The Easter Laugh

I was talking with my daughter Emily about our favorite Bible stories. And it’s interesting—many that came to mind were ones that have a humorous bent: like Balaam’s donkey talking, and in the book of Acts, Paul preaching so long that one man falls asleep and tumbles out of a window! Paul has to go down and heal him! And Jonah, sulking like an angry teenager because he’s mad that God might forgive his enemies. And Jesus telling the crowds before they can see to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye—first remove the log from your own eye. In other words: if you think your neighbor has issues… just look in the mirror, bud!

This got me thinking about how the Sunday after Easter was traditionally called “Bright Sunday.” It was observed as a day of joy and laughter, with parties and picnics and practical jokes to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection. This custom actually got its start in the writings of early church theologians like Augustine, Gregory of Nyssa, and John Chrysostom. They noted that Easter was “God’s supreme joke played on death.” They actually called it Risus paschalis—”the Easter laugh.”

Why is it that some people have the impression that Christians are always so serious?

In the book of Genesis (chapter 18), Sarah laughed. And so did Abraham earlier. And we really don’t know the subtext—whether it was skepticism, joy, delight, or futility, or some combination; but we do know that laughter is cathartic. And it is not only an essential part of being human, it is an essential part of faith.

Proverbs 17:22 says, “A cheerful heart is good medicine. But a downcast spirit dries up the bones.”

In the Gospel of John (15:11), Jesus says to his disciples, and to us, “I have said these things to you that my joy may be in you, and your joy be complete.”

Let us pray: Gracious God, we pray again that you would open our hearts to the joy that you promised. And we ask that even in the darkest times we might laugh with people of faith across the ages: the laughter of eternity, the laughter of disbelief turned to faith, the laughter of death overcome by resurrection and new life. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.