“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax-collector.” Luke 18:10

9 March 2024   Luke 18:9-14   Dr. David C. Campbell

A priest, a rabbi, and a nun walk into a bar.

Does anyone not hear a joke coming?

According to Aristotle, the essence of humor is the sudden recognition of something that doesn’t fit, and the surprise is delivered with a twist that fits the facts in an unexpected way. That’s the kind of thing that makes us laugh.

A Pharisee and a tax collector go into the temple to pray.

Don’t you hear the joke coming? Jesus was telling a joke.

The humor of Jesus is a sadly overlooked feature of his teaching and witness. It is often simply assumed that Christians aren’t funny, and that people telling jokes are headed straight to hell. A close reading of scripture, however, shows that Jesus had a terrific sense of humor, a rich appreciation of irony and puns, and perfect timing, all marks of a great comedian. He was aware of the funny things around Him. The Pharisees, for instance, were the perfect straight men. Their humorless rigidity and stuffy seriousness made them ideal targets for Jesus’ wit. The Pharisee goes into the temple and prays with exaggerated unawareness of his hypocrisy, “Thank God I am not like other men – thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector” (18:11). Tax collectors were also perfect comic foils, complacently heedless of their own corruption and rapacity. The tax collector goes into the temple and prays, “God be merciful to me, a sinner” (18:13), and everyone is thinking, “…said no tax collector ever.” It was a joke, and everyone would have gotten it, except maybe the Pharisees and tax collectors. All of this was a setup for the twist that comes at the very end – it was a teaching on humility: “All who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted” (18:14). The joke was on the Pharisees and tax collectors, but the teaching was for everyone.

Milton Berle once said that there is a difference between a comic and a comedian: “A comic says funny things. A comedian says things funny.” A comedian’s art is to find the funny in ordinary things; a comedian’s gift is to use the funny in ordinary things to lighten the load, or to make the confusing clear. It is funny to think about “straining out a gnat but swallowing a camel” (Matthew 23:24), even funnier when you know that in Aramaic, Jesus’ native language, the word for “gnat” is galma, and the word for “camel” is gamla. Jesus uses comedic wordplay to focus everyone’s attention on the weightier matters of the law, and the more we can laugh at the comedy, the better we understand.

The gospels are not gags like “Who’s on First?” There are no pies in the face or pratfalls. Salvation and redemption from sin are utterly serious business. But, as C.S. Lewis says, “Joy is the serious business of heaven” (Letters to Malcolm, Chiefly on Prayer, p. 93), and part of joy is laughter, and part of laughter is finding the funny.

“A Pharisee and a tax collector go into the temple to pray.”

Jesus was telling a joke.