(The Nationalist, 13 January 2006)
A Jewish acquaintance of mine once told me he could tell from the Gospel that Jesus was a Jew, just by his sense of humour. Every people has its own humour, and this is true of Jews also. Sometimes there’s an edge to it, like, ‘If you’re looking for a helping hand, there’s one at the end of your arm’. (This came from my acquaintance.)
In the Gospel, Jesus sometimes played with words, and sometimes with people:
- He invited fishermen to be fishers of men.
- He spoke of:
- generous givers hiring trumpeters to advertise their charity;
- people picking from another person’s eye the speck of sawdust they can see through the plank in their own;
- guests of honour deliberately sitting far from the top table in order to attract attention to themselves when moved up;
- people filtering out a gnat, while swallowing a camel;
- people putting a lamp under a bed instead of on a table;
- oppressive rulers demanding to be called benefactors.
Jesus asked whether grapes grow on a cactus or figs on a thistle; he mocked useless teachers, calling them “blind guides”; he asked his hearers what they went out into the desert to see – a reed shaking in the wind, or a man wearing fine clothes. Two of his followers, tied to their mother’s apron strings, who then got exaggerated notions about themselves, he nicknamed “sons of thunder”. He enjoyed the lively repartee of the Canaanite woman.
Jesus’ humour sometimes had an edge to it. Much, of course, depends on the tone with which something is said. Spoken with gentle firmness, it can be a wake-up call, an eye-opener. Humour dissolves tension, and helps free us of stubbornness and self-importance. It helps us to laugh at ourselves, and to accept a difficult truth. A sign of a strong faith is when we can laugh about it; if we have to be poker-faced about it, that betrays a nervous uncertainty. We learn about and appreciate more readily what we can laugh at. Jesus knew that, and used it to teach.
For those in a hurry: ‘Nothing but love be my guide’. (St. John of the Cross)