No - He wasn’t joking because, once again – He backs it up elsewhere...
You're doing what a lot of people do; and on these boards we have them from time to time. Recently it has been a couple of 7th day adventists, to whom we can point out Romans 14:5-6 and Colossians 2:16 to show christians are not obligated to a sabbath day, so they have crates of scripture and commentary (apologetics course?) they think show those verses don't mean what they say, or it is only special bonus sabbaths; anything to make the verses fit what they've made their minds up on. But when I see that, I ignore it, and so I do yours. And you are both just arbitrary as to what is literal, metaphorical, or figurative, and both eisegetic.