Good morning. As we tip towards the end of May we see another school year drawing to a close. Yesterday, our worship began with quilts being presented to our graduates by the Hallelujah Quilters. The ministry that these wonderful ladies perform is remarkable, and it was great to see our young people honored as they get ready for the next step in life. Don’t forget to give your personal thanks to the teachers around us. Their work is on display as we praise our graduates!
I would like to share some thoughts about Jesus being a remarkable teacher. I can’t imagine anyone leaving a setting where they had heard Jesus preach and teach and come away bored. In fact, it is hard to imagine anyone coming away from hearing Jesus speak without being intrigued.
When we consider the teaching of Jesus within its timeframe, its religious context, and its cultural context, Jesus was never conventional. Was he unsettling? Quite often. Was he irritating? I suppose it depends on the agenda of the hearer, but I would say that He was certainly irritating on occasion to almost everyone who heard HIm. Was He boring? I can’t imagine that anyone would say He was boring. Was He provocative? Always!
I think that the word “provocative” may be one of the very best we could use to describe the teaching of Jesus. The word itself comes from the Latin, provocare, and means “to call forth.” It means that the speaker is calling the listener away from their comfort zone and into the speaker’s realm of thought. The word in Latin is also the basis for our English word “provoke,” and that also would be very applicable to Jesus’ teaching.
Those listening to Jesus would hear Him say “I have come that you may have life, and have it in fullness.” John 10:10 I can imagine people responding positively to that idea. “Yes! I want life and I want to live it in abundance!” But if they stay with Him, they will also hear Him speak as He does in Matthew 16:24-26: Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?”
What? We are to live life in fullness, but we must take up our cross each day and follow Jesus to experience that full life? That is challenging, and provocative.
Obviously, Jesus wasn’t a politician. Jesus was a deliverer of truth, never worrying about whether that truth would make Him popular, or even if it could be life threatening. Jesus wasn’t interested in capturing votes, He was interested in capturing hearts and minds. Jesus taught in order to bring freedom to a world held captive by sin.
Jesus often taught with parables, using what was known to His listeners to teach what was unknown. The unknowns were very often lessons concerning deep spiritual truths. Imagine the challenge as a teacher to present truths about the Kingdom of God, about the nature of God, about the spiritual realm and our place within it. Jesus taught all of this, and much more, using what was known and acceptable to teach about what was considered “unknowable.”
In adult Sunday School we have recently concluded a study using the book “The End of Me” by Kyle Idleman. This book used the beatitudes to share the teachings of Jesus about living life for a successful day today, and even more importantly, to live a life of eternal spiritual significance. The beatitudes, found in the sermon on the mount, are a part of a sweeping dialogue from Jesus that is recorded for us to guide our lives in very practical ways. When we read these chapters in Matthew 5-7, we should be in awe of Jesus, history’s greatest teacher. The people of that day certainly were: And when Jesus finished saying these things, the crowds were astonished at his teaching,for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.Matthew 7:28-29
Our thought for today is to give praise to God that in sending to us Jesus, our Savior, He also sent to us Jesus, our incredible teacher.
I give thanks for all of our teachers on every level. Their jobs are tough, and they often are not respected as they should be. But let’s reserve our greatest thanks to our heavenly father for giving us the greatest teacher of all, our Lord Jesus!
God bless you as you ponder His truths!
Vern