May 4/5, 2007

Easter With a Smile

I remember the first time I laughed out loud at a passage of Scripture. At a pastors' gathering, performer and New Testament translator David Rhodes was reciting - from memory - the entire gospel according to St. Mark.

And when he got to the part, early in the story, where they tore off the roof and lowered the man on his bed down to eye-level in front of Jesus, for the first time I "got it" - the humor of the Bible itself...

'Cause this man's friends expected Jesus to heal the man's legs; instead, Jesus forgave the man's sins. The scribes and Pharisees were miffed at the forgiveness. So Jesus healed his body... and the man picked up his bed and off he went. I laughed at what I'd heard. Forgiven... or... made well? How 'bout, Yes, why not both!

Just as "No one expects the Spanish Inquisition" in those Monty Python episodes - and you don't expect either of them in a sermon - no one expects a chuckle from the pages of the Bible. Yet if music is all the proof that Kurt Vonnegut needed for the existence of God [1] I believe comedy, laughter, and good humor are testimony to the resurrection.

In Jesus' resurrection God pulled off the Grand Reversal - life from death, peace in the midst of great violence, hope against all odds. That's why jokes and humor work, they say. We laugh because the punch line is not what we expect, is the reverse of normal, resurrection instead of oatmeal and soda crackers.

But for as much as I enjoy comedy and humor, I haven't spent any time at all in study of the science behind them. Paying that much attention to the theory and philosophy of humor is like discussing the chocolate chip cookie instead of tasting it. I know how Doreen Kloth makes her cookies. She's told me her secret, which is safe with me. But she doesn't belabor the point. She simply opens her purse and withdraws the baggie, while I'm visiting her husband Stan. And we all three savor that little taste of Easter, and no one turns down a second helping. Thursday she even sent the remainder home with me. I'm wondering if next month she'll send me home with some for Nancy. I'm doubtful Nancy will ever see them!

The New Testament doesn't belabor the event of resurrection. There are at least four reports of Easter in the gospels, all somewhat different but each one springs the punch line on us that no one then expected and most folks today say they have to see before they'll "get it." The Bible simply reports that Easter happened, and then the Bible wants to know, "What's next? What's going to happen now? ...See what happens when true life grabs hold!" No time or effort explaining, dissecting and describing, or even defending Christ's resurrection. The Easter punch life is what it is, to be enjoyed, trusted - life again, life abundant - and shared, like a good joke.

Do you know why, when statistician and actuary Mark Spangrud dies, he says he wants to be buried in Israel? It has the highest resurrection rate in the world.

See what I mean? There's Easter! In your laughter, in Mark's favorite joke and my retelling it, there's reversal. In the face of what we know of reality, we laugh because we're gonna be part of the new statistic!

There's just gotta be humor in that after-Easter fishing trip on the Sea of Galilee. Can you really imagine any fishermen NOT telling tall stories with big endings? And along the road that afternoon - the grieving mourners turned into unsuspecting straight-men for the stand-up Stranger in disguise. Later they realized, he had used humor to crack open their sad hearts, and now they understood the Scriptures as they never had before. So do you!

Laughter and tears are two ways to respond to frustration and exhaustion, according to Kurt Vonnegut. "I myself prefer to laugh," he says, "since there is less cleaning up to do afterward." [2] Life is filled with frustration and fatigue, isn't it? There is plenty to cry about, beginning with loss and goodbye, sometimes each day, and ending with our own mortality.

Even as I do my share of crying, I too prefer laughter... because God's busy cleaning up this messy world and in Easter I've been washed, dressed (inside and out) in robes of resurrection. There's still a lot of work to do, of course; it's a messy place, this earth. But I'm willing to be the straight-man if it helps you get the joke.

ALTERNATE ENDINGS, Saturday & Sunday services (a new one at each...)

Three guys just died and are at the pearly gates of heaven. St. Peter tells them that they can enter the gates if they can answer one simple question.

St. Peter asks the first man, "WHAT IS EASTER?"

The man replies, "Oh, that's easy, it's the holiday in November when everybody gets together, eats turkey, and is thankful..."

"Wrong," replies St. Peter, and proceeds to ask the second man the same question, "WHAT IS EASTER?"

The second man replies, "No, Easter is the holiday in December when we put up a nice tree, exchange presents, and celebrate the birth of Jesus."

St. Peter looks at the second man, shakes his head in disgust, looks at the third man and asks, "WHAT IS EASTER?"

The third man smiles, looks St. Pete in the eye, and nudges him with his elbow. "I know what Easter is. Easter is the Christian holiday that coincides with Passover. Jesus and his disciples were eating at the last supper and he was later betrayed and turned over to the Romans by one of his disciples. The Romans took him to be crucified and he was stabbed in the side, wore a crown of thorns, and hung on a cross. He was buried in a nearby cave which was sealed off by a large boulder. Every year the boulder is moved aside so that Jesus can come out, look around, and if he sees his shadow there'll be six more weeks of winter." I'm glad there's springtime in this church - and in your heart and home! The Lord is risen; he is risen indeed - Alleluia!

It's not in the Scriptures, but another story has it that upon His resurrection, the Lord appeared to a certain fisherman.

"I'm Jesus" he said. "My death has saved all who do or will believe, and I am returned to show the Father's love and power."

"No, you're not Jesus, so bug off, you're scaring all the fish," answered the old fisherman.

"You're full of doubt," answered Jesus. "What would you have me do to show who I am?"

"OK walk across the river."

So Jesus starts walking across the river. Next thing you know, he sinks and disappears beneath the water. He gets his head back up, coughs and spits, and swims back to shore. The old man says, "There you are, see, you're not Jesus. You can't walk on water."

Jesus says, "Well, I used to be able to do it - until I got these holes in my feet!"

We know what those scars are all about and how they happened... how they really have been healed. And so have WE been healed. Now, we can't walk on water, but we do share Easter with Jesus, and it's an Easter with a smile. The Lord is risen; he is risen indeed - Alleluia!

There are 3 good arguments that Jesus actually was African-American:
(1) He loved gospel music
(2) He called everybody brother
(3) and there was no way that he could get a fair trial

But there are 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was Italian:
(1) He had wine with every meal
(2) He spoke with his hands
(3) and his mother thought that he was God

But there are 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was Irish:
(1) He never got married
(2) He was always telling stories
(3) He loved green pastures

But there were 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was Native American:
(1) He was at peace with nature
(2) He ate a lot of fish
(3) He spoke about the Great Spirit

But some of you will say this is the most compelling of all - that Jesus actually was a woman:
(1) He fed a crowd at a moment's notice when there was no food
(2) He kept trying to get a message across to a bunch of men who just didn't get it
(3) And even when he was dead, he had to get up because there was work to do.

Male or female, there's work for us to do. It's the joyful, happy work of resurrection. Call it today, Easter with a song - and with a smile. The Lord is risen; he is risen indeed - Alleluia!

Nathan Castens
Chanhassen, Minnesota [1] A Man Without a Country, quoted in Christian Century (May 1, 2007), in several other publications recently - and on the front page of our worship folder this weekend.

[2] Quotationspage.com - but no reference to source
The jokes are old ones; most pastors have heard them before.