Remember as well as crying Jesus laughed!
We had an excellent service this evening at church. the theme of the service was centred around the women who followed Jesus. We found ourselves thinking about the kind of man Jesus would have been. Russell McLarty got us all thinking about the "Laughing Jesus" He suggested that too often we have allowed images that depict a solemn and somber Jesus to influence the way we think about Jesus and also about our Christianity.
I was reminded of a quote I once read written by Lord Hailsham who was the Lord Chancellor in the 1980s. He wrote:
"The first thing we [should] learn about [Jesus] is that we should have been absolutely entranced by His company. Jesus was irresistibly attractive as a man… What they crucified was a young man, vital, full of life and the joy of it, the Lord of life itself, and even more the Lord of laughter. Someone so utterly attractive that people followed Him for the sheer fun of it…
Well for a few moments Russell introduced us to the laughing Jesus. At the beginning everyone was a bit self conscious, as he invited us all to do a bit of on the spot laughing, but you know what by the end of the service we were all laughing. We were being reminded that Jesus would have been an engaging lively person to be around. He was not afraid to have women around him and to include women among his friends. No doubt it was that lively outgoing personality that allowed mothers to bring their children to him for a blessing. I can see Jesus lifting children in the air and I can hear peels of laughter.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOC-NkiCzs4[/youtube]
Too often we allow ourselves as Christians to be the butt of jokes. People often only see the Mr Bean type of Christian. Often they miss the point. Here's a humorous clip we put together a few years ago. iI used it to try and help people see that what looks like blind faith can be very deceptive. What you think you see,isn't always what your seeing. When it comes to Jesus I think we all need to look a lot closer and begin to debunk the stereotypes.
Posted By: h On: 30 Mar 2011 At: 9:29pm
I think Jesus would have liked the film!
Thanks!