“And at noon Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.” 1 Kings 18:26-27
Brothers,
Elijah’s comic relief, in what was a very serious situation of idolatry, is an example relevant to us today. In the face of sheer stupidity, sometimes the best one can do is jest or laugh a little. These moments help us remember that despite what is at times, the worst of circumstances, the most improbable odds, through the weakest and most flawed human beings, God’s plan of salvation unexpectedly moves forward. It’s not explicit, but I believe His plan demonstrates that Our Lord has a sense of humour, not in the sense of a trickster or puppet master, but as a “dad” that delights in seeing His children learn and grow, just because they are His children. He is Our Father after all.
This sense of humour didn’t start with Jesus’ Nativity, but was present from the very beginning. Our all-knowing God, despite being right beside Adam and Eve, did what any dad would do when standing right in front of a hiding child: He asked “Where are you?” Gen 3:9. And thus was born the oldest family game, namely “Hide and Seek”. God won that day and continues to win today: He always finds us!
This same author of Genesis also wrote that from the rib of a man, a woman was born, and together, they brought new life. No doubt many who first heard this laughed, as many do today. And yet, thousands of years later, through the rib of another Man, water came out, which together, also brought new life. We call it Baptism.
Then there’s Abram, called father of nations, but unable to father a child. One can imagine the type mockery he must’ve endured, as similar to the one that yelled “He saved others, but can’t save himself!”. Mt 27:41-42 Heck, even his wife laughed when told she would become pregnant! Gen 18:10-16 It seemed that the idea of the incarnation of “father” Abram’s son was as laughable in his time, as the idea of the Incarnation of our Father’s Son is today. This includes imams who tell you reverently and serious-faced that God is all-powerful, so powerful He can contradict himself if He so wished, and in the next sentence, perhaps with a smile, tell you God could never take on human flesh. Includes Christians who tell you God Almighty can turn dirt into flesh, but can’t turn bread into Flesh. Then there’s other religious people such as atheists, that tell you there is no such thing as God or a benevolent Father or a Creator, but then proceed to exhort the goddess of Nature, as creator and benevolent mother of us all, worthy of adoration and…. submission to her will. They insist there is no Natural Law, but only laws of nature.
Some carpenters were known in ancient times for making gods, especially after being warm (comfortable perhaps). Here’s how Isaiah put it, “The carpenter hath stretched out his rule, he hath formed it with a plane: he hath made it with corners, and hath fashioned it round with the compass: and he hath made the image of a man as it were a beautiful man dwelling in a house. He hath cut down cedars, taken the holm, and the oak that stood among the trees of the forest: he hath planted the pine tree, which the rain hath nourished. And it hath served men for fuel: he took thereof, and warmed himself: and he kindled it, and baked bread: but of the rest he made a god, and adored it: he made a graven thing, and bowed down before it. Part of it he burnt with fire, and with part of it he dressed his meat: he boiled pottage, and was filled, and was warmed, and said: Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire. But the residue thereof he made a god, and a graven thing for himself: he boweth down before it, and adoreth it, and prayeth unto it, saying: Deliver me, for thou art my god.” Is 44:13-17 In those times, a certain Roman emperor also called himself “the son of god”. Pride ruled in the bathhouses of Rome while diversity filled its Pantheon, all gods given equitable status. It’s at that precise time, that the Son of God arrives. Raised and cared by a young Jewish woman and her husband…. a carpenter. Jesus is tried and the people are given the choice to vote for the Son of Man or the Sonofman (Bar-Abbas). The preferred candidate for those in power won the election. Elites smiling to each other everywhere. That was a close one! In time however, through the works of a fisherman and a tentmaker, this very Rome became the seat of Christ’s Church! Perhaps in the future, God will target the next big capital through a trucker and oil rigger….
On the road to Emmaus, the Son of God asked two sullen people walking by, what was the topic of their discussion. The two sojourners responded by questioning Jesus if He was not aware of the things that had happened to… Jesus? His answer, “What things?”, reveals to us both the tenderness of Jesus’ heart and also the importance of listening, even when we have the answer. Perhaps especially when we have the answer. Listening not for the sake of just hearing, but to help us with the speaking part, that comes next. After listening, Jesus first opens up the Scriptures to the two individuals and walks them through a Bible Study. Thereafter, while at the table with them, He breaks the bread… and suddenly, the two people finally see Him! Dare we say, Liturgy of the Word and Liturgy of the Eucharist? Jesus held the first Sunday Mass! Lk 24
If you still doubt Jesus had a sense a humour, consider His next appearance that same day, not long after holding Mass with the two pilgrims. This is how Scripture describes it, “But while they yet believed not, and wondered for joy, He said: Have you any thing to eat?” Lk 24:41 Imagine being a disciple, vividly remembering the torturing of Jesus onto death, facing persecution from both Jewish and Roman authorities, not knowing if the next knock on their door would be the one that brings death, and in comes Jesus, shows His wounds, and then casually asks them, “Have you anything to eat?”. One supposes that after “fasting” for three days, the multiplier of fish and bread, may indeed have been hungry, but that was probably the last thing on the disciples mind. This is pure conjecture on my part, but not hard to imagine some disciples laughing at this whole scene unfolding in front of them.
G.K. Chesterton on his essay on “Laughter” said, “…laughing lays itself open to criticism, is innocent and unguarded, has the sort of humanity which has always something of humility. The recent stage of culture and criticism might very well be summed up as the men who smile criticising the men who laugh…Therefore, in this modern conflict between the Smile and the Laugh, I am all in favour of laughing.” So is God, hence the blessing of Isaac, whose name literally means “the one who laughs”.
Dante called his great poem “The Divine Comedy” not because it was funny, but because it ended with beatific vision of God. In other words, the ending was joyful. The opposite of a comedy is a tragedy. At the end of Luke’s masterpiece, he says that the disciples went back to Jerusalem “with great joy”. Let us hope then, that as we write the great poem of human life, we get past the many chapters of human tragedy, so that we may one day, joyfully call it “The Human Comedy”.
St Joseph, pray for us.
St Philip Neri, pray for us.
Roberto Freire
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