From The Snark Nook – Sarcasm As A Viable Form Of Communication

Susan Isaacs August 17th, 2009

A well-meaning Bible teacher once said something that stopped me in my tracks. "Sarcasm is fallen humor." This wasn't good. I was a comedic actor, and sarcasm was a staple onstage. Wasn't there room for even the well-placed sarcastic bon mot? No, the teacher insisted. Sarcasm had a 'bitter root,' and its flower was despair.

"Well there goes my day," I replied. Sarcastically. It was as if Francis Schaffer had just submerged my lifelong ambition below The Line Of Despair.

I've always felt tension between comedy and the church. I grew up on Monty Python and Saturday Night Live, shows filled with sarcasm, irreverence and inappropriate behavior. Church on the other hand, was all about earnestness, piety and moral rectitude. Where was the fun in that? Once a spinster Sunday-school teacher asked me to write some comedy bible skits for church. About what, I wondered? David and Bathsheba? Leviticus? Joshua climbing the hill of foreskins was funny. But that wasn't what she had in mind.

When my memoir was published earlier this year, some Christian bookstores hesitated to carry a book with "snarky" in the subtitle. Snarky means "snide and sarcastic." I can do without snide, but will defend the use of sarcasm. Cynicism may flower into despair, but sarcasm is a viable form of communication. I'd even argue it's a biblical form of communication.

There is humor in the Bible, but we often don't notice it. The Bible is rooted in ancient Jewish culture, tradition and language, and we're removed from it by 2000 years. We can miss the irony, the play on words, or when someone's turned a popular saying of the time on its head, because we are so far removed from the context. It's like watching a Japanese standup comedian on YouTube. Just. Not. Funny. And there's another reason we don't get the Jewish humor in the Bible: most of us in the church are total WASP honkies who read every passage as if Charlton Heston were reciting it on the banks of the Red Sea.

You can find humor and sarcasm in the Bible, if you're willing to take that Cecil B. DeMille tremolo out of your voice.

Let's start with Job: When Job answers his accusers, he snaps back: ("I'm sure you speak for all the experts, and when you die there'll be no one left to tell us how to live. But I, too, have a brain. (Job12:1-3, The Message). Then God's entire response to Job is laced with sarcasm. "Where were you when I created the earth? Tell me, since you know so much! (Job 38:4). Remember, don't read it like Charlton Heston; read it like Jerry Seinfeld is saying it.

My small group is studying Luke. We had a good laugh when Jesus healed Peter's sick mother-in-law. "And immediately she got up and made them something to eat." Praise God, you're alive! Now get into that kitchen. Of course that's not sarcasm, that's irony. Unintentional irony.

What about in John 9, when Jesus heals the man who was born blind? The Pharisees try to get the man to say Jesus is a sinner, because obviously it's more important to keep the Sabbath than to do a miracle. Talk about not seeing the forest for the trees. Sheesh! When the Pharisees interrogate the man a second time he replies: "Look I already told you. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become one of his disciples?"

The Pharisees are irate. How dare he suggest! They follow Moses, and God spoke to Moses. But Jesus? "We don't even know where he comes from!"

"Well isn't that fascinating," the man replies. "He opened my eyes! God doesn't listen to sinners. But apparently God listens to Jesus, because he did something to me that no one has ever done before… really you still can't figure it out?"

And with that, the Pharisees throw him out. Good thing he could see the curb now.

And what about Jesus himself? Every time the Pharisees tried to trick him, he always had a great comeback. What should I do on the Sabbath: evil or good? Save a life or kill? What's easier to say, 'I forgive you,' or tell a paralytic to get up and walk? Whose face is on that coin? Caesar's? Well if the shoe fits… Ok he didn't say that, but that was the gist. Remember when the Pharisees tried to get Jesus to declare by whose authority was he doing miracles? Jesus made a bet: I'll tell you, if you tell me if John's baptism was from heaven or man. You won't tell me? OK then I'm not telling you.

By far my favorite Sarcastic Moment in the Bible is when Elijah taunts the Prophets of Baal because they can't get their altar to light on fire. "Call a little louder–he is a god, after all. Maybe he's off meditating somewhere, or maybe he's gotten involved in a project, or maybe he's on vacation. You don't suppose he's overslept, do you, and needs to be waked up?" Some Bibles include, "Is he relieving himself." Some Jewish scholars say that "going on a journey" is an ancient euphemism for taking a dump. Elijah wonders if Baal is off taking a dump! (Remember, it's Jerry Seinfeld talking.)

I'm not advocating profanity or unbridled sarcasm either. But if we remove those real moments from the Bible – the irony, sarcasm, the shock, the inappropriate behavior, then we are misrepresenting the scriptures themselves. And why should we be afraid of inappropriate behavior? After all, Jesus hung out with slatterns and drunkards and sailors. And we know how sailors talk.

"Son of Thunder." … I wonder what that means in Aramaic.

Susan Isaacs is a writer, actor, and comedienne with TV and film credits including Planes Trains & Automobiles, Scrooged, Seinfeld, The Drew Carey Show, My Name Is Earl and more. She is an alumnus of The Groundlings Sunday Company and the author of Angry Conversations With God: A Snarky But Authentic Spiritual Memoir.

Click here to listen to Susan's appearance on Steve Brown Etc.

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This entry was posted on Monday, August 17th, 2009 at 3:22 pm and is filed under Angry Conversations with God, Christianity, Church, Communication, Grace, humor, Religion and Spirituality, Sarcasm, Snarky, Susan Isaacs, The Bible, The Guest Room, The Snark Nook. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.