Bit of trivia

[knoller_49]

Actually my question may sound silly but it’s something that I used to think about often when I was younger. Is there any place in scripture where Jesus actually laughed or showed humor?

 

[Bonvivant]

knoller,

When I first read Acts 2 - 12 thru 15, that struck me as humorous.

Bill

 

[Bonvivant]

knoller,

I remembered another one. Genesis 17, 15 thru 17, where Abraham laughed when God told him that he and Sarah would have children, even at their advanced ages.

Although I will have to say I thought that it was Sarah who laughed at God when whe heard what his plans were but my New American Bible has it that Abraham laughed.

Bill

 

[DaveBj]

Bonvivant:

knoller,

I remembered another one. Genesis 17, 15 thru 17, where Abraham laughed when God told him that he and Sarah would have children, even at their advanced ages.

What’s interesting about that passage is that if you look in the Hebrew, the word for “[he] laughed” in v. 17 and the word for “Isaac” are identical–“Yitshaq.” We have seen that name in the modern era, belonging to a former Israeli Prime Minister–Yitshaq Rabin.

DaveBj

 

[Poisson]

I always thought Matt 19 was funny when some Pharisees (who spend their lives studying scripture) asked Jesus about divorce. Jesus says to them “Have you not read that at the beginning the Creator made them male and female”
Almost sounds like he’s being sarcastic.

 

[Dr.Colossus]

I’ve always imagined that Christ’s use of hyperbole would often elicit laughter from a crowd, specifically here:

:bible1: “Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye?” Matthew 7:3

The passage is actually pretty funny when you think about it, almost cartoonish.

 

[ncgolf]

I really don’t know in Scripture where Christ laughs out loud but since He had a human nature I am sure some of the things the apostles did elicited laughter from the whole group and Christ would have laughed too. I imagine during some of their long walks some humorous things would have occured but were never recorded.

 

[tee_eff_em]

I’ve always thought Our Lord must have been stifling a smile on the road to Emmaus.

They: “Are you the only one who does not know the things that have been going on these days!?”

He: “What things?”

…always make me smile

 

[tee_eff_em]

And another one: The Son of Man may have no where to lay his head, but he sure knows where to get a free meal…

“Zacchaeus! Come out of that tree, I’m having dinner at your house!”

“Psst, hey buddy. Me and twelve of my friends have need to celebrate the Passover at your house”

Sometimes, you have to look to other languages: In Luke 7 a pharisee invites Jesus to dinner. In English. In the Vulgate (Latin), it reads more like the pharisee asks if he can go to dinner with Jesus, at which point Our Lord enters the pharisee’s house and takes a seat.

Or John 21 (“Simon, son of John, do you love me?”), you have to go to the Greek to get the joke.

 

[Fidelis]

My favorite is in the story of the woman accused of adultery (John 8:1ff). After all the would-be executioners slink off, Jesus asks the woman (with what I always imagine to be an amused smile on his face): “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, sir.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you: go, and do not sin again.”

 

[J_Chrysostomos]

When Peter asks Jesus about one of His parables, one translation reads “are you still so dull?” (Mt. 15.16)

One movie that is really good at showing Jesus in a humorous light is the “Gospel of Matthew” put out by the visual Bible folks. It isn’t my favorite movie about our Lord, but it is decent and straight from the Scriptures. The aforementioned “log and splinter” parable is done in a funny way, with Jesus holding a beam by his head and asking the question in a funny way.

Here’s a quoteshamelessly borrowed from gospelcom.net/guide/resources/humor.php

“Jesus was always had snappy oneliners ready for the occasion, such as, ‘Let the dead bury their dead,’ and ‘The poor you always have with you.’ It’s how you tell them! Try these prefaced with a heavy shrug and ‘Oy Vay’.” [Adrian Williams]

Paul, on the other hand, was well-known for his biting sarcasm. I’m going to put up some especially notable quotes from II Corinthians 11, where his sarcasm has is greatest effect…

*1.I hope you will put up with a little of my foolishness; but you are already doing that…

1. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough. 5. But I do not think I am in the least inferior to those “super-apostles.”
2. You gladly put up with fools since you are so wise! 20. In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or pushes himself forward or slaps you in the face. 21. To my shame I admit that we were too weak for that!
3. What anyone else dares to boast about–I am speaking as a fool–I also dare to boast about. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham’s descendants? So am I. 23. Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again.*" Paul then goes on to give a laundry list of all the stuff he had to go through for the gospel and basically says “Now try and top that!”

 

[jco2004]

J_Chrysostomos:

Paul, on the other hand, was well-known for his biting sarcasm. I’m going to put up some especially notable quotes from II Corinthians 11,

St. Paul could be downright nasty. I can’t find the passage right now, but there’s one place where, in arguing against requiring circumcision for new converts, he says that those who were so keen on circumcision should go all the way and castrate themselves. That’s as biting as it gets.

 

[Br.Dan_OCD]

There are two occasions which I can think of in the Psalms in which God is said to “laugh.” It’s not a “ha ha” type of laugh but a laugh of derision and scorn…

 

[bill_t]

I do not remember where I read this. Jesus would leave His followers to pray. Actually, He did not want to hurt their feelings by laughing at them.

 

[J_Chrysostomos]

[St. Paul could be downright nasty. I can’t find the passage right now, but there’s one place where, in arguing against requiring circumcision for new converts, he says that those who were so keen on circumcision should go all the way and castrate themselves. That’s as biting as it gets.

Even further than mere castration…

Galatians 5:11-12
Brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished. As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!

(Literally, the Greek says “cut themselves off”, a nice euphemism)
[/quote]

 

[kellie]

Have any of you ever known 13 guys to get together and not have a laugh or two?

I am sure there were many times when Jesus was telling His stories and had a chuckle.

I just seem to think that writing that it happened wasnt as important to the Gospel writers.

After all, they had a very important message to get down on paper, and adding in all the times that Jesus laughed may have used all their ink.

My favourite movie is Godspell, as it shows Jesus laughing with the disciples, especially as mentioned in a few of these replies, when He tells the story of the plank of wood.

Victor Garber plays the role of Jesus in that movie, and has a beautiful smile, just as I imagine Jesus’ would of been.

Love Kellie