Tom Mullen begins his book, Laughing Out Loud and Other Religious
Experiences with this story. An engineer, a psychologist, and a theologian
were hunting in the wilds of Northern Canada. They came across a isolated
cabin, and decided to check it out. When no one answered their knocks, they
tried the door and found it open. It was a simple two room cabin with a
minimum of furniture. Nothing was surprising about the cabin except the
stove. It was a typical pot bellied cast ironed stove, but it was suspended in
mid air by wires attached to the ceiling beams.
The psychologist was the first to speculate on this strange location for a
stove. He said, "It is obvious that this lonely trapper, isolated from humanity,
has elevated his stove so he can curl up under it and vicariously experience a
return to the womb." "Nonsense!" Replied the engineer. "The man is
clearly practicing laws of thermodynamics. By elevating his stove he has
discovered a way to distribute the heat more evenly throughout the cabin."
"With all due respect," interrupted the theologian, "I'm sure that hanging his
stove from the ceiling has religious meaning. Fire lifted up has been a
religious symbol for centuries."
As the three debated their theories, the trapper returned, and they asked
him immediately why he hung his stove by wires from the ceiling. He said,
"Because I had plenty of wire, but not much stove pipe." The answer to many
mysteries is much simpler than we think.
Reading commentaries on the book of Ecclesiastes is often like listening to
those three hunters speculate about the stove. They come up with complex
and confusing theories to explain this book, and the theories are more
difficult to grasp than the book itself. The simple and obvious, and
commonsense approach is the best. All we have to do is recognize that
Solomon is simply telling us how he really felt. He is not saying he should feel
this way, or that it is good to feel this way, but that it is how he really felt.
He had himself a ball, and laughed his head off, and then he examined the
experience afterward, and he concluded that laughter, like the rest of the
pleasures of life, is of no use.
You do not need any complex theory to explain this. It is simple. He is
depressed because laughter and pleasure are merely passing experiences, and
they are not permanent, and so they do not fill the human need for the
eternal. The merry monarch found his mirth of little worth, and it left him melancholy.
This is no surprise, for we have all had that kind of experience
where after a good time we become to some degree depressed simply because
the laughter doesn't last, and the pleasure of it does not persist.
This is a universal experience, and that is why it is in the Bible. It good
for all of us to know that even the man with everything goes through the same
experience we do. This releases us from the burden of envy where we think
we could escape this type of feeling if only we were somebody else, especially
somebody with everything life can offer. It also releases us from the burden
of loneliness when we feel we have emotions that the rest of the human race
does not have. Paul said in I Cor. 10:13, "No temptation has seized except
what is common to man."
What the Bible teaches is that the common man is the only kind of man
there is. Solomon was so great, wise, and unique in many ways, but he was
still a common man. That was the kind of man Jesus became as well, for there
is no other kind, and he entered into the same temptations and the same
feelings that we all experience. "He was tempted in all points like as we are,
yet without sin." Jesus understood what Solomon was saying in this book. He
had plenty of good times and laughter, but he also knew its limitations, and he
endured the experience of depression, and was a man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief.
Solomon was right, for laughter is not enough to give life ultimate
meaning. But it is, nevertheless, a vital part of the meaningful life. Solomon is
himself one of the key authorities in the Bible for supporting the value of
laughter. Why then, if he sees the worth of mirth, does he stress the
worthlessness of it here? It is because, like all other values of life, if they are
sought as goal of life, and one becomes as obsessed with them that they push
God into a secondary position, they become sources of sickness rather than
health, when this happens, as it did with him, then it is true as he says in 7:3,
"Sorrow is better than laughter." Jesus confirmed this when He said,
"Blessed are those who mourn." In James 4:9-10 we see Christians who have
gone off the deep end in their search for pleasure, and they urged to, "Change
your laughter to mourning, and you joy to gloom. Humble yourself before
the Lord and He will lift you up."
The Bible makes it clear that there is a time to stop horsing around and
having a good time, and get down to the serious business of living for a purpose
in God's will. Those who never do, never discover the full value of
joy and laughter. So what we see in Solomon is both sides of the coin. We see
the futility of laughter, and the fruitfulness of laughter. In 3:4 he says there is
a time to weep and a time to laugh. Both are good and valid. Since we have
been looking at some heavy subjects in our study of this book, I thought we
should look at the lighter and brighter side, and reap some value from-
I. THE FRUITFULNESS OF LAUGHTER.
In Pro. 17:22 we read the most famous biblical precept on the value of
laughter. Solomon there says, "A cheerful heart is a good medicine, but a
downcast spirit dries up the bones." Laughter is the lubrication of life that
keeps us from drying up and grinding to a halt. Drain your life of humor,
and it is like draining your car of oil. You will not get far before you lose
power and lock up the engine. Laughter keeps the engine of life running
smooth. It allows us to keep making progress down the road to God's goals.
What a blessing is the sense of humor for releasing of tension in times of
stress. I visited Vern Miller before his by-pass surgery. His room mate Virgil
was facing the same surgery. There was tension as they faced the unpleasant
prospect of being cut open, but they were easing the friction by using the oil
of laughter. Together we were experiencing healing by anointing the whole
situation with the oil of gladness. It was good medicine. The doctors have to
take out the whole vain in the leg for the by-pass. Vern was having five
by-passes, and the other man only three. So he commented that he could use
the extra he would have left over for bait. I could see the potential for his
practical mind, and I encouraged him to write a book on tips for what to do
with your spare parts.
Vern then told of another man who was going into surgery at the same
time as he was. He said I am assuming he has a different surgeon, or maybe
mine is ambidextrous, and will be doing one with each hand, and he stretched
out his arms to illustrate. We had a good laugh. Sure, it was nonsense, and
just a way to escape from the tension, but that is what medicine is for, and
that is what laughter does. I do not take aspirin because I like the taste, but to
escape the pain of a headache. Laughter can help us escape also, and it even
tastes good. The point is, laughter is appropriate even in the most serious
times because it is a medicine, and it lifts and lightens the load. It is God's
most natural drug. Thank God for laughter.
Sometimes when life is on a disaster trail, and everything seems to be going
wrong, you can be suddenly touched with a sense of humor, and it is like a
shot in the arm to revive your spirit. Bonhoffer, the theologian, who died in
Hitler's concentration camp could write, "Absolute seriousness is not without
a dose of humor." Abraham Lincoln was able to survive his responsibility
through the Civil War because of the aid of his sense of humor. Sometimes his
cabinet felt his humor was out of place, but he replied, "Gentlemen, why
don't you laugh? If I didn't laugh with the strain that in on me day and night,
I should go mad. And you need the medicine as much as I do." Laughter is a
life saver to many in times of unusual stress. My father lived in pain for many
years and said that his sense of humor was the only thing that kept him from
taking his own life to escape the pain. Laughter can be life saving medicine.
Jesus said that we should face life's worst without letting fear dominate us.
He said do not fear those who can kill the body, and that is all they can do. He
made it sound like martyrdom was a minor matter. After they kill you, he is
saying, the matter is out of their hands, and so don't worry. This can only be
experienced by those who have a sense of humor, and who can laugh even at
death. You have to be able to see beyond death, and see the joke involved in
men thinking they can win by killing you, when all they do is send you into
the presence of Him who has the keys of death, and who has a mansion
waiting for you to enter and enjoy forever. They think they are robbing you
of life, and what they are doing is sending you to the ultimate life of joy.
Faith in Christ and a sense of humor go hand in hand. Eugene O'Neill
portrayed this in his play Lazarus Laughed. He had Lazarus say, "I heard the
heart of Jesus laughing in my heart, and I laughed in the laughter of God."
the crowd joined Lazarus in his happy mood and laughed with him, for the
fear of death had been conquered. The play comes to a climax with Caesar
threatening Lazarus with death. It was a joke to him, and he responded like a
grandpa responds when his 4 year old grandchild threatens to pound him into
dust. He laughs, and he dies laughing. It is the laughter of God when we laugh
at the absurdities of life.
In Ps. 2 we see the folly of man as he plots to overthrow the plan of God
and take over the universe. Verse 4 says, "The one enthroned in heaven
laughs." God has a sense of humor, and it tickles him to laughter to see puny
men develop such delusions of grandeur. It is like a gnat organizing his fellow
gnat to take over a tank. You get the same funny sensation when a small child
in rebellion decides to defy the very powers that gave him life and sustain his
life. The most Godlike response you can have to those deluded by their pride
is to laugh. In Ps. 37:12-13 we read, "The wicked plot against the righteous
and gnash their teeth at them; but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he
knows their day is coming."
Oswald J. Smith, the great preacher and hymn writer, puts the scene in
poetry.
Methinks I hear God laugh, so let them rage.
He'll hold them in derision till the day
He rises in His wrath, and in His hot
Displeasure, vexes those who vainly seek
To tear Him from His throne for judgment set.
What folly if a sparrow hurl itself
Against a locomotive in its pride,
Expecting thus to check it in its speed!
As little hope have they who mock at God.
Is life a joke? Yes it is when man takes himself so seriously that he thinks
he can make it meaningful without God, and so sets out to dethrone God. It is
good for us to step back once in awhile, and see the dark side of man from
God's perspective, and join Him in a good laugh. Some people think the tower
of Babel was where Solomon kept all his wives, but what it is, is a monument
to man's silliness. He thought he could build a tower to the heavens and
become a power that was supreme. It was the Lucifer approach to life that
says, I will exalt myself to the throne of the universe. The funny thing about
life is not the psychotic who thinks he is Napoleon, but the normal people who
think they are God. History makes all of man's pride a laugh. One of the
ways you can divide up the human race in two camps is this: Those who
laugh at God, and those who laugh with God.
Jesus was a man of sorrows, but Jesus was also the Son of God, and the
express image of the Father. In Jesus we see the same sense of humor that we
see in the Father. Jesus saw the comical, the absurd, and the ridiculous side
of life. We are so brainwashed into thinking that Jesus was always serious,
and even sad, that we miss all of His humor. We refuse to give Him the
balance life in our thinking, and by so doing we rob the only truly ideal man
of what is vital to that ideal, and that is a sense of humor. Most students of
the life of Jesus see it, but it is seldom stressed, and the result is that most
Christians do not recognize the sense of humor in their Savior.
G. Campbell Morgan, that prince of expositors, sees it in the most serious
of setting even. After the resurrection when Jesus is walking with the two on
the road to Emmaus we see Jesus in this very serious setting playing the game
of hide and seek with His disciples. Morgan comments, "There is a tender
and beautiful playfulness in the way He dealt with these men. Humor is as
divine as Pathos, and I cannot study the life of Jesus without finding humor
there."
Tennyson said humor is generally most fruitful in the most solemn spirits,
and, "You will even find it in the Gospel of Christ." Elton Trueblood in his
book The Humor Of Christ gives numerous illustrations. We will look at just
a few. Jesus had a lot of fun with the humorless Pharisees, and often
described them in ways that would make the people chuckle. In Matt. 15:14
He calls them blind guides. The very concept is ridiculous. Who would ever
have confidence in a blind guide? Imagine a sign on the entrance to a cave
that says, blind guides available-reasonable rates. Jesus says, when the blind
lead the blind they both fall into a pit. Such is the folly of the Pharisees and
their followers. Follow me and I will make you fishers of men was the
message of Jesus. Follow them, and you will be pit filler.
This form of humor was typical of Jesus. He described them in all kinds of
humorous ways. They kept the outside of their cups shining and spotless.
They were germ free, but inside they neglected to clean, but let that fill up
with cobwebs, dirt, and dead flies. They would choke on a gnat showing that
they were super fussy with minute details of the law, but then they would
swallow a camel, hump and all, without batting an eye. That means they
could by-pass the major purpose of the law if it was in their self-interest.
Jesus pictured the Pharisees seeking sympathy in the pity party method of
looking dismal and pathetic because of their supposedly sacrificial fasting.
Jesus said that His followers were to have nothing to do with such sad sack
piety. They were to anoint their heads, wash their faces, and look presentable
rather than laughable. Jesus had a sarcastic wit that has tickled me many
times. My favorite, is in John 10:31-32 where we read, "The Jews took up
stones again to stone him." This sounds like a serious situation doesn't it? It is
no time for wise cracks, but Jesus responds, "I have shown you many good
works from my Father, for which of these do you stone me?" Jesus never did
any bad works, and so He knew they had to be stoning Him for some good
work that He did, and He was curious as to which of His kindnesses it was
that provoked them to such hatred. Jesus, just like His Father, saw the
absurdity of man's folly, and the utter ridiculousness of his rebellion.
Jesus came that we might have life and have it abundantly. He came that
we might be reconciled to God and experience life in its fullness, and enjoy all
that He has made, and especially the gift He has given uniquely to man-the
sense of humor. Animals do not have this gift, for it is part of the image of
God given only to man. Helmut Thielike, the greatest German preacher of
modern times, said of Christians, "When they lose their sense of humor it is
nothing less than a denial of their Lord."
What use is laughter Solomon asks, and the answer of the centuries is, it is
our link with our heavenly Father that lifts us above the mere earthly to the
heavenly perspective. Those who see the humorous built into life by God
enjoy life so much more. I certainly enjoy being a grandfather more due to
the constant laughter that comes from children. Many great Christians point
to the animal creation to show God's sense of humor. Dean Inge in one of his
many books wrote, "I cannot help thinking that the Creator made some
animals and some human beings just for fun. The elephant, the hippo, the
baboon with blue cheeks and scarlet stern are not ugly. They are figures of
comedy. Why should not the deity have a sense of humor?"
I personally feel that children are the greatest proof of God's sense of
humor. To me they are God's clowns in the circus of life. And they add more
laughter than all the comedians combined. look up laughing babies on Google
you will laugh your head off watching these little tykes express their sense of
humor and hilarious laughter as little babies. Laughter is one of the basic
aspects of being human, and humans are made in the image of God. Even
babies take laughter seriously, but so many adults do not.
Take Devorah Wigoder for example. She rebelled against her Christian
heritage and married a Jew. In her book Hope Is My House she writes, "To
me, one of the most disappointing aspects in the life of Jesus was his lack of
humor." What a shame that her Christian heritage never exposed her to the
truth of Jesus' sense of humor. If she was only an isolated case, we could
brush it off as of no consequence, but she is not. As I study the lives of people
who have rebelled against the Christian faith, and have become skeptics and
cynics, and even atheists, I discover that they see no humor in the Christian
faith. A writer for Christianity Today for many years confirms this when he
writes, "I have learned that too many Christian people and organizations
can't laugh at themselves. They take themselves too seriously, and this makes
them stuffy. Some people are not serious enough about humor and this makes
them shallow."
The Christian who does not develop his sense of humor will not likely be
an attractive person to the world, like Jesus was. He could fit into most every
social situation, and bring joy to the guests because He was ever ready with a
story or some humor. One of the best things we can have up our sleeve is a
funny bone. Charles Aked said humor is a gift of God, and, "A face as long as
a fiddle and a voice like that of an alpine crow will not be imputed to us for
righteousness." Solomon said there is a time to laugh, and the time to do it is
when you want to make clear to a sad and hurting world that in Christ there
is really something to laugh about, for in Him life's blessings become all the
more enjoyable, and life's folly's become all the more ridiculous. Both good
and evil become causes for laughter in Christ. Tragedy and tears are only for
time, but in Christ laughter is forever. Martin Luther said, "If you're not
allowed to laugh in heaven, I don't want to go there." He knew he was safe,
for he knew of the laughter of God, and of the laughter of Jesus. If you do
not, then you need to take laughter more seriously and learn to pray-
Give me the gift of laughter, oh, I pray,
Though tears should hover near;
Give me the gift of laughter for each day,
Laughter to cast out fear.
