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Irony and Humor. |
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Irony
is a mode of expression in which what is said is the opposite of what is meant;
consequently, ironic statements cannot be
understood without rejecting their apparent sense. Humor starts with the
perception of irony or of some other inconsistency strong enough to provoke
confusion or tension. Sudden
release from such tension often
results in a smile or in laughter; the
inner feeling is of sympathetic joy or
of playfulness. Things that are
thus perceived and the reactions to
that perception are called comical. There
are many examples of irony and humor in
the Bible. Genesis 17-18 tells of Abraham and
Sarah's laughter when they think they have a
joke on God. In I
Samuel
17 it is ironic that the young
shepherd boy David is victorious over the giant Goliath, and in 2 Samuel 12 the prophet Nathan ironically
makes King David pass sentence on himself.
The Psalms describe God as a laughing god who finds sinners ridiculous
in their pride and self-deceptions (2.4; 37.13;
cf. 59.9; Prov.
1.26). The prophets used sarcasm and satire rather than humor in the positive
sense. They ridiculed the
belief in idols (Isa. 44; cf. Hos. 13-2) and drew up a ridiculously exact
list of the jewelry of luxurious women (Isa.
3.18-23). Generalizations and exaggerations
are also characteristic of prophetic discourse. The
book of Proverbs provides examples of humor and irony that are different from
the biting sarcasm of the prophets and the amusing storytelling of the narrator.
The sign of true wisdom is obedience to God's law;
the sinner is therefore
ridiculous. A lazy man wants to sleep in the
morning (Prov. 6.9-10) and does not have the energy to lift his hand to
his mouth when he is eating (19.24). The
slothful person lying in bed is like a door on its hinges, turning back and forth (26.14). A rich fool thinks he can buy wisdom with money
(17.I6). Women are generally
respectfully described, unless they are brawling (21.9), contentious
(27.15), or immoral (11-22). In
the synoptic Gospels, similes, parables, and
teens used by Jesus are often akin to similar
expressions in rabbinic literature. The
rabbis used humor and irony is their
discussion about even the most
serious matters. Since Jesus was called
a rabbi, it is not surprising that he uses irony and humor as well.
In his sayings he describes comical people (Luke 11.5-8;
18.1-8); Matt
5.25; 25.1-12),
comical ideas (Matt. 5.36;
7.6, 9-10, 16), and comical events
(Matt. 5.15;
7.3-5;
Luke 14.7-14). These humorous texts point
toward the earliest strata of Christian tradition
and probably originated from Jesus himself. In
the gospel of John everything happens simultaneously
within two frames of reference. One
is mystical, sublime, heavenly: there Jesus is the eternal, divine Logos. The
other is the earthly,
the temporal, that of the "flesh" (John 1.14). The incarnate Jesus and
the eternal Christ are
the same person, and his message is interpreted
in terms that have a double meaning. This
results in a certain kind of irony, and the human
intellect asks questions that show its lack of
understanding and insight. (John 2.20;
3-4; 4-11; 15.33; 6.15, 26, 34;
7.35; 12.16, 28-30; 13.4-11,
28-29; 16.17-18).
Here
two tunes are interwoven
into one musical composition. Those
who are attentive only to the
sublime tune will hardly find humor in the
narrative, but readers conscious of the earthly tune will perhaps think of
the *incarnation of Logos as a metamorphosis in the Greek sense, and then the way is open to the
understanding of what has been called "divine irony."
Among such ironical examples are the declarations of Jewish and
Roman authorities (John 11.49-53; 18.5) and
Jesus' feigned ignorance (Luke 24.19). The
book of Acts is a kind of story in which the humor often consists in amusing
situations. There is something comical about Peter's return to the congregation (12.1-19),
missionaries as gods (14.1-18), and Demetrius's wonderful speech in Ephesus
(19.23-41). Paul
had rabbinical training and uses ironical questions
about theological matters (Rom. 3.29; 6.1,
15; 7.7, 13). He describes himself as a fool for
Christ's sake (1 Cor. 4.9-10), and even speaks
of God as foolish and weak (1 Cor. 1.18-31). The
letter to Philemon is a masterpiece of sympathetic
irony and gentle humor.
Bruce Metzger & Michael Coogan, eds., The Oxford Companion to the BIBLE, Oxford University Press, New York, 1993 |