God is a Comedian

Easter 2

Holy Hilarity

April 3, 2016

The dictionary says that a comedy is

a drama in which the central

motif is the triumph over adversity,

leading to a successful conclusion.

By that definition,

The story of Jesus is a comedy.

And when you think about it,

the story is definitely something to laugh about.

We’ve got one guy who’s objective is to turn

over all the systems of heaven and earth.

He finds twelve friends who never seem

to grasp what the point of the mission was.

Jesus on a donkey.

He has no weapons, no secret arsenal,

no campaign manager, 

no organization really

His whole tactic seems to be

“Take up your cross and follow me.”

How are you going to take down the

devil and the empire with that?

And for Jesus entrance 

into his final confrontation

in Jerusalem, on what we call Palm Sunday,

He doesn’t come in like 

Caesar on a white stallion,

Comes in on a small, 

baby donkey looking rather ridiculous --

really a parody of other military entrances.

  

And it says in all the gospels that it’s a

“donkey that’s never been ridden before.”

I don’t know much about live stock,

but I have met donkeys and they don’t

come into the world wanting to be ridden.

And in the end, the entirety of Jesus plan

to turn over everything,

is to hand himself over to the empire

and religion and to die.

And the biggest laugh of all – it works!

The Joke is on the Devil.

Death will not have the final word.

By giving in and dying, Jesus claims victory over death

and the devil is reduced to being a puny blowhard.

And the joke is also on the empire and religion.

Of course that doesn’t happen immediately,

it’s a slow, building comedy,

but the funny thing is, as soon as

the establishment adopts Christianity

as its symbol and emblem,

Jesus starts subverting from the inside

and the comedy keeps replaying itself through history.

Even in today’s Gospel story, 

fear has gripped the disciples

But even in this tense moment,

there’s still room for some comedy.

They all lock themselves in the room out of fear

and because they don’t quite know what to do next.

But Thomas decides to leave the room for one minute.

Maybe the tension was too much,

and he was getting coffee or something.

And of course, just at that moment, Jesus comes in the room.

When you think about it,

our whole life with God

can be full of ironic twists,

strange coincidences and perfect timing.

The elements of comedy.

  

And just the basic premise some might call a little silly.

We’re asked to devote our lives to a Jewish

carpenter who lived 2000 years ago.

Asked to help people, to love strangers,

pray for our enemies, to take up our cross and follow.

If we didn’t know about Christianity,

we might laugh if we heard about it for the first time.

There’s an impression around the world

that Christians are dour and serious.

And Christians have often lived up to that.

And there was a time when laughing and frivolity

was looked down on by some of our crankier brothers and sisters.

I think the devil would love for us to think

that God was all business,

all forms in triplicate, all facts,

counting our sins and full of condemnation.

The devil would like for us to judge the rest of the world

with the same kind of contempt with

suspicious of God and of one another.

But the last and best joke is finally on the devil.

Because God is an artist, God is a comedian,

 God is joy and laughter, God is life.

And in the end, God always wins.

Because Christ is risen!