Did Jesus ever laugh?

135 James also touches upon the foolish joy of this world, which leads to eternal ruin, and he calls on those who have ears to hear, to be afflicted, to mourn, and weep, and to change their laughter into mourning. The heart that has intelligence, that thinks of others, and is stirred by love - the Christian, who partakes of the Spirit and thus of the mind of Christ, will have a sense of the moral and actual misery that is around him. He will have joy in Christ, but sorrow as to the condition of men of the world.

Sin has made the world unhappy and miserable; it is itself the greatest of all miseries and one sees on all sides the ills it has brought in. Nevertheless the heart will feel the love of God in the midst of all; it will rejoice in eternal salvation, and in His goodness which has obtained it. It will also rejoice in the daily mercies of God; but this will not be the foolish joy of the world, which seeks to hide its emptiness, and with laughter to stifle the sense of its misery. Now in solitude, emptiness, and often pain, makes itself felt, which in the company of others is forgotten in laughter. Men do not like to burden others; they must make them believe they are happy. The world cannot be real with itself; yet sorrow and affliction are but too real. The Lord could weep but not laugh; Christian love and feeling follow His example; they follow it heartily, and from a like feeling. James desires that worldly joy should give place to Christian feelings, sentiments of love, and wisdom. Moreover, in chapter 5, we see that judgment is soon to put an end to the false joy of the world. Here the exhortation is moral; there it refers to the cutting short of this joy by the hand of the Lord.

The Lord Jesusis never recorded in the New Testament as giving expression to a sense of humour or taking part in any foolish jesting. We have God revealing that He will laugh and have the sinful heathen in derision, but that is altogether different to attributing "a good sense of humour" to the Lord Jesus. This is more than Scripture allows, and the circumcised heart should confine itself to the facts that Scripture gives and not give place to fleshly notions or speculations regarding the Christ of God that are all too prevalent in Christendom today.

The Word of God shows that in this world the Son of God was an outcast, the Man of sorrows and the one acquainted with grief. He was here, sowing in tears, weeping over Jerusalem and all who had fallen victim to Satan's subtlety. Strong crying and tears marked His course. Scripture shows Him as a sociable Man, serving all and being available to every one who was in need. He served the poor and weak. His ministry was to do good and to deliver. His oral ministry was of such quality that common people heard Him gladly. The inexpressible sweetness of His words is degraded by thoughts of Christ telling jokes. No trivial utterance left His lips, nor was any joke ever told by Him. He warned His hearers that they would be judged for every idle word spoken. Matters of eternal weight and importance were the subject of His speech-all that the Father gave Him to speak. There was first hand knowledge of heavenly things and these and like themes comprised the subject matter of His conversation. No man on earth ever walked in such a narrow path as the Lord Jesus Christ; and none had such a large heart as He. He was the Blessed (Happy) God, yet here a mourner and a homeless stranger among the sad and weary. The joy He brought was full and lasting; it was not expressed in a fleeting jest.

The Lord Jesus is never recorded in the New Testament as giving expression to a sense of humour or taking part in any foolish jesting. We have God revealing that He will laugh and have the sinful heathen in derision, but that is altogether different to attributing “a good sense of humour” to the Lord Jesus. This is more than Scripture allows, and the circumcised heart should confine itself to the facts that Scripture gives and not give place to fleshly notions or speculations regarding the Christ of God that are all too prevalent in Christendom today.

The Word of God shows that in this world the Son of God was an outcast, the Man of sorrows and the one acquainted with grief. He was here, sowing in tears, weeping over Jerusalem and all who had fallen victim to Satan's subtlety. Strong crying and tears marked His course. Scripture shows Him as a sociable Man, serving all and being available to every one who was in need. He served the poor and weak. His ministry was to do good and to deliver. His oral ministry was of such quality that common people heard Him gladly. The inexpressible sweetness of His words is degraded by thoughts of Christ telling jokes. No trivial utterance left His lips, nor was any joke ever told by Him. He warned His hearers that they would be judged for every idle word spoken. Matters of eternal weight and importance were the subject of His speech — all that the Father gave Him to speak. There was first hand knowledge of heavenly things and these and like themes comprised the subject matter of His conversation. No man on earth ever walked in such a narrow path as the Lord Jesus Christ; and none had such a large heart as He. He was the Blessed (Happy) God, yet here a mourner and a homeless stranger among the sad and weary. The joy He brought was full and lasting; it was not expressed in a fleeting jest.

While on earth the Lord Jesus was "a Man of sorrows," but He had joy of which the world knew nothing. In Luke 10:21 it is recorded, "In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in Thy sight." From Matthew 11 we learn that this was the time when the Lord had been rejected by the cities in which most of His Mighty works were done. Amidst the sorrow of His rejection by Israel, the Son of God found His joy in the Father and in the knowledge of His will.

Jehovah-Jesus, Who, at the outset, of a life of unremitting service, rejoiced at Cana with those that did rejoice, and at the end of His course, in perfect human sympathy, stooped to weep with the weeping, at the grave of Lazarus before He arose in His divine power and authority, to send forth the word of Divine command "Lazarus, come forth!"

In Luke 10:21, as in Matthew 11:21, 26, the Lord pronounced woes upon the cities in which His mighty works had been done. These favoured cities had closed their doors upon the One Who had brought down to them the grace of heaven, and with deepest sorrow in His heart the Lord is compelled to speak of the judgment that awaited them because of their unbelief. Yet in the moment of deepest sorrow it is recorded by the Spirit of God, "In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in Thy sight."

Here we learn the secret of the Son's joy. If there was sorrow because of what His people Israel had done in rejecting Him and His works, He could rejoice in the Father and in the Father's will. If Israel closed its door against Him, the Son saw another door opened by the Father into which others would enter, and in this there would be greater glory for the Father and greater joy for His heart. The wise and prudent of Israel, the leaders of the people, knew nothing of the secret counsels of the Father for the blessing of men, but those who were despised by the great of earth, the humble disciples of the Lord, had from the Son the wondrous knowledge of the Father and of His counsels of eternal love.

With the deep, deep sorrows of Gethsemane and the cross before Him, the Lord said to His disciples, "These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full" (John 15:11). This is indeed wonderful. So soon there was to be the fulfilment of the words of Jeremiah's Lamentations (Lam. 1:12), "Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow," yet the Lord speaks to His disciples of His joy. His sorrows were because of His devotedness to His Father, and on account of His great love for His own; but His joy was found in the Father and in the finishing of the work He had given Him to do.

Now I will say a little on fasting. Levi made a feast for the Lord, and the Scribes and Pharisees murmured. There are always murmurers when Christ is made much of. Even the disciples themselves murmured when Mary would lavish her all upon the blessed Lord. Well she had the luxury of being defended by Him. In the case before us the Pharisees asked, “Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees; but thine eat and drink?’ The Lord replied to them, “Can ye make the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.”

Those days have come, and in following Christ there must be fasting. Who fasted like the Man of Sorrows, and are we not called to follow Him? Well, rest assured of this that the more thoroughly we follow the Lord, the more glad and joyous we shall truly be. Who had deeper joys, joys of communion, than the Man of Sorrows? Who fasted like Him, and who feasted like Him? The Man of Sorrows, and the Man of Joy, no sorrow like His, no joy like His!

How beautifully the Lord delineates what the heart ought to be! In the day of his coronation, Adam might have rejoiced, but in the day of his espousals, his mouth was opened; his heart had its property, and he was satisfied. "Rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven." See how the Lord falls into the current of their joy for a moment. We ought to drop into the current of one another's joy. Then the Lord looks up to heaven and rejoices there. If you look at this utterance, and the same in Matthew 17, you will find a beautiful contrast. There it is the utterance of a heart relieved of its burden — here, the utterance of a heart joyful with what had spread before it. Then He goes on with the joy as He turns to His disciples and says, in substance, "Happy are ye." (vv. 23, 24). I do not know that the Lord was ever happier than here; save — yes, let us tell it for our comfort — save when a poor, believing heart gave Him meat to eat that others knew not of. Angels may have joy over the repentant sinner, but they do not originate it; it is in their presence. It is beautiful to see God leading the joy of His creation. God leads the joy — the angels only echo it.

What are the mistakes and failures of the Church, all put together, if they give occasion for the bringing out the sweetness of Christ's love? That Christ at God's right hand, now the Man of patience, once the Man of sorrows, and hereafter to be the Man of joy: three very different displays of Christ. In Christ down here — the Babe in the manger — despised, and rejected, and acquainted with grief, we see the Man of sorrows; and yet nowhere do we get such Divine glory as at the cross. And, as a sinner, what was I taken out of, and whither am I brought, by that cross? The next thought, where is the Christ now, whose death did it all? The answer is, "At the right hand of God; where, as the Man of patience, He has been waiting nearly 2000 years for the glory and the people — His, as the meed of such service." And what is He doing? Why, turning to us, and saying, "I am occupied with you in the glory, I have an entrance into all your sorrows; turn your eyes up here, open your hearts to Me, let Me see everything; as a shepherd, I am occupied with each sheep, binding up each wound, making right each rent and tear in the fleece." But hereafter most blessed is the thought of seeing the One who was emphatically the Man of sorrows down here, as the Man of joy, "anointed with the oil of joy above His fellows!" But it is well often to think of Him as the Man of sorrows, in connection with what we are passing through. Heap, pile up, all your sorrows, till you can heap no more; then turn to Him whose heart brake in woe, and talk of your sorrows, and of all that has worn you down if you can, in the presence of that One who says to you, "Was there ever any sorrow like unto My sorrow?" Yet shall He be the Man of joy; and ah! is the thought of Christ's joy sweet to our hearts? Do You love to think that there will be no face so beautiful, no heart so bright and perfect in its joy as His? Nothing like His beauty! all the glory there will be but as the setting of that gem. And that new name of His shall be written on you; surely that ought to give a little patience as you pass along the wilderness, tried by the roughness of the way, as though He said, "Cheer up; only a little while more, and I will write on you my name of joy." Christ's heart is not fed with the externals of glory, but with the joy of serving God; it will be the joy of all the children being brought home whom God has given Him, — the new name written on them, that will be Christ's joy.

It has often been said that the first reference to a matter in Scripture gives us the full thought of God in relation to it, and hence there is great blessedness in seeing that this first reference to weaning describes a scene of holy mirth and joy. I have no doubt that it is the day which morally was in the heart of Abraham, to which the Lord Jesus refers when He said, "Abraham rejoiced to see My day; he saw it, and was glad" — when the habitation of Abraham, through the exercise of weaning, was filled not with the laughter of irony or unbelief which had previously marked it, but the laughter of holy mirth. It is a laugh which is contagious, and having a place in our own hearts will spread to others, as Sarah said, "all that hear will laugh with me." What a blessed thing, dear brethren, to be so filled with the holy mirth which the incoming of Christ gives to the soul, that others are affected by its joy.