The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1960-04-01
Master Teacher
Lesson for April 3, 1860


Nazareth thought Of him as a
teacher. Jesus thought of him.
self as teacher. The title given
him most often in the Gospels
is Teacher. When he rose from
the dead and Mary Magdalene
recognized him, she called him
Rabboni, My Teacher. Jesus
said to his disciples "a word
which itself means pupils j,
"You call me teacher and Lord,
and you are right for so I am"
John 1879 Jesus expected his
teachings to be taken seriously.
why do you call me Lord.
Lord" and not do what I tell
you?" he asked. luke 6:46) A
man who hears Jesus sayings
and does not do them is like a
man building a house Of sand.
Matt. 7:26). THE words that
have spoken to you are spirit
and life," he said. John 6:63.)
It is absurd, it is even wicked,
for man to claim to be a
Christian, and bypass the teach
lngs of Jesus.
Jesus Theme
When we hear that some one
is a teacher, the first thing we
| ask, if we are interested, is
What does he teach? Jesus
great theme, his subject, was a
tremendous one: LIFE. One rea-
son why he is called the Master
Teacher is that his theme was
the most important, the most
all-inclusive, in the world. We
can make this more definite
We can put this in three ways.
/. Jesus taught about Life in the
Kingdom of God, or to put this
another way, he taught what it
means to be a citizen Of the
Kingdom of God. or-to say it
still another wayne taught
what kind of behavior God re-
quires of those who want to
live in his kingdom. g. Jesus
taught about Life as God wills
it. Everybody lives somehow. or
at least exists; and if you look
about you, or if you will be
square with yourself, you can
see a great many people living
to please themselves and never
giving a thought to what God
thinks of them and their do
ings. That is as stupid as pigs
taking over a farm and running
it to suit the pigs. One would
think it only common sense to
try to find what Gods will is
and live by that light. The
natural question is: Who car
tell us what Gods will is? The
Christian answer is: Jesus has
shown us the will Of God. Anc
if the next question is: How dc
we know that Jesus was right:
we have Jesus answer: IF any
mans will is to do His God
will, he shall know whether the
teaching is from God" In Other
words, try it and see! 3. Jesu:
taupht about Life at its best
For that is precisely what it i!
to live by Gods pattern, it i:
to discover what life can really
be at its highest level.
Jesus Methods
Jesus had various ways O.
teaching, but they can all b.
boiled down to two One wa
a straightforward statement il
plain language. More often, how
| ever, he taught by parable, OF
as we would say today, b,
story illustrations. For thi;
reason the next three months il
this series are going to be de
voted to the Sermon on t h
Mount, which is mostly the frs
method, and to the parallels
or some typical parallels. Tht
first method is direct. Jesus VII
come up with statement tina
surprises the ear, shocks the
mind, wakes up the careles:
listener and sends him on his
way (Sometimes) wishing NJ
could forget what the Teacher
said, it makes him SO uncom
Portable. Some of these dlrec
statements are very plain, Others
are very puzzling. WOE unto
you when all men speak wei
of you" is one of these. At frs
that sounds all wrong, and ye'
when you null over it a while
you can see how right it is.
Why Parallels
Jesus favoritc method was thf
parable or story-form. He wo'ilt
tell some simple story, but his
| listeners some Of them -Woult
understand that what the Teach
| er was aiming to get across was
not the story itself but some
truth or idea or warning wrap
ped up in the story. Mark tells
us why Jesus used this method
is was not to make truth easier
to understand, but harder! Does
this make sense? It does in
deed; but only the patient ano
persistent seekers for truth fine
it out.