northVUs

There are certain queer times and occasions in this strange mixed affair we call life when a man takes this whole universe for a vast practical joke, though the wit thereof he but dimly discerns, and more than suspects that the joke is at nobody’s expense but his own… all (this) and death itself seem to him only sly, good natured hits and jolly punches in the side bestowed by the unseen and unaccountable old joker.
(Herman Melville, Moby Dick. 1851)

here’s one: try to imagine the face of God laughing. i mean, i know that there is that one painting of Jesus guffawing at something peter suggested (okay, we don’t know that it was about peter, but read the gospels… he was often the comedy relief!) but for some reason it is difficult to picture God the Father enjoying a real knee slapper. the closest we can get with our imaginings ends up looking like santa. i try and try but Almighty God, as far as my imagination is concerned, has the countenance of a wise, kingly ruler with a long face and an even longer grey beard. where did that come from? who said that wisdom couldn’t smile? where is it written that holiness is solemn? why is it that the creator of the duck-billed platypus doesn’t get to smirk once in awhile?

i think i know why. i believe that our sense of humour has fallen with us.

comedy was probably originally anything that would make the face of God break into a huge smile, something that would cause thunderous divine laughter- “good one!” he would howl at the end of a busy day of creating. and you know how it feels when you have had more fun than you can possibly stand? well what if God set apart the seventh day just to take a breather? i think i can begin to picture a laughing God if i read the scriptures looking for him.

God places adam into the garden and then sits back. he says “it’s no good for the man to be alone… let’s have some fun!” and so he makes all manner of beast and bird, from the very straight to the very strange. he creates the dodo. he creates the warthog. he creates the hammerhead shark and allows it to swim upstream from the ocean (hammerheads are known to do this every now and then) so that the man can note the curious placement of the eyes without actually having to face it in the water. he creates the baboon (just think about that one for a minute…) then he puts the man to sleep and creates someone for the man to wake up laughing with. remember how much you laughed when you were on your honeymoon?

this God is hardly an unseen and unaccountable old joker. this is the God of face to face delight. this is the God of the open smile, not some sly fate that waits for the chance to say “GOTCHA!” and then snicker at the confusion of humankind. likewise, the laughter of this God is not like the laughter of the fallen, full of irony, surprise and wit. it is an announcement to all creation that he is having a great time loving and expressing that love.

so how did we get where we are today? how did laughter become something that somehow celebrates the imperfections that ensued once humankind made the decision to try and run it all? how did laughter become this explosive vocal mockery of all that has fallen short of God’s original design? just as God’s crowned of creation fell, so fell pop humour. we learned to somehow laugh at the tragedy of our fallenness, complete with its limitations, pratfalls and relational faux pas.

what a sad case is fallen man. taking such comfort in his own depravity- that which is both self-satisfying and self-destructive. we have accepted satan’s invitation to abandon righteous laughter in place of a bedroom farce of the heart and we spend our lives sorting out mistaken identities, confusion, clumsiness, self-consciousness, identity crises and even mortality itself- laughing all the way.

i recognize that it is the nature of the accusor to bring to the front our greatest doubts and fears about our personal worth because of how that so powerfully works against the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus on our behalf. in Jesus is our greatest worth, our greatest pardon and our greatest peace. anything that can distract us from that allows the evil one to feel that he has somehow won something. the heckler in the crowd thinks he has had the last word.

so what might God have had in mind when he invented laughter in the first place?

that’s easy: worship.

divine comedy takes place when God takes advantage of our inability to fully know his character in order to surprise us by bringing us delight in ways we could not, in our fallen state, imagine. God's sense of humour celebrates his faithfulness, not our fallenness. God's sense of humour is miraculous, not monetary. God’s sense of humour is steeped in his love for us, his beloved. perhaps God laughs a mighty laugh when he answers the prayer that we didn’t really expect to see answered. God probably finds it funny when he can sneak up behind us and dump a bucket of life in abundance over our heads. he wants us to enjoy his goodness, not just experience it.

Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved son.
(Ephesians 1.4-8. The Message, paraphrased by Eugene Peterson)

i think that God’s greatest pleasure is to share a really good laugh with us over a jar of living water and then pick up the tab as we reach for our wallet only to find filthy rags. we laugh and he laughs and no one even thinks to ask what ever happened to that loud mouth who was trying to spoil the party?