Investigating the Bible: The fastest disciple

By DAVID CARLSON PASTOR

In the Reader’s Digest, Nandiara Hentges wrote: “When I asked my friend if she was planning to attend church, she just shook her head. ‘I haven’t gone in a long time, she said. ‘Besides, it’s too late for me. I’ve probably already broken all seven commandments.’” A close look can find subtle humor in the Bible.

Early in his earthly ministry, Jesus selected 12 men to be apostles. Listed after Peter were “James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is Sons of Thunder).” (Mark 3:17, English Standard Version used throughout). James and John had short-fused tempers. When a village in Samaria rejected Jesus, they asked Jesus, “‘Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?’ But he turned and rebuked them.” (Luke 9:54-56).

And they were fiercely competitive. They came with their mother to make a private request to Jesus. Their kneeling mother asked “…’Say that these two sons of mine are to sit one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.’ Jesus answered, ‘You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?’ They (James and John) said to him, ‘We are able.’” (Matthew 20:21-22).

Under the ministry of Jesus, 11 disciples, including John, changed. The Gospel of John records the mercy Jesus showed to a woman caught in adultery. As self-righteous Pharisees surrounded her with stones, poised to kill her, Jesus said, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” (John 8:7). And, “…they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, … And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go and from now on sin no more.’” (John 8:9-11). The author of the Gospel of John called himself ‘the one who Jesus loved’ and he became known as the apostle of love.

In John’s account of the resurrection of Jesus, there is subtle competitive joking with Peter. On the third day after the crucifixion of Jesus, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb in the early morning darkness. She was shocked to find it empty. “So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him. (John 20:2). Peter and John race back to the tomb. Peter and others probably chuckled when they heard this teasing detail, only added in John’s gospel: “Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.” (John 20:4).

There’s humor in God’s creation. Before he was an astronaut and senator, John Glenn was a combat pilot in World War II. Between the terrors of war, he found humor on the Midway Islands. In his Memoir, he wrote about gooney birds –– black-footed albatrosses. “Watching them was like watching the Three Stooges, a pratfall every minute. They spent months at sea out of sight of land, and returned to Midway to mate and nest, but they weren’t used to land-based operations and more often than not, when they tried to land they tumbled beak over webbed feet in a cloud of dust. Watching the young birds learn to fly was even better. They would stand on top of a dune, stretch their wings to get a feel of the air, run a couple of steps, and launch into an unstable glide, heads swiveling from side to side, that usually ended when they hit the sand in a rolling pile of feathers. They would stand up, shake off, and look around as if to say, ‘That’s the way I planned it all along.’ Then they would waddle up the dune and start over.”

David Carlson Pastor (yes, that is his last name, not his profession) lives in Oregon and is a graduate of Bethel Theological Seminary in Minnesota (M.Div., M.Th.).