A reflection on joy and humor in the Savior's life · 9:13pm May 14th, 2019

In art, the Lord Jesus is often portrayed as somber and serious. There are reasons for this; His message was, is, and always will be, most important. However, that portrayal, by artists and by - often, but not always, well-meaning - authorities, religious and otherwise, can leave us with a false picture of just who the Lord really is.

It's true that the Bible never explicitly says, "Here Jesus laughed," or even (as much as I have read), "Here Jesus smiled." There are, however, verses in the New Testament that point toward Jesus having lighthearted, even joyful, moments in His life.

The first miracle Jesus is reported as having done - if one does not count his repeated rebuffs of Satan in the wilderness in Matthew 4 and Luke 4 as miracles - is the wedding at Cana, where He turned water into wine after the wine supply for the party ran out. Weddings were (and still generally are) joyful events. The apostle John focuses on the ministry of Jesus (specifically His private ministry), so we don't get a direct fix on Jesus' emotions from reading the text, but it would be rather odd for the Master of the Universe to join a party and not at least smile and enjoy the festivities.

Another proof that Jesus did know joy during His life on Earth is that he was actually accused of being too joyful; as Jesus says in Luke 7:34, "The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, 'Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!"

After seventy-two of His disciples return from the mission He had sent them on (Luke 10:17), Jesus greets them jovially (10:18-19), and after a warning (v.20), says a prayer full of rejoicing (v.21-22).

Jesus also willingly blessed children, even when His disciples tried to stop people from bringing them to Him(Mark 10:13-16). Children, at that time in history (and sadly in many households today) were seen as annoying and distracting, and sometimes even as a burden until they had reached a level of maturity. Jesus rebuked His disciples and welcomed and blessed the children. This seems like a joyful as well as good and godly scene.

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Now, to be honest, Jesus' life did have a considerable amount of misery. He was largely and consistently rejected by Israelites, God's chosen people, and was killed in an insidious plan by the religious leaders, in the most excruciating death anyone could face at the time. The book of Isaiah, written centuries before Christ appeared, detailed perfectly the suffering He would go through (Isaiah 53:1-12). He was rejected in His hometown, where people attempted to kill him by throwing Him off a cliff (Luke 4:29). However, as fully God and fully human, Jesus had access to joy as well as sorrow.

Why is this important? If we see Jesus as entirely somber and glum and likewise, we view Him as a less-than-joyful Savior who cannot sympathize with us, which is the opposite of what Scripture says, such as in Hebrews 4:15; "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet he did not sin." This verse states that Jesus lived the full human experience, only without doing anything wrong and sinful. This implies that Jesus went through joy as well as sorrow and seriousness.

Not all "humor" is good, of course. In a world stained by sin, it could hardly be otherwise. Crass, rude, raunchy, and crude humor isn't good, nor is that designed to tear down or insult another person. Yet there are good things to be found, in this wonderful world, this universe, that God made.

After all, the God who made the world also made joy and laughter. Even though this world suffers from the curse of sin, there is still godly joy to be found in it. Or does the platypus fail to amuse?

May the Lord Jesus go with and keep you all.

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