Jesus's Humor - Part 4 - Example: The First Beatitude

This pattern of setup-pause-punchline-pause-punchline-pause-punchline-pause-catchphrase, starts very early in the New Testament with the "Beatitudes." This method is used in that section of the Sermon on the Mount almost to the point of zaniness. Of course, this is lost in translation because these verses have been "sanctified" to a shocking degree. They are changed to the point that not only is the humor lost, but Christ's point (pause) and its sharpness (pause), is often blunted as well.

Let's start with the first beatitude, Matthew 5:3. This is normally translated as "Blessed are the poor of spirit..." Now, this version sounds very religious, but it isn't what Jesus said. Not really. I can't even imagine him saying something like that in the way we hear it today.

NIV: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Listeners Heard: Fortunate these beggars for this breath: because of them is the realm of the skies.

Setup

What he said in all these verses starts with a single word, "Fortunate!"

That word means "lucky," "prosperous," "happy," "fortunate," and "blissful. It means being blessed with good luck. It doesn't mean "blessed" in any sense of "holy" at all. Since it also means “happy',” the idea of "happy-go-lucky" might even capture the feeling of the word as well.

Of course, we don't know how he said it, but it wasn't followed by a verb so it was likely followed by a pause. There is no "lucky are." Just the statement: lucky! In the form of the subject of a sentence. However, here is where the pause is critical. After Jesus says, "Fortunate!" the pause gives the crowd time to think, "Who are the lucky?"

The Punchline

To which thought, after the pause, Jesus responds, "These beggars!"

This is a punch line. It is in the same form as “fortunate” so Jesus is saying, literally, “luck those beggars!” Though “beggar” is an adjective, as in “a beggar man,” it works here as a noun because it is introduced with the article. However, the joke is that no one sees beggars as lucky so no one could see this coming. So, it is a surprise. The word Jesus used means "beggars" specifically, and, while all beggars may be poor, not all the poor are beggars. Since both “fortunate” and “beggars” are in the form of the subject of a sentence, the “are” can be assumed, but leaving out the verb adds punch to the punchline. Of course, translating "beggars" as "are the poor" makes this phrase seem more caring and more general but it also kills the humor.

Since these three words are spoken at the beginning of the Sermon, the crowd might not know if they should laugh. That would have to be communicated by Jesus in his pauses and tone. If Jesus said, “Fortunate…these beggars,” directly to the beggars themselves with the right tone and a smile, you can see how even the beggars would laugh.

At this point, we need to imagine another pause as Jesus waits for the laughter to die. What are people thinking at this point? Most would wonder only one thing: why are beggars lucky? They might have even called out this obvious question.

A Second Punchline

So Jesus adds: "For this breath."

No, he didn’t say “in spirit,” describing a certain kind of poverty as the KJV and NIV have it. The word translated as “spirit” primarily means “breath” as in the “breath of life.” See this article for more on this word. The noun is preceded by another article, which is left out of English translation. This phrase, “the/this breath/spirit,” does not describe “the poor, because there is no preposition here connecting the words, no “in” or any other such word. The form of the noun is not one that modifies another noun. The form of that of an indirect object, which, without any transitive verb, has the sense of either “for” a purpose or “for” the benefit of someone.

This is why beggars are lucky. But it is a joke. Everyone has breath. Even animals have “the breath of life.” The word has that second meaning, that of a man’s non-physical nature as “spirit.” But this is, again, something everyone has. Beggars are lucky to have it, but so are we all. This answer is positive and life-affirming, but it is not a real answer. After pretending to answer the question once, the question still remains. Why are beggars in particular lucky?

The Third Punchline

Jesus then answered that question a second time. He used the normal Greek form of an answer, beginning with the word of explanation, “because.” This setsup the next punchline “theirs.”

The last line is the punchline has multiple meanings. When the verb "to be" takes an object in the form of "their" or '“of them,” the "is" has many possible meanings. It can mean "the realm is descended from them," "the realm belongs to them," or "the realm is made of them," or "the realm is a duty of theirs," or "the realm is dependent on them." 

The Tagline and Catchphrase

This word introduces the tagline, "the realm of the skies." I have written an article on Jesus’s use of this catchphrase.

At this line, the meaning of “breath” as “spirit” comes out more vividly, but in a contradictory way. “The realm of the skies” belongs to the Divine. “The skies," were the realm of the "stars," which were seen as representing the heroes of history and mythology, both Greek and Jewish. This was a comical, topsy-turvy idea. Jesus was not only putting these beggars among these heroes but saying that the highest realms belong to these beggars rather than those heroes.

This was also a new idea The Greek phrase does not appear in the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Old Testament. I am avoiding the idea of “heaven” here because that was not what Jesus said or what his listeners would have heard (see this article).

Conclusion

Jesus would go on to repeat this catchphrase many times in the Sermon on the Mount. John the Baptist used this phrase before Jesus and Jesus took it up to announce his ministry. His students used it to spread their messages. Jesus never explains it directly. He only indirectly describes what this realm is like in his parables, almost all of which focus on it.

However, in terms of humor, it worked as a catchphrase, a phrase that is repeated over and over again until it is associated with a character. It repetition is what become funny. We will discuss this in next week’s article, which focuses on Jesus’s use of catchphrases as an aspect of his humor.