have you heard the one about .....

I enjoyed Clare's recent blog about Gideon....
Actually I think the whole story of Gideon in 6 and 7 is funny, esp the exchanges with the angel and the business with the fleeces, also the dream about the barley cake (reminiscent of a cheese rolling contest!) though the story darkens later on.
Actually I suspect a lot of the bible is funnier than we (rather po faced Christians) make out. Can you imagine a group of evangelicals reading the bible like the Jews at Purim reading Esther: ou dress up, make silly noises and hiss at the villain and 'drink until you cannot distinguish between Mordecai and Haman' see www.holidays.net/purim/ Am I the only one who things whole chunks of stuff in the gospels is funny rather than 'holy' ! The feeding of the five thousand? Jesus walking on the water ('it's a ghost!') or even Mary in the garden (He's behind you!!) oh and the pharisees who are plotting to kill Lazarus because Jesus raised him from the dead (dead again? Lazarus- you really must be more careful.....)
Maybe it's our modern sensibilities. Medieval churches are full of jokes in the stained glass and the carvings, so are the old illuminated manuscripts. The mystery plays had more in common with Purim and the bible passages are interspersed with outrageous stories, a bit like Shakespeare mixing comedy and high drama. In the 2nd shepherds play Mak steals a sheep and ends up (inevitably) dressing it up as a baby and pretending to the shepherds that his wife has just given birth. The deception is only discovered when the shepherds come back to 'adore' the child and give him a farthing, in a scene reminiscent of Little Red Riding Hood and her granny
'Give me leave him to kiss, and once lift him out.....What devil is this? He has a long snout!'
Dorothy Sayers in the notes to 'Man born to be King' was convinced that we are truly in the midst of a divine comedy and that there is laughter at the heart of the universe. I am inclined to agree with her.