Thanks for your note to us here at TruthBook; to answer your question: No, I never have read of Jesus actually laughing either. I am sure that he did laugh, though. Everybody laughs! And there are passages that definitely hint at Jesus’ sense of humor:

129:4.4The Son of Man experienced those wide ranges of human emotion which reach from superb joy to profound sorrow. He was a child of joy and a being of rare good humor; likewise was he a “man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” In a spiritual sense, he did live through the mortal life from the bottom to the top, from the beginning to the end. From a material point of view, he might appear to have escaped living through both social extremes of human existence, but intellectually he became wholly familiar with the entire and complete experience of humankind.

159:3.10 You shall not portray your teacher as a man of sorrows. Future generations shall know also the radiance of our joy, the buoyance of our good will, and the inspiration of our good humor. We proclaim a message of good news which is infectious in its transforming power. Our religion is throbbing with new life and new meanings. Those who accept this teaching are filled with joy and in their hearts are constrained to rejoice evermore. Increasing happiness is always the experience of all who are certain about God.

172:2.5 In a way, all of Jesus’ followers sensed the impending crisis, but they were prevented from fully realizing its seriousness by the unusual cheerfulness and exceptional good humor of the Master.

I think these passages give us good evidence that Jesus was someone who had a very good sense of humor. I wish the revelators might have included a scene or two where we witness his humor, but maybe there was a reluctance to add such stories at the risk of subsequent generations misunderstanding somehow. I don’t know…

In any event, even though we don’t have those particular scenes of Jesus joking or laughing, I think we can safely assume that they happened. Even with the amazing detail that we’re given in The Urantia Book of the Master’s life, there are still large blocks of time not covered … time with the family, traveling with the apostles, touring with Ganid on the Mediterranean trip…I can’t imagine there NOT being ample joy and good humor along the way of Jesus time here. Jesus was a perfectly balanced human being; laughter would certainly be part of a normal and balanced character.

Thanks again for writing…hope this reply is helpful!

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Author: Staff