Besides the authority with which Jesus speaks, it is also the elevation of his words that distinguishes Him as supreme. The words of Jesus rise above the prejudices and passions of the people, on whose good-will a human teacher in his position would have felt himself to be entirely dependent. Every teacher knows he cannot teach unless there are those prepared to listen. Many of the great philosophers kept their best thoughts about truth for a few choice friends whilst they flattered the multitudes, and at the same time despised their superstitions but lacked the courage to say so.
But Jesus (Matt.11:5):- the poor have the gospel preached to them. This was one of the signs He gave to John to reassure him that He was the Christ. He focused on the group who had been denied access to the highest human wisdom of the day and who had nothing to offer him. He shed the light of truth which He brought from heaven on multitudes up and down the villages and lanes of Galilee, scattering the divine seed by the wayside, and on the stony, thorny and good soil. He was content to know that however it was received, justice was done to the long-neglected claims of the poor. But some might suggest that the only reason the poor listened to Him was because no one else would take the time. But Jesus did not pander to them – He addressed their needs, not their wants. The poor didn’t dictate what the gospel should be. He made them happy in spite of themselves and by a means which was unlike anything they imagined. He bade them follow Him, not to conquest and prosperity, but to a cross and heaven.
He never sacrificed His truth for political aspirations. He never flattered their illusions. His teachings rose above the prejudices of the people, whether it was the poor or the well-informed religious classes of the Jews. (Matt.5:21,22; 27,28; 43,44)
He was far above His countrymen – far above the wisest wisdom of the time – and far above the wisest wisdom of the past two millenia of which He he has not been directly or indirectly the author. And we may well ask what His countrymen asked: Where did He get His wisdom? There is nothing in His family or educational heritage that can explain it. Nobody was able to say, You know, Jesus has gotten real smart since He got back from university”.
Not only the authority with which He spoke, and the elevation of His words, but it is the depth of His words that strike us. His words were simple in form – the common people heard Him gladly. At their first hearing the average man felt they were his own. But the first impression belied their depth. When the words of Jesus were laid up in the memory or taken down in writing, it was soon seen there was more in them than first perceived. They might be worked as a mine, throughout a lifetime of prayer and study, contemplation and discussion and still leave one with the conclusion they were not exhausted.
His words have depths which are explored by further examination of the scriptures and sometimes by the experiences of life. Their depth is seen, moreover, in their extraordinary and enduring ascendancy over the best of men and over the distance of so many centuries. He said to His disciples, Go and teach all nations – and they went! He still has the power of pouring His enthusiasm for the highest good of mankind into the souls of others by these imperishable words. This is unlike mere human speech or writing; we quote the great chiefs of thought, the great students of history and nature; they illustrate our meaning when we want an authority, but they do not control us in spite of ourselves – they do not revolutionize our lives. Only One can do this. Wellington said that the presence of Napolean in the front of his troops was worth an extra 1000000 bayonets to the French, but Napolean remarked that he could not command men as Jesus commands men, even from another world.
My words shall never pass away: There have been loud voices over the years who say that the words of Jesus will meet the fate of all human words – that they will contribute a little value to the sum total of human thought and then be absorbed into the whole, losing their particular identity. But they do not answer an important and inevitable question; What will take their place? Human nature being what it is, Christ’s words answer to demands; they fill a void which most assuredly cannot be neglected or ignored. “It’s alright to think of life as a stage and each person plays their part, but there comes a time when we must ask “Who wrote the play?” “What kind of drama is it?” “How is it going to end?” (Gerald Kennedy)
Where did we come from? What are we? What is our relation to the unseen and eternal? What is the true rule of our life here? Where are we going? What is to follow the last earthly scene of death? Jesus answered all these and told us – We came from God. We are immortal souls. That through Him we may have ready access to the Eternal Father. That His precepts are the one true and perfect rule by which we are to live, and that after death comes resurrection, judgment, and Heaven or Hell.
We turn to the masters of the new materialism and ask them the same questions but they can only answer “We cannot tell – it is pointless to ask such questions”, and that we must content ourselves with our animal existence. Can those words take the place of Christ’s words? Really? Malcolm Muggeridge wrote a book in the latter part of his life called Jesus Rediscovered. In the foreword he summarises the thoughts of the book thus: All I can claim for them is that they represent the sincere and sustained effort of one aging, twentieth century mind to give expression to a deep dissatisfaction with prevailing contemporary values and assumptions, and an abiding sense, evermore overwhelming in its intensity, that there is an alternative – an alternative that was first proclaimed 2000 years ago near the sea of Galilee, was fulfilled on the hill called Golgotha, and in the events that followed, and despite the villainies and ups and downs of history, has been the glory of 2000 years of Christendom.
The greatest problem is sin; the greatest need is forgiveness; and the greatest quest is eternal life. Jesus has the answers to all these and more. The difference between the philosophies of men and the words of Jesus can be illustrated thus: read 100 pages of Socrates and you might get an idea and a headache – one sermon is preached in Acts 2 and 3000 people are saved!