Have you heard the one about the Baptist Minister who kept telling jokes?

Jokes are an interesting phenomenon. Why do people tell each other jokes? What makes us make up stories and ask questions that are entirely fictional, or are absurd, with the risk that the people who are listening may not find them funny or may even be offended?

There seems to be a drive within us to want to make other people laugh and to entertain them. I suspect that evolutionary biologists will have a good reason why we would do this – perhaps because popularity would make others more willing to protect us if we are threatened.

But I have a theory that we do it because we like laughing. We like to see other people laughing. Indeed the laughter of others seems to trigger a sympathetic laughter reflex within us. There is no doubt that laughter is good for us – except perhaps when it so takes over our bodies that we are unable to stand or breathe. Then it becomes dangerous.

I don’t think that there will be many times in my life (if any) when my joke-telling reduces people to quivering wrecks on the floor, gasping for breath. I like to tell them at the start of (and during) my sermons as they introduce a theme with a laugh that draws people in, but the best I have had is a guffaw (which is probably a good thing). I love the moments when I tell a joke and it takes a while for the punchline to sink in and to produce a laugh. It is quite fun to see the penny drop!

One thing that people don’t realise is that Jesus told a lot of jokes. In his case I think they were partly to entertain and invite people to explore his themes more fully, but he managed too to tell jokes that had a punchline which would make a spiritual impact as well as a laugh. Some examples would be: camels going through the eyes of needles; slapstick exploding wineskins; describing hypocrisy as being like a whitewashed tomb, and making a Samaritan the hero of a story told to Jews. We miss the humour because the sense of humour of Jesus’ contemporary culture is very different to ours. It doesn’t seem very funny either when you have to explain that something is funny.

Why have I blogged about this? Partly to explain the rationale behind why I tell jokes in my sermons and on the blog. Partly to remind us that laughing is good and worth doing. Partly to help remind us of Jesus’ humanity: he has a sense of humour. And partly as an intro for this joke:

A man went to his doctor and said, “What’s wrong with me Doctor? I have a rash on my legs, am feeling lethargic and my teeth are falling out!”

The doctor thought for a moment. “You’re not eating properly,” he said. “You have got scurvy. You should eat more fruit.”

The man went away and came back a week later. He had a banana up his nose, an apple core sticking out of one ear and had half a melon on his head.

“What’s wrong with me now, Doctor?”

The doctor thought for a moment. “You’re still not eating properly.”

I told this joke in yesterday’s sermon (on the Fruit of the Spirit) and it was one of those gratifying occasions when the penny dropped in different places around the church.

Be blessed. Laugh lots!