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Jesus and the Sacred Art of Humor: A Theological Exploration Through the Great Theorists of Mirth

Link to video I invite you into a conversation that may feel, at first, a little surprising. We are quite comfortable speaking of Jesus as healer and teacher, as prophet, priest, and crucified Lord. We know how to talk about his compassion, his courage, his suffering, and his resurrection. But we speak far less often of Jesus as a man of sharp wit, subtle irony, playful reversal—a man whose words could make people smile even as they squirmed under the truth. Yet the Gospels are full of that side of him. His images are sometimes vivid to the point of absurdity. His parables are full of comic turns. His teaching often pierces pretension with the precision and timing of a good punchline. If the incarnation really means that the Word became flesh—not a thin, reduced slice of humanity, but the full weight and wonder of it—then surely Jesus’ sense of humor is part of the truth of who he is. What I would like to do with you is to look at Jesus’ humor through the lens of those who have thought...
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Introducing Elton Trueblood’s The Humor of Christ

I introduce you to a little classic that has shaped modern reflection on the humanity of Jesus—Elton Trueblood’s slender but provocative book The Humor of Christ, first published in 1964. It is one of those books that seems almost obvious once you’ve read it, but startling the first time you encounter its claim. Trueblood begins with a simple observation: our usual picture of Jesus is far too solemn. The Jesus many Christians carry in their minds is a figure of unbroken gravity—gentle, yes, compassionate, yes, but rarely, if ever, smiling. For centuries, he has been portrayed with a kind of pious stillness, a seriousness bordering on melancholy. Trueblood argues that this portrait is not only incomplete; it is in many ways inaccurate. It tells only half the story. The Gospels, he insists, reveal a teacher whose speech is full of wit— irony, exaggeration, playful reversal, sharp satire, and a kind of moral mischievousness that both surprises and awakens. Jesus uses humor not as ornament...
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Some resources for Proper 28 Year C

Proper 28 Year C 2025 Lessons for this week at St. John (Track1 in the Revised Common Lectionary). Notes on the lessons for this week. Brief commentary on Isaiah 65:17-25 Brief commentary on Isaiah 12:2-6 Brief commentary on 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 Brief commentary on Luke 21:5-19.
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Book Summary: "Preaching Jesus: New Directopms for Homiletics in Hans Frei's Postliberal Theology"

 Title: Preaching Jesus: New Directions for Homiletics in Hans Frei’s Postliberal Theology Author: Charles L. Campbell Type of Work: Theological monograph in practical theology / homiletics First Published (Date): 1997 (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans), 289 pp.; later reprinted (2006).   Principal Ideas Advanced: The crisis in preaching is fundamentally theological; homiletics must be re-grounded in sound christology and ecclesiology rather than technique.   Drawing on Hans Frei, preaching should render the unsubstitutable identity of Jesus as given in the Gospel narratives—the “realistic” literal sense—before moving to applications.   Scripture functions within a cultural-linguistic/ecclesial framework (Yale School): the church’s practices and language shape hearers to inhabit the biblical world (intratextual formation).   Figural interpretation (typology) responsibly relates Testaments and the church’s life without collapsing narrative into abstract ideas. ...
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Book Summary: "Preaching After God: Derrida, Caputo, and the Langauge of Postmodern Homiletics"

 Title: Preaching After God: Derrida, Caputo, and the Language of Postmodern Homiletics Author: Phil Snider Type of Work: Practical theology / homiletics; constructive proposal engaging deconstruction and “weak theology” First Published (Date): 2012 (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books/Wipf & Stock), 240 pp.; ISBN 978-1-61097-498-1.   Principal Ideas Advanced: Postmodern philosophy’s “return of religion” (Derrida; Caputo) offers resources for preaching rather than threats to it.   A homiletic of the event: proclamation attends to what comes “without alibi” or program—grace as an event that surprises rather than a metaphysical certainty we control.   Weak theology (Caputo): God as the call, promise, or perhaps—an insistent claim on us rather than coercive power; preaching should give voice to this call.   Critique of the domestication of transcendence in modern homiletics (overconfident claims, marketable certainties); recover risk, openness, and hospitality in the...
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Homily for Proper 15 Year C

  Homily for Proper 15 Year C Luke 12:49-56   If, in the first century, you walked down a dusty road in Galilee you would know who is in charge —not because someone told you,  but because you could feel it. [1] The soldiers at the crossroads.  The eagle of Rome stamped into every coin. [2] The shadow of the Antonia Fortress  [3] leaning over the Temple.  Even the taxes—layer upon layer —remind you who holds the power …Caesar, far away, yet so very near.   And in that same air—  Pharisees debating purity codes in the marketplace. [4] Sadducees in their fine robes,  managing the temple and political alliances.  Essenes disappearing into the wilderness,  withdrawing from it all.  Zealots whispering about revolt.  Everywhere talk of revolt. And, people, without a label,  just keeping Sabbath,  raising children,  and praying for deliverance. [5] A people of faith, rich in hope, but also fractious,  noisy wit...
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Homily for Proper 11 Year C 2025

Imagine. God’s people—once proud, once prosperous— Now captives, war booty,  sitting by the waters of Babylon. Not the Jordan, not the temple steps, but a foreign river in a foreign land. No lyres, no psalms, just the question: “How did I get here?” It’s not a strategic question, not really. It’s a soul question. A lament in disguise. And you remember what the prophets said— what Amos said— Back then Business was booming—at least for the wealthy. The markets were strong, the palaces full, and the priests were keeping worship predictable, comfortable. But, the poor were being crushed, the system was rigged in favor of those in power, and, no one with power cared. Into that smug prosperity came a voice— Amos, a prophet. And his word? Not comfort. Not blessing. But judgment—judgment upon those with power Those who had traded justice for profit. Amos sees a basket of summer fruit. Ripe, sweet, full. And the Lord says, “The end has come.” A pun in Hebrew—qayitz, “fruit”; qētz, “end.” Su...
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