Why I have trouble keeping a straight face in sutra study

So we’re covering Bodhidharma’s Bloodstream Sermon and hit a passage:

People who don’t understand and think they can do so without study are no different from those deluded souls who can’t tell white from black. Falsely proclaiming the Buddha-Dharma, such persons in fact blaspheme the Buddha and subvert the Dharma. They preach as if they were bringing rain. But theirs is the preaching of devils not of Buddhas. Their teacher is the King of Devils and their disciples are the Devil’s minions. Deluded people who follow such instruction unwittingly sink deeper in the Sea of Birth and Death. Unless they see their nature, how can people call themselves Buddhas? They’re liars who deceive others into entering the realm of devils. Unless they see their nature, their preaching of the Twelvefold Canon is nothing but the preaching of devils. Their allegiance is to Mara, not to the Buddha.

I remarked: “The allegiance of devils isn’t very useful. My wife can’t even get them to help out with the housework.” (She’s named after the Biblical Mara, not the demon, but it’s just too funny when the name pops up in the scripture.)