Does God Have a Sense of Humor?

I was watching a clip from Jim Gaffigan's "Beyond the Pale" show where he was talking about religions, specifically Jesus. He made a joke about whether Jesus was a good carpenter or not. The Bible does not address the topic. Some people want to think that Jesus was perfect in everything He did. Isn't it possible that Jesus as true man may have bashed his thumb with a hammer a few times? After all, there is no sin in missing the nail.

I wonder what God thinks about stuff like this? Can he take a joke as long as people are not making fun or blaspheming? Does God agree that "there is no such thing as bad publicity"?

There is the story about Elisha and some belligerent youths in 2 Kings 2. The youths were jeering at Elisha and calling him "baldhead". So, Elisha cursed them and God sent two bears who mauled 42 of the youths. That seems pretty harsh. On the other hand, some people think that the youths were threatening Elisha's life. The youths were saying, "go on up". Maybe that was a reference to the way Elijah was recently taken to heaven. In other words, these young people were telling Elisha he would soon be joining Elijah. God was protecting Elisha. Maybe.

Another theory is that the youths were verbally attacking Elisha's role as prophet and thus God himself. In this case, God was defending His name and reputation as well as kick-starting Elisha's ministry among the Israelites.

OK. God did not have a sense of humor for the antics of the boys from Bethel. However, they had ill will towards Elisha. They were not trying to be entertaining. This was not good publicity.

Speaking of publicity, there are several occasions in the new testament where demons that Jesus was dealing with were commanded by Him to be silent when they cried out that he was the Son of God. Wouldn't testimony from a demon prove Jesus divinity? Jesus did not want this kind of publicity (see Mark 1). God does not want praise from just anyone.

Back to the comedy thing. Jesus himself may have had a sense of humor. He nicknamed James and John, "the sons of thunder". That sounds like a Nascar reference. Was Jesus a fun-loving prankster or someone who was driven to accomplish his mission and had no time for tomfoolery? The Bible does not give us enough information to know for sure.

Admittedly, there is not a lot of comedy in the Bible. Also, we as human beings can never know the mind of God. We simply need to accept that "'My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the LORD." -- Isaiah 55:8. We can not know for sure what God thinks is funny or where He draws the line. Making a joke about Jesus is not the unforgiveable sin. (It may be a sin, just not unforgiveable.)

So, does the apostle Peter "like [Jim Gaffigan's] stuff" as Jim said? Maybe. In the end, the only thing that matters is whether we accept Jesus as the way to God. If we do, we can find ways to enjoy life that please God and bring Him the glory and publicity that He deserves.