Jesus The Teacher

Jesus Christ is the teacher. For our Lord said, "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet." (John 13:13-14). This is [perhaps a lesson that baffled the Apostles, the concept of the Rabbi washing the feet of His Talidim (disciples). In the culture of the time the Rabbis were revered, they rose to a high position in Jewish society because they interpreted The Law of God. The chief and most elite Rabbis would join Sanhedrin via the two sects of Pharisee and Sadducees. These men were considered elders and their decisions had a great impact on spiritual and religious lives of Judea. But they were hypocrites. Jesus says of them, "They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them," (Matthew 23:4) and, "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to." (Matthew 23:13). Christ had the greatest of woe in regards to these men, He said, "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are." (Matthew 23:15).


Jesus the Teacher of Teachers said to His disciples, "For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:20). While some scholars interpret this as a heavy yoke, that we must be austere, ascetic, and amazingly religious, this does not fit Jesus' other words, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30). Then what was Teacher trying to tell His Disciples? To be a little better than hypocrites. Jesus says elsewhere, "All you need to say is simply 'Yes' or 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one." (Matthew 5:37). The Pharisees and religious elite had a tendency to twist words, "You also say, 'If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath. You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And whoever swears by the temple, swears both by the temple and by Him who dwells within it. And whoever swears by heaven, swears both by the throne of God and by Him who sits upon it." (Matthew 23:18-23). Christ the Teacher is exposing these false teachers who use loopholes and twisted speech to get out of keeping oaths.


This was kind of people the Prince of Peace was confronting. He taught against the teachers of Law, because they had become lovers of self and wanted praise. Jesus said to his diciples,"But many who are the greatest now will be least important then, and those who seem least important now will be the greatest then." (Matthew 19:30). This is the polar opposite of Pharisees and other teachers of Law, for they "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach." (Matthew 22:2-3, Matthew 6:5-6).

Christ the Teacher takes it one step further, He tells us to not be called Rabbioni or teachers: "Don't let anyone call you 'Rabbi,' for you have only one teacher, and all of you are equal as brothers and sisters. And don't let anyone call you 'Teacher,' for you have only one teacher, the Messiah." (Matthew 23:8, 10). The position of Rabbi and Teacher belong to Jesus, who is God (Col 2:9). By saying this our Lord and Savior is in effect challenging the Pharisee system, and the religious people, much the same way he challenged his own disciples regaring the washing of feet. The King of Kings is showing us that the Kingdom of God belongs to those who will serve, not those who submit by strength or those who seek to be served; "just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Matthew 20:28). In the Kingdom of Heaven those who are great here on earth shall be small, and those who are small and unnoticed here will be given high honors. For Jesus said, "Do not store up for yourself riches on earth." (). The Teacher of Teachers is re-writing the handbook of life, and He can do it, because He is "The Way, the Truth, and the Life." ().

The Apostle Paul came to full revelation of Christ's teaching in these words, "Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ." (Phillippians 3:8). Paul has discovered the fact that there is only One Teacher, and He is Christ Jesus who is one with Father and Holy Spirit (John 10:30, John 15:26) . Why learn from Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Da Vinci, and any other who is acclaimed to be wise when you can learn form God the Trinity? For Jesus alone has secret treasures of all knowledge and wisdom, "that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Colossians 2:2-3). It is Christ alone, God made flesh that can teach us the divine mysteries, for He is divine! "O, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable His judgments, and untraceable His ways!" (Romans 11:33). It is this disposition, the radical submission to the only Teacher who part of the Trinity, that Paul says, "For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified." (1 Corinthians 2:2). Paul in trying to emulate and imitate Christ did not preach according to ways of men, but rather the ways of God. The Apostle knew that if he made Jesus his teacher, He could fathom deep mysteries. But how does one learn from Christ? How do we begin to swim in deep pool of divine wisdom? The answer is once more given by Paul, "For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God. which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ." (1 Corinthians 2:10-16).

In order to be know God and His wisdom, we must open our eyes and ears in the Spirit. This requires practing the presence of the Trinity, and communing with Christ via the Holy Spirit. And yet Christ still finds people who cannot perceive, "Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don't you remember?" (Mark 8:18). But many do not want to see or hear. Many like the Pharisees and religious leaders have decided to harden their hearts, "For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them." (Matthew 13:15). These religious rogues are who "having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people." (2 Timothy 3:5). The power comes from Teacher of Teachers, from Christ Jesus and Holy Spirit who reveals Abba Father. One can study great scholarly books, and seek to comb the repositories of the most learned men in history, and you shall find but crumbs compared to riches of knowledge and Wisdom that are only found in Christ Jesus the Teacher.

If you would enroll in School of our Savior, you must first "confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord (Yahweh, God)" (Romans 10:9). Then go to a bookstore and pick up the text book: The Holy Bible (ESV, NASB, NIV, NLT, NKJV) and start reading. Then while reading, ask for Baptism of the Holy Spirit, and that Spirit may let you understand the mysteries of God. The rest will follow, as you chase deep fathoms of the Lord, you shall know Him more and know your world. In time the learning will give way to relating, and the knowledge we be less about knowing about someone and more knowing personally someone.