Friday 19 June 2020

During the 1960’s, it seemed that every summer the mining villages of Ayrshire, where I grew up, emptied out into Blackpool. I can still vividly remember the excitement in the run up to the ‘Glasgow Fayre Fortnight’, the traditional time for summer holidays, as we got ready for the trip to that strange and exotic place that was Blackpool. Looking back now I would sum it up as being cheap and cheerful, consisting of a string of dodgy B & Bs, variety shows on piers performed by the stars of the day and others of questionable talent, and the glorious, but expensive, Pleasure Beach, Britain’s first theme park.

Of all the rides and amusements on offer, the one that stands out for me involved no hair-raising ride or pulse rising attraction. It was the laughing policeman. Right at the centre of the Pleasure Beach there stood a figure of a policeman, an English one naturally, who laughed and laughed and laughed. As a child I found this both fascinating and hilarious. It was fun that was free.

I mention this because we are living through times in which there has been precious little to laugh about. Pandemics, racial tension and demonstrations, lockdown, social distancing, and all the death, suffering and grief that has accompanied it, is no laughing matter. But as we slowly emerge out of this dark tunnel, we will undoubtedly require regular doses of the best medicine, laughter. For laughter, is simply good for you. This is another area in which we need to ‘follow the science’. It helps reduce pain and infection. It increases oxygen supply and is good for your lungs and helps reduce heart disease. A good laugh reduces the level of stress hormones in our system and the release of endorphins can significantly alter our mood positively. Scientists have even said that laughter helps reduce weight!

We Christians are, sadly, not renowned for our humour. The Scottish version of the faith has, in past times, been characterised as being particularly dour. How else could Ricki Fulton have so wonderfully lampooned it with his Rev. I. Am. Jolly figure. When you study the Bible carefully, and do so with an eye to comedy, you quickly discover that it is shot through with humour of every conceivable genre. It opens with tales of talking snakes and hapless men who fall foul of crafty women. Only through comedy can we truly appreciate the satire of the Tower of Babel story as it pours scorn on humanity’s hubris. Then there are poor Abraham and Sarah, or Abram and Sarai for the nit-pickers among us, who are going to have a child in their old age. The classic comedy piece in the Old Testament is, of course, the story of Jonah. The reluctant sulking prophet who goes off in one when his preaching actually has the desired effect. Try reading the Book of Proverbs for its comic imagery. "Better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife" (21:9).

I personally do believe that Jesus would not have been as popular as he seemed to have been if he had not employed humour as part of his repertoire. Take, for instance, his lampooning of the posturing of the religious elite of his day. He speaks of those Pharisees who ‘strain at gnats, and swallow camels.’ He has them showing off at street corners and parodying them with parables of Pharisees and publicans. Guess who came out on top in that one. When you turn to the parables you really see Jesus humour at work. We have people with planks of wood in their eyes, camels straining to get through the eye of a needle – even when this is understood as referring to a narrow gateway in a city wall the humour still works. There is the comical story of the wee hard man Zacchaeus scrabbling up a tree to see Jesus, bridesmaids who fall asleep and who run out of oil, and so it goes one. If Jesus were around today, he would certainly be on Have I Got News For You regularly. Even St. Paul, not well known for his humour, becomes the object of the joke when he preaches for so long that Eutychus fell from a window and died. Paul sure knew how to knock them dead!

Teresa of Avilla is reputed to have said that ‘God must save us from gloomy saints.’ I would add to that by asking that God must save us from gloomy Christians. We have been entrusted with a message and a hope that is characterised as being Good News. Implicit in this is surely laughter and humour. Laughter and humour directed firstly at our selves for, as we all know, we all have a perpetual tendency to take ourselves far too seriously. Laughter and humour directed at a world that needs to face its own folly, foolishness and foibles to which it is often blind. Laughter and humour are often the gateways to new truths and insights. We neglect it at our peril. So, I leave you with a little teaser. Who is said to be the funniest person in the Bible? Who was it and why?