something i been thinking about…
Hey ya’ll, i just have a question, in case there are still some junior theologians lurking around this site.
We often talk about Jesus having been a funny guy, see pictures of him smiling, and say that God invented humour. I’m not argueing with any of those things, but I don’t find that in scripture. Jesus is shown to suffer, to be angry, and to weep, all of which we applaud for the human emotion, but where is the verse about Jesus laughing, and goofing off with his diciples? Or even smiling? We take long looks at what the bible has to say, but what about what it doesn’t say?
I’m not really presenting a point here, because i haven’t quite figured it out, though i think i can guess at what a lot of people are going to say. Regardless, i’d like to hear your responses.
- originally posted by jen
3 Comments so far
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one thing you could look at, jen, is the difference between joy and happiness. i\'m not sure where we could substantiate our claims that he was such a happy guy…i think that is something we read into the text, not from it. but i suppose you could look at what it would mean for him (or us for that matter) to have joy, even in difficulty. just some thoughts…sory, no answers to your question though…
I think youth pastors are guilty of trying make Jesus come off with some edge, some wit, some sarcasm and cool… guilty as charged. Scripture doesn\'t indicate humor or even a lot of joy as to his emotional state. It does point to his sorrows moreso, so you are accurate in that assumption. I think we have taken the liberty often of reading into the lifestyle of Jesus – that he loved to eat with groups of people and to attend functions, and that he spent a lot of time making people better… so understanding what those things meant in his time has led us to believe he lived with a lot of joy too. But the pictures and the youth pastors tend to exaggerate… :)
jen…i'd also say that if we are to believe that jesus was fully human, and experienced humanity to the endth degree…then you'd have to believe that he was happy at least at some point in his life. we just need to beware the temptation to romance a happy smiley jesus at the cost of glossing over his sorrow, pain, and the genuine edge that does come accross in scripture.