‘Humour is a necessary part of the human condition’

The last three months have been a rollercoaster. From home renovations and last-minute relocations, to the general stressors of raising children in various stages of development. From the financial precariousness of being a two-freelancer parent household, to the death of a dearly beloved one. From health issues, to marital discord, to hardships in the lives of friends…And these are just the personal issues; not to mention political and social instability, natural disasters overseas and international insecurities. Testing and trials are common to everyone – sometimes even in one short season. In the midst of all that has been going on, God has been teaching me the necessity of one integral piece of the pie of life, which I wasn’t expecting: comedy. 

A moment of comedy

Comedy is loosely defined as a type of entertainment that makes people laugh. While the issues of life are generally unentertaining, a bit of comedy can be good medicine for the wearisome condition. Case in point: late last year, for my husband’s birthday, I purchased tickets for the European tour of one of our favourite comedians. His birthday and the date of the show were months apart, but having something to look forward to after the holiday season was exciting. Hoping to give him the full (though very belated) birthday treatment, I made a note on our dinner reservation, just before the show, that we were celebrating. At the very least, maybe we’d get a romantic table out of it. 

The laughter changed the energy

As previously mentioned, given our current life conditions, the meal wasn’t going great. The authentic Italian food was to die for, but trying to compartmentalise a pleasant evening while drowning in chaos on the home front was too much pretending. My husband was jetlagged, I was frustrated; he was irritable, I was being stubborn. Before long, the dinner entailed more bemoaning than merriment. In the ambiance of dim lighting and festive fairy bulbs, it was obvious; our hushed and pensive tones toward each other were drawing attention. Each time a waiter came over, he couldn’t depart from our table fast enough. You could cut the tension with a knife; maybe that’s why our drinks weren’t being refreshed. For a split second, I even wondered if my husband was going to leave. 

Suddenly, our drama was interrupted with loud singing and desserts with a candle for my husband thrust upon the table. The waiters, looking oddly like perma-grinning deer in headlights, strained singing ‘Happy Birthday’. It was unexpected, awkward…and funny. The light-hearted energy salvaged the moment and put a smile on my husband’s face. Because he smiled, I smiled, and the whole restaurant happily appreciated we were no longer arguing. We all smiled together! We couldn’t help but laugh, and the laughter changed the energy. The comedy show afterwards swept our cares back at home even further from the both of us. The rest of the evening was spent belly-laughing. That was four days ago and, since then, we haven’t gone back to those crotchety attitudes. 

Humour in the Bible

Humour is a necessary part of the human condition. God made us in his image. Maybe you’re one of those whacky animal people who insists your cat laughs at your jokes, but, by and large, laughter is distinctly human. The Bible isn’t lacking in humorous moments. There’s toilet humour, such as when David surprises Saul, revealing he was there while Saul thought he was alone, relieving himself (1 Samuel 24:1-13), and Elijah suggesting Baal wasn’t answering his prophets because he was taking care of business in the loo (1 Kings 18:27, NLT). There’s humorous wordplay, like Abigail being married to the curmudgeonly Nabal, whose name actually means fool (1 Samuel 25:25). Who on earth would name their child ‘fool’? No wonder he was always in a bad mood. 

The historic biblical figure I’d argue has the most comic storyline is Jacob, who caused hijinks from inside the womb (Genesis 25:26). There’s his comic deception of biblical proportions when he puts on goat skin to deceive his father into thinking he’s his brother, Esau (Genesis 27). Esau was literally hairy enough to pass for a farm animal. There’s the old switcheroo pulled on him between Rachel and Leah on his wedding night (Genesis 29), and the way he lets his women and children go before him to encounter his sworn enemy brother’s posse, out of fear (Genesis 33). Maybe it’s coincidence, but did you ever notice the descendants of Jacob (also known as Israel) have a reputation as great comedians? The Marx Brothers, Mel Brooks, Gene Wilder, Jerry Seinfeld, Larry David, Joan Rivers, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jenny Slate…the long list continues. God’s people are very funny people (pun intended, Barbra Streisand). 

The gift of laughter 

I’m not making light of the scriptures. The same Book that describes a happy heart as good medicine (Proverbs 17:22) and says a merry heart makes a cheerful face (Proverbs 15:13), also exhorts us that hardship is not the worst thing for our souls. In  Ecclesiastes 7:2-4 Solomon reminds us of sorrow’s refining nature and James and Paul both wrote about the character-building effect of our trials (James 1:3 and Romans 5:4). God didn’t send down his

living and active, life-altering Word as divine comedy. But he knows us intimately, including the evil of men’s hearts, and the ravages of sin, death and suffering. What grace it is to reveal a people as sinful as this, and still gift us with humour, laughter and comedy.

[Laughter is] a heaven-sent healing balm

Laughter binds us. Nothing changes a dour mood with teenagers like a funny joke or a clever meme on Instagram. In fact, I highly suggest, if you’re experiencing a trying season, you look up clean Christian comedians on YouTube. Michael Jr, Nate Bargatze, and Leanne Morgan are some of my favourites. On Instagram, @chrischris011, @gods.best.friend and @hannahcrews.blog, will keep you laughing for hours. And when all else fails there’s always cute puppies, adorable babies and people falling to pick you up when you just need a laugh. For laughter is a healing balm that’s heaven sent.