In his book Jesus Laughed, Robert Darden writes this:
In fact, there are people who claim that laughter, or humor of any kind, isn’t Christian. There are folks who tell us that we shouldn’t laugh because the Bible never says Jesus laughed.
Did Jesus ever laugh?
In 1514, someone forged a document under the name of Publius Lentulus, the Roman governor who succeeded Pontius Pilate. The document described Jesus in this way: “No man has seen him laugh.”
Did Jesus ever laugh?
James Martin, in Between Heaven and Mirth, writes of his friend Mike who was training to be a Jesuit. Part of the training involves regularly confessing sin to a priest. Mike was a man of very high spirits, known for easy laughter and constant smiling and joy. One day, appearing before his priest, Mike confessed, “I confess excessive levity.” The priest glared angrily at Mike and said, “All levity is excessive!”
Did Jesus ever laugh?
Should we, his followers, laugh?
Yes.
And, yes.
Gerald Arbuckle, in Laughing with God, notes that most people in Jesus’ day would have laughed at many of Jesus’ teachings, for example, the image of putting a lamp under a basket, or a person building a house on sand, or a father giving his child stones instead of bread. These were, Arbuckle argues, forms of humor in Jesus’ day. Read through the Gospels and note the images Jesus uses in his teaching. Again and again we find his messages filled with things that would have been hard to say without cracking a smile or causing a wave of laughter to wash over his listeners.
James Martin calls attention to one recurring theme of Jesus’ ministry–table fellowship:
Jesus frequently called together his disciples, his followers, and often strangers to dine with him. It doesn’t take too much imagination to picture these as joyful events–just think of enjoyable dinner parties and celebrations in your own life, full of laughter and good cheer, everyone delighting in one another’s company. There is a reason that one enduring image of heaven is as a banquet.
What would you have heard if you stood outside one of the numerous dinner parties Jesus held? It’s nearly impossible to imagine you wouldn’t have heard laughter.
Notice these lines from the Gospels:
I have told you these things so that you can have the same joy I have and so that your joy will be the fullest possible joy. (John 15:11 NCV)
Then Jesus, overflowing with the Holy Spirit’s anointing of joy, exclaimed, “Father, thank you, for you are Lord Supreme over heaven and earth! (Lk. 10:21 TPT)
Jesus continued, “In the same way, there will be a glorious celebration in heaven over the rescue of one lost sinner who repents, comes back home, and returns to the fold—more so than for all the righteous people who never strayed away.” (Lk. 15:7 TPT)
“I am coming to you now. But I pray these things while I am still in the world so that these followers can have all of my joy in them. (Jn. 17:13 NCV)
Jesus was a person of immeasurable joy. And life with him calls us to the same.
All of this sets the context for Benedict’s teaching on humility. His 10th of 12 rungs on his ladder of humility is simply this: “One should not be given to ready laughter.” Benedict was not saying laughter is bad. He was forbidding laughter at someone else’s expense. Laughing at others is a power play, and has no place in the life of the humble follower of Jesus. But laughter as an expression of joy is absolutely essential for all who follow Jesus. Jesus certainly never laughed at people. But oh how he laughed with people!
In his book The Life You’ve Always Wanted, John Ortberg writes this:
Joy is at the heart of God’s plan for human beings. The reason for this is worth pondering awhile: Joy is at the heart of God himself. We will never understand the significance of joy in human life until we understand its importance to God. I suspect that most of us seriously underestimate God’s capacity for joy.
Jesus and God long for us to be people of joy.
Philip Yancey tells of his friend Angela who had this experience:
One day I was walking to the train station with a colleague from work. I caught a subway to Brooklyn, which ran every few minutes. But my friend took a train, and if she missed it she’d have to wait an hour, so she was always in a hurry. It was a blustery day, and we had our heads down against the wind. When we crossed one street and looked up, there was one of the street prophets holding a sign, “The end is near!” He was muttering in a raspy voice, “Jesus is coming. Start singing.” I put my hand out and tried to stop my friend. “Did you hear what he said? Jesus is coming. We should start singing.” She brushed off my hand and kept right on walking. “Angela, you need to get your hearing tested. He’s saying, ‘Jesus is coming. Stop sinning!’”
Ok. Stopping sinning is probably a good idea. But I really like Angela’s version too. Jesus is coming. Start singing. Let joy loose today.
