"Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed."

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Paul's Humor

That Paul! He does have a sense of humor, doesn't he? Actually I never noticed this until my preacher brought it to our attention as he went through a wonderful series on Philippians in recent weeks. The theme of Philippians is joy and, indeed, it's a great chapter to find the "secrets" to God's kind of peace and joy. Paul says we can have a peace that surpasses human understanding. Peace and joy: good stuff for sure! And they seem to missing among many in the world today .. at least where I live.

Anyway, on to Paul's humorous tidbit to end this chapter. Take a look at this from the fourth chapter:

21Greet all the saints in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me send greetings. 22All the saints send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar's household.


Does anyone else find it a bit humorous for Paul to end this letter with greetings especially from those who belong to Caesar's household? In today's terms that would be like saying, "Those who trust Jesus from the house of Saud greet you" or "All the Christ followers from Kim Jon-il's household told me to tell you hello."

Amusing, eh?

3 comments:

Amber said...

I'm not sure that it's meant to be funny. I would have thought, reading that on my own, that St. Paul was simply obliquely mentioning that the Word of Christ had spread even to those closest to Ceasar, people that one wouldn't have thought would be converts. People who have converted but are in even more immediate danger than those around them who *aren't* living in the lions den, as it were.

Carmen said...

I've thought before that Paul had a sense of humor. Not necessarily from that example but from other areas.

I think at times, he even throws in some sarcasm. lol

Susanne said...

Amber, yes, I understand what you mean. I've read Philippians plenty of times and never thought it funny - just passing along greetings. And likely Paul didn't mean it to be funny, but my pastor just found it to be amusing to some degree. :) My point was it IS rather "funny" (cute/miraculous/weird/take your pick) to have believers among Caesar's household and that's why, I think, my pastor found it worthy of a smile. :)

Carmen, yeah, I wish I could think of some other places right off the top of my head, but I agree with you re: the sense of humor and sarcasm. :)

Thanks, y'all, for your comments. :)