Jesus--Teacher and Lord

As I was reading the Gospel of John this morning, I was struck by the fact of Jesus' teacher-hood. The disciples called him Rabbi, i.e. Teacher. Nicodemus, whom Jesus in turn called “a teacher of Israel” (3:10), said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God” (3:2).

As teacher, Jesus was able to look into the heart of his followers and call forth his vision for them. He called Simon Cephas, i.e. Peter (1:42). He affirmed the integrity of Nathanael: “Behold, an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” (1:47). He even told the woman at the well “everything [she] had ever done” (4:29).

As teacher, Jesus used the everyday things of earth to teach heavenly things. After asking the woman at the well for a drink of water, he told her that he would give her “living water” (4:10). He told his disciples, “I have food to eat that you do not know about” (4:32). He told the crowds, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven” (6:32). He also said, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you” (6:53).

As teacher, Jesus challenged people’s thinking. When Nicodemus came to him, Jesus revolutionized his idea of the kingdom of God: “no one can see the kingdom of God without being born again” (3:3). Jesus wasn’t into marketing. He wasn’t interested in popularity or profit but rather in the true conversion—-radical change of heart—-of his followers. For that reason, he made no attempt to sugarcoat his teaching. He told it like it was, whether his followers liked it or not. So it is not surprising that eventually, “many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him” (6:66), because they said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” (6:60).

As teacher, Jesus boldly confronted his opponents with the bald-faced truth: “I know that you do not have the love of God in you” (5:42). “You are of your father the devil” (8:44). Even so, they couldn’t help but marvel at his teaching: “How does this man have such learning,” they asked, “when he has never been taught?” (7:15). But Jesus did not take the credit but gave tribute to another: “My teaching is not mine but his who sent me” (7:16). Jesus linked himself inextricably to God, whom he called Father, thereby demonstrating in his own person the dependency of every human person upon God, apart from whom humanity only withers and dies (15:6).

As teacher, Jesus served as merciful judge, as in the case of the woman caught in adultery. It was while Jesus was teaching in the Temple that the scribes and Pharisees brought the woman to stand before him. First, he turned the tables on her accusers by saying, “‘Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her” (8:7). Then he addressed the woman, asking her whether any had condemned her. When she said no, he said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and sin no more” (8:11).

However great a teacher Jesus was, though, he demonstrated that he was far more than a teacher. He multiplied the loaves and fishes, walked on water, calmed the storm (ch. 6), healed the lame and the blind (5:2–15; 9:1–12), and raised the dead (ch. 11). He even explicitly declared, “Before Abraham was, I am” (8:58). In response, the disciples began calling him Lord as well as teacher. At the Last Supper, having washed his disciples’ feet, Jesus said, “You call me Teacher and Lord—-and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you” (13:13–15).

After Jesus’ resurrection, having revealed himself to Mary Magdalene in the garden, she called him “Rabbouni!” which is Hebrew for teacher (20:16), but later, in reporting to the other disciples, she said, “I have seen the Lord” (20:18).

Lord Jesus Christ, Teacher, merciful Judge, Savior of our souls, may we ever follow your example, and in this life and in the next offer to you our unceasing thanksgiving, praise, and worship. Amen.