*** SHOW NOTES (not fully edited or a transcript) ***

Lead:

Is there humor in the Bible? There is if you’re the host of this podcast!

Intro:

I’m a keepin’-it-real kinda guy. It’s why I read the Bible with you like we’re just sitting having a cup of coffee together, why I’m not anal about editing out the natural little stumbles, and why I interject with stuff that’s hopefully as interesting or enlightening or amusing to you as it is to me. And it’s why sometimes I just bust out laughing — because that’s what I’d do if we here hanging out.

Today’s passage in Acts has one of those stories that tickles my funny bone. Sure, nobody in the Bible tells jokes in the way that we might think about contemporary standup comedy, but since today’s All Our Minds segment needs to be kind of brief, I’ll do a mini-reflection kind of moment and share the story that I think is the best example in the whole Bible of God’s sense of humor.

For today’s reading, though, let me give you one bit of context that I think adds to the funny factor of one story we’ll encounter early in the reading. You’re going to hear a story about the “seven sons of the Jewish high priest Sceva” who fancied themselves itinerant exorcists. The problem? There never has been, as far as anyone can tell, a Jewish high priest named Sceva. Let’s roll.

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Bible:

Passage: Acts 19-20
Translation: ESV (English Standard Version)
Verses: 79
Words: ~1841

All Our Minds:

So how’s that for a story of an unholy butt-whoopin’?!?

Really smart people who study what makes things funny still don’t have it totally nailed down from a scientific perspective, so let’s just say that it’s surprise or juxtaposition or incongruity or a number of things. One thing that’s common to these things, however, is that humor is highly contextual. Sometimes humor doesn’t translate well between languages, or you had to have known about some cultural reference for the joke to be funny. And when it comes to the Bible sometimes we don’t see the irony or double meaning or things like that.

So, what’s my fave funny story in the whole Bible? In chapter 44 of the book of Isaiah, the writer is making a point about idolatry. Idolatry, of course, is prioritizing anything ahead of God, and then there’s the whole first commandment of the ten, and all that. Idolatry is not good. At this point in the story God is talking, and he’s telling a story about a dude who’s not so bright:

15 It is used as fuel for burning;
some of it he takes and warms himself,
he kindles a fire and bakes bread.
But he also fashions a god and worships it;
he makes an idol and bows down to it.
16 Half of the wood he burns in the fire;
over it he prepares his meal,
he roasts his meat and eats his fill.
He also warms himself and says,
“Ah! I am warm; I see the fire.” (light!)
17 From the rest he makes a god, his idol;
he bows down to it and worships.
He prays to it and says,
“Save me! You are my god!” Is 44:15–17, NIV

God then goes on to reiterate, in almost a mocking way, going “Yo, dude, you make dinner with half and then you worship half…a god who has no eyes, can’t breathe, can’t do jack diddly squat!”

Now the point, God goes on to say, is not only am I real and alive, I happen to be the Creator of this place and you, and I saved your butt.

So the contrast, the irony, is in the word fire. Most Bible translation says that Stupid Dude says, “Ah, I have seen the fire,” but in the Hebrew that same word for fire can be something like a theophany — a four dollar word for an instance of God. “I see the light! I see god!”

The bottom line

You’ve heard me argue here saying that we can’t beget something that didn’t exist first in our minds, and we can reason back to God that if we have minds or reason, our Creator He must have a mind and reason. And by this line of reasoning, He might have a sense of humor, too. Do NOT take that as a theology lesson…I don’t really know. But when we get stories about God saying it’s really stupid to worship an idol, I think that’s funny.

Wisdom:

Passage: Psalm 104
Translation: ESV (English Standard Version)
Verses: 35
Words: ~574

Love you!

-R

ForTheHope is a daily audio Bible + apologetics podcast and blog. We’ve got a passion for just keepin’ it real, having conversations like normal people, and living out the love of Jesus better every single day.

Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in digitally-extended communication and connection, an award-winning speaker, award-winning author, and a passionately bad guitarist. Follow him on Twitter -- @RogerCourville and @JoinForTheHope – or his blog: www.forthehope.org.

Sources and resources:

Thank you for supporting this ministry should you choose to use the Amazon affiliate links below.

Not used today, but one of my faves! —> Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 2505.

#913: Acts 19-20 | God's humor