Line upon Line

It’s not the deepest philosophical question around, but a fun one.  Let’s see what we know and speculate about the rest.

The term “court jester” has been around since the 1500s.  Stemming from the Old French “geste” meaning joke, it has also been associated with such words as buffoon, prankster, mimic and witticism. 

The main responsibility of court jesters in medieval times was to entertain the king not only with humor but also song and dance to lift his mood when he was sad. 

While I doubt celestial dwellers will be sad, whether court jesters will be among them depends on the nature of humor and the definition of courts.  While courts of judgment upstairs will necessarily be properly somber, what will be the mood in the facilities – courts if you will – where events are held?  Or more broadly, in the celestial kingdom as a whole?

The phrase “courts on high” is not found in the scriptures, but is familiar to us because of Eliza R. Snow’s worshipful hymn “O My Father”: 

How great the wisdom and the love.
That filled the courts on high.
And sent the Savior from above.
To suffer, bleed, and die!

If the setting description is accurate, there are multiple courts, they are filled with wisdom and love, and are places where events designed to bring us happiness – including the beginning of the greatest one of all eternity – occur. 

The word “humor” is not found in the scriptures, but its synonyms are numerous.  “Joy” and its variations appear 74 times, “happy” with its variations 34 times, “cheerful” and the like 13 times.  We’re familiar with many:

“Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.”  (2 Nephi 2:25)

“… he has poured out his Spirit upon you, and has caused that your hearts should be filled with joy …”  (Mosiah 4:20)

“And for this cause ye shall have fullness of joy…”  3 Nephi 28:10

“Laughter” on the other hand is too worldly.  In all but two or three cases in the scriptures it is associated with negatives such as “scorn” and/or we’re warned about its excess: 

 “… cast away your idle thoughts and your excess of laughter … “ (D&C 88:69)

“… cease … from all your pride and light-mindedness…”  (D&C 88:121)

“And inasmuch as ye do these things with thanksgiving, with cheerful hearts and countenances, not with much laughter, for this is sin, but with a glad heart and a cheerful countenance … the fullness of the earth is yours ….”  (D&C 59:15-16)

As I wrote in my book on agency, humor was an under-reported trait of the Savior:

“I believe the Savior Himself has a delightful sense of humor.  Take the incident when he chastised Pharisees for being so blindly committed to picky law that they “strain at a gnat and swallow a camel.”  It’s a stretch for an English speaker to connect those two items, other than something small to contrast against something big.  But in Aramaic, it was a play on words that fit with the culture.  In the Savior’s native language, a gnat is gamla and a camel is gamal.

“So by switching two letters, the Savior not only ridiculed the Pharisees but did so with a first-class pun that had to have sparked laughter.  And those who exercise unrighteous power cannot stand to be laughed at.” 

So with His prophets and apostles as well. 

The Prophet Joseph Smith described himself as having a “cheerful disposition.” 

President Gordon B. Hinckley:  “After my closing remarks, the choir will sing, ‘Where Can I Turn for Peace?’  (Slight pause) “Who chooses these hymns anyway?”

After an operation on his vocal chords, which caused him a great deal of pain and sleeplessness, President Spencer W. Kimball complained, “Insomnia is my trouble.  Why, I couldn’t even doze in sacrament meeting yesterday.” 

President David O. McKay pitied those who can’t or won’t laugh.  “I feel a little sorry for those who have such long faces that they have to sleep on their pillow lengthwise.”

And according to Elder Hugh B. Brown, Elder J. Golden Kimball is reported to have said that the Lord Himself must like a joke or He wouldn’t have made some of us.

Why shouldn’t such delights continue in heaven?

Laughter at a joke here on earth often depends upon an incongruous connection or unexpected punch line:

Time flies like an arrow, but fruit flies like bananas.

If at first you don’t succeed, then skydiving is not for you.

Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes.  That way you’ll be a mile from them and you’ll have their shoes.

A group of chess players returned to their hotel after a day-long tournament and sat in the lobby bragging about their victories.  The hotel manager kicked them out because he couldn’t stand chess nuts boasting in an open foyer.

Humor will be a little different in heaven because as our knowledge increases, we will come to know all jokes and all punch lines.  Nonetheless, we will be happy remembering them even though we will not have the pleasure of the surprise hearing them new.

Bottom line:  Will we have humor in the celestial kingdom?  Without a doubt.  Will we have jesters there?  Perhaps not by the definitions that have evolved in our earthly setting, but there will be humor and, of necessity, those who produce it.

Humor will be ever-present and will be suitable to the glory that will surround us – the gentle chuckle, not the guffaw. 

Heard any good ones lately?

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Gary Lawrence is the author of “The Magnificent Gift of Agency” available at Deseret Book, and the developer of the no-pressure comparison website whereagree.com to help the curious learn more about us.  Free pass-along cards available by emailing him at  [email protected].