An ancient humorous story: “Laughter figures prominently through the story of Isaac’s birth. The Lord appears to Abraham when Abraham is 99 years old to inform him that he will become the father of many nations. Abraham bows to the ground. Then God tells Abraham that it is wife Sarah, 90 years old and long having ceased to menstruate, will bear him a son. Abraham bows to the ground again, this time laughing to himself. God repeats the promise and tells Abraham to name the boy ytzhq. A similar scene occurs in the next chapter, but this time it is Sarah who laughs, and a conversation follows in which the Lord, Abraham, and Sarah discuss her laughter. When Isaac is finally born, Sarah laughs again, but this time it is the laughter of joy, not the laughter of incredulity. Sarah says, ‘God has brought me joy and laughter. Everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.’” (Laughing With God: Humor as a Spiritual Gift (UN-published dissertation), Richard H. Schmidt, pp. 22-23.)

Exodus 32:24—Moses came down off the mountain and found that Aaron had made golden images for the people to worship. What was his explanation? “I said to them, ‘Whoever has gold, take it off;’ so they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire and out came this calf!” (NRSV) Aaron caught with his hand in the cookie jar!

Deuteronomy 23: 9-11 “When you are encamped against your enemies you shall guard against any impropriety. If one of you becomes unclean because of a nocturnal emission, then he shall go outside the camp; he must not come within the camp. When evening comes, he shall wash himself with water, and when the sun has set, he may come back into the camp.” Yahweh thought of everything!

Deuteronomy 23: 12-14: “You shall have a designated area outside the camp to which you shall go. With your utensils you shall have a trowel; when you relieve yourself outside, you shall dig a hole with it and then cover up your excrement. Because the Lord your God travels along with your camp, to save you and to hand over your enemies to you, therefore your camp must be holy, so that he may not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you.” Ditto!

Joshua 5: 8—“When the circumcising of all the nation was done, they remained in their places in camp until they were healed.” Sure, they did!

Luke 2:16—“So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger,” (NRSV). Often this verse is read without the comma, and it suggests a very crowded manger.

Mark 10:25—“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God” (NRSV). Imagine what this would look like and you’ve got the humor of it!

Luke 15: 28 NRSV—The older brother, upon hearing that his father had killed the fatted calf for his returning brother, said, “Listen, for all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends.” In Jesus’ parable, this juvenile response of the elder brother likely put his Hebrew audience in stitches of laughter.

Mark Liebenow, author of “Is There Fun After Paul?” creates an image from biblical stories that helps in our search for a playful image of God.  If God didn’t love to laugh, then why create giraffes and rhinoceroses?  Why tease around with the wisdom of the world by choosing to work through the simple, the foolish, the powerless as God has done so often?  Why choose Moses to be the speaker for the Israelites when Moses stumbled over his tongue? Why make the Israelites the “Chosen People” when they lived in the geographical doormat of the Middle East? And why choose a wishy-washy person like Peter, give him a name that mean “Rock,” and say, “Upon this wishy-washy person I will build my church?” Who is God kidding? Who is going to believe and trust in a God like this? Who, indeed? Except that God must have a profoundly deep sense of humor! It just doesn’t make sense otherwise. (Adapted from Jane E. Vennard, Praying With Body and Soul, pp. 61-63.)

Perhaps you’ve seen the picture, “The Laughing Christ,” where his likeness is depicted with his head thrown back in a contagious laugh. Think of Jesus laughing like that at various times:

• At the wedding when he saw the looks on the faces of those who poured the wine.
• When he told the parable of the woman finding the coin.
• When he told of one lost sheep being found.
• When he told of a camel going through the eye of a needle.
• When the father saw his son returning.
• When the elder brother mentioned the goat.
• When the little girl rose from the dead.
• When he spoke to Mary in the kitchen.
• When he hugged Lazarus.

You “do the math” in your imagination with some of the other parables. Jesus was fully human; we know he cried and he laughed! Laughter comes from love, so laughter would have been as natural to him in his setting as it is to us in ours, because that’s the way God made us.