Did Jesus have a sense of humor?

[JackRT]

(2) More obvious is Jesus' constant use of Semitic hyperbole, especially in His parables. Jesus just loves to use hyperbole as a shock tactic to wake His audience up and make them think.

Matthew 5:40 ---“If someone sues you for your coat, give up your shirt as well.”

In Jewish law if you fail to repay a debt you may be taken to court and if you are still unable to repay, the lender is entitled to take your coat. The lender holds the coat during the day but he is obliged to return it at night because the coat or cloak doubled as a blanket at night. In a two-garment society this would be highly embarrassing to the debtor. However it would be even more embarrassing to the court and the lender if the debtor were to turn over both garments and stand there naked. Remember this was a society with a strong taboo against public nakedness. Using this somewhat risqué humour Jesus is once again counseling covert defiance and taking the part of the poor against the rich. I'll bet his audience laughed out loud. Humour is a great aid to the memory.

 

[Francis Drake]

The Lord certainly laughs at man's arrogant attempts to thwart Him.

Psalm59v8 But You, O LORD, laugh at them; You scoff at all the nations.

Psalm2v4 He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them.

Prov1v26 I will also laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your dread comes,

Psalm37v13 The Lord laughs at him, For He sees his day is coming.

 

[Francis Drake]

That of an 8-year-old boy? Sorry, just teasing a bit. It's a running joke in our family. Seems the men of any age still find flatulence jokes amusing, so the women tend to consider it something held over from their boyhood they never seem to grow out of.

That's me, 67 going on 8.

My wife tells me that my age is the same as my shoe size. At least it makes God laugh.

 

[JackRT]

That's me, 67 going on 8.

My wife tells me that my age is the same as my shoe size. At least it makes God laugh.

My wife tells me that I am rapidly approaching that time of life when my age and IQ will pass each other going in opposite directions.

 

[Catherineanne]

Matthew 5:40 ---“If someone sues you for your coat, give up your shirt as well.”

In Jewish law if you fail to repay a debt you may be taken to court and if you are still unable to repay, the lender is entitled to take your coat. The lender holds the coat during the day but he is obliged to return it at night because the coat or cloak doubled as a blanket at night. In a two-garment society this would be highly embarrassing to the debtor. However it would be even more embarrassing to the court and the lender if the debtor were to turn over both garments and stand there naked. Remember this was a society with a strong taboo against public nakedness. Using this somewhat risqué humour Jesus is once again counseling covert defiance and taking the part of the poor against the rich. I'll bet his audience laughed out loud. Humour is a great aid to the memory.

Do you have a source for this anecdote? It sounds unlikely in the extreme.

I am certainly no expert in Jewish law but have never come across this particular suggestion. It sounds like a Christian pious fiction.

 

[JackRT]

Do you have a source for this anecdote? It sounds unlikely in the extreme.

I am certainly no expert in Jewish law but have never come across this particular suggestion. It sounds like a Christian pious fiction.

I'd like to oblige but I no longer remember the source.

 

[Jeans&dresses]

Aw, man. It definitely sounds like you're a broken dude. If you're not saved...or even if you are, but are still stuck in brokenness and depression, then yeah you'll be pretty empty in the ol joy tank. Sense of humour is often one of the first things to go. I'm there myself now. I just want to say that there's a difference between being unworthy, and being worthless. You're unworthy to be saved, but you're of infinite worth to him. Maybe you spent so much time with satan, that you still see yourself and your life the way he does, instead of the way God does. You are not a lost cause. You do not need to clean yourself up in order to come to Jesus. He doesn't save good men, he saves vile disgusting pieces of garbage, like me, thank the Lord.

 

[Dave-W]

He wasn't saying it like that to be humorous Strathos. He was being ambiguous. There is a difference between ambiguity and a pun.
PUN: noun - "a joke exploiting the different possible meanings of a word or the fact that there are words that sound alike but have different meanings."
verb - "make a joke exploiting the different possible meanings of a word."

AMBIGUITY: noun - "the quality of being open to more than one interpretation; inexactness."

Hebrew andAramaic both use puns as a normal part of conversation. And yes, it is intended to be humorous even in dire circumstance.

A good example is from the early 2nd century bc, in ite events leading up to the Maccabean revolt. The Greek governor Antiochas decided to add "Epiphanies" to his name; meaning "revelation of God," but the Jews pronounced it "epimines," the madman.

 

[BoLeVi]

I don't think Jesus have sense of humor. But we all have.

 

[Dave-W]

Aw

Hey J&D, please post a thread on the Introduction folder so we can properly welcome you to the forums without doing so in someone else's threads.

 

[Dave-W]

I don't think Jesus have sense of humor. But we all have.

Of course He had a sense of humor. He invented it.

 

[GTW27]

Yes, The Lord has a sense of humor. It is always pure and Holy. When I have been down, He uses His humor to to bring me up. And yes, He makes me laugh. And btw there is one on this thread that needs our prayers and encouragement. I pray that this does not go unnoticed.

 

[Jeans&dresses]

Hey J&D, please post a thread on the Introduction folder so we can properly welcome you to the forums without doing so in someone else's threads.

Thank you for the invitation but my comment wasn't a personal introduction, it was a reply to one of the comments on this thread, relating to the commenter's view on the original topic and why he was taking the stance he was.

 

[Dave-W]

Thank you for the invitation but my comment wasn't a personal introduction, it was a reply to one of the comments on this thread, relating to the commenter's view on the original topic and why he was taking the stance he was.

Yes, I recognized that.
My suggestion for an Introduction thread was of a more general forum etiquette nature. We would like to get to know you a bit.

 

[Long Island Pilgrim]

If Jesus doesn't like funny things why did He make so many things funny?
tulc(is just sayn' part deux)

That's a funny remark because it's so true. You can absolutely see that God has an enormous sense of humor by observing the world we live in. Pets alone are quite funny.

 

[frater_domus]

To be fair, humour is a difficult topic. I have heard a commedian say that humour is based on tragedy and misery. I think there is truth to it. I mean, a lot of humour is based on misunderstanding, schadensfreude (e.g. slapstick), vulgarity, about something being abnormal or a taboo topic. Note that none of those are in agreement with Christ-like living. The same commedian also noted that humour is a coping mechanism, to help us deal with unpleasantries. There is where the phrase "too soon" comes from, when used as an answer to a joke about a touchy matter.
Looking at it from an eternal perspective, none or close to none of the topics on which humour is based will be present in heaven. This should tell us that some humour may not be as great of a thing to begin with.

So no, I do not think Jesus was joking a whole lot. Remember, Jesus is, in essence, God, thus knowing full well what is going on and how dire things are. I really doubt Jesus had any reason to laugh, being the only one seeing how rotten and drowned in sin the world is. I once heard an analogy of God coming to us as Jesus is like a parent running outside to save his kid from a bully. Would the parent be laughing and cracking jokes? I do not think so.

Besides, is laughing about a joke really all that great? We associate laughter with joy, but laughter itself is no indication of actual joy. When I think of it, laughing because I feel happy or seen something wonderful feels great and fulfilling. Laughing about a joke, less so. Think about it. Seeing puppies play, we often laugh. Why? We enjoy watching them, we think they are cute and we feel happy. That is not the same as laughing about a joke or a snarky comment.

Also, when it says God laughs about our attempts to thwart him, it is not the same as joking. It is merely an expression of seeing how futile something is, which is different.

To sum it up, I see humour as a good coping mechanism when bad things happen, but I do not think that telling jokes accomplishes all that much, neither do I think Jesus would be the type for making jokes for exactly those reasons. Laughter is meant to be an expression of joy and happiness, not because we making fun of something, especially if it should be lamented.

 

[~Anastasia~]

Hello, and welcome to CF!

I still think Jesus has a sense of humor, but I can see by your post it definitely depends on how you define humor. The kind of humor presented by most stand-up comedians, not so much. I can't even bear to watch most of them myself.

God be with you, and again, welcome!

To be fair, humour is a difficult. I have heard a commedian say that humour is based on tragedy and misery. I think there is truth to it. I mean, a lot of humour is based on misunderstanding, schadensfreude (e.g. slapstick), vulgarity, about something being abnormal or a taboo topic. Note that none of those are in agreement with Christ-like living. The same commedian also noted that humour is a coping mechanism, to help us deal with unpleasantries. There is where the phrase "too soon" comes from, when used as an answer to a joke about a touchy matter.
Looking at it from an eternal perspective, none or close to none of the topics on which humour is based will be present in heaven. This should tell us that some humour may not be as great of a thing to begin with.

So no, I do not think Jesus was joking a whole lot. Remember, Jesus is, in essence, God, thus knowing full well what is going on and how dire things are. I really doubt Jesus had any reason to laugh, being the only one seeing how rotten and drowned in sin the world is. I once heard an analogy of God coming to us as Jesus is like a parent running outside to save his kid from a bully. Would the parent be laughing and cracking jokes? I do not think so.

Besides, is laughing about a joke really all that great? We associate laughter with joy, but laughter itself is no indication of actual joy. When I think of it, laughing because I feel happy or seen something wonderful feels great and fulfilling. Laughing about a joke, less so. Think about it. Seeing puppies play, we often laugh. Why? We enjoy watching them, we think they are cute and we feel happy. That is not the same as laughing about a joke or a snarky comment.

Also, when it says God laughs about our attempts to thwart him, it is not the same as joking. It is merely an expression of seeing how futile something is, which is different.

To sum it up, I see humour as a good coping mechanism when bad things happen, but I do not think that telling jokes accomplishes all that much, neither do I think Jesus would be the type for making jokes for exactly those reasons. Laughter is meant to be an expression of joy and happiness, not because we making fun of something, especially if it should be lamented.

 

[Jeans&dresses]

Yes, I recognized that.
My suggestion for an Introduction thread was of a more general forum etiquette nature. We would like to get to know you a bit.

Ah right okay, thank you

 

[lee11]

Hi

Of course God and Jesus have a sense of humour

Look at the tradition of marriage and the 3 rings

· The engagement ring
· The wedding ring and
· The suffering

Peace

 

[JackRT]

Hi

Of course God and Jesus have a sense of humour

Look at the tradition of marriage and the 3 rings

· The engagement ring
· The wedding ring and
· The suffering

Peace

Ah yes! The sacrament of Holy Acrimony.