Episode 4: The Happy Side of Jesus

Erin Davis: You know, Erika, if you look at your calendar, you’re going to see all of these kind of somber days of remembrance, and we should have those. We should remember when tragedies happen or when lives are lost. But my friends and I have this sort of unique holiday. It involves Dannah Gresh, which Revive Our Hearts listeners will know who that is, and a couple of our friends. We were in a van, and we just busted out in this hilarious belly laughter. I think I was driving, and I was worried I wasn’t going to be able to stay on the road I was laughing so hard! Our friend Steph recorded the laughter, and every year on the same date she sends it to us. It’s just a reminder that we can have fun! 

Erika VanHaitsma: That’s wonderful!

Erin: We can laugh. It’s a celebration of an epic laugh. I don’t know that I’ve laughed like that since. Can you think of a time that you had a great laugh or enjoyed the day so much?

Erika: I can. It usually involves my sisters.

Erin: Okay.

Erika: Honestly, my little sister is hysterical. She can get me laughing like no one else.

Erin: That’s awesome.

Erika: So yeah. It’s wonderful to be reminded of those seasons or those moments where you get to laugh so much. When my sister and I get together, we’ll just relive old stories where we laughed and laughed.

Erin: True, and I love it how we talk about this historical laugh everyone once in a while. I’m like, oh yeah, I can enjoy my life!

Erika: Right!

Erin: I can smile; I can relax a little bit! We need those reminders.

Erika: We do. We really do. 

Welcome to The Deep Well with Erin Davis. I’m Erika VanHaitsma.

Erin’s continuing her series called “The Other Side of Jesus.” And so far we have looked at Jesus in the Old Testament, the anger and wrath of Jesus, but today we get to enjoy the happiness and the laughter of Jesus. 

Erin: What do a duck-billed platypus, a pink fairy armadillo, and a dumbo octopus have in common? According to Romans 1:20, that is a very good question. 

Welcome back to The Deep Well! We’re calling this season “The Other Side of Jesus.” And if you’re listening to the whole series in order, you know that the past two episodes have been heavy. We explored the angry side of Jesus and the wrath of Jesus. And you know what I like after a heavy conversation or a heavy season of life? I like a good laugh.

I started laughing just the other day. We were putting our boys to bed, and I can’t remember what I thought was funny but I started laughing, and one of my little boys said, “Mama, I never heard you laugh like that before.” That made me sad. I think probably the seriousness and stresses of my life at times make me forget that the Bible tells us specifically in places like Proverbs 17:22 that a joyful heart is good medicine. Maybe you’ve forgotten too. 

Have you ever stopped and wondered if Jesus was happy? Did he have a sense of humor? And if He did, if He was a happy Savior, would that shift the way you respond to Him? Well, I can’t say, “Remember that joke that Jesus told that one time about the pastor and the rabbi?” I do think our Bibles give us enough reasons to think that there is a happy humorous side to Jesus. 

The Psalms feel like a good place to start. As I said in episode 2 of this series, one of the gifts that the book of Psalms gives us is a language to describe the human experience. There are psalms about anger. There are psalms about grief. There are psalms of lament. But there are also psalms that describe happy days. In fact, many of the psalms were songs that God’s people would sing. And I hope God’s people sing happy songs sometimes. 

Think about Psalm 126:1–3.

When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,
   we were like those who dream.

Ever have a day like that? This is so good, it feels like a dream!

Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
   and our tongue with shouts of joy;
   then they said among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”
The Lord has done great things for us;
   we are glad.

The outward expression of God’s work in the psalmist’s life was laughter and gladness. If we look at our whole Bibles, we will see that the Christian life is not a life of frivolity. Solomon did warn us that sorrow is better than laughter, and he told us that it was better for us to go to a house of mourning than a house of feasting. 

It is important that we take seriously the brevity of our lives and that we’re serious about the fact that Scripture calls us to holy and righteous living. But the Bible also doesn’t paint the picture of saints with deep frown lines, constantly shaking our heads at the world around us, and avoiding all humor. That might be how the world sometimes likes to paint us, but it’s not what I see in my Bible.

This is a simple thought but a novel one: your body's ability to smile and laugh are because God designed you that way. Creation gives us plenty of confirmation that God has a sense of humor. 

Remember those animals that I mentioned earlier? The duck-billed platypus has fur like an otter, webbed feet like a frog, and a bill like a duck. He’s funny. The pink fairy armadillo on average is just four inches long and weighs about as much as a bag of M&Ms. And as their name implies, the top of those little fellers is covered in pink-armored plates! How about the dumbo octopus? They are a creature of the ocean deep, and they have these huge fins that look like ears that are reminiscent of Dumbo the elephant, that they use to swim around the ocean with. They’re funny!

I’ll take this back to Colossians 1:16. I mentioned that in an earlier episode. It tells us that everything from little pink armadillos to big-eared octopuses swimming in the bottom of the ocean were created by Jesus and for Jesus. 

Let’s connect the dots to Romans 1:20 that I mentioned at the top of this episode. It’s one of my favorite verses. It tells us that the invisible nature of God is visible in what he’s made. As you look at creation, ask the question, “What does this show me about the character of Jesus?” 

What does it show us that Jesus made so many fantastical and hilarious creatures? For Jesus to create the duck-billed platypus, the pink fairy armadillo, the dumbo octopus, camels, hummingbirds, and so many other delightful creatures? He’s got to have a sense of humor, right? But what about while He walked the earth during the incarnation? Was Jesus funny? Was He happy? 

Before we flip to the gospels, let me ask you a question. Do you find “The Three Stooges” funny? I mean, seriously. All that head bonking and nose tweaking, does that really tickle your funny bone? I looked some episodes up in preparation for this. I do not find them funny. Let’s keep in mind that humor is very culture bound, so what’s funny in one culture doesn’t always translate in another. I think we may be prone to miss some of the times when Jesus was using humor in His teachings because we aren’t Jews living in the Middle East. What I think we can see even if we don’t get the joke is that even though it’s true that He was our suffering Savior and He is serious about our sin, there’s also a lighter side of Jesus.

We’re going to start in Matthew 7:3–5. You probably know this story. It’s the old plank guy parable. As Jesus was talking, he said,

Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, “Let me take the speck out of your eye,” when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

Was Jesus really, literally talking about logs and sawdust here? Of course not. He was using hyperbole. And can’t you just imagine Him having some fun with it? Maybe He held His arms wide trying to exaggerate the size of the log, or maybe He pretended He couldn’t see because He had sawdust in His eyes. Maybe He stumbled around a little bit when He said, “Let me take the speck out of your eye.” Scripture doesn't say.

We have to use our sanctified imagination. But at least we do know that Jesus didn’t just give out cut and dry information about the kingdom. He was a storyteller. He used parables. He often would let the tension hang in the moment for a little bit to build anticipation for the point he was trying to make. 

Let’s flip forward to Matthew 17:24–27: 

When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax went up to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay the tax?” He said, “Yes.” And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tax? From their sons or from others?” And when he said, “From others,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free. However, not to give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself.”

This is an example of Jesus letting the drama build. Some tax collectors who Jesus may have known though they didn't realize it, who owed everything they had to Jesus, were worried that Jesus had skimped on a two-drachma tax. That’s a couple of days’ wages, so it wasn’t a very big tax. Jesus could have responded in so many ways. He could’ve put those tax collectors in their place. He could’ve called down fire from heaven. He could’ve made the drachma appear from nowhere. Instead, essentially, He said, “Go fish.” This is the original quarter behind the ear trick! Except Jesus put a shekel in the mouth of a fish. Can’t you picture Him smiling as the tax collectors received their first fish-covered payment? 

Jesus also gave nicknames to several of his disciples. There’s intimacy in nicknames. There’s also levity in nicknames. Peter’s name was actually Simon. It was Jesus who called him Peter because “Peter” means “rock.” And if you know about Peter’s life, it’s kind of a funny nickname, at least for a while. He called James and John “the sons of thunder.” The Jesus of the gospels was fully human, and we can thank Him that by His design the human experience does include pockets of laughter, of humor, even of fun.

It’s inside God’s Word that we find this encouragement from Nehemiah 8:10: “And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” 

First Timothy 1:11 tells us that we serve a happy God. A happy God! When you think about God, do you think about Him being happy? The first time I ever heard Him described as a happy God it was from Mary Kassian. I’ve never known Mary Kassian to say something that’s not true. She said He’s a happy God, and I thought, Is He a happy God? It had never occurred to me. She was right!

I’m going to read you kind of a long quote from John Piper, but John Piper quotes are good. Hang with me for the length of it. He once wrote:

God’s glory consists much in the fact that He is happy beyond our wildest imagination. This is the gospel: the gospel of the glory of the happy God. [He’s referencing that 1 Timothy verse.] That’s a quote from the Bible! It’s good news that God is gloriously happy. [It is, isn’t it?] No one would want to spend eternity with an unhappy God. If God is unhappy then the goal of the gospel is not a happy goal, and that means it would be no gospel at all.

“But, in fact, Jesus invites us to spend eternity with a happy God when He says, ‘Enter the joy of your master.’ That’s from Matthew 25:23. Jesus lived and died that this joy, God’s joy, might be in us and our joy might be full! [He references John 15 and John 17.] Therefore, the gospel is the gospel of the glory of the happy God.”

Now, we’ve been trained to think that joy and happiness are not the same thing—and they’re not. And the definitions that we share with each other a lot is, happiness is based on circumstances, joy is something that God gives us. True. But that doesn’t change the fact that God is a happy God, and I think Jesus was a happy Savior. 

Do you want to know another reason I think Jesus is happy? You. You delight Him. Listen to Psalm 147:11:

But the Lord takes pleasure [takes pleasure] in those who fear him,
in those who hope in his steadfast love.

Listen to Psalm 149:4:

The Lord takes pleasure in his people.

You know those of us that I think have the hardest time believing that He’s a happy God are those of us who have the hardest time believing that He takes pleasure in us. We picture the lightning bolt God, ready to zap us or at least be annoyed by us. That’s not how Scripture describes Jesus. Read His interactions with His disciples. 

Now, occasionally He called people dogs. It’s not just like dogs that wear a sweater. I mean dogs! And sometimes He got frustrated. But with His disciples it was clear that they were a source of delight to Him. He wanted to spend time with them. He ate his meals with them. He made breakfast for them. He went to their houses. Do you believe that Jesus feels that way about you? 

All you Deep Well listeners know what kind of girl I am. I always tell you I’m a type double A, driven achiever, probably a perfectionist. So, it’s hard for me to believe that Jesus is happy with me. But I do because I believe the Bible, and it’s right there in Scripture. 

When my sons see my face, I hope they see a happy mama. I hope they know that I am a woman delighted by her sons. I don’t think there’ll ever be a season of The Deep Well where I don’t talk about those boys. They’re my favorite subject, followed closely by gardening. I usually try to get them all in a podcast season. But they make me beam. They’re so fun. They’re so funny! They do all kinds of silly stuff. They say all kinds of great lines that I wouldn’t think to say. They’re the ones that say, “Mama, come. Let’s go shoot hoops!” Even though I’ve never made a basket ever once in my life! Or, “Mama, come jump in the leaf pile!” 

I enjoy my sons. They make me happy. I hope they know that, because when they know that they have a happy mama, it creates intimacy. They come to me freely and often when they know mama’s not just happy, she’s happy with me.

That’s why this side of Jesus matters. Because when we see Jesus as He really is, as a happy God, when we look at His face and we can see and believe somehow by some profound mystery He takes pleasure in me, He’s delighted by me; then we’re less prone to hide from Him. We’re less prone to walk around like Eeyores, “Oooh, man. Jesus can’t stand me. I messed it up again. Jesus is probably in heaven mad at me.” That’s not the Jesus we see in Scripture. 

When we know He’s a happy Jesus, we come to Him freely and often. Our Bibles give us lots of reasons to believe. When happy people come to their happy God, that makes Him even happier.

So as you think about this side of Jesus, I’m going to give you some questions to wrestle with right where you are. Maybe write them down and spend some time with them in the days to come. 

• Do you see God as happy? Happy?
• Do you see God as happy with you?
• Now, look around. If you get a chance, go take a walk today. What does the world of God reveal about the temperament of God? Pay attention to the tiny flowers at your feet, and the cloud formations in the sky, and the song of the birds, and maybe the puppy that takes the walk with you. What does this happy world, the happy creation around us, teach us about who He is?
• And finally, how does the joy of the Lord give you strength today?

Let me pray. Jesus, we thank You that You’re happy. We thank You that because of You, we can have glad hearts. We thank You that the joy of the Lord is our strength. And yet, life has a way of sucking the happiness right out of our lives, the laughter. I pray that You would help every woman listening to see You as a happy God, delighted by her, God. And help us to ooze joy today as a means of pushing back the darkness in our lives. In your name I pray, amen.

Erika: That’s Erin Davis reminding us of the happiness of Jesus on the new season, “The Other Side of Jesus.” 

Erin, in the introduction you shared with us a clip of you laughing with Dannah and some other friends. And that reminded me, you and Dannah actually get to do a podcast every Monday morning with Portia Collins.

Erin: Yep, it’s called Grounded. Our mission is to give away hope and perspective. We do laugh! And sometimes we cry. We interview stellar guests that point us to the Word of God. We try to tell good news about what God’s doing in the world. You can tune into that every Monday at 9:00 a.m. Eastern on the Revive Our Hearts YouTube channel or Facebook.

Erika, I’ve loved having you on The Deep Well. It’s time for a segment that all Deep Well listeners know is called, “Erin Unscripted.” You facilitated that discussion. Let’s listen.

Erin Unscripted

Erika: One verse that came to mind is Psalm 45 where it says that the Lord has anointed you above your companions with the oil of joy. And I think, what it is to meet someone who is anointed with joy. I think Jesus was fun! 

Erin: Yeah, I do too.

Erika: If little kids are constantly wanting to come up to Him, you don’t go up to boring, stoic people.

Erin: Or grumpy people.

Erika: No. Little kids are attracted to people who are joyful and fun! And so, I just love that picture of Jesus smiling. 

One of the things, to mention the Matthew videos again, that I fell in love with is when Jesus was walking on the water and he calls Peter out of the boat. Peter starts to sink, and at that moment the winds and the waves are crashing. You can tell Jesus is just enjoying it! He’s enjoying this moment with Him and Peter. And He just grabs Peter and pulls him up and just bear hugs him, laughing. “I’ve got you, Peter! It’s okay!” 

Lord, if I can see when I fail . . . Lord, help me. He’s not like “Ugh, I have to rescue you again.” But he’s smiling at me like, “I’ve got you! It’s okay. And He enjoys me!” Thank you, Erin. I've never heard that phrase, “a happy God.”

Erin: He knew Peter wasn’t going to sink, by the way. And He’s the one that called the winds and waves into existence. He engineered that whole moment. Of course, He was enjoying it! It was planned since the dawn of time. But you're right, I think He enjoys our lives just as I enjoy watching my kids’ lives unfold. He enjoys us. Yeah, I think He’s a happy God. 

I love the example of the kids coming to Him. I didn’t think of that, but you’re so right. They had to have been drawn to His happiness. 

And when you hear that phrase of somebody being anointed with the oil of joy or the oil of gladness, does anyone come to mind for you or for anyone else listening? The woman that comes to mind for me is my mom. She oozed joy. She still does. It’s been diminished a little by a disease she’s fighting, but she was genuinely always happy. My childhood people would always come up to me and ask, “Is your mom really always like that?” And I thought it was such a weird question, because she was! It wasn't like there was a secret, grumpy mom behind closed doors. She wears the oil of gladness so, so beautifully, and people were incredibly attracted to it in her.

Woman: It’s interesting. I wonder if we seek perfection sometimes rather than understanding that He’s joyful with us. An example, when our daughter was probably four, she was standing in line with me signing one of our kids up for soccer that season. She looked up at me and after we were done and walking to the car she was like, “Aren’t you so happy that I stood so nice in line?” And I scooped her up in my arms immediately and I said, “It doesn’t matter how you stand in line, I love you!” And today she’s the one I think of when I think about joy. What a gift.

Erin: Deep Well listeners, you won’t ever hear His voice, but Hugh is the producer behind this podcast. One of the things he often prays is, you won’t love us more or less depending on how this goes. And that is so freeing! It would be like, it’s not a sliding scale. It’s not like He's happy with me when I have a good day and frustrated when I have a bad day. That’s projecting humanity and sin nature on a God who has no sin nature. What a beautiful lesson you taught your girl.

I tried to repeat it, “I love you because you’re my boy.” There’s this thing we repeat at night, it’s a blessing. It comes from a book called Habits of a Household. It goes like this, 

“Do you know that I love you?”

They say, “Yes.”

“Do you know that I love you no matter how good you are?”

They say, “Yes.”

“Do you know that I love you no matter how bad you are?”

They say, “Yes.”

And I say, “Who else loves you like this?”

“Jesus.”

And I kiss them on the forehead and I say, “Rest in that.”

You didn’t get to the end of this day and change me or God’s minds about you. We’re still delighted in you! We’re delighted in all of it. So that’s such a beautiful picture.

Woman 2: Erin, I just want to thank you for your labor, for seeking, for striving to give us such a complete picture of Jesus. It makes us love Him more, and it causes us to lift our hearts in worship—not because we have to, but because we get to.

Erin: Praise God.

Woman 2: Thank you.

Erin: I knew it would because you never love Jesus less by knowing Him more. That’s not how it works. You don’t have to keep Him in a one-dimensional portrait. You can see all of Him. 

And you’re totally right, as I’ve been thinking through this, I’ve been moved to worship so many times. Even realizing again last night as I was working on this one in particular over and over, because I knew He was a happy God. But I couldn’t quite find the one place that proved He was a happy God. Fortunately, those armadillos put me on the right track. But to me, I worship Him and think, You’re happy with me! You’re a happy God, and you're happy with me. And that's going to be true no matter how the podcast recording goes. How can you not worship? It’s beautiful. He's beautiful! Every side of Jesus is beautiful.

I had a meltdown. I don’t do it often but on occasion I have a meltdown. I texted my husband the next day and I said, “Thanks for loving the ugly side of me.”

He texted back, “There are no ugly sides of you.”

Now, he’s a man blinded by love, but that is true of Jesus. There are no ugly sides of Him. You don’t have to be afraid you’re going to discover something about Him that’s going to make Him fall from grace in your eyes. The more you see Him the more you will love him, and every side of Him is so beautiful. Every side of Erin Davis is not.

Woman 3: My question is, when you were talking about your work and how you don’t feel stressed because basically you know that they love you no matter that you’re good one day or bad one day? How would you handle that at work? If you’re working somewhere and you’re always worried if I’m a little less that day or I do something wrong, are they going to think of me less as an employee? And always trying to feel like you have to do your best? 

Erin: We definitely live in a performance culture. We definitely live in a culture that assigns value to performance. So, we just ought to be aware that those are the waters we swim in. It doesn’t mean they’re from God, but it’s a real reality of our lives. Your standing with man may change based on performance, but it doesn't change with God. 

Scripture also tells us, whatever you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it for the glory of the Lord, and to work hard as if working for the Lord. So, there’s a tension there of, I want to do things with excellence because through the way I live, I want to give God glory. 

But even on the day that you blow it, even if you blow it so significantly that you lose your job, even if you blow it so significantly that you lose your job and you become unhireable . . . I’m trying to imagine what you could do, like, burn the whole company down or something, I don’t know! You can lose standing with man, but you can’t lose standing with God. He’s no less happy with you. That’s really been a balm to my performance tendencies.

It puts things in check. I’m not doing this to earn any more favor with God. I can’t earn any more favor with God, so I’m free to just enjoy it. I’ve been able to step into that as a Bible teacher and as a parent. Nothing’s going to shift today! Nothing’s on the line!

When my boys are trying out for a sport, I will often have them write “NTL'' on their hand which means, “Nothing To Lose.” I may make the team; I may not make the team, but I’m not going to lose my mom and dad’s love, and I’m not going to lose my acceptance with Jesus. So, all manner of things can happen in the physical world, but nothing shifts in heaven.

Woman 4: To add to that, we also do need to be obedient to Him. It doesn’t give us license to do whatever or act however or sluff off on our jobs.

Erin: Yes. Legalism is only legalism when it’s something you’re doing to earn salvation. When it’s something you’re doing because of God’s work in your life, it’s not legalism. 

There’s all kinds of spiritual disciples. We should pray. We should read our Bibles. Hear me, Deep Well listeners, you should read your Bibles! You should be a part of another body of believers. We should serve. We should forgive. Definitely, God gives us a lot of parameters. We don’t do those things because we think it makes God more or less happy with us. We’re already fully accepted in him, and we wear Christ’s righteousness. We’re not trying to earn Christ’s righteousness. But you’re right, there’s definitely things we need to do or not do.

Erika: I have a question for you. What does loneliness look like?

Erin: When you know that someone who claims to love you would stab you in the back the first chance they got, that’s loneliness.

Erika: On the next episode of The Deep Well, Erin’s going to show us how Jesus understood loneliness. 

The Deep Well is a production of Revive Our Hearts calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ. 

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