Partakers Bible Thought 18 September 2021 – What is all the fuss about Jesus?

Partakers Bible Thought

18 September 2021

1 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them. He said: 3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5:1-12)

1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” (John 8:1-11)

Today we are going to ask ourselves, why all the fuss about Jesus? One thing that a lot of people say about Jesus, even those who are not Christian, is that he was a good moral teacher. The ancient Greek philosopher Socrates offered, “how we ought to live”, as a working definition of ‘moral‘. As I said, people often say, even those who would claim to be following Jesus, say that Jesus was simply a good moral teacher – and that’s all he was.

Jesus’ moral code, revolving as it would have done around the part of the Bible we call the Old Testament, can be seen in “do to others, what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” Some people refer to this as the “Golden Rule“. However, Jesus, as ever goes further than anybody else and says that it is not only the outward actions of a person that makes them morally good. It is, however, also the internal attitude behind it. Jesus was acknowledged as a great teacher often during his lifetime. One example is Nicodemus (John 3).

Together we explore questions such as: Was Jesus a good moral teacher? What does Jesus teach? What was the basis for Jesus' moral teaching? Are Jesus’ teachings reflect a good way for people to live life? Listen or download the mp3 podcast to find out more about why all the fuss about Jesus.

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