It is amazing the kind of images children and teenagers have of God, often quite negative and misleading pictures of what God might be like.  I have to say this has not been helped by some of the artistic representations of God – in fact any representation of God is bound to be misleading because the Divine and Eternal Creator is not a physical being.

Just recently I have been discussing with the boys at the Senior Campus three things that they have never been told about God’s character – well at least I don’t think they have.  This week I began with the theme of “God has a sense of humour”. 

We looked at some of the artistic representations of God.  They were all old men basically, with angry eyes, and very upset looking faces – most with flowing beards.  Of course such images cause young people to be repelled by such a character, and this is not helpful for us as chaplains who are focused on presenting God who is welcoming and lovingly interested in their lives.

So it has been a really enjoyable experience to reveal God’s “sense of humour” to our young men.  For me, animals like the hippopotamus, orang-utan and sloth epitomise God’s sense of humour, and of course I found some hilarious (I thought) photos of such animals for my power-point presentation – and included a ridiculous shot of myself just to prove I wasn’t being species-ist and mocking other species.  Surely we are ourselves, each, evidence of God’s sense of humour.

As a Christian, I believe that one of the points of the Incarnation, Jesus the God/Man was to reveal God’s character to humankind.  We don’t know what Jesus looked like – and it doesn’t really matter because as we’ve said God is Spirit not a physical being- but we do know that Jesus had a sense of humour, and he often used animals to crack jokes.

Have you heard the one about the overly religious fanatics being so concerned about the details of religious observance that they actually miss the point of life with God?  Jesus paints the picture of the Pharisees and Scribes straining out a little midge from their food but instead they end up swallowing a camel.  Jesus is actually using a very clever literary device and a play on words in the Aramaic he would have been speaking – galma meaning midge or gnat, and gamla meaning camel (Matthew 23).  This may not seem hilarious to us today – but apparently this would have had people rolling around in the streets of Galilee towns.

Even the parable of the Lost Son (or Prodigal Son) can been seen to be a tragic comedy and may well have had people rolling around holding their sides.  This guy who thinks he’s a “winner” and real “trendsetter” ends up wishing he could eat the food of the most despised of animals by his own people – yes tragic but also a strong touch of ironic humour as well.

I am absolutely sure God has a sense of humour – here are some verses from our Scriptures that seem to support my thesis – and I will conclude with these:

A joyful heart (laughter) is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones (Proverbs 17:22)     

 He will yet fill your mouth with laughter, and your lips with joyous shouting (Job 8:21). 

 Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them (Psalm 126:2).

A time for every season under heaven – a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance (Ecclesiastes 3:4).

Rev David Williams
College Chaplain

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