Is God Laughing With Us?

Christians, as a faith tradition, are not known for their sense of humor. 

If anything, they sometimes get a bad wrap as being a bunch of sticks in the mud. The austere Puritans of Hawthorne’s The Maypole of Merrymount come to mind, as does The Simpsons’ Ned Flanders or buzzkill Angela Martin from The Office.

The boring church service, the out of touch youth pastor, and the disciplinarian nun are all ubiquitous tropes across movies and tv shows.

Laughter has had a complicated identity throughout church history. The ancient theologians did not necessarily dismiss laughter altogether, but they certainly favored a more serious piety. Modern theologians tend to see laughter in a kinder light, acknowledging the good that can come from it while speaking out against laughter which might be out of place.

But what does the Bible say about humor?

The first mention of laughter in scripture comes in Genesis, when a 100 year-old Abraham is being told that his 90 year-old wife will become pregnant with a son.

Abraham and Sarah’s reaction to the strange news is, understandably, laughter.

And this disbelieving laughter is so essential to how they view their child that they name him after it: Isaac, which means, “He laughs.” Isaac would go on to father Jacob, later renamed Israel. So, God uses a man named after laughter to birth his chosen nation, from which the Messiah ultimately emerges.

But perhaps it is an overly-poetic reading of the scriptures to imply that God built his people on the foundation of laughter. After all, so much of the Bible is rife with suffering and those who weep.

So, what role should Comedy play in the life of a Christian? What kinds of joking does God make off limits? And, does God like joking around as much as we do? On this week’s podcast, I spoke with a witty Catholic philosopher and a pastor who moonlights as a comedian to find out.