And yet, and yet…

I love looking for places where Jesus tells a joke in Scripture. Because of the language differences and the 2000 years of time passing, it can be a very difficult venture.

But one area where I feel like Jesus uses humor in getting his point across is in Luke 11:9-13.

⁹ And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. ¹⁰ For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. ¹¹ What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; ¹² or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? ¹³ If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Jesus practices here the humor of the absurd. For anyone who enjoyed the Simpsons (back when they were good in the 90s), you’ll recognize that absurd humor is the action of making a statement that completely doesn’t make sense in the context to make you think about the question in mind.

Here Jesus wants the people to understand that we have multiple wrong focuses in prayer. We think that God for some reason withholds power and blessing from us, and that our prayer has to be extremely persuasive to receive what we need. Beyond that, many of us tend to think in terms of only getting the negative from life and thus let pessimistic thought of God, nature, and ourselves dominate our understanding.

Jesus uses the absurd to point out the fact that as God cares for us, it is his joy to give of the Holy Spirit to his children. It is not a burden, it is not an imposition. It’s a joyful laugh for him.

But here’s a mystery within the text: the expectation of a good gift is not based on the gift itself, but on the character of the giver. Jesus makes it clear that God comes from a place of love, joy, and care for his people. Thus when we approach God, we don’t approach with the temerity of one sacrificing to a capricious deity. We approach toward the arms of God the Father who longs to embrace us and welcome us home.

You may feel like the humor above is not so funny with the things you’ve received in your life. You may be in those positions of receiving disappointment, or illness, or brokenness. You may be very aware of the snakes of life and thus there is a great fear in the asking. Because what if my hope turns into poison?

Friends, Jesus encourages us to approach with open arms and hearts. God wants us to delight in him, aligning our wills together. When our will conforms to and aligns with God’s, there should be no doubt that he will joyfully give.

When we stop focusing on protecting ourselves and start trusting in the Word given by God, our prayer will start to reflect confidence and strength. Through prayer like this, is there any wonder that Jesus tells us that we’ll see greater works than even he did while we are accompanied by the Holy Spirit?

So today friend, approach the Father. Knock on the door of heaven, not seeking the things that he can give, but the character of the one who gives.

Signs and wonders, y’all.

¹³ If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” Luke 11:13