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Jesus Teaching

I want to live long. I want to live well. I want to live long. There is very good news. God gives me wisdom. As a disciple of Jesus, I have the Master Teacher. I also have the power of His Holy Spirit. I need to focus on taking God’s direction to heart.

Good friend, don’t forget all I’ve taught you; take to heart my commands. They’ll help you live a long, long time, a long life lived full and well. | Proverbs 3:1-2 (The Message Bible)

The focus here is on teaching. Jesus is the Master Teacher. I have a lot to learn.

It is clear from the good news books that Jesus had a reputation as a Jewish rabbi (Mark 14:45; John 1:38). Peter (in Mark 9:5) and Mary Magdalene (in John 20:16) both referred to Jesus as “Rabbi.”

Moreover, the Jewish ruler Nicodemus thought that this title was appropriate for Jesus: “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him” (John 3:2). Elsewhere, we see Jesus referred to as “Teacher” (Mark 5:35). According to John 1:38, Rabbi and Teacher are synonymous titles.

Jesus Was a Teacher Who Taught With Power

Jesus began his ministry by engaging people in the synagogue as a public teacher. This teaching was an activity open to any layman who was willing to be taught.

Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. | Matthew 4:23

The public teaching of Jesus, in the Gospel of Matthew, was surrounded by his healing ministry. During his teaching ministry, Christ also healed the multitudes of every kind of problem. This teaching/healing ministry also addressed the spiritual world of the demons.

In all of his teaching and healing exercises, the primary foundational truth that Jesus was promoting was a simple one.

“Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them.” | Matthew 4:23-24

Jesus Was a Teacher Who Taught With Authority and Purpose

On several occasions, Jesus was approached and questioned about his authority as a leader. In Luke’s Good News account, Jesus was asked about his authority.

“One day as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple courts and proclaiming the good news, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, together with the elders, came up to him.  “Tell us by what authority you are doing these things,” they said. “Who gave you this authority?”

He replied, “I will also ask you a question. Tell me:  John’s baptism—was it from heaven, or of human origin?”

They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Why didn’t you believe him?’  But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ all the people will stone us, because they are persuaded that John was a prophet.”

So they answered, “We don’t know where it was from.”

Jesus said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.” | Luke 20:1-8