JESUS' LIFE: His Teachings
Jesus was a teacher. 2000 years ago they didn’t have schools like we have, or even universities or churches. It was all very different. I love learning how to do new things by watching Youtube videos and by listening to podcasts. That’s how I learnt how to make this podcast!
In Jesus’ day, there was no Youtube or podcasts. There were no TVs or radios or even electricity or microphones. People would stand up on street corners and speak what they wanted to teach in a really loud voice, and if you were walking past and thought that what they were saying was interesting then you’d stop and listen.
I have hung out with some indigenous christians and they do something similar. The Christians will meet together in a park with chairs and microphones and will speak really loudly about Jesus. They hope that some of the people in the nearby homes might hear the gospel and come out and ask if they can become Christians.
Anyway, Jesus had been doing lots of miracles and so everyone was talking about Jesus. He was big news! So not only did sick people want to come and be healed, but other people wanted to come and see sick people being healed. Even though there was no tv or newspapers, the news spread quickly and soon crowds began following Jesus wherever he went. Not just people from the town he was in, but people from the nearby towns as well!
He thought going out of town, into the desert and lonely places would be better - more space and only those who were really keen would come out to hear him. There were no microphones back then either so I am not sure how the thousands and thousands of people could hear him, but they must have!
Luke wrote about one time, in Luke 5:3, when Jesus was on the beach at Lake Galilee and there were so many people pressing around him that he stood in a boat and pushed it out a little bit and was able to have a make-shift stage there and logistically it worked well!
And Jesus spoke to the people. He spoke a lot! He must have been super-interesting, and not just because he is God! The people listened to him for hours! I know that when I am in church sometimes I struggle to focus on what is being said and my pastors tend to talk only for 30 minutes! And when I thought about how long I wanted each episode in this podcast to be I decided I didn’t want it too long because it is so easy to day dream and get distracted. I do try and make it interesting for you guys, but I am not Jesus - he was SUPER INTERESTING!
Have you ever had a teacher at school or at church, that you really loved? One who you think you could listen to for ages, and thought they were so wise that you had so many questions and every answer they gave was so enlightening and interesting? Or maybe you feel like that when you are watching a Youtuber talking about your favourite hobby? Amazing, intelligent and captivating! I think this is how all the people felt about Jesus.
We know that Jesus told the crowds heaps of parables. What else did he say? There is an amazing passage in Matthew 5-7 that is a sermon Jesus preached on the Mount, known as Sermon on The Mount! He was preaching to his disciples that day, although it seems like there were more than just the 12. In this sermon Jesus reveals all - a new teaching that is different from anything else they’d ever heard!
In the Old Testament, God had given Moses a law. Jesus came and taught them a new and improved way. Kinda like a software upgrade where you have the existing software and the upgrade builds on what had been there already.
Jesus pretty much said that your heart - your desires and intentions - are what is most important. If you have a good heart and good motives then God will be stoked. If your actions are good but you are doing them for the wrong reasons and with a selfish heart then God is not impressed, even if you actions are impressive. Like if you pray loud and lengthy prayers so that everyone will look at you and think that you’re an amazing Christian, God will not think you’re that great. But if you pray in your room quietly and no one knows and you do it because you really want to get to know God better, then he will feel very loved.
Jesus also taught the disciples (and us) to love our enemies. He said that we were taught to love our friends but he wants to ask us to do something more - love those who are mean to us, those who pick on us and those who might think differently to us. WOW!
Jesus spoke on and on like this, always going back to people’s heart. Do good things to please God, not so that everyone can tell you how awesome you are. Jesus keeps on saying “don’t tell everyone when you’ve done something good” because if we brag then we are only being good to get a reward. It is a bit like picking up rubbish at school just to get an award. God wants us to do it because its a good thing to do, not for credit! He can see what we have done and he can see our heart and that is enough. He will reward us in heaven, we don’t need to be rewarded now.
Matthew wrote a lot about Jesus’ teaching and said that Jesus would talk about The Kingdom of Heaven a lot. In fact, Matthew tells us 32 different times that Jesus talks about the Kingdom of Heaven! When Jesus talked about the Kingdom of Heaven he was referring to something a bit like a country or a nation where there is a king. This kingdom is one where all of the people believe in God and Jesus is the king. You might be thinking about how it already is like this - people who believe in God and follow God’s commands like he is our king. You are right! The Kingdom of Heaven is here! But there is still an element of the Kingdom of Heaven that hasn’t happened yet - Judgement Day. This is the day in which the Christian believers will be sorted from the non-christians and Satan, the big baddie, will be defeated, along with everyone who is sinful. Or anyone who hasn’t had their sins washed away by Jesus blood. I talk about what it is going to be like in Heaven in Episode 5, but I think a whole other episode is needed to talk about Judgement Day.
Here are some of the things Jesus said about the Kingdom of Heaven:
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Matthew 4:17
“The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” Matthew 13:31-32
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 7:21
If I lived back then when Jesus was alive and wanted to teach these things people would probably have laughed at me. They definitely wouldn’t have believed me. They might have even taken me to jail because I was saying things that weren’t the same as what God had taught Moses. That would be saying that their hero Moses was wrong. But because Jesus was teaching these different teachings - the man who did all the miracles - the people listened. Many found themselves understanding, agreeing and wanting to follow Jesus.
Not all of them though. Some of the people listening realised that Jesus was changing the laws Moses had given them and they didn’t like that. They didn’t recognise Jesus as being the Messiah even though all the clues from the prophets were there. Those people did not like that Jesus was popular and they plotted to get rid of Jesus. Jesus knew what was happening and had to be very careful with what he did and what he said.
Sometimes these people would ask Jesus a question, hoping to trick him into saying something that might mean they could take him to jail, but Jesus was not tricked. He spoke very carefully and often asked them questions in return, stumping them at their own game.
Jesus taught so many things and the disciples (plus others!) wrote it down even though writing was really hard back then, because they thought this stuff was important. Since then the letters and writings had been written and rewritten so they wouldn’t perish, and later they were translated into our own language so we can read it. To have these books about Jesus - the gospels - to have access to any time we like is such an amazing blessing.
I believe that the teachings of Jesus are all we need to know. We don’t need Jesus to tell us any new information. There are still some things that aren’t written down, and I really want to know them, but I believe that if it were important enough Jesus would have mentioned it to the disciples and they would have written it down.
Discussion Questions:
Do you like learning new things? Why/why not? Talk together about how you like learning - do you like watching YouTube like I do, or reading books or do you like people explaining things to you?
Mum/Dad, what is one thing you have learned from Jesus’ teaching that really struck you as being really memorable and why?
