Holy Humor Sunday

Jesus was walking through heaven one day, a little bored, when he passes the Pearly Gates and sees St. Peter talking with an elderly gentleman and decides to go over and hear the man’s tale. “Where are you from, old man?” Jesus asks. “Well, I lived my life on the shores of the Mediterranean,” the old man replies.“ Hmmm. I spent some time there myself,” says Jesus. “What did you do for a living?” “Well, I was a poor carpenter,” says the old man. “Wow. So was I,” says Jesus. “And I had a son,” says the old man, “Well, he wasn’t my son really, but a miraculous spirit came into him, and he became famous, and people talk about him all over the world. Jesus is very excited, because he is sure he now knows who this man is, and can’t hold back any longer. “Father!” he cries. The old man falls into Jesus’ outstretched arms. “Pinocchio”

I don’t believe I’m divulging any deep personal secrets, here, when I say that I like to laugh. I find God in our laughter. I think that God wants us to laugh; I think laughter is a divine mandate. Laughing makes us healthier. Meetings are far less painful and more successful the more laughter there is. I think a funeral is more real when there’s just as much laughter as there is crying. Worship is better when there are moments, planned or otherwise, to laugh. There is of course a place for solemnity and respect but then I don’t think that laughter is disrespectful. In fact, if it’s used to lift people up instead of bring them down, laughter has the ability to draw people in, to widen the circle and to help people feel included. There is nothing like laughing with someone to feel closer to them.

So why do we laugh? We laugh because we find something funny, because something catches us off guard, tickles our funny bone, or delights our sense of fun. Here in church, we can laugh because we know that God is good. We can laugh because of the wonder of all that God does. Hershey Friedman in his paper: Humor in the Hebrew Bible says: “The Hebrew Bible employs many sorts of humor, but its purpose is not to entertain. The major goal of the Hebrew Bible Is to teach humanity how to live the ideal life. Much of the humor found in the Hebrew Bible has a purpose: To demonstrate that evil is wrong and even ludicrous, at times. The punishments meted out to wrongdoers are often designed to mock them and to hoist them by their own petards.”

Biblical humor is the humor of those who know how to love. It is not nasty or cruel. It helps us focus on the absurdity of some of our human traits: things like our pride, our silly habits, our strange ways of thinking.

When we laugh at these foibles of ours, they’re transformed, and so are we.

A guy took his wife and mother-in-law on a vacation to Israel. While they were there, his mother-in-law died suddenly. The following day, the husband met with the local undertaker to discuss funeral plans. “In cases like these, there are a couple of options to choose from,” the undertaker explained. “You can ship the body home for $10,000, or you can bury her in the Holy Land for just $150.” The guy thought for a minute, and then said to the undertaker, “Well, might as well pack her up and ship her home.” The undertaker, “Well, OK. But $10,000 is a lot of money. Why don’t you just bury her here for $150 and be done with it?” The guy says, “2,000 years ago, a man died and was buried here. Three days later he rose from the dead. That’s a chance that I’m not willing to take.”

It’s pretty clear in today’s story from John that the expected Easter feeling is missing. The wonder and awe that Mary experienced in the garden has faded as time has gone by. We find the disciples in a locked room, away from the crowds, afraid for their lives. There is not a lot of humor here. I imagine that they’re all feeling pretty subdued and quiet, because they’re still in deep grief. The disciples are locked away in fear. They’re afraid that they too may be branded as treasonous and sent to a cross. They don’t know what to do next because it was always Jesus who set their agenda. What do you do when the one who gave your group meaning and cohesion isn’t around anymore?

And here’s the part that is another Easter moment – amid the fear, the trepidation, the confusion, and grief and loneliness, Jesus shows up! Even though the door is locked, even when no one is expecting him, Jesus shows up! Peace says Jesus. And he shows his scars. “Peace be with you”, he says again. “Now go and share the Good News”. Go and live the gospel, and then he breathes on them…

Breath – life – ruach – the Hebrew word for spirit and wind and breath. The source of laughter! Jesus breathes on the disciples. Jesus enlivens them and releases them from their fear, their grief and their lack of purpose. In this moment the disciples are gifted with Easter – these disciples have had the resurrection blown into them. Can you imagine the deep, deep joy that they feel in that moment of resurrection as they witness God’s biggest joke of all – the joke played on death. Can you imagine the laughter that must have ensued.

But, of course, Thomas isn’t there. So, he hasn’t witnessed these events and as much as the other disciples try to convince him of Jesus being in their midst, he refuses to believe. But we’re really not much better. As much as we may want to believe someone else’s story, unless we experience it ourselves it has no meaning, the stories of others just don’t do it for us. We want to be special! We want our own moment. We want to have Jesus come to us.

So, here comes Jesus again, not more than a week later. Jesus shows up again extra-special, just for Thomas. And Thomas is able to touch the wounds and feel the presence and be transformed – and share in the laughter and feel the joy and be Easter transformed like the rest of the disciples. God laughs at death once again – and the world changes for Thomas too!

One Easter morning, a woman was on her way to church when her car broke down. She didn’t want to be late on such a big day, so she ordered an Uber. The car arrived, and she hopped in the back, and they went on their way.

About halfway through the ride, just wanting to make some small talk, she asked the driver if he’d grown up in the area. But the driver didn’t respond. He had the radio on, and it was a little loud, so she thought maybe he didn’t hear her. So, she leaned forward and tapped the driver on his shoulder.

The driver screams and hits the gas, he swerves into the other lane, almost hits another car, and then finally slams on the brakes, and skids over to the shoulder and lurches to a stop.

They both sit there, looking at each other in the rearview mirror, eyes the size of saucers, both breathing hard.  Finally, the woman says, “Wow, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“No, no, it’s alright. You didn’t do anything. It’s just that this is my first day driving an Uber. Before this, I spent 15 years driving a hearse.”

New life began because God played a joke on death. The disciples were released from their fear and frozenness. They were able to leave that room, with its bolted door, and begin to live into their new life. They were empowered to begin to live as new people, sharing the good News of God in their own way, as a direct result of their own encounters with the Divine and their life with Jesus. This was Jesus’ gift to them.

I’m sure you’ve heard the adage that laughter is the best medicine. Well, it’s true. There’s even laugher therapy. It’s been documented that when we laugh, we release the body’s natural healing neurotransmitters called endorphins. Singers get that kind of release when they sing. It’s what causes the so-called “Runners High” experienced by athletes. You get endorphins from hugs, from chocolate, from listening to music, from getting a massage, and from laughing.

The ship was sinking fast. The captain called out, “Anyone here know how to pray?” One man stepped forward; “I do, Captain.” “Good,” said the captain. “You pray. The rest of us will put on life preservers; we’re one short.”

Pastor Anke was in Baltimore last week and ended up having to park her car in a no-parking zone because she was short on time and couldn’t find a space with a meter. So, she put a note under the windshield wiper that read: “I have circled the block 10 times. If I don’t park here, I’ll miss my appointment. Forgive us our trespasses.” When she got back, she found a citation from a police officer along with another note: “I’ve circled this block for 10 years. If I don’t give you a ticket, I’ll lose my job. Lead us not into temptation.”

A devout old shepherd lost his favorite Bible while he was out looking for a wayward lamb. Three weeks later, a sheep walked up to him carrying the Bible in its mouth. The shepherd couldn’t believe his eyes. He took the precious book out of the sheep’s mouth, raised his eyes heavenward and exclaimed, “It’s a miracle!”

“Not really,” said the sheep. “You wrote your name in it.”

Words of wisdom: “There’s a fine line between a long, drawn-out sermon and a hostage situation.”

The church personnel committee met to discuss the pastor’s compensation package for the coming year. After the meeting the chair of the committee told the pastor: “Look, we’re very sorry, but we decided that we can’t give you a raise next year.” “But you must give me a raise,” said the pastor. “I am just a poor preacher!” “Oh, we know,” said the committee chair. “We hear you every Sunday.”

God is talking to one of his angels and says, “Guess what I just did? I just created a 24-hour period of alternating light and darkness on Earth. Isn’t that amazing?” The angel says, “Yes, but what will you do now?” God says, “I think I’ll call it a day.”

Bob looked over his fence and noticed that the neighbor’s little boy was in his backyard filling in a hole. So he asked the boy what he was doing. With tears running down his face, the little boy said, “My goldfish died, and I’ve just buried him.” Bob said, “That’s an awfully large hole for a goldfish, isn’t it?” Patting down the last bit of earth, the little boy said, “That’s because he’s inside your cat!”

Jesus said, “Who do people say that I am?” And his disciples answered and said, “Some say you are John the Baptist returned from the dead; others say Elijah, or one of the prophets. And Jesus answered and said, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered and said, “Thou art the Logos, existing in the Father as His rationality and then, by an act of His will, being generated, in consideration of the various functions by which God is related to his creation, but only on the fact that Scripture speaks of a Father, and a Son, and a Holy Spirit, each member of the Trinity being coequal with every other member, and each acting inseparably with and interpenetrating every other member, with only an economic subordination within God, but causing no division which would make the substance no longer simple.” And Jesus answered and said, “What!?”

Humor releases endorphins. It’s one of the things God grants us as a gift. It is one of the ways that God grants us healing. Reinhold Niebuhr, the great theologian, said that ‘the very essence of sin is taking ourselves too seriously.” If that’s true, the very essence of grace is to receive the gift of laughter, especially when the joke is on us, particularly when the most laughable incongruities consist of the gap between who we are and who God would have us be.”

We human beings are funny, and we often take ourselves too seriously. Let’s face it we need to laugh: laugh at ourselves, laugh at the world, laugh with God because we do some pretty foolish things. So let us thank God for the gift of laughter, and senses of humor and joy and love. Because those are the things that make life worth living.  Let us thank God for life and laughter and hope and humor, and jokes and joy. Let us remember not to take ourselves too seriously.
Amen.