Does God have a sense of humor?
Before I became a Christian I read the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
I had never read them before. Of course each of them has its own flavor. Luke, it seemed to me, was most like a journalist: He faithfully reports on the life and works of Jesus carefully and without commentary.
Suddenly I arrived at Luke 24 and, although this retells one of the most critical parts of Christian history and theology, it left me laughing out loud at God’s sense of humor.
I could just picture the risen Jesus showing up on the road to Emmaus where two of His not-yet convinced apostles were dejectedly discussing His very recent crucifixion. It reads like a comedy sketch.
Jesus listens to them talking about His own life and crucifixion for a bit … but does He approach them to say, “Look! I’m right here. I have risen!” Nope. He more or less ambles up to them and says, “Hey Bro, whassup?”
Blinded by their own grief they respond, “Dude! Are you kidding me? You must be the only dude on earth who hasn’t heard the news.”
Jesus says, innocently, “What news?”
So they start telling Him all about Himself.
Honestly – I pictured God smiling wryly as He breathed this Word to the faithful but somewhat dry author, Luke. It made me wonder whether Luke even cracked a smile as he carefully recorded this most critical part of God’s Word.
It reminded me of the kind of soldier’s homecoming tale, where the soldier’s waiting family has no idea that their loved one has returned from war, and the soldier surprises them by showing up dressed as a package delivery guy, going through all the motions of delivering a package without even cracking a smile while waiting to see how long it takes for his family to recognize him.
I was re-reading this chapter of Luke today and it still struck me as funny, just as it had the first time I read it.
God as divine Comedy Sketch writer?
I imagine Him smiling every time one of His children reads this passage in the Gospel According to Luke, pleased that He has created His children with a sense of humor, and eternally delighting in watching His children using that Gift as they study one of His most important messages to them.
GodChild 