---OUR LORD JESUS HAD A SENSE OF HUMOR WHILE ON EARTH~~

--JESUS [GOD-MAN], SMILED AND LAUGHED/--ML

--I have a sketch of Jesus laughing. It hangs on the wall across from my desk.

It's quite a drawing. His head is back. His mouth is open. His eyes are sparkling. He isn't just grinning. He isn't just chuckling. He's roaring. He hasn't heard or seen one like that in quite a while. He's having trouble catching his breath.

It was given to me by an Episcopal priest who carries cigars in his pocket and collects portraits of Jesus smiling. "I give them to anyone who might be inclined to take God too seriously," he explained as he handed me the gift.

He pegged me well.
I'm not one who easily envisions a smiling God. A weeping God, yes. An angry God, OK. A mighty God, you bet. But a chuckling God? It seems too...too...too unlike what God should do--and be. Which just shows how much I know--or don't know--about God.

What do I think he was doing when he stretched the neck of the giraffe? An exercise in engineering? What do I think he had in mind when he told the ostrich where to put his head? Spelunking? What do I think he was doing when he designed the mating call of an ape? Or the eight legs of the octopus? And what do I envision on his face when he saw Adam's first glance at Eve? A yawn?
--Hardly!

As my vision improves and I'm able to read without my stained glasses, I'm seeing that a sense of humor is perhaps the only way God has put up with us for so long.

Is that Him with a smile as Moses does a double take at the burning bush that speaks?
Is He smiling again as Jonah lands on the beach, dripping gastric juices and smelling like whale breath?

Is that a twinkle in his eyes as He watches the disciples feed thousands with one boy's lunch?

Do you think that His face is deadpan as he speaks about the man with a two-by-four in his eye who points out a speck in a friend's eye?

Can you honestly imagine Jesus bouncing children on his knee with a somber face? Nor can I.

No, I think that Jesus smiled. I think that He smiled a bit at people and a lot with people...

When I think about the prayers God has answered for me in spite of the life I've lived, I think He must be smiling still.-- angelwing

--So I think I'll keep his picture on the wall. It brings me joy.~~~

"You will make known to me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
In Your right hand there are pleasures forever."
--PSALM 17:11~~ -- bible
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Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." [John 14:6]