Dr. Mike Jones

Q: The Bible never mentions Jesus laughing … did He?

A: When you talk with most Christians about this issue, you can tell that it never crossed the mind of many of them, because they ‘always’ view Jesus not only as God’ son, but God [Himself] manifested in the flesh. And when that view of Jesus is used, it is always talked about in terms of: He is holy, that He is perfectly holy, that He is without any flaw or error whatsoever. And that He has never thought, said or done anything that is outside of His God-like character (or wrong).

They point to verses that describe His character, such as, “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.” They point to John 12:27, “Now is My soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour.” His serious nature during His time here on earth; thus, we’re unable to find one instance in the New Testament, whereby, He laughed!

With that said, there are instances that I can point out in the Greek text of sacred Scripture, that even in His serious nature, He was fully human, and did use sarcasm, in getting His point over. Two examples in scripture, that I believe His humorous sarcasm comes through, is in John 3:1-9, “Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”  … Nicodemus said to Him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?” [The humorous sarcasm in this conversation comes from scholars that indicate Greek idioms can be used to attribute to Jesus’ reply to Nicodemus: “Nicodemus … seriously. You’re a master teacher of the ‘Law,’ and YOU DON’T KNOW THIS?”]

The other example can be found in John 21:15-17, “When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Feed My lambs.” He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Tend My sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” and he said to Him, “Lord, You know everything; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.” [In this conversation, we remembered Jesus earlier, having to rebuke Peter, because he stood up and said, “I’ll never deny You!” And yet, he denied Him three times. The sarcasm here, is that Jesus asked Peter three times, if he really loved Him! On the third time asked, Peter was grieved, and no doubt he remembered denying his Lord those three times!]

Conclusion of the matter: Jesus was God manifested in the flesh; and the Bible says God laughed in Psalm 2:4, “He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.” [Wicked man plots against omniscient (all knowing) God, and thinking he will get away with it: Holy God sees what is about to come to pass … and literally laughs!] And in Jesus’ case, He often was found sitting around with His disciples, engaging them in conversation, and with Him being all God and all man, it’s feasible to  assume that there were some laughable moments. [Remember, the Bible says in John 21:25, “Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.”]