Laughing Jesus by Robin McMillan

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Waking Up

by Robin McMillan

LAUGHING JESUS

Posted: 31 Jan 2010 05:46 PM PST


I picked this rendering of Jesus because He is laughing. (I don't know who drew it and apologize for using it without permission.) Most historic religious imagery of the Lord shows Him serene, serious, ethereal, other worldly, in agony, or sad. I know that He was the suffering Savior but he was also 'anointed with the oil of joy above his companions' (Hebrews 1:8-9). People need to see a laughing, joyful, happy Jesus to round out their understanding of God!
Jesus is the source of our joy and as King of the universe, is seated on a throne having been anointed with joy. "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You love righteousness and hate wickedness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness more than Your companions" (Psalms 45:6-7).
In Acts 2:15-21 Peter defends the behavior of the 120 gathered in the upper room at Pentecost when Holy Spirit came. "For these are not drunk as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day, but this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:...'I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh'". Peter also identified the source; "This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear" (Acts 2:32-33). Therefore, in Acts 2, what was seen and heard and callled drunkenness, was poured out in a form that we could call the oil of joy. Jesus Himself poured it out and it came directly from His throne. Go figure!
Do you have room in your theology for a laughing Jesus? Laughing because "He that sits in the heavens shall laugh' (Psalm 2:4)...laughing because "He endured the cross, despising the shame, for the joy set before Him" (Heb. 12:2)...laughing because the One who knows the end from the beginning, who has infinite wisdom and power, who proclaimed 'It is finished' while dying on the cross, who overcame death and was raised from the dead, can laugh in the face of any problem, because He is Lord of all, and He is the answer...to everything.
Once again let me ask you, "Do you have room in your theology for a laughing Jesus?" I hope so. Knowing Him this way will change your life.
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