Jesus For Dummies

June 20, 2004 (Third Sunday after Pentecost -- Proper 7)

By The Rev. Benjamin J. Newland

- Zechariah 12:8-10;13:1
- Psalm 63:1-8
- Galatians 3:23-29
- Luke 9:18-24

I think that by now we’ve all seen the “…For Dummies” line of books. It all started with DOS For Dummies, back in the dark ages when computers were operated by typing cryptic commands onto a blank screen and Windows were still glass covered holes in the walls of your house. DOS was confusing for most people, so somebody wrote a simple yet comprehensive introduction to the topic liberally sprinkled with goofy jokes and illustrations. Thus was the “…For Dummies” dynasty born.

These days, you can get a “…For Dummies” book on almost any topic you can think of. My own library contains Wine For Dummies and Personal Finance For Dummies right now, and I’ve also read Mac OS9 For Dummies, Chess For Dummies, and Fung Shui For Dummies in recent years. I’m a big fan of the “…For Dummies” brand name, and anytime I want to get a basic understanding of a new topic, I head for the Kansas City Public Library web site and search the “…For Dummies” line for my new interest.

Yet not everyone likes the books as much as I do. The “…For Dummies” series comes in for criticism from time to time. The two biggest gripes are that having read a “…For Dummies” book one is still only a beginner: Dummies books are not necessarily the best books about their topic in the field, and they encourage a “dumming down" of their subject matter. The other gripe is that it is somewhat insulting for a book to call its reader a dummy.

As far as the first criticism goes, it is true that “…For Dummies” books leave you with only a basic introduction to a subject and there is always more to learn when you’re done reading. To me this isn’t a big deal. I like having a basic and thorough introduction to a subject. Of course there’s more to learn and more in-depth books out there, but a good start is a good thing.
Being insulted by a book title seems a bit shallow at first, but this is a valid criticism actually. You could say that reading a book that refers to you as a dummy is self-defeating. You’re trying to learn something new, but you’re thinking of yourself as stupid, or somehow lacking in knowledge that everyone else must already have. This is a bad place from which to start learning anything.

For myself, I find that the “…For Dummies” titles inspire a healthy humbleness about my subject matter. Wine For Dummies is the perfect example. Wine is one of those topics where people who know something seem to enjoy holding that knowledge against people that feel like they don’t know anything. Wine snobs, we call them. I grew up near some very good wineries, and went to Seminary a thirty minute drive from the Napa Valley, a world famous wine making region. By swallowing my pride and allowing a book to call me a dummy, I learned a ton about wine. I not only learned how to pronounce Beaujolais Nouveau and Pinot Noir, I learned that it doesn’t matter if I don’t like the wine that got 97 points in the latest issue of Wine Connoisseur magazine. It only matters that I don’t like the wine. I learned to be a friendly wine snob. The “…For Dummies” series encourages a humble, egalitarian approach to learning.

So why all of this about Dummies books? No, I’m not getting a commission. It just looks to me like today’s lessons from Galatians and Luke would form a couple of key chapters in Jesus For Dummies, if such a book existed.

It’s always hardest to read a Dummies book that’s about something you think you know a great deal about already, for the same reason that it is more difficult to admit you don’t know something about a subject in which you are supposed to be an expert. I have never read Christianity For Dummies because I’m not a dummy about Christianity, right? I’m supposed to be an expert in Christianity, so why would I need to read a basic introduction? The same attitude overcomes me many Thursday mornings at the Men’s Bible Study. When some question about the scripture comes up that I don’t have an answer to, I’m tempted to make something up, or at least to make my guess sound like confident knowledge. It’s harder to swallow your pride when there’s more pride to swallow.

This is not an admirable way to behave no matter what your area of expertise, but when it comes to matters of religion or spirituality, it can be downright dangerous. Thinking you know everything there is to know about Jesus is a spiritual dead end. Even thinking you know enough about Jesus is dangerous. Knowing Jesus in a way that defines him ends your spiritual growth towards him.

So while it may be difficult, for clergy experts and first-time pew-sitters alike, we need to swallow our pride, admit that we really don’t know God all that well, and begin again to seek God through the incarnation of Jesus.

Paul’s letter to the Galatians is a great place to start. Many of us have heard these words before,

There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.

It sounds great. This is one of the few passages that I can cite a verse for without looking it up. But how much time have any of us spent really thinking about this teaching lately? What would it really mean for there to be no difference between ethnic or religious groups; between socio-economic levels; between genders? What would that world look like, and what does it say about our God that, as far as he’s concerned, that’s the way it is now?

Luke pours it on even more. How much more basic-how much more introductory to the Christian faith-can you get, than the statement,

"If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it.

This line is so well known that most of us who are used to this religion just read over it with nary a second thought. How can we possibly take up the cross of Jesus every single day? What does it mean that to save our lives we somehow have to lose them? These aren’t just bumper stickers for a religious doctrine, these are profound spiritual truths that have stood up to the ponderings, prayers, and pryings of centuries worth of prophets, scholars, and mystics. Who are we to detour around that struggle because of our pride in our own religious expertise?

Jesus For Dummies is not a book you can get from the library, at least as far as I know. Yet the concept of the “…For Dummies” series is one we can apply to our own fresh and basic look at the scriptures. While the Bible does not come with detailed chapter layouts or cleverly illustrated icons, you can take the same approach as a Dummies book when you read it. Put away your pride for awhile, take a deep breath and imagine that you are learning this again for the first time. It is as if we are all in the Kindergarten classroom in Sunday School again, hearing for the first time the stories about Jesus. A fresh look at things we thought we knew. And what is it we learned in Sunday School? Jesus loves everyone. Even his dummies. AMEN.