EASTER DEVOTIONAL

Tell a joke this Easter!

By Mark Weber, preaching minister

[April 18, 2014]  The Sunday after Easter is typically known as "Bright Sunday" or "Holy Humor Sunday" and has its roots in history. For centuries, in Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant countries, the hours and days following Easter morning were observed as "days of joy and laughter" with parties and picnics to celebrate Jesus' resurrection. One old custom originating in Bavarian practice has the faithful gathering back in church on Easter afternoon for a time of storytelling and practical joking.

These post-Easter practices came about from the musings of early church theologians that God played a practical joke on Satan by raising Jesus from the dead. Satan thought he had won the victory at the death of Jesus, but when Jesus conquered death, the joke was on the devil. The Latins call it Risus Paschalis — "God's Joke" or the "Easter Laugh."

So tell a joke this Easter! It's one historic way of celebrating Christ's victory.

[By MARK WEBER, preaching minister at Mount Pulaski Christian Church]