I love to laugh. Who doesn’t like to laugh? Maybe an old scrooge, or a sour old person? Granted, any one of us embittered in the toils and trials of life may find it hard to laugh. But, thankfully I think, most of us do truly enjoy a good hearty laugh.
Did Jesus laugh? How much? Was he usually solemn, serious, and downcast? Quiet and subdued? Can you imagine Jesus making jokes or imagine him laughing? Is this challenging to think about?
I have to admit when I think of Jesus, in my imagination, he isn’t typically laughing. I picture him kneeling, healing, bending, listening, crying, interceding. I picture him as thoughtful, introspective, or as the suffering servant.
But not usually laughing.
As I was pondering laughter, I wondered about our perceptions of Jesus. As we read Scripture, what side of Jesus do we picture in our heads? For me, as I mentioned, it isn’t often the Jesus who laughs.
Yet Jesus was fully human, capable of understanding and experiencing the full array and depth of human emotion. He was capable of deep anguish and sorrow, as witnessed in the Garden of Gethsemane, when he sweated drops of blood. Jesus feasted and ate, he attended weddings, and must have laughed at the ironies and foibles of living in this world.
He must have found joy in watching a toddler explore the world, just as we do, and delight when an infant or young child laughs. He must have found joy when watching his friends catch a bevy of fish. He must have laughed at the little things in life we all laugh about, and at the bigger events, such as wedding feasts.
If he is capable of deep sorrow and anguish, then he is also capable of deep joy. Where deep joy abides, laughter spills forth, even in the midst of deep pain, suffering, and hardship.
In Jesus, we see that those two opposing sides existed simultaneously. As he recognized his mission and calling from God, his purpose, we can only imagine the mingling of joy and sorrow that encompassed such a calling: a joy to long to be in obedience to his Father, a joy in being the instrument of reconciliation to this broken world, yet also a sorrow at the pain and anguish of physical suffering and abandonment by his friends and even by God on the cross when God allowed his crucifixion and suffering for our sakes.
Have you ever paused to notice the change in someone’s eyes when they begin to laugh? There is a moment when the eyes exude brightness, the eyes constrict and laugh lines appear at the edges. A smile forms, and the eyes reveal a spark of light and a face glows with joy. That burst of life comes from a joy inside. A smile often starts in the eyes.
As a man and as the son of God, Jesus had a range and depth of human experience and a deep relationship with the Heavenly Father. A deep joy was present, stemming from that relationship, that was evident to those in his presence. The best way to imagine what that must be like is perhaps to think of someone we know who possesses an exuberance and joy coming from within—not a superficial sort of giddiness and flippancy, but a deep and lasting sort of joy that is unshaken by the daily tides of injustice and hardship.
I can imagine Jesus exchanging laughs with Lazarus, Mary, and Martha, as scripture tells us they were friends, and Jesus cried at Lazarus’ death. He laughed with his friends, much as we do; there is much in life, in fact, to laugh at!
Pausing to think of Jesus walking those dusty roads, and stopping to spend time with people, I can imagine conversations sprinkled with wonder at who he was but also a delight and a joy of Jesus’ own as he walked among people. Scripture tells us that “greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friend” (John 15:13 NIV). Jesus also calls friends: “but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15 NIV).
Jesus also says, just a few verses earlier in the same passage, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” (John 15:11). Jesus leaves his joy in us—his friends—that our joy may be full. He cannot give to us what he does not possess. He gives out of the abundance of his own joy.
Further, he tells us our joy will be “full”. He doesn’t say partially full, or halfway, or sometimes full. He promises a fullness which we cannot gather on our own strength, abilities, circumstances, through material goods, or even by gathering friends. His joy is a unique joy that comes from him and not from other sources.
Jesus lived among the ordinary days and events, just as we do, and laughed and cried, just as we do.
Considering Jesus as a man of joy and laughter in no way diminishes his role of savior and the immeasurable sorrow and suffering endured on our behalf. But we will not see the full picture of who he is if we do not also recognize him a person of deep and abiding joy, as a man who also laughed and enjoyed fellowship with others.
We will not see the full picture of Jesus if we do not recognize him as a person of deep and abiding joy, as a man who laughed and enjoyed fellowship with others. Click To Tweet
