Upon Further Review, It's Still Not Funny

Just a few further thoughts on the laughing at Jesus suffering in the play in my congregation last night.

My level of being appalled at the laughter in my church last night is still quite high. My sadness that some people would think it was funny that Jesus was beaten or that how it was portrayed was funny is still overwhelming.

Yet, after the play, as we were closing up the church and a few of us were standing around talking, I was listening to some of the younger people talk and realized there may be a reason for the laughter that rests in our culture. They were talking about a new horror movie that has just opened at the theater on our island. This is a movie that is rated R for prolonged sequences of strong gruesome horror violence, rape and language.

I guess there were scenes in this movie where blood flies and body parts come off given the conversation about it. This was conversation among teenagers and young adults ages roughly 13 to 25. And they were laughing about the violence in the movie. They thought it was funny.

As I thought about it later, hearing their laughter about the violence in the flick helped explain why they thought the beating and suffering of Jesus was funny. If they laugh at what the movies portray as gruesome, they will laugh when Jesus gets hit. They will not see what is sad or horrific about either.

In many ways, people who can laugh at such scenes have been desensitized to such stuff or have had their consciences seared by witnessing such things on screen, in music or books for too long. I wonder if they are not borderline sociopaths. I wonder what our society will look like as these individuals grow older and begin raising their own children.

If people see such horror played out on the screen as funny or things to laugh about later, what will happen when such horror and gruesomeness takes place in real life? Will they laugh at the poor soul who was unfortunate enough to be assaulted, raped, tortured and murdered?

Our society is being inundated with extreme violence, and it is not just in the movies, check out promos for network primetime dramas during football or basketball games for example. I know others have probably said it first, but we are deteriorating to the same level as the Romans who were entertained by watching gladiators fight to the death or people get eaten by wild beasts.

The flood of such violence on our society is destroying our compassion for the weak and the defenseless. The very people God says He cares about. The ones Jesus said that when we care for them, we have cared for Him. We can laugh at Jesus’ suffering and torture because we have been taught to laugh at that violence everywhere else in our society.

He came to heal, forgive, and give life. We are promoting harm, vengeance, and death. C.S. Lewis had a character in one of his books who enjoyed tearing apart innocent creatures just because they were innocent and he could do it. He left a bloody trail wherever he went. We are becoming like that character. Lord, have mercy on us and lead us to better paths.