I have been asked this on more than one occasion. The popularity of Mark Driscoll’s teaching/preaching, which often includes a liberal dose of humor, has more people asking this question. Check out the new Ligonier blog for RC Sproul’s concise answer. Good stuff.
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Thanks for this Joe! I needed something to smile about today. Cheryl asked how RC Sproul would know I told her he is smarter than both of us combined. It was kind of a conversation killer, my bad.
LOL. Live and learn brother.
Sure I heard Sproul once say that the fact that children seemed happy to come to Him and be blessed would indicate that He was a happy, smiling, laughing, Lord, and not dour, straight faced, and solemn.
Joe, thanks for directing to this, very interesting!
I believe Jesus laughed, and even used sarcasm as a form of humor. I look at the encounter the rich young ruler had with Jesus in Matthew 19 and Mark 10. Jesus says, “you know the commandments,” then lists them. Obviously Jesus is shining this young ruler on, for moments later the Christ continues to tell him what else he’l need to do to inherit eternal life. I may be over-dramatizing this interaction in my mind, but I always see Jesus with a slight smile on his face during this discussion.
Speaking of Mark Driscoll, below is a 31MB file of Mark Driscoll’s recent sermon about humor in Scripture and why he uses it in sermons. It’s available to the public on teh Mars Hill Church web site. I’m not trying to spam your site, just providing some resources … hope that’s OK.
http://download.marshillchurch.org/media/2008/01/13/20080113_humor_audio.mp3
If I can have one request when I get to heaven, it will be to hear Him laugh…it has to be the sweetest sound in the universe…
Definitely agree that Jesus laughed, loud and heartily I’m sure