Take the subject of laughter as an example. Thackeray once wrote: “People who do not know how to laugh, are always pompous and self-conceited.” And to prove that point, my book quotes a couple of people, who declare that they never laugh. Lord Chesterfield is quoted to have said, “I am sure that since I had the use of my reason, no human being has ever heard me laugh.” Pity that poor man’s wife. Is it true as Carlyle said, “Laughter means sympathy?” Sometimes. Then he said, “The man who cannot laugh is not only fit for treasons, strategems, and spoils, but his whole life is already a treason and strategem.” On the other hand, someone once wrote: “Immoderate laughter always ends in a sigh.” “That laughter costs too much which is purchased by the sacrifice of decency.” “God made both tears and laughter, and both for kind purposes: for as laughter enable mirth and surprise to breathe freely, so tears enable sorrow to vent itself patiently. Tears hinder sorrow from becoming despair and madness.” He who cannot laugh at himself, is a proud and dangerous man. But then Ruffini added, “More people laugh at us than with us, however it may appear at the moment.”
Whether or not people laugh at us or with us, we need to learn to laugh at ourselves. It seems to me that one of the marks of maturity is the ability to laugh at oneself. We all should know how foolish and weak we are, and we need to be able to admit it. I suppose that laughing at ourselves is, in one small way, a form of humility.
Now, I have said many times, that I believe that Christ Jesus had a sense of humor. It was based in joy and was completely without sin – something that often creeps into our laughter. We don’t read of Christ cracking jokes, and He didn’t play vicious games to invoke laughter. I believe that I see it in subtle ways at certain times. But as I wish that we all knew, myself included, there are many times when laughter is out of place.
Our scripture raises a point which I’ve never pursued before, but which I think deserves consideration. When the Lord Jesus came into Jairus’ house to minister to the deceased twelve-year-old girl… He “saw the minstrels and the people making a noise,” – that is they were displaying public mourning. And “He said unto them, Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn.” The account of the raising of Jairus’ daughter is recorded in all three of the Synoptic Gospels. And the Greek word translated “laughed Him to scorn” is used in all three cases, and it is used no where else in the scriptures. Strong’s Concordance defines the word as “to deride” – “to use derision.” “To deride” means – “to speak or treat with contemptuous mirth.” Synonyms are “to mock,” “ridicule,” “scorn,” “disdain,” and “to sneer.”
I would like us to consider the obvious this morning – It is foolish to mock, to sneer and to disdain Christ Jesus. It is eternally dangerous to deride or to laugh to scorn the eternal Son of God. There are several additional scriptures where wicked souls mocked and derided Christ, and I would like to put them into several categories for you.
In this morning’s scripture, among other things, the people laughed at Jesus’ OMNISCIENCE.
Matthew 9:23-25 – “And when Jesus came into the ruler’s house, and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise, He said unto them, Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn. But when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her by the hand, and the maid arose.”
This was my theme last Sunday night, but many of you were not here, so let me give you a brief outline. Those people who were laughing at Christ misunderstood the Biblical doctrine of DEATH. It needs to be understood that there are three kinds of death – physical, spiritual and eternal. I define death as some sort of separation – for example, soul from body or the spirit from God. I am convinced from the declarations of scriptures, that there are dead people among us at this moment, and I’m not foolishly talking about ghosts and goblins. If you have not been born again, regenerated by the grace of God, then you are spiritually dead – dead in your trespasses and sins – your eternal spirit has no life before the holy God, and is separated from Him. Unless you are born again between now and when your heart stops beating, sometime after your physical death you will be cast into “the lake of fire,” which the Bible calls “the second death.” Spiritual death is followed by eternal death – guaranteed by the holiness and authority of God. Essentially – your physical death may be followed by the second death.
I cannot speak to the spiritual condition of the girl in our scripture, but she was physically dead. But in the fact that human beings are eternal souls, there was a part of her which was not physically dead. And since Jesus knew that He was going to reunite her soul with her body, there was a sense in which her BODY was only sleeping, awaiting her resurrection. But those untaught unbelievers “laughed him to scorn,” for making that statement.
Permit me expand the words of Christ, to all the Word of God. Just as those people, in their ignorance, misunderstood the words of Christ, there are billions of people in our world who misunderstand much of the rest of the Word of God. And when they laugh at what the Bible says about “the second death” for example, they do so to the peril of their souls. When the Bible speaks about the Trinity, just because they may not be able to explain it, or even to understand it, that doesn’t mean that it isn’t a fact, and they should take by faith what the scripture says. There may be a hundred things in this Book which you don’t understand, and there is a reason that you don’t, but I assure you that what the Bible says is true, and for the sake of your soul you had better believe it.
I wish there had been an investigative reporter who could have followed those scorners around for a few days. When they later saw that girl out in the streets, more healthy than she had ever been before, did they confess their earlier sin of unbelief? Did that provoke them to come to Jairus’ house to learn more about Christ and His miracle? Did they begin to attend Jairus’ synagogue with more sincerity, honesty and faith, worshiping the God who can raise the dead? In other words, despite Jesus’ order not to make this into big news, did some of these scorners eventually become true believers, even though at the time they “laughed him to scorn?”
It is a very dangerous thing to laugh at the Word of God and the Words of Christ. Repent of your scorn before it is eternally too late. “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars (an scorners), shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”
A second case of laughing at Christ involved His AUTHORITY.
This is undoubtedly even more dangerous than mocking His knowledge or His Word. In Luke 16:13-14 the Lord was teaching His disciples – with the Pharisees listening in, as they often did. Jesus said, “No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him.” “Derided” is a different Greek word, but the meaning is the same – “they laughed Him to scorn.” And for what? For attacking one of the foundational principles of their evil society – “Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” “Mammon” is an Aramaic word which speaks of “treasure,” “wealth” or “money.”
Let’s say that I saw you driving down the road one day with your cell phone at the top of the steering wheel and your thumbs skipping across its keyboard. Later I have a chance to talk to you, and I say, “You should not text and drive.” I shouldn’t have to explain that texting and driving is dangerous – it could kill you and others. I shouldn’t have to point out that it distracts you from the road and slows your response time if something should run out in front of you. I could argue against texting and driving with all kinds of logic. I could even forward you some horrendous pictures, videos and stories about people who have been in deadly accidents doing just what I saw you doing. I could do these things as your concerned friend. But then two days later, you are out driving and you are texting once again, but a policeman sees you. He might tell you the same things that I told you. But he also has the law behind him, and you could be looking at a serious fine for breaking the law. There is a difference between my council and the authority of the law.
Similarly, I can tell you “Ye cannot serve God and mammon,” and I can offer all kinds of logical reasons. I could point out that serving mammon in the context of serving God, makes that service idolatry. I could argue that God will not bless such service, making it impossible to do either one properly. Or I could rephrase it – “You should not try to serve God and mammon.” But all my sputterings would not even come close to the authority with which Jesus said the same thing. “Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” Those Pharisees, entrenched in their sin, heard the authoritative declaration of the Son of God, and they laughed Him to scorn, because what He said attacked the very core of their lives. “The Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him.” It wasn’t Christ’s logic to which they disagreed, it was His authority.
Once again, let’s apply this to everything else which Christ Jesus has said. If you are prone to reject what the Bible says about “sin, righteousness and judgment…” If you want to reject what God says about your lost, wicked condition and that you will spend eternity in the Lake of fire… If you want to dismiss what the Bible about the importance of the Lord’s church, prayer, righteous living, or any of a thousand other things… You may say that your derision is based on logic, but the truth is, you will not bow before the authority of the omnipotent God. It’s not about your brains; it’s about your heart. It’s not about logic; it’s about sin and your native rebellion against the authority of God. “The Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and (therefore) they derided him.”
Philippians 2:9-11 is a powerful segment of a large and important scripture. But this segment says, “God also hath highly exalted (Christ Jesus), and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” It is a foolish thing to deride and mock the authority of Christ, because any mocking will be short-lived. “The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.” May I add that he who mocks the Son mocks God the Father which hath sent him?
Before I get to my next point, let me say that the derision cast upon the Saviour had been PROPHESIED.
Isaiah 53, the great chapter prophesying the sacrificial death of Christ hints at the laughter of the wicked. But the equally great Messianic Psalm 22 is a bit clearer on the subject. Like many of David’s Psalms this twenty-second describes David one moment and then seamlessly begins to make prophesies about David’s greatest son “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?” Basically these are the words of Christ on the cross. Verse 6 – “I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people. All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.” Verse 12 – “Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death. For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.”
There aren’t many, but there are a few scriptures which prepare us to expect the mockery which the wicked tried to lay upon our Saviour. And some are even found in the New Testament, even coming from the lips of the Saviour Himself. Matthew 20:18-19 – “Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again.”
And that brings us to the laughter which wicked men threw at to our Saviour AT HIS CRUCIFIXION.
I hope that you know that when Christ was taken from Gethsemane, He was first brought to the High Priest. There was no respect given to Him whatsoever from Annas, Caiaphas or any of the other priests. Then He was bound over to Pilate the Roman Governor, who showed Him some respect, but not enough. At one point Pilate sent Christ to Herod who was visiting in Jerusalem at the time. Luke 23:8-11 – “And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad: for he was desirous to see him of a long season, because he had heard many things of him; and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by him. Then he questioned with him in many words; but he answered him nothing. And the chief priests and scribes stood and vehemently accused him. And Herod with his men of war set him at nought, and mocked him, and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe, and sent him again to Pilate. From there Jesus was given to a Centurion with orders to crucify Him.
Now please turn to Matthew 27:27-43 – “Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers. And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head. And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him. And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross. And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull, They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink. And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. And sitting down they watched him there; And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS. Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left. And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.”
The Jews, the Herodians and then the Romans, all mocked Christ, laughing him to scorn, but they did so for different reasons. Some laughed at the thought that He was a king. But the reality was that the Son of God is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Some of them mocked Christ for, and in, the midst of His humility. But there was a reason for His meekness and willingness to suffer at their hands. Isaiah 53 – “He (was) despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.” “Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.”
Behind it all was the mocking attack of Satan against the outworking of God’s saving grace. Without the death of Christ on the cross of Calvary in precisely this way, no sinner could ever be delivered from the penalties that his sins deserve. If Christ had not died as a substitutionary sacrifice there could be no escape from the penalty that our sins deserve. Without the sacrificing of Jesus’ life there would never be any eternal life for any of us. Without the blood of the Lamb of God there could never be any remission – of sin. To mock the death of Christ, is to condemn one’s soul to the lake of fire for eternity. To minimize, or ignore, or laugh at the crucifixion is eternal folly.
Do you remember that book of quotations with which I began this morning? There was a quotation that I was seeking, in order that I could give you its source, but it wasn’t there. Despite its two thousand of pages that book isn’t complete. I couldn’t find the quotation, “He who laughs last, laughs best,” somebody must have said it, but I don’t know who it was
Scripture tells us that the Lord will have the last laugh.
Listen to David’s 59th Psalm – “O LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel, awake to visit all the heathen: be not merciful to any wicked transgressors. Selah. They return at evening: they make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city. Behold, they belch out with their mouth: swords are in their lips: for who, say they, doth hear? But thou, O LORD, shalt laugh at them; thou shalt have ALL the heathen in derision.”
I’ll close this morning with Psalm 2 – you may turn there if you’d like to follow. “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.”
The Lord God is going to have the last laugh in this sinful world, and it will not be a pleasant little giggle. “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.” Put aside your mockery of spiritual things, and of the revelation of God. Repent before the Lord, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.” If you would like to speak to someone about your spiritual condition, I am available, and so are a number of others here. You need to be humble before God. You need the smile of the Saviour. Come by faith to the altar where Christ Jesus sacrificed Himself for your salvation.