“No
one was ever corrected by sarcasm — crushed perhaps, if the sarcasm was clever
enough, but drawn nearer to God, never.”
—
Frederick William Faber
(1814–1863)
SENSE OF HUMOUR, seemingly always a gift,
especially in this age of light-speed communication, so often reveals the heart
beneath the jibe, no matter how gift-worthy the humour is to the various
hearers.
The dictionary says that sarcasm is a sharp, bitter, or cutting expression or remark; a bitter gibe
or taunt. It has the tending of passive aggressiveness about it, like, with
what is said, because it’s couched in humour, it is okay to be said. But
sarcasm is aggressiveness and never foreseeably born of love.
Of all the “one another” phrases in the New
Testament, there is a common theme. It relates to love, to building up, to
nurturing other souls. When we don’t love, or where we tear people down (even
silently), or we fail to nurture them; we are not simply missing the mark, we
are sinning against the Lord.
We should know it’s never acceptable to
hide behind the truth, as if to say, “It doesn’t matter how it’s said; it’s what’s
said that’s important.” No, the Lord
looks to the heart – the heart of someone speaking the truth, but not in love,
is a heart far from God in that moment and their opportunity is to repent
immediately. Such a person fails to understand that the person they are harsh
with is made in the image of God. Would they openly sin against the Lord, suchlike?
Truth Perhaps, But No Love
Sarcasm may be used to present the truth in
a humorous way, and, by that, to make it ‘easier’ to handle – but for who; certainly not for the
recipient.
Somehow the people who are around this
humour – both those laughing (because they lack the courage not to) and those
not laughing – know the sarcasm is inappropriate. It can never be God-honouring
if it hurts someone, or doesn’t build them up.
True Christians are motivated from hearts
within them to love first and foremost – to fit the truth within the frame of love.
To speak the truth in love is about speaking truth, but only when it can be
spoken of in a loving way.
***
Speaking the truth in love is both a
privilege and a necessity in Christian life, but sarcasm can never be thought
of as a way of speaking truth. Sarcasm may sound witty but it does nothing to
build the other person up. Speaking the truth to others has no value unless
that truth is spoken in love.
© 2013 S. J. Wickham.
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