The Sunday Tribune - Spectrum

Throughout Matthew Jesus stands out as a unique teacher not only because of his precepts but also because of his personal example. His moral uprightness, clarity of thought and the freshness of his approach lent authenticity to his teachings. Jesus was neither a teacher of religious doctrines nor was he interested in abstract ideas. His interest was in human life and his aim was to make people better human beings by bringing inner change in them.

As Jesus declared in chapter 5.27, of Matthew, he had come not to destroy the law or the prophets but to fulfil what was laid down. What he objected to was not the spirit of the law but its erroneous interpretation and the hypocrisy practised by the scribes and the pharisees in its implementation. Jesus believed that a new day was at hand and he wanted to prepare men for the new life with God. But before preaching to the people, he prepared himself by cleansing his own inner being of various human weaknesses. For this purpose, he underwent the ordeal of temptation, emerged victorious and embraced his mission. It is interesting to note that he gave his Sermon on the Mount after the temptation episode, and went about in Galilee, "teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the Kingdom." His call to all was "Repent, believe the good news."

Jesus practised what he preached: Meekness, love, sympathy and simplicity Jesus did not teach in any particular mode nor did he follow any set method. Whenever and wherever an opportunity arose, he taught accordingly, showing command over his subject and the situation. He would teach directly, exhort, snub, teach by personal example, teach through parables or the example of others. He used local proverbs, quoted the law, and many a time quoted the prophets. Thus, though his teaching was often fragmentary, it had unity because what he taught was always from the inner source. It appealed to the inner being.

Religious, for Jesus, was a way of living with men in society. A healthy society brings out healthy human and vice versa. It was, therefore, necessary to follow the law meticulously to give birth to morally clean, upright and healthy individuals. Rituals and ceremonial practices were rejected by him with impunity, which often angered and antagonised the Pharisees and the Scribes. For example, the Jews laid undue stress in washing of hand before meals, not so much for cleanliness as for ceremony. Everything in the ritual was fixed - the number of times water was to be poured, the method of pouring water, washing from wrists downwards and so on. Jesus and his disciples did not follow this rigidly. When the Pharisees questioned him, his reply was simple and convincing — what goes in the body through our hands is not important but what comes out of the heart is significant because what we speak leaves its impact.

On the question of healing and reaping on Sabbath too, Jesus had clear views. If a man is in trouble, there is no harm in relieving his suffering even if it be Sabbath; similarly, if a man is hungry, he can reap and, eat because even David are the show bread when hungry. In fact, according to Jesus, human need is greater than adherence to futile ceremonial practices. He termed these as hypocritical rules which burden man.

The Jewish law, as given by Moses, was clear and strict; it covered important personal and social questions like murder, adultery, divorce, theft and ascertained punishment for the erring. Jesus not only upheld the law but elaborate upon it further. For example, murder. It is a grievous crime and is punishable, but, for Jesus, only desisting from killing was not enough because it was not a remedy. In order to eradicate it, man must search within, find the cause and uproot the evil. If anger is controlled, the basic cause of murder will be removed. As regards adultery, Jesus enjoined upon men to purify themselves from within so that evil thoughts and desires will not spring up in him. He was not against divorce but he did not want people to seek it on flimsy grounds. He advocated truthfulness, forgiveness and the will to do good even to one’s enemies. His own life was an illustration of these precepts. He forgave even those who ill-treated, humiliated and crucified him. What he told Peter, he told to the world, "they that take the sword shall perish by the sword" (26:52). All his life Jesus worked hard to build the telebois the perfect man.

If religion is fellowship with God, then prayer is this fellowship coming to conscious expression. Jesus himself prayed in isolation. There are examples scattered through Matthew when Jesus left his followers and went to hill tops or isolated to pray. His agitated state of mind one night prior to his arrest and trial and his ultimate success in reaching harmony with His will show his own faith in the power of prayer. He wanted to transmit similar faith to his disciples. After the cursing of the fig-tree he told his disciples in answer to their question that they too could achieve power to control nature only if they prayed with unshaken faith in the Lord.

Jesus advocated a calm and composed spirit before prayer. Since God, the Father, knows what the child requires, there is no need to clamour. Prayer is the conscious expression of our fellowship with God, the nature of that fellowship will determine the nature of prayer. The heart of prayer is that pure trust, reverence and devotion which should mark man’s life with God. We should, therefore, leave all things to Him because he knows what we want. Prayer should be neither clamourous petition nor passive submission. Prayer is meant to show us the way and give us strength to follow that way.

In personal as well as social life man must show certain significant traits of high standard. Reverence for humanity, spirit of forgiveness, goodwill, a self forgetting sense of service and sacrifice are important for high moral life. Love need not be a vague sentimentality but a positive and active will to do good to others. The teachings of Jesus, in fact, were not bound by time and change. They were of a universal significance and belong to all time. Jesus was not a law-giver. He was a prophet of a new order and hence his teachings were of the spirit. The Sermon on the Mount specifically focuses on meekness, mercy, goodness, nobility and peace which can lead man to eternal bliss. What Jesus visualised was integrity, singleness of purpose and high aims to be the distinctive elements of Christian character.

A person, if he were to elevate his character as per Jesus’s teaching would be a man of sterling qualities. Jesus used four metaphors for such men — Salt, light, a city on a hill and a lamp on a lamp stand. His own mission was to fulfil the law, he did it by showing that religion in its essence was different from law, and that a man who has been inwardly changed becomes a law to himself, because he is then guided by the spirit of the Lord. Where the spirit of God exists, liberty is possible there. In his fulfilment of the law, Jesus distinguished between the moral and the ceremonial.

Though Jesus often repudiated the Pharisees and called them hypocrites, he did not deny law. The charge levelled against him that he was breaking the existing system was an out come of the jealousies of the scribes, Pharisees and the priest. Jesus’s faith was the faith of his people and the old Testament was his Bible. He was born and brought up in that fait and when he began to teach he proclaimed the words of the Bible. But, his source was not that of the Jewish teachers who laid stress on blind adherence to tradition. That is the reason why when people listened to him, they marvelled at his wisdom and said that he taught with "authority". In fact, Jesus’s teaching did not depend upon the appeal of the Scriptures; he spoke from within and with a note of immediate inner certainty.

Some critics contend that Jesus’s teachings left out social, familial and institutional life of man; that he had nothing to say on family life, war, slavery and such other things which affected everyday life. He spoke of property, of wealth but his discussions were not systematic.

In answer to such charges, one could point to the various parables, sayings and proverbs which throw light one social, familial and institutional side. The parable of the wheat and tare (13:36-43) shows how in society one has to stay with and tolerate evil without being choked by it; the parable of the lost sheep (18:10-14) speaks of accepting and taking care of the obscure and lowly so that man lives in the community harmoniously.

In fact, Jesus was focusing on how men supposed to live together in the new order. He did not lay down rules but set forth ideals. If he gave more space to matter concerning wealth, it was because he was aware of human weakness for wealth and the perils for the soul. In short, all his teachings were directed at generating reverence for humanity, the acceptance of one Father, the obligation of brotherhood, spirit of goodwill, co-operation and service.