The young man said to [Jesus], “I have kept all these [commandments]; what do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” – Matthew 19:20-21 (NRSV)

If you think about it, Jesus’s ministry mostly falls into a few categories: prefab sermons and parables, impromptu miracles on the way from here to there, and crowd work.

Crowd work is a newly popular form of stand up comedy. Rather than do the same “tight ten” of jokes at every venue, which quickly become yesterday’s news on social media, more comedians are creating material on the spot based on repartee with their audience.

Jesus understood the power of crowd work. It raises the stakes. Anything can happen in a spontaneous 1:1 encounter between the headliner and a heckler. The audience perks up and leans in extra hard because they know they could be the next target. And it is a deeply exciting, sometimes painful path to the truth.

Jesus isn’t an insult comic. Sometimes he’s empathetic, as with the tax collector Zaccheus. Sometimes he’s adversarial, as with the oft-maligned pharisees and scribes who are the cautionary tale for so many of his lessons. Often he is both, as with the composite “rich young ruler” in the text above, both confronting and welcoming.

What he does with all of his conversation partners: invite them to radical reversal and a wholly new life. And that’s no joke.

Prayer
Jesus, don’t look at me, scrunching down in the third row, hoping to escape your notice. But if you do call on me—be kind. Change is hard.

About the Author
Molly Baskette is a UCC minister, psychedelic facilitator and author of books about church renewal, parenting, post-traumatic joy and more. Learn more at mollybaskette.com.