The humor of the Man from Nazareth

From front to back, the Bible is sprinkled with touches of humor here and there, mostly missed by its readers. Too many commenters dwell on solemnness and seriousness in Bible passages and get left out of the wit and even comedy. 

Here's an example of the humor of Jesus and Nathanael from the Gospel of John:

1:45-46. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote--Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph!"

This exchange takes place early in the day, as Jesus prepares to take his new disciples on a vigorous 3-day walk to Cana. It is quite possible that Nathanael was asleep when Philip found him. Nathanael's retort was surprising.

1:46a. Nathanael said to Philip, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" 

Nathanael meant no bad will against Nazareth,which was only a sleepy little village of perhaps 200 residents. His response was lightly satirical, responding to Philip's over-exuberance. Philip had just met Jesus only moments before this.

1:46b. Philip said to him, "Come and see!"

The Gospel reported the same light-hearted response that Jesus had to Andrew and John the day before this (1:39).

1:47. Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and said of him, "Behold, an Israel indeed, in whom there is no deceit!"

This was certainly a bold statement, but Nathanael was ever the skeptic.

1:48. Nathanael said to him, "How do you know me?" Jesus answered him, saying, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you."

This was certainly an unexpected response from Nathanael's point  of view. It was unlikely that an ordinary human being could know so much from so little information. Nathanael responded with broad satire, even a parody of what Jesus had said.

1:49. Nathanael answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King  of  Israel!"

Here Nathanael is using outright comedy to portray Jesus' description of him. (As soon as he said it, he might have wished that he could take it back.)

BUT JESUS GOES ALONG WITH NATHANAEL'S JOKE!

1:50. "Jesus answered him, saying, "Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you [now] believe? You will see greater things  than these."

But this was a teaching  moment ,  and Jesus was not going to let it pass by. 

1:51. And Jesus said to him, "Truly, Truly I say to you, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

The first "you" is singular: Jesus said to Nathanael.

The second "you" is plural: "I say to all of you."

Jesus' audience for this final statement is at least both Nathanael and Philip, and probably Andrew and John as well.

If you missed the humor in this banter and interchange between Jesus and Nathanael, you might conclude, as many serious scholars have, that Nathanael was the first person other than John the Baptist that recognized Jesus as the Son of God.

Matthew 15:27, Mark 7:28

If you missed the banter of Nathanael, you might also have missed the banter of the Syrophoenician women when she responded to Jesus, "Yes, Lord, but even the puppies under the table feed on the children's crumbs which fall from their master's table." Jesus responded positively to this banter also, and granted the woman's request for her child to be healed.

REFERENCES: Here are three books that go into the humor of Jesus more deeply:

The humor of Christ, Elton Trueblood, 1964

The humor of Jesus, Henri Cormier, 1977

The joyful Christ, Cal Samra