I was reading a book, “Jesus and Ourselves’ by Dr. Leslie Weatherhead, written between the wars, in 1931. It had a chapter about Jesus and his sense of humor.
Weatherhead pointed out that most people think of Jesus as a kind, gentle soul not a feisty fighter so they miss part of his personality, such as in the temple destroying the tables of the moneychangers.
They may think of him as somewhat weak, pasty, walking with children and petting lambs. They may think he was not manly, heroic or brave. They have not noticed how courageous he was to seek out talking with his critics, how brave he was to endure rowdy crowds about to throw him off a cliff, how strong he was to go to a city where they were likely to try to kill him. We sometimes lose aspects of his personality when we focus on only one part of it.
Weatherhead noted that when Jesus talked to crowds, he was loved. People were deeply engaged in what he said, surprised, intrigued, mesmerized, reassured. So how did he speak?
We have his words but Weatherhead points out that we don’t have always the context or the reports of the body language, the pauses. Other researchers have looked at how Jesus spoke, not just at what he said and have noticed that he likely was actually quite a casual, fun speaker, engaging and nonthreatening.
We know that he did not urge violence. He did not scare them with a message to repent or face everlasting flames. He did not name names and list off and call out sinners . He did not confront and challenge people to battle.
But the messages he gave were amazing because he did convey messages of real crisis and urgency, but without anger. He did convey messages of ending evil tendencies, not listening to those who mislead , but he did it nearly with a kind of humor, exaggerating but still making the point. He led people down a difficult subtle trail to realize something by just telling a story . They would get the point themselves and apply it themselves to their own lives.
He made his points by humor, in some ways using ridiculous metaphors that likely made people laugh but still they got the message. He dared to insult tendencies, dramatically, so people laughed and still saw the pattern they too found unfair. His words resonated with the people because they were shocking and surprising. He dared to confront the hardest topics, but still get people to listen with a kind of humor and joy. That is a speech art.
The endings to his lessons were often shocking and ironic. One expects a religious leader to predict happiness but he predicted for his followers that they would be hated. One expects that a person who works a longer day will get more pay than the one who works a shorter day but he admires an employer who pays them all the same. People were amazed. Where was the logic? Jesus dared upset the assumptions .
When Jesus was in town, people gathered. He was going to be a person well worth hearing. His speeches, sermons, lessons, parables, were going to give you thoughts to mull over for days and even apparently for lifetimes.
How did he speak? We know that he spoke obliquely with stories, parables, examples from fiction that have a lesson. This strategy is brilliant because it is not threatening and nobody feels singled out. The lesson is rarely laid out in moral summary. He asked people to be part of registering the lesson, applying it to themselves. In other words they ‘discovered’ the message and felt clever rather than being force fed the message.
This is the art of a brilliant teacher. The risk of course is that they may not ‘get’ the message he intended but the likelihood is that they will, and that they themselves will apply it to their lives.
We also know that he spoke without anger . The audience was often coping with unfair taxes, poverty, vast social class differences and racism. They were dealing with a lot of things a person could be angry at, but his words were surprising because they were not whipping the crowd up into fury. He offered a third way- not submission, not revolt- but another way to endure with dignity and to look at a different view of success.
What is quite surprising when a person looks at the quotes intensely is that they were often glaringly insulting, hugely shocking – generation of vipers, snakes. Yet he pulled it off. How did he do that?
He was an artist with exaggeration, with imagery that made people feel the joy of things not being quite that bad but still seeing the point. Stand up comics use this strategy when speaking of politicians. It is cruel and yet funny to say someone ‘s hair is prematurely orange or that he was weaned on a lemon.
Some of what Jesus says of others was likely deliciously fun to hear because he dared mock those who were bossy and arrogant and he did it in a very clever funny way.
His message surprised people because it was based on love, acceptance of foibles, kindness and even forgiving those you disliked. Even faced with his real critics, in some ways it was like the teasing between siblings where there can be harsh critique and accurate but the assumption is that the love will never be in question. His words, however playful, insulting and true, were also kind. His empathy for the poor, the sick, the rejected, was stunning. He dared to talk to those who could not remotely help his reputation or add to his coffers. He spoke with children and enjoyed banter with them. He went out of his way to talk to people the community was avoiding – lepers, disgraced women, hated tax collectors. He shocked people by who he even wanted to talk to.
So Jesus’ words only matched his actions as full of the unexpected. He said amazing things, and in compelling ways.
Weatherhead suggested that humor was a key way that Jesus talked with people to keep it fun, keep it new and to surprise them with gentle wisdom. What types of humor?
- Metaphor. It is always fun to hear someone speak in imagery that is a surprise and daring but actually clever and apt. He did that all the time.
- Word play. It is true that many of the words in Aramaic or Greek as plays on words in Aramaic and Greek would not be accessible to use. You can’t understand a pun if you don’t know the two concepts.
- Exaggeration – Much of humor today goes over the top and that is what makes it fun. It takes a minor situation and makes us see how silly it is by saying it is worse. This is a gentle way to evaluate a problem but with an understand subtext that this is a joke, going past what is logical. IT engages the people in a second level of the message and they share the joke.
- Ridiculous situations – he suggests ludicrous scenarios and the people go along with this and see how silly they are but then see themselves in a new light also Stand up comics also address some of society’s deepest foibles just that way. They take it too far and then make the listener realize yes, that is in fact what we are doing in the world. It is a gentle to way to have people reassess their actions.
Eg.
-Jesus refers to trying to correct someone as trying to take a speck out of their eye, while having a plank in your own. You have more problems than they do, you can’t even see to correct them, you are not wrong that they have a little problem but you are not the one to fix it right now . This is a lesson against self righteousness, and against criticizing others
Eg.he says we should tell good news and not just hide it out of embarrassment. He alludes to putting a lamp under a bed. Nobody would do that so the audience would likely laugh. But the point is made.
Eg. He says we should be nice to those who need help. He gives a mundane example of someone who wakes you in the night wanting bread to serve guests. He says if we don’t give the bread that is easy but we will end up doing it anyway because the door knocking is just so irritating. That is clever and still makes the point.
Eg. A woman not of his race wants favors and he says she is not of his race. He likely was smirking as he said that, challenging her to make her case better. She said that even puppies can eat crumbs from the table. He likes her answer. She engaged in the metaphor and he helped her, as he likely was going to do anyway. He liked the verbal banter.
Eg. John the Baptist was criticized for being a naysayer, dour sadsack. Jesus was criticized for being the opposite, too much of a party guy, too cheerful. He even went to feasts with the rich and drank at weddings. Jesus was aware that for some critics you can never please them so he flipped the discussion to a logical oddity. He said he was the bridegroom and people should enjoy the party when he was there. In essence he was reminding of God’s love and a reason to celebrate.
If you want to be a memorable speaker not having the audience nod off, the art is often to use concrete imagery, day to day examples. A speech that goes on about ‘the deterioration of the moral fibre of society” will turn a lot of people off. However a speech that makes you laugh can make the same point, more memorably and concretely. Stand up comics know it. Ad slogan writers know it.
Even well educated people like to have a take -home memorable short message, a summary memory device and giving them this one liner expression is very helpful – and memorable. Jesus’ speech was full of these.
So this study looks intensely at those devices.
Speech Style of Jesus 