Who is Jesus - Day 3 - Jesus the Teacher

Note, too, His authority. If it is the glory of other teachers to hide behind their theme, not so with Him. He brings His Person to the front, and that without apology, in the most simple and unaffected way. He spake with authority without stopping to say why, and commanded without declaring His right. He teaches in a way altogether different from others, penetrating to the heart of things in a way that carried conviction and exposed the accredited teachers of the day. While ever honouring and fulfilling Holy Scripture, He cites no previous authority for what He says: He taught them as One having authority and not as the scribes.

'For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.' (v. 29) The Lord Jesus spoke with His own, incontestable authority. His words were the words of God, and therefore sharper than any two-edged sword (compare with Heb. 4:12). As Son of God he revealed the thoughts of God, but he also knew how the heart of man, into which his words pierced as a sword, would respond to them.

Now let me call your attention to another word for a moment. It is said that "He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes." You will bear with me in saying it, but to my mind the most contemptible kind of people that were ever in this world were the scribes. And I am prepared to tell you why. I was reading not very long since, and the passage struck me greatly, the account of the blessed One's coming down here into this world, His having been pleased to become man, and reading it in the gospel that presents Him in Jewish connections too. And I do not know any passage that gives us the true character of these men, and shows them exactly as they are, like that passage which tells us of the conversation that took place between Herod the king and those scribes. They could tell accurately everything about the birth of Jesus, they were conversant with all the facts of the Old Testament prophecies, they were the keepers of the law, the copyists of the law, and they read and expounded the law (I believe they are the same persons that are called "doctors of the law"), there was not a recondite mystery connected with the law that these scribes could not unravel before men; but, with all that, they had not the smallest personal interest in the things themselves. That is what they were. May God keep us from being scribes! They could descant upon the prophecies, could tell the place where Christ was to be born — they did — they could quote the very words of scripture, they were as clear, as it is said, as the moon, but as cold; their hearts were not on fire. What did they care about Jesus of Nazareth, what concern had they about the truths that connected themselves with Him? They were simply there as the formal, cold exponents of the law and the prophets. That is why I affirm that the scribes were a despicable class of men. And therefore you see the contrast in a moment. "He taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes." The scribes had no authority; they were merely copyists, they only repeated the thing. And not only this, but what characterised the scribes was their perverse rendering of the law, their fanciful inventions oftentimes, their perverted notions, the manner in which they twisted things and manufactured things according to the sentiments and working of their own minds. They could argue, but they could not reveal; Jesus revealed; He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes."

The words spoken by the Lord Jesus stand in stark contrast to all this. His speech was always appropriate and full of beauty and yet powerful. From the outset of His ministry His word was ‘with authority’ (Luke 4:32), and yet it was attractive. Even the officers sent to take Him came back empty-handed and, when challenged, had to confess, ‘Never man spake like this man’ (John 7:46).

Well might the officers who were sent by the Pharisees and chief priests to arrest Jesus say, “Never man spake like this Man,” for surely it was so. Hitherto men had spoken of the claims of God, man’s responsibility and failure, but Jesus spoke of the grace of God to man; not of man’s righteousness, but of God’s; not of man’s goodness, but of God’s; not of man’s love, but of God’s; not of man’s work, but of God’s; not of what man ought to be, but of what God is. He did not set man to toil to obtain righteousness and life, but presented these blessings in Himself for all, through the rich grace of a Saviour God. He could say, “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Moses had set the people to toil, with a promise of rest when they had fulfilled their obligations. They were to work their six days, and get their Sabbath when they had done all their work; but as they never did all their work, they never got their Sabbath. But Jesus gives the Sabbath to begin with. The prophets testified of the intervention of God in a coming day, but in the meantime man must go on laden with a burden which was altogether too heavy for him, but in Jesus the intervention of God was manifested, and the burden was to be transferred from the shoulders of the creature to His, who upholds the universe. Nothing had been accomplished by the efforts of man. At the end of man’s long probation Satan remained the oppressor of the human race, sin reigned in the power of death, and the power of darkness held undisputed dominion. The law had brought no deliverance for those under it, it revealed no object for the heart, and in spite of its prohibitions and denunciations man still wandered in his own wilful way. It was ushered in with blackness and darkness and tempest, and these accompaniments characterized its whole history, and its merciless curse blasted all under its sway. But in Jesus we are face to face with God fully revealed. He draws near to man in the kindness and love of His heart. He comes not in devouring fire, and draped in blackness, mists and obscurity, but through the human veil of the flesh of Jesus the light of His fathomless love shines in all its power before the eyes of men. God Himself is there in the Person of His Son as the Saviour of the lost, and Satan must relax his hold upon his wretched captive, the evils that afflict man must back into the shadows at His approach, and the brazen gates of death and hades confess weakness and defeat. The Seed of the woman that was to bruise the serpent’s head is revealed, and the strong man no longer retains in peace armed possession of his palace, for the stronger than he is there plundering his goods. The virgin’s Son, whose birth had been long foretold by the prophet, has come into the world, and God says to Him, “Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee.”

Peter says to Jesus: “Thou hast the words of eternal life.” What was there in the words spoken by Him that drew from Peter such a confession? What did he know about words of eternal life? Had he not heard in the Scriptures the words of the prophets? What power compelled the officers, that were sent to the temple to take Him prisoner, to return without Him, and to give the apparently lame excuse for their failure: “Never man spake like this Man”? His words came warm from the heart of the Father, and lost nothing of their unspeakable grace, freshness, fervour, or life-imparting strength in their journey through the lips of Jesus. Speaking to the Father, He says: “I have given unto them the words that Thou gavest Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from Thee, and they have believed that Thou didst send me.” And, again, He says: “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.” And, again: “If any man hear My words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth Me, and receiveth not My words, has one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.” The rejection of His words was the rejection of everlasting life; and so it is as regards the Gospel, for the Gospel is the Word of life.

His words proclaim His Deity. How true is the verdict of the world, "Never man spake like this Man." As we listen to Jesus at the grave side speaking words of tender comfort to broken-hearted women, and then, in a little, we pass to the Upper Room, and listen to the sublime words of the last discourse, that carry our hearts above earth's sorrows into the Father's home, we realize indeed that we are in the presence of the God of whom it is written, "He heals the broken in heart … He tells the number of the stars" (Ps. 147:3-4).

"Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" — two things, and yet one, for neither could subsist without the other. The Saviour was the very embodiment of grace. His every word and deed expressed it. "Never man spake like this Man," declared the officers who were sent to seize Him (John 7:46). The men of Nazareth "wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth" (Luke 4:22). Before His coming, the Spirit of prophecy testified: "Grace is poured into Thy lips; therefore God has blessed Thee for ever" (Ps. 45:2). He was "full of grace and truth," and the moral glory of it was before the disciples from day to day during the wonderful years of their companionship with Him upon the earth. He came neither demanding nor threatening. Not with the majesty of a King, nor with the terror of a judge, did He walk amongst men, but with all the grace of a Saviour. He who spake at Sychar (John 4) was the same Person who spake amidst flame and smoke at Sinai; yet at Sychar He only sought to attract a sinner's heart. Again in Luke 7 we have a guilty one at His feet; receiving, not the stern condemnation of the law-giver, but the Saviour's pardoning grace.

(1) He returns to speak of that practical oneness which he had with the Father, which forbade Him doing anything simply of Himself. As a consequence, no independent will of His own perverted His judgment. He judged as He heard: that is, according to the real facts of the case. This perfect simplicity made His word to be indeed the word of God, and to have a character far removed from that of others. Thus it had to be confessed, "Never man spake like this Man." It was indeed the most signal witness to Him. Yet it stood not alone: it would have been an anomaly had it done so, and the word of the law, "the testimony of two is true," would have rendered it invalid. If He bore witness regarding Himself, though perfectly qualified to do so, it would not by itself be valid: which is clearly the meaning of the law. The testimony of one man might be true — absolutely; just as true in itself as that of two. But it would not be true in the same way to others: it would need confirmation. The Lord appeals therefore to another testimony — His Father's. This confirmed His own in such a way as that there could not be any more testimony needed. And, in fact, all the testimony of which He speaks here resolves itself into these.

Let us try to picture the scene and the circumstances into which He now came. There were the Jews, who wished to compass His death. There was the crowd, recruited from Galilee and elsewhere, ignorant of that design. There were those of Jerusalem, who were fully aware of it. And lastly, there was a company, at length developed, who, struck evidently by His words, believed on Him. The Lord's sudden appearance must have taken His opponents by surprise. And His teaching caused them to marvel. "How knows this man letters, having never learned?" (John 7:15) was a testimony forced from them, astonished at His teaching. True, He had not graduated in any school of rabbinic learning. True, too, was it that He had never sat at the feet of Gamaliel. Yet He could teach, and did teach, as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Did they wonder at His ability to teach? He would clear that matter up. "My doctrine," He said, "is not Mine, but His that sent Me." He was not founding a new school, as men would call it, like some philosopher or some rabbinic professor. Yet His teaching was indeed new. Schools of learning the Jews had, as those of Hillel and of Shammai. The Lord's teaching was essentially different. Whence was it derived? He would tell them, and tell them too how each one, learned or unlearned, could arrive at a true judgment about it. "If any man will do His [i.e. God's] will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of [rather, from] Myself. He that speaks from himself seeks his own glory: but He that seeks His glory that sent Him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him" (16-18). Every one knew how He always spake of His Father. To that test, which He here gives, He fully answered. Then, as there was no unrighteousness in Him, why did those, who themselves kept not the law, seek to compass His death on the accusation that He had broken it? To this question the Jews made no reply. They knew what it was they were plotting, and here learnt that He knew it.