Consider the exchange Jesus has with Nathanael in the first chapter of John: When Nathanael's friends come to tell him they've found the Messiah, Nathanael responds, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"
Nathanael reacts like this because Nazareth is known as a backwater kind of place. I grew up in New York and it's similar to what we'd say, "Can anything good come out of New Jersey?" [And we were saying this even before The Jersey Shore aired]
If we view this scene as a deeply serious exchange, we may imagine Jesus walking up to Nathanael, wagging his finger, and gently chiding, "Tsk, tsk, Nathanael. I know your thoughts. Be serious and follow me." That's not what Jesus does at all.
Jesus responds, "Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!" This is hilarious but it's easy to miss the punchline unless you know the back story. Before Israel was a nation, God named a guy Israel, whose birth name was Jacob. Jacob was a deceiver, constantly tricking his family, friends, and even kings. When he was young, for example, Jacob fooled his blind father into thinking Jacob was actually his hairy brother Esau. The father mistakingly gave the birthright to Jacob, which could not be undone.
Jesus' response could be paraphrased, "Hey guys, gather around and take a picture! I found a mythical creature: the first son of Jacob who isn't being deceptive!" Ha, this is a great comeback. Jesus responds to humor with more humor.
There are funny little exchanges like this throughout the entire Bible. One author said it well when he wrote, "The Bible is full of irony, wit, double entendre, paradox, epigrams, incongruity, hyperbole, absurdity, verbal subtleties, indirection, clever turns of phrases, and pungency of speech."
If you find a humorous moment/story in the Bible, message me and let me know. I'd love to hear your thoughts. My next post is going to be on what makes it difficult to access the humor of the Bible.
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