Jesus dull?! Give me a break!
Last Saturday, I flew from San Diego to Oakland to speak at The Rock in Danville, Ca. I was sitting next to a woman who asked me the proverbial question, “What do you do?” I did not give her my usual answer (more on this another time), which usually creates conversation. I wanted to discourage conversation, so I simply answered, “I’m a pastor.” She clicked her tongue patronizingly and said, “Christianity? No thanks… too dull for me.”
That was the last answer I expected… honestly, I was momentarily speechless before I responded: “Your answer really caught me off guard. In the first-century world that witnessed the birth of Christianity, friend and foe alike had many descriptive words for Christianity, but I can assure you that “dull” was not on the list! Please forgive us if we have given you that impression. In fact, today, around the world, people are discovering a fullness of life they had only dreamed of before meeting Jesus.”
We proceeded to have a great discussion that ended in my inviting her to the church… But it did cause me to reflect on what I wish I had been prepared to say. If God ever gives me a “do-over” with this conversation, I would want to answer with the following.
For we cannot stop speaking about the things we have seen and heard. (Acts 4.20)
There is nothing dull about Jesus. Jesus is the most compelling personality in history. In His day, some may have thought Him subversive, others radical, and still others considered Him dangerous. The one word no one would have considered using was dull. More books have been written about Him, more music composed to honor Him, and more art directed towards Him than any other figure in history. Go to nearly any country today, and you will meet people who vividly describe their personal encounters with Him. In fact, no minute of the day passes without men, women, youth, and children singing His praise and extolling His majesty. The sun never sets on the praises of His people.
There is nothing dull about His teaching. No boring dos and don’ts. No long sermons filled with empty and esoteric jargon. No theological abstractions or spiritual elitism. His teaching was memorable and powerful. Nearly all of His most revered teachings were spoken outdoors. Women and children, as well as men, were invited to listen— and listen, they did! On one occasion, over 5,000 gathered to listen to this teacher from Nazareth. He spoke about money, sex, power, forgiveness, anger, peace, apocalyptic futures, heaven, hell, marriage, divorce, lust, and greed. His perspective was frequently revolutionary but never dull!
There is nothing dull about the claims of Jesus. He claimed to teach the truth with the final authority of God Himself. He claimed to be able to forgive sins— something only God can do! He claimed that He would judge the world. He claimed that He was able to satisfy the deepest longing of the human heart. He claimed to be God’s Son. He claimed the right to receive worship. C.S. Lewis says it best when he comments:
The really foolish thing that people say about Him is that “I’m ready to accept Him as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.” A man who is merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic— on a level with a man who says he is a poached egg— or else He would be the devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was and is the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse.
There is nothing dull about His challenge. Jesus did not send people away to write books, sequester themselves in monasteries, require celibacy, or offer good advice. He did not mince words when He said: “Come to me,” “Follow me,” “Sell all you have,” “Lay down your life for me,” or “Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and not do what I tell you?” He challenged his followers to pay their taxes, to love their enemies, to bless their oppressors, to become servants, to rejoice in their sufferings, to love one another as He had loved them, and to take up their own cross and follow Him. Dietrich Bonhoeffer summarized Christ’s challenge this way: “When Christ calls people, He bids them come and die.”
Anyone who finds Him dull has not found Him. That person may have seized the counterfeit clone that religion can create, but she or he does not know Jesus! The Jesus I know will love you, surprise you, convict you, empower you, send you, free you, purify you, fill you, lead you, discipline you, forgive you, save you, deliver you, and bless you. There is no boredom in His presence. Even silence and stillness become alive with the fullness of His presence.
No, there is nothing dull about Jesus… My prayer is that our life, leadership, and witness in Christ will be a living repudiation of this lie… and I pray that next time I will be more prepared!
