Did Jesus have a sense of humor?

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The other day I was thinking of what it was like being around Jesus. I pictured me following him and listening to his teachings.

I read in the Bible at times when Jesus wept, but never heard that Jesus laughed. Jesus was human and with that said, there must of been times when he joked around.

Didnt the Apostles and his Disciples kid around with him or told jokes?

Is there anything in the Bible that reflects his sense of humor?
 
Its all implied in the context.

He hung around with children - you cant do that for any length of time without them saying or doing something that makes you laugh. And he loved them especially, probably because of this among other things.

Certainly neither children nor adults ever want to hang around a gloomy gus. If all he did was preach doom and gloom he’d certainly have few if any followers.

One episode strikes me as illustrating His sense of humour. His best friends, Lazarus, Martha and Mary, were by all accounts quite wealthy. Yet in the parable of the rich man who ends up in Hell, its the poor beggar who even the dogs ran away from who was named Lazarus.

I can see him telling this story to them and having a bit of a chuckle at the idea of Lazarus as a poor beggar.

And even if he’s never shown laughing he certainly knew how to be happy. Wasn’t he at the Wedding of Cana and happy to provide wine to keep the festivities going? Wasn’t he accused of being a drunkard and glutton and didn’t he say that while the bridegroom (himself) was on earth it was time for feasting and rejoicing rather than fasting?
 
He was like us in all things but sin. (Hebrews 2:17; 4:15).

Of course he had a sense of humor.

Anyway, Jesus’ mention of the Pharisees’ straining the gnat yet swallowing the camel is actually quite funny. If I were an Aramaic-speaking Jew listening, I would have laughed at the imagery.
 
Those are some good points, but still, it would have been nice to read in the Bible that Jesus laughed.

For some reason, Jesus has been on my mind for the last few days. I get a real peaceful feeling knowing he is there.

I layed in bed this morning thinking of walking with him and his sense of humor crossed my mind.
 
It does say somewhere in the Sacred Scripture that God laughs. I think it goes something like…God laughs when men say He is dead. I think it’s in the Old Testament. Sorry for not being more specific but there are alot of academic minds on these forums who will be able to give you the chapter and verse. I just remember reading it.

Aside from that alot of Jesus’ parables are funny and very witty.

In the Living Prayer of my life
 
You know how you chuckle when you see a young child do something silly or say something outrageous even though they do not realize it is silly or outrageous.

I think that is how we look to God much of the time. I think we are like children to Him.

I don’t think Jesus would be amused by our current trend of very coarse and base humor. I think the Jesus, Moses, and God golfing jokes and the “church bulletin bloopers” probably tickle His divine funny bone.

We are created in His image and likeness. Whatever we are is an imperfect reflection of Him. He, therefore, has the perfect sense of humor.
 
dranzal said:
We are created in His image and likeness. Whatever we are is an imperfect reflection of Him. He, therefore, has the perfect sense of humor.
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You’re right.

I think it was ArchBishop Fulton Sheen who gave a talk on God’s sense of humour.

In the Living Prayer of my life
 
He did have a sense of humor;otherwise, He would never add a nice smile on all of our faces.
 
outfctrl said:
The other day I was thinking of what it was like being around Jesus. I pictured me following him and listening to his teachings.

I read in the Bible at times when Jesus wept, but never heard that Jesus laughed. Jesus was human and with that said, there must of been times when he joked around.

Didnt the Apostles and his Disciples kid around with him or told jokes?

Is there anything in the Bible that reflects his sense of humor?
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I believe wholeheartedly that Jesus has a sense of humor and I also believe that he gives it to some of us as a gift to get us through hard times. I have no biblical backing for my belief, only experiance. There have been things that have happened to me after praying that I felt Jesus must have a sense of humor adn I tell you he is pretty funny.

For instance. My brother at the age of 27 died unexpectedly last year. I went into a great depression and I was very angry with God. I could hardly function for those first couple weeks and as a result didn’t clean my house. It was horribly dirty. Really dirty.

Sometime in the second week I finally started to forgive God for taking my brother away. I couldn’t get out of bed. I laid and cried and prayed for Jesus to help me through this. I didn’t know how I could go on. Then I heard a voice as clear as day say “Windex.” I started to laugh and cry at the same time. I got out of bed and started to clean the house.

I still laugh about this. Maybe I imagined it maybe I didn’t. Maybe it wasn’t Jesus. Who knows. But of all I can tell you is that I found it hilarious that of all the comforting words I could be given I got “Windex.”

I am convinced he has a sense of humor. 🙂
 
I think that humor depends very much on context, and that context doesn’t necessarily come through to us. Have you ever tried to tell someone about something funny that happened and in your repetition it just doesn’t come across that way…and you end up saying “well I guess you had to be there.”

Jesus spent time with his disciples, he dined with various people, he attracted people to him. I don’t think all these people would have been attracted to someone who didn’t smile or didn’t laugh or didn’t tell a joke. I definitely think Jesus had a sense of humor.
 
After reading all your replies, it does look as if Our Lord did laugh and be merry.
Just curious though, of all his followers and people that met him, is there any other writings about him besides the Bible?

Considering all the people he met in his brief life, there must be some who documented it or wrote to friends about him.
 
Check out this series of three videos by Fr. James Martin, who is a Jesuit. He mostly talks about saints but does refer to Jesus sometimes.

youtube.com/results?search_query=laughing+with+the+saints&search=Search

There are also several books available on the humor of Jesus. I know I read one years ago and loved it but don’t remember the title–something simple like “The Humor of Christ”–but I forget which one!!

God Bless!
 
philialeaf said:
Check out this series of three videos by Fr. James Martin, who is a Jesuit. He mostly talks about saints but does refer to Jesus sometimes.

youtube.com/results?search_query=laughing+with+the+saints&search=Search

There are also several books available on the humor of Jesus. I know I read one years ago and loved it but don’t remember the title–something simple like “The Humor of Christ”–but I forget which one!!

God Bless!
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You know, the more I think about it I think that they probably didn’t call out that Jesus laughed in the bible on purpose because they want people to take his message very seriously. If he were one inclined to humor there would be people questioning his seriousness in very important situations. Just as another poster said that context is hard to convey. Because of that it probably wasn’t a good idea to put that in the bible.
 
“Angels can fly because they take everything so lightly.” Was it Chesterson that said this? I think the Lord has a sense of humor that is full of wisdom as well. I think he would like to use puns.🙂 At times, if I didn’t laugh, I would cry and there isn’t a day that goes by I don’t use humor. Tim
 
Always remember we are Catholics.

We drink, we dance, he play music, we have wild (well not by most Secular Standards. But most definitely by Puritan and most Protestant standards) parties.

All this gloom, doom, it’s the end of the World is for the others. We have hope and we enjoy the good things God has given us and give him thanks for it.
 
Sense of humor? I think so. Just look at that group of men he picked. People must have been saying, oh how can anyone take him seriously, is he kidding?
Peter? Come on!
Who got the last laugh there?
 
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