Joking Matters
by Rich Mullins
Release Magazine January/February 1996
The only thing worse than a joke you don't get is the explanation that is bound to follow. The explaination that, while it may help you see why
you should have seen the humor that you so lamely missed, is little likely to make you laugh. It may provoke you to muster a sympathy
snicker so as to avoid more of an already tedious and misdirected lecture. It may inspire a mild giggle of recognition, but it will hardly
ever raise a real belly-laugh, which was the original desired effect.
And so, here I go, me and the thousand other people, trying to explain a joke that we would do better to learn to better tell. I am setting out
to explain again why Jesus is the only true hope for the world, why we should put our faith in Him and what all of that means. I am collecting
the information, selecting from what I hope will be useable as evidence, arranging my findings into arguments, framing it for presentation and
recognizing that, while it may all be fine as far as it goes, it doesn't go far enough.
Then I remembered two things. The first thing I recall is an argument I once had with a friend. After I had whacked away his last scrap of
defense, after I had successfully cut off every possible escape route that he could use, after I had backed him into an inescapable corner and
hit him with a great inarguable truth, he blew me away by simply saying, "I do not want to be a Christian. I don't want your Jesus Christ."
There was no argument left to be had or won. Faith is a matter of the will as much as it is of the intellect. I wanted to believe in Jesus.
My friend wanted to believe in himself. In spite of how convincing my reason was, my reason was not compelling.
So, the second thing I remember is this: I am a Christian because I have seen the love of God lived out in the lives of people who know Him.
The Word has become flesh and I have encountered God in the people who have manifested (in many "unreasonable" ways) His presence - a
presence that is more than convincing - it is a presence that is compelling. I am a Christian, not because someone explained the nuts and
bolts of Christianity to me, but because there were people who were willing to be nuts and bolts. Through their obedience to the truth and
not necessarily through their explanation of it, they held it together so that I could experience it and be compelled to obey. "If I be lifed up,"
Jesus said, "I will draw all men unto me."
So, here I offer what is possibly the worst thing that can be offered: an explanation of a joke. And, what makes this more inexcusable than the
fact that this is that, is the added fact that this is an explanation to a joke you've already gotten. I offer it anyway. I offer it in the hope
that it might somehow encourage you to live out your lives, and, by living, tellthe same joke. Love one another. Forgive one another. Work
as unto God. Let the peace of Christ reign in your hearts. Make it your ambition to lead quiet lives. Obey. Greet one another with a holy kiss.
No one will argue with that.
Much that I have read has challenged my opinion and hardened my convictions - I am thankful for it. It is for you (and for me, more
in living that in writing) to let our light so shine before men that they may see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven.
