Was Jesus Really A Good Teacher???

Was Jesus Really A Good Teacher?

As we learn how to turn our gaze outward to the mission field of North America, specifically the greater St. Louis area, we will start to encounter people who have different views of our faith and toward the Lord of that faith, Jesus Christ. Many people far from Jesus’ Church will when asked, admit that they do in fact have a clear opinion of Jesus and His Church. Sometimes when asked you may hear things like:

• Love that man Jesus! Just not too fond of his fan club (the church).
• I like Jesus and his teachings, he was a great teacher of morals.
• I hold Jesus up there along with Buddha and Gandhi etc. But I don’t go to church. I’ve decided I don’t need to in order to learn from Jesus.

Over the next three weeks, we will be exploring the Jesus of the Bible by examining one of his most famous teachings, the Sermon on the Mount. This passage starts in Matthew’s Gospel, the first book of the New Testament, in chapter five. Over the next three weeks, we will cover the entirety of chapter five (HINT: spend some time reading and re-reading Matthew Chapter five).

Chapter five of Matthew’s Gosple starts with Jesus seeing the crowds and ‘going up on a mountain.’ See how that works? Sermon on the Mount? He sits down, surrounded by his disciples, and opens his mouth to teach. 

But is Jesus a good teacher? 

That cheeky question is deliberate. To say that he was a good moral teacher is, unfortunately, to drastically diminish who he was, and still is. It’s a bit like referring to Luciano Pavarotti, the famous opera singer who passed away in 2007, as a guy who could really wear a tuxedo. Yes, he did in fact know how to wear a nice-looking tux, but there is a bit more to the man than his clothing choices on stage. Some of you may recall that he could sing as well!

Jesus was, and is, a masterful teacher to be sure. But, in most conversations, to refer to Jesus as a good teacher without acknowledging his identity as the Son of God, Lord of Lords, King of Kings, etc, is to almost comically underestimate who he is. Good teachers do not claim to God, for starters (unless they really are). Spoiler alert: he is.

People who say this are often just trying to be respectful. And we should, in turn, offer every respect to those who say things like this. However, when someone shares such a one-dimensional view of the God of the Universe, they have also handed you an opportunity. The Alpha course is one of many ways to hear about common, easy, and respectful ways of having conversations with people who mean well, but maybe don’t have the most accurate picture of whom they’re dealing with. Inviting someone like that to church for worship or Bible study is another way to deal with helping someone who really needs to meet the real Jesus.

So, stay tuned! Over the next three weeks, we will be unpacking this a bit more. And maybe, now that you have a head’s up, you can have something specific to invite your friends to this week.