Did Jesus like to have fun?

It’s a question that doesn’t come up too often.

The Gallup organization once posed such a question and found that over half of all Americans surveyed believe Jesus was not fun-loving. It seems that many if not most picture Jesus as a stern, serious teacher who rarely ever smiled, much less laughed. Even Christians are likely, it seems, to see him as a stuffy savior, a melancholy Messiah as it were.

That’s unfortunate.

The Gospel writers chose to focus on Jesus’ profound teaching, his miraculous power, his unfathomable love, and his life-changing sacrifice.

And rightly so.

They didn’t tell of the times he cut up with his friends or laughed with the children, but they also don’t tell of times he lost baby teeth or bathed or picked splinters from his fingers or ducked in to the Welcome Center on the outskirts of Jerusalem to use the bathroom. But because we know Jesus was fully human, it’s reasonable to expect that he did all those things and countless more, just as we do over the course of our lifetimes.

It’s also reasonable to believe that he laughed often and much.

Above all else, Jesus was a loving soul. And people who let love lead them don’t often get bogged down in the pettiness of life, do they? Focusing on worries robs people of joy. Jesus advised against it. He preferred to trust God. Worrying wastes time. It distracts you from living.

“The thief (Satan) comes only to steal and kill and destroy,” Jesus said in John’s Gospel (10:10). “I have come that you may have life and have it abundantly.”

Abundant life is passionate life, with lots of love and laughter and just plain fun.

People probably assume Jesus wasn’t a whole lot of fun because his teaching called for high ethical standards.

Who hasn’t seen the stereotypical image – an angel on one shoulder imploring man to make the morally right choice, the devil on the other coaxing him to be naughty. (The message is not so subliminal, is it? One side has all the fun.)

Well, here’s a newsflash: Moral strength and unbridled fun aren’t mutually exclusive.

What does the world sell young people searching for fun? Girls Gone Wild on Spring Break? Underage drinking? Your drug of choice? Internet porn? One-night stands?

Funny, but aren’t those the kinds of things that steal and kill and destroy?

I’m not buying the myth that Jesus didn’t know how to have a good time. (As my friend Tyler points out, he walked on water! How cool is that? I imagine he had more than a few laughs during that walk, too, as he thought about sneaking up on the disciples.)

Of course, I don’t buy another popular myth either – that God’s a cosmic killjoy, patrolling the heavens and just waiting for us to mess up so he can inflict us with a stomach bug or make us go bald or zap us with a lightning bolt.

I prefer to think of God as the loving father depicted in the parable of the lost (or prodigal) son. You know the story. The son gets tired of waiting for his father to die, so he asks for and receives his inheritance. He takes off, blowing all of the money on women and wild living. Hungry and humiliated, he returns to his father, hoping simply to land a job as a hired hand. The father rushes out to greet the son, his arm's wide open, his heart bursting with a mixture of love and relief. There would be time later for holding the young man accountable.

But later.

First there would be a celebration, a huge celebration. This is my image of God. Yes, he holds us accountable. But, yes, he loves us unconditionally.

If you told the prodigal son story to a group of people and asked them to pick up from the point the young man returns home, they would probably finish it like this ...

The old man waited on the porch with a tight jaw and bushels full of "I told you so" and "How dare you?" He spent most of the evening lecturing, then laying down a list of rules and ways for the son to repay him for the money squandered. He would remind junior day after day of his foolishness to the point that, at times, the young man wished he had never gone home.

Fortunately for us, our God is far above human pettiness.

As Christians, we are not disciples of one who never had any fun, just as we aren’t children of a graceless God.

The bible tells us we were created in His image, which means we are like Him, at least in small ways.

We simply can not get enough laughter in our days now, can we?

If we can't get enough laughter, then what about God?

So, of course, Jesus laughed ... maybe more so than most, being fully human and fully God. Of course, Jesus had fun, lots of it. At times, he was even criticized by the pompous "religious" types for having too much fun. Children loved to be around him. Most kids I've ever known don't flock to the solemn or the scowling. They rush to be with the ones who are fun to be around.

No, Jesus was not a melancholy messiah. He came so that we could have an abundant life. And what would he know about that kind of life, if the one he lived was always so serious?