The Mirth of Christ

GK Chesterton concludes his book, Orthodoxy, with an accurate observation of the life of Christ.

"Joy, which was the small publicity of the pagan, is the gigantic secret of the Christian. And as I close this chaotic volume I open again the strange small book from which all Christianity came; and I am again haunted by a kind of confirmation. The tremendous figure which fills the Gospels towers in this respect, as in every other, above all the thinkers who ever thought themselves tall. His pathos was natural, almost casual. The Stoics, ancient and modern, were proud of concealing their tears. He never concealed His tears; He showed them plainly on His open face at any daily sight, such as the far sight of His native city. Yet He concealed something. Solemn supermen and imperial diplomatists are proud of restraining their anger. He never restrained His anger. He flung furniture down the front steps of the Temple, and asked men how they expected to escape the damnation of Hell. Yet He restrained something. I say it with reverence; there was in that shattering personality a thread that must be called shyness. There was something that He hid from all men when He went up a mountain to pray. There was something that He covered constantly by abrupt silence or impetuous isolation. There was some one thing that was too great for God to show us when He walked upon our earth; and I have sometimes fancied that it was His mirth."

I see two things in Scripture which makes this true. There are others, but for the sake of brevity I will limit it to two.

Firstly, Isaiah prophesied about the sorrow and grief that the Messiah would endure.

He was despised and rejected by men;
    a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
    he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

-Isaiah 53:3

The chapter continues,

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
    he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
    he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
    the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
    by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
    make many to be accounted righteous,
    and he shall bear their iniquities.

-Isaiah 53:10, 11

Jesus knew that He was to be crushed by His Father, this caused Him deep sorrow, but out of His affliction He knew His Father's purposes would be accomplished which leads to the second observation.

While on Earth, the joy that Christ knew was not immediate, but to come.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

-Hebrews 12:1-2 (emphasis added)

Jesus knew that doing the will of His Father would bring Him great joy, although His Earthly mission was one of sorrow and grief.

Unfortunately, some have disagreed with Chesterton saying that Jesus was a funny guy, trying to turn his teachings into jokes. I do not think that Chesterton would say that Jesus did not laugh or crack a joke from time to time, but his true joy, the mirth that Chesterton referred to, was not yet realized during Christ's time on Earth.

It is also irreverent and somewhat disgusting to take Jesus' teachings and use them as a justification for crude humor. A perfect example comes in the book, Vintage Jesus. In it Mark Driscoll says,

"Jesus' humor was often biting and harsh, particularly when directed at the Pharisees. For example, he called them a bag of snakes, said that their moms had shagged the Devil, and mocked them for tithing out of their spice racks."

Driscoll made it clear at the 2008 Desiring God Conference that he directly disagrees with Chesterton in this particular instance, but, as much as I appreciate Driscoll's leadership and ministry, I must side with Chesterton for three reasons.

1. Jesus, in the same verse where He calls the Pharisees a "bag of snakes" concludes with, "For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" (Matthew 12:34). A heart filled with the Spirit of Christ (as Christ's heart obviously was) would not make a joke out of the Pharisees by saying "that their moms had shagged the Devil."
2. Jesus does say to the Pharisees that they do the will of their father who is the Devil (John 8:39-47), but only because if God was their Father they would not be seeking to kill him. They are of their father the Devil because they want to kill Jesus, not because their mother's had sexual relations with the Devil. When Jesus speaks about God our Father he does not mean that our mother's had sexual relations with God. This passage, therefore, does not translate into a crude joke.
3. The apostle Paul says in Ephesians 4:29, "Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear." Jesus is the example of this and He adhered to it perfectly. Yes, He did say that the Pharisee's father was the Devil, but He did not say "that their moms had shagged the Devil." That is corrupting or unwholesome talk.

Again, this all is not to say that Jesus was above jokes. He was a man who laughed and I am sure had fun. But His full potential for joy was not realized until after He was crushed. He knew that joy was coming, but the sorrow and grief were great leading up to it. This is why Chesterton felt like Christ's mirth was restrained on Earth and why I do as well.

Tree of the Week (3.31.09)

Calebology

A combination of the Hebrew name, 'Caleb,' and the suffix '-ology' stemming from the Greek 'logos,' Calebology is one of those tell-us-lame-stuff-about-yourself-on-Facebook-and-tag-all-of-your-friends-in-it things. I think I will try it.

1) What is your salad dressing of choice?
Blue Cheese

2) What is your favorite sit-down restaurant?
Chili's

3) What food could you eat for 2 weeks straight and not get sick of it?
Oreos

4) What are your pizza toppings of choice?
Sausage, pepperoni, Canadian bacon, onions, black olives, green peppers, mushrooms, and lots of cheese.

6) How many televisions are in your house?
One

7) What color cell phone do you have?
Silver

8) Are you right-handed or left-handed?
Right

9) Have you ever had anything removed from your body?
A couple of moles. Hair. I was circumcised.

10) What is the last heavy item you lifted?
Sandbags

11) Have you ever been knocked unconscious?
Yes

12) If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die?
No

13) If you could change your name, what would you change it to?
If I could change my name, I wouldn't.

14) Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1000?
Psh, yeah.

15) How many pairs of flip flops do you own?
One

16) What’s your goal for the year?
Finish my novel.

17) Last person you talked to?
Wanda, my supervisor

18) Last person you hugged?
Rebekah

19) Favorite Season?
Fall

20) Favorite Holiday?
Thanksgiving

21) Favorite day of the week?
Sunday

22) Favorite Month?
September

23) First place you went this morning?
The bathroom

24) What's the last movie you saw?
The Happening

25) Do you smile often?
That's a relative question.

26) Do you always answer your phone?
Yes

28) If you could change your eye color what would it be?
Red

29) What flavor drink do you get at Sonic?
There are no Sonics in Fargo

30) Have you ever had a pet fish?
Yes

31) Favorite Christmas song?
Come Thou Fount

32) What's on your wish list for your birthday?
Louisville, Kentucky

33) Can you do push ups?
Yes

34) Can you do a chin up?
Yes

35) Does the future make you more nervous or excited?
Excited

36) Do you have any saved texts?
No

37) Ever been in a car wreck?
No

38) Do you have an accent?
Everyone has an accent according to somebody. So yes.

39) What is the last song to make you cry?
In Christ Alone

40) Plans tonight?
Reading, working on my novel

41) Have you ever felt like you hit rock bottom?
Yes

42) Name 3 things you bought yesterday.
A whole lot of nothing.

43) Have you ever been given roses?
No

44) Current hate right now?
Rising rivers

45) Met someone who changed your life?
Yes... these questions are becoming more and more fragmented.

46) How did you bring in the New Year?
Kissing my wife.

47) What song represents you?
"Southbound Train" by Jon Foreman

48) Name three people who might complete this?
I hope I don't know any people who would complete this.

49) What were you doing 12 AM last night?
Sleeping

50) What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up?
AIG (it was what they were talking about on NPR)

I feel like I was just interviewed by a twelve-year-old girl.

I Wish I Could Cook Like This

Why a Sumo Suit is a Good Investment

Waiting for the Crest

Things got dark on Thursday in the Fargo/Moorhead community.

Some mandatory evacuations were issued. Some homeowners surrendered to the might Red. There were giant lulls between sandbagging efforts. The predicted Saturday crest level went up again from forty-one to an estimated forty-two, potentially forty-three, feet. A home in the Oakport area, on the Minnesota side, caught fire and burned, unable to be reached by any fire department. The community was drained and deflated, close to giving in.

But Friday was a new day.

Sandbagging continued. Reserve sandbags were made. Dikes were raised in most locations. New strength was found as the bad news that broke so regularly the day before now was just a bump in the road. For the first time it seemed hopeful that the river may be held at bay.

Friday night the crest day was moved back to Sunday granting a few precious hours before the final push. Overnight the river actually dropped a tenth of a foot.

Even considering the lack of bad news on Friday, Saturday will be the most difficult day. With much of the preparation done, the community must wait for the crest tomorrow, a crest that will last up to seven days. And the uncertainty of waiting often times can be more difficult that filling, throwing, or placing sandbags.

The State of Fargo

It has been snowing all day in Fargo. The city awoke to approximately seven inches of accumulation and the snowfall has continued throughout the day.

But the citizens of Fargo/Moorhead do not care.

Rain fell from Sunday night until early Tuesday. Monday night brought a substantial thunderstorm with heavy rain lasting into the morning.

But the citizens of Fargo/Moorhead do not care.

The United States economy is in disarray. Barack Obama unveiled his $3.6 trillion budget proposal. AIG is recording massive losses despite billions of dollars in federal relief and yet is paying out bonuses.

But the citizens of Fargo/Moorhead do not care.

There is one thing that the citizens of Fargo care about:

The mighty Red River is rising quickly and threatening the Fargo/Moorhead community in it's entirety.

The most recent numbers tweeted by @redriveratfargo read,

Current height of the Red River at Fargo is 36.39 feet. 18.39 feet above flood stage. 3.21 feet below 1997 crest.

The Red River is predicted to crest at forty-one feet on Saturday morning. That is the highest in recorded history.

Volunteers are showing up in the thousands to fill sandbags and build dikes in attempts to stave off the river, but the Red is rising fast. Twenty-four hours ago the river was at 31.75 feet. A view of the stages of the progression has been compiled by the Minnesota Public Radio website.

The Fargodome has been transformed into a sandbag-filling hive where hundreds of volunteers shovel, hold, tie, and move the sandbags to be distrubuted throughout the city by police-escorted semi-trucks. Some 2.5 to 3 million sandbags are needed. The most recent number reflect somewhere around 1.3 million.

Homeowners along the river hope against hope that they will not suffer the same fate of those living in Oxbow, where the Wild Rice River meets the mighty Red just minutes south of Fargo. Some Oxbow residents lost their battles and had to be rescued this morning.

Whispers of city-wide evacuation echo down the sandbag line. No one wants to leave their livelihood behind, but if the river levels rise above the predicted value, it will most likely become necessary.

Overall, uncertainty is in the air. Volunteers continue to pour their efforts into sandbagging; however, no one can truly conceive of what will unfold in the next few days.

Tree of the Week (3.24.09)

Blogger's Block

This past week I have been on vacation with Rebekah, my parents, and my sister. I was hoping that the time away would help clear up the small strain of blogger's block that I seem to have come down with in the month of March. Unfortunately, it was not the cure to my condition. So, this is the best I can do right now. Maybe after a few days in my natural habitat I will have something to blog about.

In other news, I have started writing a novel.

Tree of the Week (3.17.09)

Sanctification Speed

Sometimes I get frustrated with the speed of my sanctification. I should just be able to be more disciplined and speed up the sloth-like pace, right?

And then I remember that it is not contingent on how disciplined I am. Or on me at all.

But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

-1 Corinthians 6:11

And when I am reminded that it is by the name of Jesus that I am sanctified, I realize that what I consider a sloth-like pace is exactly the pace that God has planned.

I'll Try Twitter

So, I started tweeting on Twitter. I don't know if I'll keep up with it, but you can check it out and follow me if you'd like.

If you'd rather not go through all that clicking, you can just glance at the sidebar in my blog. I have fed my tweets in there. Of course if you are reading this on Facebook or a feedreader, you'll have to click through to the actual blog.