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DIVINE LAUGHTER:
THE SPIRITUAL ROLE OF HUMOR
IN RELIGION
by
Dr. James S. Vuocolo
Note: This manuscript is the intellectual property of
Life-Coach Consulting, and is available for reading at this site only.Ó 1997 by James S. Vuocolo -- All rights reserved.
INTRODUCTION:
Humor is a serious business. It is serious not only for the
stand-up comic who is being paid for making others laugh,
or the person telling funny stories in order to strengthen relationships - but serious also in terms of being a necessary spiritual ingredient in human life. Indeed, how utterly boring life would be if we did not possess the gift of humor as a means of placing all of life in perspective from time to time! There is, indeed, a valid claim residing behind the reality that
a particular section of The Reader's Digest Magazine calls, "Laughter is The Best Medicine".While written and revised over a period of years from a primarily Judeo-Christian perspective, I trust this manuscript will encourage readers of every religious (or non- religious) persuasion to rethink the content of their own personal (i.e. private) and/or corporate (i.e. public) belief-systems. All human beings are spiritual by design, whether they personally choose to recognize this fact of creation or not. If any person or group wants to deny the spiritual aspects of human existence, they may do so at any time. We can also choose
to deny the existence of the air we cannot see that permeates our lungs.
But eventually, something beyond our control will cause
us to spiritually "hold our breath" for a prolonged period
of time -- and we will be forced to acknowledge the spiritual truth about ourselves - just as we must eventually breathe in the air. As spiritual beings, we share a depth of being that goes far beyond the confines of any socio-religious labels, categories, and/or denominations we may prescribe for ourselves and others. Thus, even atheists, by definition, are people of faith in a spiritual sense of the term. Indeed, the beauty of experiencing human life resides in the fact that we are all humans being spiritual, together!I personally believe that humor is the deepest spiritual aspect of life that binds us all together. Like the basic needs we share to eat, drink, breathe, and visit the bathroom from time to time, humor serves to bind us together in a way that transcends all nations, cultures and geographic boundaries! Of all the branches of humor found upon the human tree of life, I personally enjoy spiritual humor the best. If even such spiritual giants such as Gautama Buddha and Jesus of Nazareth needed to stop for potty-breaks from time to time - they most certainly were in equal need of displaying a sense of humor! While perhaps not integral to the records we have of their personal teachings, such aspects of life are, indeed, an integral part of daily human existence!
My hope is that these pages will somehow add to your own self-understandings and spiritual depths. If so, I'd like to hear from you. If not, I like to hear from you, even more!
James S. Vuocolo,
Redlands, California ¨ Maundy Thursday, 1997
BODY OF TEXT:
Throughout the Christian Church (and elsewhere), we observe evidences of a seriousness in religion that stifles creativity, compassion, and grace; and too often, effectively serves to replace these God given virtues with human regulation and law. This is not to say there is no place for a serious inquiry, or mindset, in Christianity - but merely to point out that, when taken to the extreme, such seriousness frequently serves to circumvent the "still, small voice" of God that speaks a Word of creativity, grace, and compassion to a broken humanity in need of restoration and healing...
Perhaps this erosion of the divine is best observed among, but is by no means restricted to, the ranks of the professional clergy. This is a group that has been elevated by society and set apart by the rite of ordination. Having been given the title "Reverend" for performing the ministry of service (diakovew) that is the calling of every believer in the New Testament, the clergy (as group) frequently take their calling, and themselves, quite "seriously". Perhaps rightly so. However, when taken beyond a point that affirms the humanity of these people in the totality of our common existence, a false and arbitrary dichotomy may arise between the so-called "sacred" and "secular" (or, "holy" and "profane") spheres of human existence that drives a wedge between the clergy and laity, and seemingly flies in the face of Jesus' admonition against such behavior in the Gospel record (cf. Mark 10:42-45). Indeed, the "seriousness" of their calling is frequently taken to a point beyond that in which the grace and compassion of God may be readily discovered.
Herein lies a great danger for the Christian Church in every age; for what is true of the clergy is equally true for the laity, since all clergy were born and raised as laypersons!
A certain survey conducted among Protestant theological seminaries in the early 1970's concluded that the clergy had more in common with politicians, than with any other profession named in the sample. Given the degree of committee meetings and hand-shaking that comes with the cleric's task in the course of a given week, any similarity that exists between these two professions is not particularly surprising. Yet perhaps contemporary religionists have more in common with clowns than with just about any other profession we might name! Consider the similarities before arbitrarily dismissing the possibility...
For each, a keen sense of timing is essential - whether in the delivery of a sermon and the service of pastoral care, or in ducking a pie that's been thrown at the face! It may be equally stated that the labor of each contributes little or nothing to the gross national product their nation produces. And the labor of both clown and religionist consists of examining the fabric of human existence in the form of prophetic social statements and actions that contributes toward an individual and collective understanding of what it genuinely means to be human in relation to ourselves and others. Each explores the inner depths and pathos of living, so that in the midst of our own laughter, tears, tragedy and folly we may discern and reflect upon the human situation in ways that lend new meaning and purpose to the life we share. Such discernment and reflection is truly "religious" in the deepest sense of the term; and may be especially so whenever irony, satire, and other forms of humor are employed.
We may discover a graphic illustration of this in the opera, Pagliacci, wherein the composer, Ruggiero Leoncavallo (c. 1892), presents us with a play within a play. The stage setting is a village to which a roving caravan of actors arrives to present an outdoor comedy for the villagers one evening. The central character is a clown whose spouse plays opposite his character in the play. The man who plays the clown has discovered that his spouse has, in real life, taken on a secret lover; and he is enraged - consumed by jealousy.
During the course of the play the clown begins to assume his real self, accusing his wife of deceiving him. She laughs in his face as he demands to know the identity of her lover. The clown slips further and further away from his assumed role, expressing his jealous rage amid the performance; and the more he does so, the more loudly the village audience applauds and laughs.
Suddenly, the clown/husband seizes a knife, and stabs his wife on stage, in full view of everyone. Her lover rushes from the audience to help her, but the clown/husband reels and plunges the knife into the lover's heart. Finally, dressed in a comic costume covered with the blood of infidelity, he walks to the front of the stage, and announces to the village audience that, "The comedy is ended".
At a superficial level, many of us seemingly hold the image of a clown as being one for whom humor is the end result, rather than being the means to an even greater end. This often precludes our genuine understanding of the clown's message. But a deeper look enables us to appreciate how it is that many of life's greatest mysteries may be subtly communicated and understood by utilizing humor to explain that which is otherwise overlooked; or how humor may be employed as a verbal or non-verbal sword that can slice an opponent to shreds before anyone ever realizes the opponent is publicly "bleeding".
This may explain how it was that Jesters in the Middle Ages often held an unusually high degree of influence within a monarch's court, despite the fact that they were frequently thought of as being fools, and were openly laughed at for their unusual antics. These "fools" were very often able to influence the destiny of an entire realm, and were still alive and poking fun at the king while many of their critics were summarily put to death for their calculated criticism of the same monarch!
Some may recall Freddie Printz, a Puerto Rican comedian of another decade who told jokes about the absurdities that Whites leveled against his race. Millions of White television viewers and nightclub audiences who followed his series, "Chico and the Man", laughed at his humor - without ever suspecting how extremely depressed and angry he must have been over the role of his people in our society, or how troubled a young man he was, until his career ended abruptly in a tragic act of suicide. Like the Black comedian, Dick Gregory, before him, Freddie played the prophetic role of a social critic who helped to point out the inequities and injustice of our social systems.
Among clergy and laity alike, the Judeo-Christian Tradition contains a good deal of comedy for those who dare to recognize it - just as many other world religions contain a "sacred fool" tradition. Within the Eastern Orthodox Church, especially between the 3rd and 6th centuries, the "Holy Fool" was extolled along with martyrs, virgins, and saints. Many of the Desert Fathers, i.e. ascetics in the deserts of Egypt during the 3rd and 4th centuries, also fell into this category. In early Russia, holy men walked the streets in rags, and were perfectly free to say the most shocking things to anyone - even to the point of rebuking their highest state officials!
Between the 12th and the 15th centuries, the medieval "Feast of Fools" reflected an ancient Saturnalia festival observed in the Roman Empire, wherein laws were suspended and customs were reversed so that a child or an imbecile might be made a bishop or a king for the occasion. The liturgical reading began with the words, "God hath put down the mighty from their seat and hath exalted the humble and the meek". Harvey Cox has written in praise of this custom in his book, "The Feast of Fools" (Harper & Row, 1969); yet it was done away with in post-feudal Europe, and was replaced by printing, the work ethic, and an ever growing autonomy of the technocratic state.
While many previously acceptable forms of mad and foolish behavior became unacceptable in the Post-Reformation period of the Christianity, the "Holy Fool" tradition survives in nearly every religious faith. Judaism honors the Schlemiel and Badhan, the "professional fool" who entertains at various festivals.
Within the mystical traditions of Islam, there's a schlemiel-like figure in the Mulla Nasrudin from the 13th century. Pu-tai and Ma-tsu play similar roles in Zen Buddhism; the first being a 10th century master who was often found with a frog on his head, and all of his belongings in a sack, while he played and made funny faces with children.
These sacred fools jested, told stories, and played the fool's role; and, in the process, they perhaps served the truth in their time and place more fully than did many of their "sane, serious, and solid" contemporaries.
The Hebrew Scriptures of the Old Testament contains a prophetic tradition that's rich with intriguing examples of utterly foolish symbolic behavior. Ezekiel, speaking at the time of the Babylonian invasion of Judah, played in the dirt like a small child; and piled up little siege works against a brick upon which he had drawn a picture of Jerusalem to depict the impending disaster to the city as told to him by God (cf. Ezekiel 4:1-3). Jeremiah wore a wooden yoke like an ox (cf. Jeremiah 27:2ff.) as instructed by the same God who told Hosea to marry a local prostitute and remain stubbornly faithful to her (cf. Hosea 1:2-3, 3:1-3).
Again and again, the people of ancient Israel were shocked out of complacency by the seemingly foolish and comedic behavior of their prophets. Perhaps their tradition continues in the ironic antics of disciples like Daniel Berrigan (a Jesuit priest), and his colleagues, who entered a General Electric plant in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania several years ago to pour vials of their own blood over the technical plans for the Mark 12-A nuclear nose-cone, and hammered upon the missile itself, to assert their understanding of God's will. Can it be that, contrary to the national advertising we're exposed to by the company, General Electric "brings good things to death", in reality?
The role of humor in religion is essential in enabling each of us to maintain a sense of perspective. The Buddhist Guru, Trungpa, of Boulder, Colorado points this out in saying:
"Sense of humor means seeing both poles of a situation as they are, from an aerial point of view. There is good and there is bad and you see both with a panoramic view as though from above." ("Sense of Humor" from Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism)
Whenever those of us in the Christian church take ourselves, and what we are doing, too seriously, we can and sometimes do, lose perspective regarding the will of God for our lives and our ministries. Neither clergy or laypersons are immune!
For all our theological jargon and rhetoric that seeks to illumine the dealings of God with humanity, we almost never hear a proclamation of the good news that God has a terrific sense of humor! Yet, some of our finest contemporary Christian thinkers now assert that a kind of divine/human comedy is taking place whenever the Gospel really happens in the midst of life.
The Presbyterian author and theologue, Frederick Buechner, says:
The tragic (element in life) is inevitable. The comic is unforeseeable. How can Donald Duck foresee that after being run over by a steamroller he will pick himself up on the other side as flat as a pancake for a few seconds but alive and squawking? How can Charlie Chaplin in his baggy pants and derby hat foresee that though he is stood up by the girl and clobbered over the head by the policeman and hit in the kisser with a custard pie, he will emerge dapper and gallant to the end, twirling his invincible cane and twitching his invincible moustache? Bored to death by his comforters and scratching his boils and facing the undertaker's unpaid bill for the multiple funeral of his children and entire household staff, how could Job possibly foresee that his bloodshot eyes would indeed behold, and by no means as a stranger, the one who laid the foundations of the earth and at whose work the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Who could have predicted that God would choose not Esau, the honest and reliable, but Jacob, the trickster and heel, that he would put the finger on Noah, who hit the bottle, or on Moses, who was trying to beat the rap in Midian for braining a man in Egypt and said that if it weren't for the honor of the thing he'd just as soon let Aaron go back and face the music, or on the prophets, who were a ragged lot, mad a hatters most of them and dragging their heels to a man when they were called to hit the sawdust trail? Who could have foretold that out of the sordid affair between David and Uriah's wife, Bathsheba, Solomon would be born with his high IQ and his passion for ecclesiastical architecture and that out of Solomon would be born a whole line of apostate kings ending finally in a King the likes of whom nobody could possibly have foretold except maybe Second Isaiah, who saw at least that it wasn't his beaux yeux that would draw men to him or by the power of his heavy artillery that he would king it over them. (Telling the Truth, pp. 57-58.)
In other words, God frequently chooses to work in mysterious ways that sets the accepted values, mores, and customs of the world on their ear! In fact, it may be suggested that God has been playing "divine jokes" upon an unsuspecting humanity that takes itself and its abilities far too seriously since the beginning of time - Yet always with a salvific sense of humor that enables us to gain a new perspective of ourselves, from God's point of view! Indeed, what might mortal humans say or do to "impress" our own import upon the One who created light out of darkness; formed the planets and nature we enjoy, along with the elaborate system of checks and balances that holds it all together; and who keeps our finest human minds confused as to exactly how it all came about? To ponder this question for any length of time results in a new perspective about ourselves, and enables the saving sound of divine laughter to be heard once again within our souls. The sovereignty of God enables the Deity to retain freedom from human control, despite our own best contrary efforts, and continue performing "humorous miracles" in the midst of our existence... And "blessed are those who get the joke; and who see these miracles in their midst - for theirs is the experience of heaven".
A favorite example of God's sense of humor has to do with the story of a baby boy who was born to a one hundred year old father and a ninety year old mother! And when Abraham considered the image of his elderly wife, Sarah, giving birth to a baby in the Geriatrics ward with Medicare picking up the tab, he laughed so hard that he fell on his face according to the Biblical record! And Sarah laughed, too, in hearing the Angelic announcement that she was to give birth to a son who would carry on the covenant with God! Yet she denied her laughter when questioned by God, because of embarrassment. Who wouldn't have laughed? Who wouldn't have been embarrassed? But then God said, "No, but you did laugh!" - yet instead of being angered, God joined in their laughter in telling them to name the boy Isaac (which, in Hebrew, means "laughter"). And God certainly had the last laugh when Sarah gave birth to Isaac the following spring!
Perhaps the most "practical joke" that God has ever played on an unsuspecting humanity, however, was that which was ultimately revealed in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. For who among us would have ever suspected that in the lowly guise of a carpenter's son that grew to hang around with fishermen, prostitutes, and lepers, God was, in fact, revealing the King of kings and Lord of lords to an unsuspecting world? Possibly only Deutero-Isaiah, as Buechner has suggested!
Even John the Baptist ended up with second thoughts about his cousin's Messianic validity. Picture the ironic humor of this Matthean scene, if you will... John is imprisoned by Herod for preaching against authority - a very "serious" offense! Meanwhile, John receives word that his cousin is conducting his ministry in an "unseemly fashion" on the outside: turning water into wine at parties, being called a drunkard and a glutton behind his back, hanging out with social outcasts and misfits like Mary Magdalene and Matthew Levi, and is constantly being overheard trading religious quips with the Pharisees! All the while, here John sits alone in a damp cell, about to lose his head for what he has seriously preached and believed; distressed to think that this is what had become of the cousin he had so publicly baptized and acknowledged to be the long awaited Messiah. He wasn't taking his calling "seriously enough"! Thus John decides to send a few of his own disciples to inquire of Jesus, "Are you he who is to come" (in other words, 'are you really the Christ'), or shall we look for someone else?"
To which Jesus replies in a way that reveals his "inherited" sense of humor: "Go back and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk; lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have good news preached to them..." And then he adds, for John and for each one of us who would take themselves too seriously, "Blessed are those who take no offense at me!" In other words, "Blessed are those who 'get the joke'; who see these miracles, and who understand that people are receiving far more than they deserve!" So the disciples return to their imprisoned leader, and once again, the sound of divine laughter could be heard throughout the land...
The Divine sense of humor can be readily discerned throughout the Scriptures. It's truly there - right next to the human tragedy and pain; for laughter is just as much a part of human life as tears. Indeed, they both spring forth from the same place in the human condition! Yet if God's sense of humor was to become as predictable as human tragedy in the midst of life, it would no longer be comic - it would no longer be creative - it would no longer be compassionate - and it would no longer be free to be grace.
What is a Clown? At best, someone who dares to be different by permitting him/her self to appear ridiculous, using humor to convey a much deeper truth. The classic example is the "Little Tramp" character, created and played by Charlie Chaplin.
Jesus of Nazareth also dared to be different, and allowed himself to appear "ridiculous" to many of his contemporaries. He wasn't a clown in the traditional sense of the term, since he rarely used humor as an overt means of communicating his message. Yet there remains a strange and surprising resemblance between the Man of Nazareth and the clown; for Jesus continually said and did things that much of the rest of the world called "ridiculous", both then and now, e.g. "Love your neighbor as yourself"; "Turn the other cheek"; "Take up your cross and follow me"; Forgive "seventy times seven"; "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you", etc.
Like a Clown, Jesus dared to be different and allowed himself to appear "ridiculous", that the will of God might become an objective reality in the lives of those who equally dared to engage in this divine folly - even to the point of death.
Consequently, the Apostle Paul would later say with integrity to the followers of Jesus at Corinth:
For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demanded signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. (I Corinthians 1:21-25)
There's a genuine blessing for those of us who dare to engage in the "folly" of God in Jesus Christ; a blessing that much of the rest of the world never gets to experience in quite the same way.
For the world at large, the Christian faith may look quite foolish, indeed! Yet we submit, for your consideration, that any nation that annually spends billions on sophisticated military hardware and computerized weapons, only to be rendered impotent by mobs of poor radicals in underdeveloped nations, and by terrorist attacks throughout the world, may begin to appreciate the irony of just how powerless the powerful can truly be! Indeed, its often surprising to discover exactly how unwise human wisdom can become...
Even as the modern world "snickers" at the folly of the Christian faith, those of us who have experienced the saving grace of this folly in our lives pause, along with the Apostle Paul, to place things in new perspective.
Much of humanity still seemingly expects the arrival of a Savior (Messiah) who will charge in to take control of the world in human socio-economic and geo-political terms. Yet instead, a lowly carpenter's son comes trotting into view on a donkey to the laughter and jeers of a crowd that had gathered to witness this ridiculous spectacle. We expect to see Him emerging from Air Force One next to Hillary and Bill; or descending the Capital steps on the arm of Trent Lott and Newt Gingrich; or, at least, attending the Christmas eve Mass at St. Peter's in Rome... And instead, we're given a Messiah who just doesn't seem to make any real sense by the world's standards.
Only the very young, the very old, the women and the simpletons seem to see Him for who and what He truly is, as He rides along passively on the donkey's back; while the rest of us stand by with confusion, as if to wonder which of the two is really "the ass" in the picture before us. But that's because the faithful were in position to see Him clearly, along with the poor, the blind, the lame, the deaf, the maimed, the prisoners, and the crazed old fools, like Paul, who could see what laid just below the surface of human existence. Those of us who think ourselves "smarter", think that we know better than the rest! We "know" that by working harder to achieve, getting advanced degrees in our chosen professions, and adjusting our values to those found in a world of high finance and technology, we'll really be far ahead of all the others - right?
What many of the people who had gathered together that first Palm Sunday undoubtedly saw was something "comic" to laugh at openly. or to "sneer" at privately. But what was really going on was something that would change the course of human history because of something far greater than what met the eye at first glance; something that was to become evident only later on, amid Jesus' weakest moment from upon a cross near the end of that week, wherein the genuine strength of God was made evident for all of humanity... Indeed, it was the "greatest joke" of all time - for that's exactly how long it was meant to last!
In the fourth decade of the twentieth century this point was made once again as a toothless, half-naked ascetic named Mohandas K. Gandhi almost single handedly forced the British Empire to reverse it's foreign policy and grant independence to India. And, once again, the sound of Divine laughter could be heard throughout the cosmos...
Finally, the "folly of God" was taken to its ultimate conclusion as Jesus was being laughed at and mocked by Roman soldiers, and nailed on a cross to die between two thieves. Recall the barbaric humor of the moment, as they threw an old cloak over his shoulders, placed a reed in his hand as a scepter, and laced some hard and sharp thorns together as a crown that they pressed upon his head until streams of blood tricked through his hair and ran down his face. Then, forming a line, they marched before him, crying out: "Hail, king of the Jews!"
What the soldiers saw was a comic, foolish, and tragic figure of a man who claimed to be more than they thought him to be. Yet what was actually happening beneath the surface of things was that, amid their torment of him, Jesus was making an ultimate statement - clearly proclaiming that there are, indeed, some things in life that are worth being beaten and humiliated for, and yes; even worth dying for!
Clowns never conform to the limits of the possible. A real clown will insist on riding a bike whose wheels are out of alignment, or walking a slack tightrope. You can predict that the clown is going to take a terrible fall, long before the nose-dive actually occurs; and it almost always does, to the delight of the crowd! Yet it only happens to see the clown stand up again, dust off the costume, and attempt something else! To occasionally attempt the impossible is to be eccentric; but to make a habit of doing so requires genuine flair - and Jesus of Nazareth has real flair!
Just as the world thought they had seen the last of him, He surprises us all in refusing to conform to the limits of possibility in being Resurrected from the dead - even the ultimate biological laws are not sufficient to keep Jesus from his friends! And again, God had the "last-laugh" on an all-too-serious humanity!
There are two kinds of people who refuse to conform to the limits of possibility: the mad and the clowns. Both may end up in straightjackets or upon crosses. But frequently, they display such inspired foolishness that they change the realities of the world by the sheer power of hope; transforming the impossibilities of today into the practical realities of tomorrow for all who would dare to risk looking foolish along with them, and actually take the necessary leap-of-faith with them into the previously unknown depths of God's merciful grace and love.
Thus, the nineteenth century existentialist, Soren Kierkegaard (the so-called "father of existential philosophical thought) could rightly say: "Christianity has taken a giant stride into the absurd..." And again, "Remove from Christianity it's ability to shock... and it is altogether destroyed. It then becomes a tiny, superficial thing, capable neither of inflicting deep wounds nor of healing them."
As Holy Folly accomplishes its work of raising our consciousness, it also necessarily must stir us to action. Thus, all Christian spirituality must lead us into the realm of the body-politic on behalf of God's righteousness, justice and peace for all peoples. William Sloane Coffin, Jr. has captured something of this truth in writing:
Jesus said, 'Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.' To be converted to Christ is to be converted to the poor... There is no way that Christianity can be spiritually redemptive without being socially responsible. A Christian cannot have a personal conversion experience without experiencing at the same time a change in social attitude. God is always trying to make humanity more human. But without us God will not, just as without God we cannot. (THE COURAGE TO LOVE, p. 32 Harper & Row, 1982)
As a nation, and even as a people of faith, we have not even begun to probe the richness of creative folly as a means of solving many of the greatest problems and challenges of our age.
Centuries ago in London there lived a tight-fisted, Calvinist moneylender to whom a Jewish merchant owed a considerable sum. One day, this moneylender proposed a vile bargain: he would cancel the entire debt if the merchant would agree to give away his beautiful young daughter as payment; otherwise, the debtor would rot in jail. Quite naturally, the debtor was horrified by either choice. But the greedy moneylender piously offered to allow Providence to decided the matter, saying that he would place a black pebble and a white pebble into an otherwise empty moneybag, and let the girl reach into the bag to choose one without looking. If she chose the black pebble, she would become his wife and her father's debt would be cancelled in full. If she chose the white pebble, she would stay with her father and the debt would still be cancelled. But if she refused to pick a pebble from the bag, her father would go to jail and she would starve.
Reluctantly, the merchant and his agreed to the test. As the moneylender stooped down to pick up the pebbles from the ground, the girl keenly noticed that he picked up two black pebbles and placed them into the bag. In that very moment, she had to decide what to do. She could refuse, thereby sending her father to jail; She could expose the moneylender as a cheat, thereby stirring his wrath; Or she could choose a black pebble from the bag, and sacrifice herself for her father. It was then that the folly of God led her to an act of the most clever kind of foolishness.
She reached into the bag and pulled out a pebble - and without ever looking at it, "accidentally" dropped it on the ground where it was lost among all of the others. She cried out, "Oh, how clumsy of me!" Then added, "But it really doesn't matter; for if you look in the bag you'll be able to tell which pebble I chose by the color of the one that's left!"
In like fashion, we are in a unique position to discover how the folly of God may be creatively and effectively employed to thwart the wisdom of a world that threatens to destroy us all, physically and spiritually, in the name of pious practicality and progress.
If the decision to choose in favor of love in a world like ours is the act of a clown, then Jesus is the biggest Clown in history! He matched the unconditional love of God against power and authority; against disease and greed. he displayed "sheer madness" at every turn: a lack of discrimination in the choice of his friends, freedom from political guile, open contempt for worldly prudence, and an openness to the claims that any would make upon him. Such foolishness breaks every rule of the social order, and rendered his end inevitable.
People first began laughing with him - then at him. Their laughter turned to mockery; and their mockery to hatred until, finally, they sought to rid themselves of this "disrupter".
Surely, Jesus did meet with a sticky end; but even that could not dampen His tremendous celebration of Life! With the utter resilience of a fallen Clown, he bounced-back into the human arena in order to show the rest of us how to live life fully as children of God, saying: "In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world!" (John 16:33b)
Paul speaks of the faithful as being "fools for Christ's sake" (I Corinthians 4:10); and fools we are if we take on the folly of God with any genuine degree of commitment. And Frederick Buechner causes us all to pause in saying:
Is it possible, I wonder, to say that it is only when you hear the Gospel as a wild and marvelous joke that you really hear it at all? Heard as anything else, the Gospel is the church's thing, the preacher's thing, the lecturer's thing. Heard as a joke - high and unbidden and ringing with laughter - it can only be God's thing. (TELLING THE TRUTH, p.68 Harper & Row, 1977)
So, "blessed are those who get the joke", and who perceive the Divine role of humor in religion; for they never take themselves or their world too seriously - and they realize that God always has the "last laugh", which is really the best laugh of all; through Jesus Christ our Lord. [END.]
PRAYER:
Eternal God, who speaks to us from deep within the fabric of life itself, and who has spoken to us in human terms in the person and work of Jesus, whom many affirm as being the Christ; help each of us do that which you will even when doing so makes us appear foolishly out of step with the world. Loving One, help us always remember that the world is in desperate need of those who will yet dare to seem foolish in the name and for the sake of justice and peace for all people. Amen.
Ó 1997 by James S. Vuocolo -- All rights reserved.
REFERENCE MATERIAL & SUGGESTED READING LIST:
1. BROWN, ROBERT MC AFEE, ed.
The Collected Writings of St. Hereticus.
Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1964.2. BUECHNER, FREDERICK. Telling the Truth: The Gospel As Tragedy, Comedy & Fairy Tale. San Francisco: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1977.
3. COFFIN, WILLIAM SLOANE. The Courage To Love. San Francisco: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1982.
4. COX,HARVEY. The Feast of Fools. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1969.
5. DART, JOHN. "'Godspell' Anniversary", The Christian Century, Vol. 99, No.2, January 20, 1982. pp.46-48.
6. KINGSLEY, DAVID. "Jesus Christ: Messiah, Lord, Harlequin", A Sermon delivered at the Pluckemin Presbyterian Church, Pluckemin, N.J. on March 13, 1977.
7. LANE, BELDEN C. "The Spirituality and Politics of Holy Folly", The Christian Century, Vol. 99, No.40, December 15,1982, pp.1281-86.
8. STEELE, DAVID. God must have a sense of Humor He made Aardvarks and Orangutans. St. Helena: Illuminations Press, 1983.
9. THOMAS, GEORGE. "Jesus, the Clown?" A sermon delivered at The Riverside Church in New York City on June 28, 1981.
10. TRUNGPA. "Sense of Humor". Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism, pp. 111-119.
11. VUOCOLO, JAMES S. "The Last Laugh!" The Strength of Weakness, pp.12-15. Elm: Elmtree Press, 1980.
12. WILLIMON, WILLIAM H., ed. Last Laugh. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1991.
13. WILLIMON, WILLIAM H.
"Looking Like Fools", The Christian Century, Vol.99, No.8,
March 10, 1982, pp. 261-262.Ó 1997 by James S. Vuocolo -- All rights reserved.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
James S. Vuocolo has been an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ since 1979. He holds a Bachelors degree from Bloomfield College , as well as Master and Doctoral degrees from Drew University. He presently serves as Senior Minister of the Redlands United Church of Christ in Redlands, California, in addition to being a personal and business coach.
As a Life-Coach and pastor, Dr. Vuocolo seeks to assist others in bringing the highest levels of personal integrity and growth to each area of life and work, while bringing new learnings and self-understandings to bear upon relations with others.
Dr. Vuocolo can be reached on the World Wide Web at:
http://www.SoulBusiness.comEmail Address: netcoach@SoulBusiness.com
Phone: (909) 794-2136 ¨ Fax: (909) 389-0746
Surface Mail:
1227 Via Florence Street ¨ Redlands, CA 92374-3990
SOME POINTS TO PONDER:
What role does humor play (or has it played) in your life, i.e. at home? at work? in social settings?
Think of the ways in which humor is used to demean the worth and dignity of other persons/ groups. What portion of "the human condition" does this reflect?
If a circus metaphor is applied to life, which of the following roles best describes your present situation? Why? [Ring Master; Clown; Trapeze Artist; Wild Animal Trainer; Barker; Ticket Seller; Tent Rigger; Human Cannonball; other?]
The author states (pg. 2): "I personally believe that humor is the deepest spiritual aspect of life that binds us all together". Do you agree? Why/Why not?
How does it help or hinder your own belief-system to picture spiritual figures, e.g. Buddha, Jesus, Mohammed, etc. displaying a sense of humor?
Whether you personally envision God as a Being, Spirit, or Created order (as in the Universe/Cosmos) - how does envisioning God having a sense of humor impact upon your vision?
In what ways is your own sense of humor a spiritual gift to yourself? to others?
How are you called upon as a (name your profession here) to engage in Holy Folly (see pp.9-12) on behalf of the world and its people?
Are the "clown-like" antics of the Hebrew prophets and/or the figure of Jesus during Holy Week a requisite for a deeper level of spirituality than we would otherwise manifest?
What 3 things can you do in your present situation in order to harness your own spirituality and/or humor as a positive life-affirming force in the universe?
Who will you have to become in order to fulfill your own spiritual greatness? How might the spiritual role of humor assist you in so doing?