The Humor of Jesus
I recently mentioned to a friend that Jesus cracked some great jokes. here are a couple of examples.
In the middle of the sermon on the Mount, Matt 6:27 " 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?" this is a mistranslation. It actually says, "... which of you by being anxious can add a single CUBIT to his span of life?" So why deliberately mistranslate "cubit"? We torture the word because we FAIL to see the humor that Jesus' audience likely clearly heard. It's a joke just like the carpenter who pulls out his tape measure and says, "How 'long' have we been here?" In our ear it might sound a bit corny but not in the time of Jesus.
Here's another example. In Matt 7:4 Jesus says, "4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and look, the log is in your own eye?" I am betting his audience giggled at this one too, as we often use ridiculous exaggeration for humor still today.
A third example would have been a lot more subtle at the time---until a few days later. In Luke 16, Jesus tells this parable (cited here just in part). "‘Then I request of you, father, that you send him to my father’s house— 28 for I have five brothers—in order that he may warn them, so that they will not come to this place of torment as well.’ 29 But Abraham *said, ‘They have [x]Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’ 31 But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’” Did you get that last gag? Jesus, who will be rising from the dead soon, is pointing out, in sad humor that many will still reject Him. Though those listening didn't get the gag at the time, in just a few weeks, they, at least those speaking to Luke, knew the joke here.
Is it possible I am wrong? of course. Is it possible that you and i have missed several other examples of the humor of Jesus? Of course.
