Jesus Laughed: What Your Sense of Humor Reveals about Your Mental Resilience
I like to be around happy people!
That’s one reason I love working at the office with my wife Jeannie. Sometimes I use the room next to hers. I hear her hearty peals of laughter through the walls as she and a client share a moment of pure joy and fun.
(Don’t worry. I can’t hear anything else about their conversation. It’s just Jeannie’s famous laugh: loud, long, and full-hearted, joyful and unabashed.)
It’s no wonder she’s such a successful and sought-after counseling psychologist. Apparently, she can travel with people into their darkest secrets and yet soar with them into the release of a good laugh.
I’ve noticed something about my sense of humor: it can dry up if allow myself to become overly stressed and preoccupied with my predicaments or unpleasant circumstances. I get a little too grumpy.
That’s not a good sign because the psychological fact is that a positive sense of humor correlates with the mental toughness factors of emotional control and confidence.[i] Tough people continue to laugh.
I recently read the true account of a Navy SEAL who was (in his words) “blown up” by an IED in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province. As he lay on the ground suffering excruciating pain, temporarily (and almost permanently) blinded, the Medic ran to him and began to administer first aid.
The SEAL said, “I told him, ‘Don’t get blown up, man. It sucks!”
The mentally resilient hang on to their sense of humor.
(The SEAL, Dan Crenshaw, went on to recover and win an office as Representative to the U.S. Congress from the state of Texas.)[ii]
Now, I know there’s no Scripture stating, “Jesus laughed.” I can’t proof-text that He even chuckled. But I don’t see how a reader of the gospels can miss his obvious wit and good humor.
The disciples James and John suggested calling down fire and brimstone on a town, Jesus nicknamed them “The Sons of Thunder”! I imagine Jesus and disciples preparing a meal and Jesus calling to James and John, “Hey, Thunderbolt Brothers, how about starting this fire for us!”
Jesus showed wit with his words. For instance, in Matthew 23:24 (they strain out the gnat but swallow the camel) the Aramaic word for gnat is galma and the word for camel is gamla.[iii] “They strain out the galma and swallow the gamla.” It is an absurd, humorous, and witty comparison.
So, not trying to say Jesus was a stand-up comedian. However, I do believe that Scripture, psychology, and plain old common sense recommend that we keep our sense of humor about us in these trying times.
The fact is, there’s no point wallowing in self-pity. That helps no one, least of all ourselves. So let’s lighten up as much as we can and enjoy this lovely storm of a year together. And try not to get blown up!
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[i] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20874465/
[ii] Crenshaw, D. (2020). Fortitude: American Resilience in the Era of Outrage. New York, New York: Hatchette Book Group.
[iii] https://frtim.wordpress.com/2013/05/30/the-often-overlooked-humor-of-jesus/
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My husband, Bud, offered to write this week’s blog post. I didn’t know he was going to talk about me a little! Here’s what he had to say.
-Dr. Jeannie
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