How Jesus Taught

Mark Dunagan
02/26/12 - Sunday Evening

How Jesus Taught

Without a doubt, the people who heard Jesus teach were amazed at what He taught:

• “Never did a man speak the way this man speaks” (John 7:46).
• “And they were amazed at His teaching” (Luke 4:32).
• “All were speaking well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His mouth” (Luke 4:22).
• “And the listeners were astonished, saying, ‘Where did this man get these things, and what is this wisdom given to Him?” (Mark 6:2).
• “And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at His teaching” (Matthew 22:33).
• At one point a woman in the crowd exclaimed, “Blessed is the womb that bore You” (Luke 11:27).  That is, “What an honor it would be to be your mother, to have a son like you”.

In this lesson I want to consider certain things that made Jesus’ teaching so remarkable and unforgettable. 

The Focus on Truth

“If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).

• Unlike some teachers of various subjects in our time, Jesus did not say, “In this study we are only going to touch the fringes of the topic or just scratch the surface”.  Jesus confidently and boldly asserted that if one continues to listen intently to Him, one will arrive at the truth.  No "just scratching the surface" here! Jesus argued that the truth not only could be known, it could be known well and it could be fully known and obeyed,  this truth that He Himself was teaching. Jesus asserts that truth is liberating. And those that accepted His words would be spiritually liberated.

“In the time of Christ and before, the religiously minded tended to take such flights of imagination into the world of myth and legend.  They speculated upon the happenings among the gods and goddesses, their marriages and begetting, and their relations with human beings.  Even the rabbis, who handled the sacred Scriptures and so usually dwelt in the realm of reality, were not immune to this temptation.  They told stories about the patriarchs, Abraham for example, and other Old Testament figures, which had no historical substance at all…Jesus kept His feet firmly planted in the world of reality.  He spent none of His time with myths of legendary stories”  (At The Feet of the Master Teacher, Daniel H. King Sr., p. 105).  The purpose of Jesus’ teaching was not to escape reality, but to embrace it, and live in it.  Realize then, that Christianity is not a religion where one can go and hide or escape, but is the only one that prepares us for the real world here—the real world of marriage and parenting and friendships and trials, and even more it prepares us for the real world beyond this life.

Teach on the Level of the Student

The parables that Jesus taught comprise 35 percent of Matthew, Mark and Luke.  One of the purposes behind using such illustrations was to help the average person see and remember the truth.  For example, the parables are always set in real life settings, using something that often happens in the neighborhood, on the farm, or in the street. In addition, they were experiences that were shared by average people—in just about any part of the world. There is really nothing esoteric or theoretical in these illustrations, rather they are altogether both pragmatic and practical.  They are not puzzles that one mentally seeks to ponder, rather, the point is often quite clear—even to those opposed to Christ (Matthew 21:45).  “He puts religion on the street, in the marketplace, in the home, and in the workplace. His is not an esoteric philosophy for the scholar in the classroom or the lecture hall, but a philosophy of life and living. It is about real people and for real people.  Abstractions seldom have a part in His curriculum” (King p. 106).   Thus it is easy to appreciate what Jesus is getting at when He gives such illustrations as:

• The Sower: We must prepare our hearts to receive God's truths. Matthew 13:18ff
• The Lost Sheep/Coin and Boy: God loves us dearly and deserves Himself to be sought whole-heartedly Luke 15
• The Persistent Widow: God appreciates our pouring our hearts out to Him continually and will answer our prayers. Luke 18:1ff
• The Unforgiving Servant:  We must forgive others, seeing how very much the Lord Himself has forgiven us. Matthew 18:22ff
• The Good Samaritan: We must go out of our way to help others. Luke 10:30-36

Stay on the Point

Anyone who has ever taught a Bible class knows that from time to time the class might be tempted to get off track and get lost in peripheral or incidental matters.  Jesus encountered the same thing.  He ran into people who tried to divert attention from a more pressing matter or in an effort to duck the obligation to obey God, tried to make it seem as if the instructions in God’s word were just too complicated. 

The Lawyer in Luke 10:29 tried to argue that the instruction concerning loving one’s neighbor was too vague—after all who could really say "who is my neighbor"?  Jesus proceeded to give a very simple illustration, and then asked a simple question, “Who acted like a neighbor?” (10:36).  What had seemed so vague and complicated was actually quite simple:  My neighbor is anyone in need that I can help.  Jesus then said, “Go and do the same”.  The command, like any command in the Bible, had always been clear who those who desire to do them.  Commands only become complicated when we don’t want to do them.

Focus on the Heart

The mistake some people make when they focus on the heart is that they ignore the need to obey.  Jesus never allowed for this mistake.  He emphasized both the importance of obedience (John 14:15), and the importance of obeying from the right motivation (Matthew 22:37).  When it came to sin, He both condemned the sinful act itself and the source from whence it came— evil thoughts (Matthew 15:15-20).

See the Potential

One thing that amazes me about Jesus is that He was God in the flesh (John 1:14), and yet the people who surrounded Him were often what the world might consider “misfits” (Matthew 9:11).  Jesus highlighted human potential and man’s ability to change, repent and become what God expected.  Jesus saw what people could be.  The New Testament is filled with many so called “failures” that in the end became success stories:

• Matthew and Zaccheus—hated tax-gathers who became faithful followers.
• Mary Magdalene—a woman at one time possessed by seven demons (Mark 16:9) and later was strong enough to attend Christ's death, burial, and was the first to see Him resurrected.
• Peter who denied Christ, yet eventually became "rock-like".
• James and John, two impulsive and hot-headed brothers who would go on to preach the gospel of peace.
• Simon the Zealot, a former terrorist turned ambassador for God.

He Had Time For Average People

In compassion, Jesus took the time to have a life-changing conversation with the Samaritan woman (John 4).  In addition, He equally dwelt and was patient (2 Timothy 4:2; 2:24) with people who were:

• Slow to grasp spiritual truths:  John 3:10
• Testing Him: Luke 10:25
• People who ultimately did not follow His teaching: Mark 10:22
• People entangled in big personal problems: John 4:17-18

Christ Understood Man’s Accountability

People loved to hear Jesus teach, yet in the end, few who heard Him obeyed Him.  Yet the purpose of teaching is not to make the choice for the student, but rather to set before the listeners a choice.  Jesus knew that it was not His task to choose for us, that is our job. May you choose to live your life by His life-changing, life-giving words.

Mark Dunagan | mdunagan@frontier.com
Beaverton Church of Christ | 503-644-9017
www.beavertonchurchofchrist.net