Jesus, The Teacher

Matthew 5-7

July 20, 2008

Rochelle A. Stackhouse

Imagine a day like today, warm and sunny, on a hillside. Jesus has gathered with his disciples, but there are other people around, too. Babies are crying, people are talking, when slowly the crowd quiets, because Jesus is speaking. He speaks primarily to those disciples, but others gather to listen. At least some of the words we know of as the Sermon on the Mount were spoken that day, words that form the core of Jesus’ teaching.

Today I want to reflect for a moment on Jesus as a teacher. He comes out of the rabbinic tradition of teaching, a tradition which encouraged students then (and continues to do so) to ask questions and seek answers. This tradition engages the Bible not as an idol to be worshipped, but as a living document to be wrestled with, engaged and interpreted anew for each generation. It’s important to understand that fact about the teaching tradition that formed Jesus, because it is so different from the way many Christians engage the Bible. No rabbi in Jesus’ tradition would ever say, as one popular evangelical Christian saying puts it, “God said it; I believe it; that settles it!”

Not only is the Bible alive for Jesus, but the purpose of encountering and struggling to understand God’s word is not to build up a body of information, to be able to regurgitate answers on a multiple choice test. Rather, the point of learning is to be transformed by what you have learned. Jesus’ purpose as a teacher is not to give any new information, but to speak the word in new ways that prompt hearers to re-evaluate their lives and embody the teachings, even as Jesus does. That’s what repentance is, which is what both Jesus and John set as their goal as teachers. The wonderful Southern Biblical writer Clarence Jordan reminds us in his delightful book on the Sermon on the Mount that “forsaking the wrong way is only half of repentance; accepting the right way is the other half.” (p. 13)

Jesus seeks transformation in his students. In order to bring that about, his teachings need to jolt them out of the careful, comfortable ruts of learning in which they have been living. The Biblical scholar Marcus Borg talks of Jesus as a teacher of “subversive or unconventional wisdom.” So what he teaches is often difficult to hear and shakes up preconceived notions many of us have, just as it did in Jesus’ day. As you listen to Georgia and I read Jesus’ teachings, this will be very clear, I believe. Jesus calls people to think about themselves, the world, and God differently; this is the beginning of transformation, a change in perception. Then he invites us to try out this new perception in action. His teachings have this rhythm of think-act, reconsider and practice. Deep learning comes through doing. Believing something intellectually is only half the trip.

Unlike any teacher you or I have had, even the very best, Jesus not only taught wisdom, but he was wisdom incarnate. This warm summer morning, Georgia and I invite you to sit back and listen to this reading of Jesus’ core teachings. If something grabs you, don’t be afraid to tune out for awhile and think about it and how it might have a claim on your life. Listen also for the wholeness of Jesus’ message and how these teachings all link together, for themes that are the warp woven through them. Then go home and pull out your own Bible and read them again this week, especially any that trouble you or that you reject outright. For this teaching is still subversive and unconventional, 2000 years later, even though the church has often sought to domesticate and tame the teachings. These teachings still have the power to transform. And remember, Jesus wants you to struggle and question these teachings, working to figure out how these words live today not just what they meant in his day, just as he and his students did with what we call the Old Testament. Listen, then, and rejoice that Jesus’ teaching starts with the promise of blessing. (G 5:1-6, S 5:17-48, G 6:1-18, S 6:19-34, G 7:1-12, S 7:13-29)