‘My Lord told me a joke. And seeing Him laugh has done more for me than any scripture I will ever read.’
In my list of ‘Unlikely things an eminent theologian might say’ – this scores pretty high.
It’s offensiveness towards certain forms of orthodoxy is also a thing to behold.
First God tells a joke. (Is this even allowed?) Then, God laughs at his own joke. (Socially awkward)
Yet for Eckhart, this divine guffaw beats any scripture he has or ever will read – which is quite a thing to say.
So maybe we best take comedy more seriously this Advent.
Laughter is often about the absurd and we’ve lived a lot of that recently.
We laugh at the ego-driven/deceitful/attention-seeking things people say and do; and maybe in some ways, our laughter heals it.
It draws a big line in the sand on behalf of truth and sanity.
When we stop laughing, the absurd wins.
No wonder God is such a joker –
… and why Eckhart found the comedy so healing.
