Holy Laughter

"The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, 'Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.' He who sits in the Heavens laughs..." (Psalm 2:2-4). 

When Martin Luther taught young pastors this text he delivered it as a rousing sermon: "It is not just ourselves the world is so bitterly against," he declared, "but God himself. Instead of being afraid, we should be laughing at this crazy effort of the world to think it can fight against God."

And so it is: God's enemies plot to frustrate his plan to bring salvation to the earth and holy laughter rends the skies... 

We, on the other hand, seem to have lost our sense of humor. 

Anxious eyes, furrowed brows and worry lines cloud our faces. Like Chicken Little we swear that the sky is falling. But the enemy's efforts to topple the Church can't really be taken seriously; they rather deserve a guffaw. 

The arrogance of God's opponents is, of course, the laughing matter and not the suffering it engenders. The damage to human souls is incalculable. We weep for ourselves and for those who weep. 

And, of necessity, we must respond to assaults on the gospel with faith, truth, love, prayer and personal righteousness—the mighty spiritual weapons that God has placed at our disposal.

But we can do so in good humor, for we know the end of the story: the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord and Savior. Jesus Christ, and the sorrows of this life will become the eternal laughter of Heaven. "Life goes on and we haven't seen the best of it," Carlo Carretto said. We rejoice even now in things to come.

So when the world, the flesh and the devil plot mischief this year, don't fret. Just chuckle. God is laughing and so should we. 

David Roper

1.14.21

Post hoc...

It has always amused me that while Israel's prophets considered idolatry (the worship of idols) the essence of evil they poked fun at idols. They describe pagan worshippers spending prodigious amounts of money and expending great effort to find the right tree and choose the right artisan to carve the idol and embellish it with gold leaf and silver. But then they have to nail its feet to the floor lest it tip over! (Isaiah 40,18-20). They even made up humorous, albeit indelicate, names for idols, one being gilluliym—"little balls of dung” (Ezekiel 30:13).