They're adaptable, inviting teachers to localize them.
I've never known a philosopher who avoided analogies entirely. Human beings have many good ways of seeking and sharing truth.
May '10
Re: Is Jesus Funny?
Unquestionably, Jesus was funny, and had a well-developed sense of humor- why? Because we made are in His image. If we laugh, clearly He did. If we tell jokes? Same answer. The fact that He concentrated on serious topics in the guidebook makes sense; His job here was teaching, not gag-writing (sorry, Rob).
My favorite Biblical humor is in the prophets such as Isaiah and Exekiel when they mock the pagans for worshiping objects that they carved themselves out of wood. In one translation, the text actually reads "Wine, women, and song have robbed my people of their brains!" Fits today just as well as it did 2500 years ago, whether senators gone astray or any other mortals.
May '10
Re: Is Jesus Funny?
Ditto what Lilium wrote. Here's another one (sorry, you've just hit on one of my favorite topics): Esther 6:1-11. The self-absorbed Persian king had another bout of insomnia and had some histories read to him. During the reading, he realized that he'd never rewarded Mordecai (a Jew) for saving his life. Appearing stage left is Haman (who violently loathes Mordecai and Jews for that matter; conspired to have all Jews murdered). When the king asks Haman how a man should be honored, Haman thinks the king is referring to Haman. So, when the king tells Haman to do everything Haman had suggested for Mordecai, including proclaim Mordecai's greatness to the city, the scenario is rich with irony and humor.
May '10
Re: Is Jesus Funny?
Let me know when I've changed your mind about the Bible having humor, James. 'Cause I'm on a roll!
May '10
Re: Is Jesus Funny?
Thanks Felicia...
Here's another from me... my last... It's too good to pass up.
When Elijah confront the prophets of Baal at Mt Carmel and taunts them about their ineffectual god, he says:
“Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.”
(1 Kings 18:27 ESV)
May '10
Re: Is Jesus Funny?
I don't doubt Jesus had a sense of humor, but attempts to depict it can go terribly awry, like that portrait of Jesus laughing that was popular about 20-30 years ago. That drawing always looks to me like like Jesus is saying, "I just saw St. Peter fall on his butt!"