ABSTRACT
'Mocking' enabled commentators to link the disciples at Pentecost to the moment when Jesus was mocked by the soldiers who dressed him up as a king. The disciples were taken to be madly drunk; Jesus was taken to be madly deluded. The drunkard, sometimes revolting, is often laughable. For Erasmus, there is a very close analogy between being drunk and being inspired by the Holy Ghost. To the worldlings who do not appreciate spiritual drunkenness, Jesus, the disciples at Pentecost and all world-despising Christians may seem tipsily funny. So do the worldlings to those whom they find funny. It is the world which is grossly drunk, 'drunk with insane pleasures'. The theme of the apparent drunkenness which caused the Apostles to be mocked at Pentecost mattered to Erasmus. For Christians the highest form of ecstasy is when the soul, practising leaving the body, is vouchsafed a foretaste of heavenly bliss.
