BLOG 10/2/16. WIT, HUMOR, LAUGHTER … AND GOD?
Some years ago, dear friends gave me a framed picture of “The Laughing Jesus” which hangs now over my desk and I have to look at it daily. I love it because it raises for me an interesting question of: how we image God? The classical definitions of God as “infinite, eternal, and unchangeable” etc. tend to provoke an image of an awesome foreboding out-of-reach deity, who though he may be good is hardly to be connected with anyone humorous, or witty. Holiness is a word that is near impossible to define.
And yet … the scriptures are replete with references to things such as worshiping the Lord with mirth and gladness, or of God blessing his people with joy and gladness, and upon whose heads he will bestow gladness and joy, or whose ultimate blessing will be to fill their mouths with laughter. How to reconcile such seemingly contradictory images of God?
In my own private written prayer notes I have one submission that I know will never make it within the company of formal, orthodox theologians, … but which helps me. It is my posting of a prayer note about: God as Fun. God as fun? Yes. I do it with the same sense of a kid who speaks of a much loved adult figure, whom he / she trusts, and feels completely safe, and with whom he / she looks forward to spending time, and in whom they delight in that adult’s company. That adult is one who is both challenging, introducing them to new experiences, but also who has a robust sense of humor—may even be a tease, but whose company is always an enriching experience. Those children refer to such an adult as a fun person. That person is not one that they take lightly or upon whose good will they take liberties. At the same time, they know that the adult loves them and is patient with their immaturity. That adult is described as fun.
In my own experience I spent a special year of study to work especially under a renowned, brilliant, controversial philosophical theologian in the field of apologetics (the defense of the faith). His reputation could have made him and his classes intimidating … except that Dr. Van Til had a mischievous sense of humor that was so marvelous that it defused any fear of his classes. I looked forward to them eagerly. He could provoke you into arguments, trap you in your own contradictions, throw a piece of chalk at you while with his impish sense of humor he untangled you and walked you into a whole new liberty of thought. He was dialogical, and he was ultimately evangelistic, … but his classes were a delight because of the combination of awesome substance and the freeing sense of humor. That points me into some appreciation that the holy God is, on one hand: God, but is not a God devoid of a sense of the place of the need joy and humor and laughter in the human (my) experience.
With such a perspective one can read scriptures with new eyes. Think of the outrageous humor of God messengers going to Abraham when he was a hundred years old and his wife was ninety years old, and promising that he would have a son? Get real. Abraham would have long since ceased to be sexually active and by that time had all the evidences of sexual dysfunction we hear of so often today. And his wife would have been a half century beyond menopause – and they were going to have a kid? No wonder they named him Isaac, which means laughter. And what kind of twinkle would have been in the eye of God. It doesn’t take a lot of imagination. Yet in all of the records of scripture, feeding in God’s humor gives them a lot more humanity.
Ultimately, the very advent of Jesus brought infinite joy into the world. The God laughter entered the very rebellious dominion of darkness with a promise of joy—mirth and gladness.
“When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion … then our mouth was filled with laughter.”
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