It is quite likely that there were humorists in the time of Christ Jesus who sought to discredit his mission by playing upon the popular sense of humor, but how miserably such efforts failed to hinder the onward march of truth! What, in the light of subsequent events, could be more pitiable than the ridicule of those who, according to the gospel of John, crowned Jesus with thorns, put on him a purple robe, and in mockery hailing him as king of the Jews, "smote him with their hands.
