Commentary: Teaching Jesus!

By Paul Rosenberg

December 20, 2021 - There has been no more important teacher in human history than Jesus of Nazareth. Western civilization - the civilization that eliminated slavery by demanding that all men are equally children of God, that spawned science, that championed production, that permitted market economies and social mobility, that improved the entire world - would simply not have existed without Jesus.

What I recommend, then, is to teach what Jesus actually taught, rather than what other people said about him. That's what I detail for you below.

I can see almost nothing more sensible than to teach what the great teacher said himself. But the truth is that doing that is massively contrary to modern expectations; so much so that it would threaten and anger many Christians. To grasp the intensity of this difference, I'll present three short statements:

Jesus never said a word about the virgin birth.

Jesus never used the word trinity.

Jesus never once talked about original sin.

These simple lines - these true statements - generate deeply adverse reactions, which shows how far the practice of Christianity has separated from Jesus.

Jesus taught almost entirely in parables. That doesn't quite come across in our four gospels, because they include a lot of side conversations. But what Jesus purposely taught - what he really wanted to impart to people in the small towns of Israel - was delivered in the form of parables. The Gospel of Mark notes how continually they were used.

With many such parables he spoke the Word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them without a parable.

So it is the parables that should constitute the first and core lessons of Jesus. That is, we need to teach the way Jesus taught. To do otherwise is to ignore the message he delivered and replace it with religious titles and doctrines.

Below is my list of the things Jesus wanted people to hear. These are the first lessons to give to children, and they are lessons that everyone interested in Jesus should go back to and focus upon, exclusively, for some period of time.

• The time has arrived and the way of the higher realm has come to you. Change your thinking and take in this good news.

• A sower went out to plant: as he planted, some seed fell by the wayside, and the birds came and devoured it. Other seeds fell on the rocky ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no deepness of earth: and when the sun was risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it produced no fruit. Others fell into good ground, and produced fruit, growing up and increasing; and produced thirtyfold, and sixtyfold, and a hundredfold.

• The kingdom of God (the way of the better realm) is as if a man should cast seed upon the earth; and should sleep and rise, night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow, he knows not how. The earth produces fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.

• The kingdom of the heavens is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and planted in his field. This is the smallest of seeds, but when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches.

• The kingdom of the heavens is like yeast, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till it was all leavened.

• Is a lamp brought to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not to be put on a stand? For there is nothing hidden that shall not be made known; neither is anything made secret, but that it will come to light. If any man has ears to hear, let him hear.

• The kingdom of the heavens is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found, and hid; and in his joy he goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field.

• The kingdom of the heavens is like a man that is a merchant, seeking fine pearls: and having found one very precious pearl, he went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

• The kingdom of the heavens is like a net that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind. When it was filled, they drew it up on the beach, sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but the bad they cast away.

• Every one that hears these words of mine, and does them, will be like a wise man who built his house upon rock: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and if did not fall: for it was founded upon rock. Every one that hears these words of mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was its fall.

• You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? In like manner, every good tree produces good fruit; but a corrupt tree produces corrupt fruit.

• Come in through the narrow entry, because wide is the entrance, and broad is the path that leads to destruction, and there are many that go though it. But narrow is the entrance and difficult is the path that leads to life, and there are few that find it.

• No man sews a piece of new cloth into an old garment, because that new cloth will shrink and pull away from the garment, and the tear will become worse. Neither do men put new wine into old wine-skins, or else the skins will burst, the wine will be spilled, and the skins will be ruined. Men put new wine into new wine-skins, and both are preserved.

• First cleanse the inside of the cup, that the outside may become clean also.

• Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you: for every one that asks, receives, and he that seeks, finds, and to him that knocks, it will be opened.

• I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; therefore be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves.