Jesus’ sense of humour shines in his parables

Cartoons are a daily feature in our newspapers and this masthead is superbly served, not only by a team with quirky artistic talent but by those who, with a few added words, can cut through to the heart of current issues. Sometimes we chuckle, sometimes we cringe, but inevitably we marvel at the succinctness of the message. We may agree or disagree with a cartoonist’s view of daily life but, at heart, they are inviting us to approach things from a different angle.

Cartoons have a long and honoured history of dealing with topical issues worldwide. Through war and peace, prosperity and adversity, they reflect the cultural and political backgrounds of the countries in which they’re published. Frequently they are controversial, occasionally confronting.

Not just cartoons, however, use graphic art and a cryptic comment to convey their message. Synonyms for the word cartoon can include caricature, parody, lampoon or satire. So, for example, a parable could be said to be a cartoon in words. This type of writing is common throughout both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible; the stories on the surface inviting us to dig deeper.

Parables were a trademark method of teaching used by Jesus, drawn from the practice of ancient Israel. In fact he hardly ever taught without using them. They were the cartoons of his day. He used agricultural symbols and social or religious customs as subjects for his drawings; sometimes exaggerated, but always pointing to a truth.

“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax collector” is how Jesus begins sketching a cartoon about self-righteousness and humility. The parables of the Good Samaritan or the Prodigal Son speak to successive generations. The moral truths they contain seep into the awareness of a wide circle beyond the actively religious.

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This form of writing also indicates that Jesus had a sense of humour, an essential quality for all cartoonists. It’s hard to imagine that those listening to his teaching about the Kingdom of Heaven didn’t get a chuckle out of his story about the man who sowed good seed but, while he was asleep, his enemies planted weeds among them.

Obviously one must be close to the matter being illustrated to understand the metaphor. But the people listening back then, including his enemies, got the message.

Interpreting and re-interpreting these symbolic stories has a valid place in our search for faith and meaning. Beautifully crafted word pictures from ancient scriptures stand up to the relevance test, no matter in what age we live.