In the introduction to his book, The Humor of Christ, Elton Trueblood tells of a family devotional. He was reading from the Sermon on the Mount and came to the section where Jesus says: “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? (Matthew 7:3, ESV) His young son began to laugh hilariously. Trueblood notes that the child had gotten the joke that sometimes adults pass over. Jesus used a very incongruous picture, a staple of humor, to make his point. Humor often punctures us and gets our attention in ways that a simple declaration fails to do.
We see examples of Jesus’ humor when he speaks of the religious leaders scrupulously concerned about the outside of a cup or plate, but the inside of the cup is full of greed and self-indulgence (Matthew 23:25). Or again, the religious leaders are so concerned about ceremonial cleanness that they will strain out a gnat (an unclean animal according to the law), but swallow a camel (another unclean animal). Such incongruent images may have resulted in laughter from his audience. Trueblood notes the value of such humor:
If it were not for the medicine of created laughter, there would be no adequate antidote to pride and vanity among men. God has created us with a self-consciousness which makes conceit possible, but He has also made us able to laugh and thus to provide a balance to our danger. (The Humor of Christ, p. 36)
Recognizing humor in the teaching of Christ is one step in seeing the many facets of Jesus. We get the impression that Jesus laughs, but he also weeps, becomes angry, can be stern, but also loving and gentle. Jesus himself says, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9, ESV). Jesus helps us see God more clearly. Trueblood remarks:
The deepest conviction of all Christian theology is the affirmation that the God of all the world is like Jesus Christ. Because the logical development is from the relatively known to the relatively unknown, the procedure is not from God to Christ, but from Christ to God. If we take this seriously we conclude that God cannot be cruel, or self-centered or vindictive, or even lacking in humor. (The Humor of Christ, p. 32)
while today 