Jesus is the most unique Man ever to walk the earth...In the three short years He taught and shared His ministry He changed the world...He is both startling and extraordinary...What Jesus teaches us is so differently, and His teachings are fresh and seen in a new and different light -yet when we really think about what He teaches -it is nothing new...God and Love are not new subjects...That is the focus of His teachings...Many teachers of His time and even today teach the truths of today's universe...He teaches us the eternities and about eternal life...And He seems to do so, as they are new in His Way of teaching...He would make such interesting claims about Himself throughout the four gospels and His teachings, and do it in a humble, subtle, and quiet way...And maybe these claims about Himself are a part of what makes His teachings seem new...As I read about Him, He does Divine Things so naturally and so commonly, we almost miss that He is Divine and knows all things...Like forgiving others, He was constantly forgiving others of their sins (and in His day, people thought only God could forgive one of their sins)...There is really not much common about Him, when we think about Him...
He really is a most unique Man...This Teaching Rabbi was different from all the other Rabbis...One might ask, do you believe His teachings were new and different, when He walked the earth and spoke throughout the villages He visited?...One might say nothing about His teachings are new...But I would disagree...Who has ever heard of One that LOVES His enemies, and forgives and is forgiving of the ones who would soon hang Him from the cross?...He taught us about God, and He centered His life around God...And He wants us to do the same...But His teachings about God aren't really too new...Any newness or uniqueness for me, comes in these teachings in the Person of Jesus...He treated everyone equally, but don't we try to do that?...And I think the question He ask His Disciples once was "Who do you say that I AM?", is a very appropriate and basic question when we study and look at Him...By reading the four gospels we can better answer that question that Jesus ask His Disciples...
Jesus, Himself, was a solitary Man who stood out among all the other Teachers and Rabbis...He was really quite different than other Rabbis...He walked around and was a Travelling Rabbi who forgave people of their sins...I do not think we realize the gravity of a Man telling another man, "Your sins are forgiven."...And He regularly and commonly forgave people of their sins...Jesus knew the reality of sinning and man's sins, and the need for God and a Savior...And He LOVINGLY forgave others and it was common in His travels and teachings to forgive someone whom He had never met...
The significance of His teachings and what He said are unlike any other man...And as we think about that and all the men who have ever taught or who has been on earth, that is significant, that His teachings are different than any other man ever...Who would you compare His teachings with?...And while the evil spirits and demons seemed to always know Him and who He was, the teachers of the Law of Moses, the Sanhedrin, and the religious leaders seemed to miss who He was...And the teachers of the law and the Pharisees knew Scripture the best...So how could they miss who He was and is?...How can those who knew most about the Bible and Old Testament, miss the Messiah?...He spoke with such fervor that His message was always authoritative...It was like He had this extreme and universal wisdom, and He does...In fact, it is mentioned in the gospels that He had this (strange and unique) type of authority when speaking -and all the while, His teachings were very humbly done and were always centered on His Father and doing His Father's will...He related Himself often to His Father and to God...He said Him and the Father are One...He also told His Disciple Philip, anyone who has seen Him, has seen the Father...And this authority and His teachings that He had- came from His Father, and He often says that in the gospels...
In fact, God is all Jesus teaches about...And Jesus said the most unusual things...He says before Abraham was born, He existed...How could He have gotten that so wrong?...He knew how old He was?...He tells us He is in God and God is in Him, His words are I and the Father are One...How could He understand or not understand He is not in God and that They are not One?...He says that no one gets to God, except through Him...How can He say that He is the resurrection and the life, and that the one who believes in Him will live and will not die, even though they will actually one day physically die?...(One must pause and think about that statement)...The words He says He speaks are not on His own authority, but are the authority of the Father living in Him (wouldn't He know what He was saying and what He was not saying)...Jesus goes on to say that whoever believes in Him will do the works He has been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I AM going to the Father...Jesus would often be walking around and then forgave people of their sins...And we somehow believe Him as we read the gospels that He is, in fact, the injured party and the one that was sinned against...And when He forgave these men and women, we feel (for some reason) He does have this authority to forgive, for He is without sin and He is without fault...He talks to mankind like all men and women are sinners, and He is not...And He gets away speaking like that, and we can believe Him because of who He is and the way He taught...Somehow, we believe in His authority to do this...And we believe that we have sinned against Him, by the way He has said it in His Words in the four gospels...We have messed up morally and have sinned...All His followers believe this...And He is our salvation of our messing up and sinning...He is our Savior...Think about as you read through the gospels, why do you believe Him?...And if you believe Him, then you must believe in Him and have faith in Him...So as we read these things, not only does He teach about God, He is also teaching us about Himself -and who He is...We are learning about Him as He says these things and teaches us...We are learning that there is this something special about Him and He has quite a unique relationship between Him and His Father...The relationship is a Divine Relationship with God as we read about Him throughout the four gospels...
God does not do anything without a reason...Jesus came to earth with a purpose...God did not have to send Him...God knows everything...God created man and knows what is happening among all men, and even what we are thinking...It must have been best that God send His Son to earth, to actually experience life as a Man (if it is fair to call Jesus a Man) and walk with man, then save us on the cross...We need to be saved, because God knows of the sinful condition we are in...He knows the condition of the world...But first we have to believe that we are sinful to be close to Him...Jesus said that He came to earth for sinners, and He did not come the righteous...God knew that we needed and need a Savior...For us to have and get salvation, we must believe in God and Jesus...St. Peter tells us that salvation is found in no other Man...There is no other Man and no other name under heaven given to man, for which we must be saved (Acts 4:12)...So God sent Jesus because we need Him, and because we sin...So Jesus came for those who sin, and to save those/us who do sin...
As you read through the gospels Jesus did not seek to be noteworthy or famous (even though He did become the Most Noteworthy Man and the Most Famous Man ever to live -and He still lives)...He never sought after personal aspirations or power...He never spoke arrogantly and was never arrogant...He was always humble...This is how He lived His life...He wants us to know that God wants us to be humble and that He will humble those that exalt themselves (Luke 18:14)...Instead of seeking glory, He wanted us to know that He had come from God, and for us to recognize that we do sin, and He was here to forgive us and save us from our sins...He was completely selfless...He was always thinking about His Father, and thinking about others...
Jesus forever links God to neighbor, and how we treat our neighbors...We know from His teachings, that we ourselves, with whatever we do, no matter how smart we are and how hard we work, we cannot get what we ultimately want and need without Him...Deep down mankind knows there is something wrong with this world...Man can sense this in his heart...God has weaved His LOVE into man, since the first man -Adam...Adam sinned and fell from grace...But Jesus did not sin...He is without fault...He is full of Grace and Truth...Jesus fulfills the scriptures and is God in the flesh...So man is incapable of fixing the real problems of the world...But Jesus can fix any problem...
Jesus taught in this most unusual way...He did not write a book that we know of...He is very wise, the wisest of all men...Much of His teachings were in Parables...So His Parables normally do not have or give us a definitive answer...Many of His teachings and lessons are in the form of a question...We (or at least I do) question and interpret much that He teaches in His Parables and questions...Some interpret His Different Parables a little different than others do...And often I find multiple teachings in the same parable after reading them again...And then find another meaning after I read them again....He never taught in an arrogant way...He was always teaching humbly...This is how He taught others...He was a very humble Teacher...This is how He is...
Jesus coming to Israel was timed perfectly in history, because God sent Him...God's timing is always right...The nation was awaiting a Messiah...And this was a time when the Roman Empire was trying to rule the world...The Romans controlled Israel, Jerusalem, and all the places where Jesus went and taught...Jesus did not have much to say about the Roman Empire and Roman government and about politics...He was not a political leader...Jesus faced teaching different groups in His native Jewish land...Among those He would meet and teach (or try to teach) besides the Jews, were the Sanhedrin leaders, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Essenes, the Scribes, the Samaritans, the Roman soldiers, and other foreigners (like the Greeks) ...All these groups had a little different outlook on how they viewed and worshiped and believed in God...One might argue that He did not teach the Sanhedrin leaders and Pharisees much, with the exception of Nicodemus (and Joseph of Arimathea)...The Sanhedrin Priests were the lawmakers of the Jewish people during His ministry, so they would have known much, if not all He was doing...The Sanhedrin just did not follow His teachings...The other groups listened, but it seems the Pharisees who were the most popular with the common people and in the local synagogues were to be His greatest opposition -along with the Sanhedrin...But His teachings go deeper than just groups or denominations...Jesus ministry brought in the poor, the sickly ones (like the lepers), adulterers, tax collectors, sinners, and the Samaritans...These were the outcast people from the Jewish society, and He very much welcomed them in His teachings and ministry...In fact, many of His teachings are about the outcasts, and lesser ones in society...He teaches that the outcasts, the last in our societies will be the first to heaven, and the first, the famous, the celebrities, the great ones -will be last...
Jesus teachings and life were completely focused on God and loving and helping others...Many of His teachings were and are hard...He did not believe in material things, and did not see gold and money as treasures...Gold, material things, and money can quickly and easily become a barrier between man and His Father...Gold and money are for helping others...And when you helped someone, He teaches you to be silent about it, for your reward for helping others is in heaven (and not here on earth)...He taught to love your enemy and to pray for those who persecute you...These are hard things to understand...
C. S. Lewis in "What are we to make of Jesus", gives us this overview of His extraordinary Man...Jesus tell us I AM the way, you need to go in life for it to be full and abundant...No one can reach there absolute potential except through Me...If we try to keep ourselves, we will be ruined...Only by coming to Me, and giving our complete self, will we live...You must get rid of those things which are barriers to Me...Those things in your life that keeps Me from you -get rid of them, even if it is your money, your possessions, or even a body part, like your hand...You are to share -not just some things, but all of your possessions with others...Your are to love -not only your family and friends, but everyone, even your enemies...And even when you do all these things I still may put you in last place, and others in the first places...But after you have done all these things and follow My teachings you are My disciple, and I will ease your load...You will be reborn, if you let Me in your life completely...You can turn from Me and be ashamed of My words, but I will continue to be there...But in the end, if you are always ashamed of Me, then I will not recognize you, when I come without disguise, because I AM not in you and I have never made it in you...If I AM in you, I will take away your sins, all of them...I will save you, all of you...Come to Me if your are tired, or poor, or hungry, and I will give you rest of a different kind...I AM Truth, Life, and the Way...I can and do make all things new...I AM many things...I AM re-birth...I AM life...I AM the Way...I AM your drink, when you are thirsty...I AM your food, when your are hungry...And finally do not be afraid -of anything, because I have overcame life and death...I have overcame the entire universe...
And when you trust Me completely, I will give you eternal life...
Jesus was a Teacher...And to say He taught the most important things ever to be taught, would be the most understatement of statements...He taught the greatest of all things, because He teaches us the eternities...Think about the other religions, it is only Jesus who offers salvation, forgiveness for our sins, and a Way to God...
Ask yourself a personal question, how could a Self-Taught Traveling Teacher from Nazareth, who taught for only three years have such an impact on the world?...It is all in how one answers the question, "Who do you say that He is?"...I would say that He is the Perfect Example of Christianity...