When reading the New Testament, it is sometimes easy to feel bowled over by both the clarity and beauty of Jesus’s moral insights into the human condition.
To be sure, the unparalleled grace of Jesus’s words and teachings has had a truly enormous impact on human culture. Let’s look at a few of the Bible’s most important passages to see if we can’t derive a deeper understanding of Jesus’s teachings from his remarkable words.
1. Matthew 6:25-34
In this wonderful passage, Jesus criticizes our obsession with acquiring earthly possessions. In order to do so, Jesus poses a deeply interesting thought problem to his followers: “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”
Of course, the rhetorical construction of the passage is beautiful. But what can we take from Jesus’s words about the “lilies of the field” in our own time?
If anything, the passage is perhaps more relevant now than it was when it was first written down. After all, we are a society that has become obsessed with consumer goods and worries about the future. Indeed, the fashion industry currently produces far more clothing items than anyone could ever use in one lifetime.
So it is with consumer societies in general: To manage our insecurities about having “enough,” most of us will pursue a king’s ransom of worldly items in order to fulfill our emotional needs. Most of us tend to mistake ownership of objects with success.
But Jesus shows us where we are wrong in our thinking. He asks us to consider the natural world and how it functions: Flowers do not need tailored clothing to appear beautiful. And yet how much more central is humankind to God’s plan than a flower?
To wit, we worry so much about the future and about ourselves that we forget the present moment. We forget that many people are starving in the world. Indeed, we must learn to focus more on the needs of others; as Jesus tells us, God will provide for us just as he provides for the lilies and the sparrows.
2. Luke 18:16–17
In another of his wonderful lessons about life and faith, Christ asks of his followers that they “Suffer little children, and forbid them not to come unto me: For of such is the kingdom of heaven. Verily I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.”
Like many of Jesus’s teachings, the analogy central to these verses is open to interpretation. At heart, however, Jesus is telling us that we can learn much about Godly values by considering how little children view the world. By their nature, children are innocent of sin. They are not vengeful. They are not greedy. They are full of unquestioning love and see the good in the world around them.
How many of us can truly say the same of ourselves? As we grow into adulthood, most of us will fall prey at some point to hurtful and even sinful forms of thinking. At our weakest points, we may value worldly success more than we value the well-being of others. Indeed, it is human nature to err.
As Jesus tells us, however, it is crucial that we regain some semblance of the purity of childhood if we are to enter into the kingdom of heaven. When we are children, we do not evaluate others based on how much they possess or how much political influence they have. We do not condemn those who have done wrong without forgiving easily. And as adults, we should strive to behave like this once more towards our fellow human beings.
3. Matthew 5:15–16
In another wonderful passage from the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus implores us to cultivate inner goodness: “Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
To be sure, this is a beautiful passage. But what should it mean to us as Christians? How does it tell us how to live?
In a sense, Jesus is here telling us that we must cultivate an inner quality of goodness if we are to bring others towards a better way of thinking about the world. At some point, for example, most of us have fallen into the trap of judging others before we have evaluated and properly dealt with our own shortcomings. And who has ever been persuaded to be righteous by someone who has not first examined their own flaws?
Indeed, the “inner light” that Jesus describes is ideally one of goodness within ourselves. When we live a virtuous life, we are like lamps guiding others towards goodly actions. When we have truly cultivated virtuous behavior in all aspects of our being, in other words, goodness will radiate from us like a lamp’s light.
Jesus understood that improving the world around us starts with improving ourselves as human beings. He understood that we must lead by example if we are to lead effectively. Jesus didn’t simply tell his followers what to do: He set an example and lived by his very teachings. Even on the cross, Jesus forgave his persecutors. To the end, his actions were as virtuous as his teachings.
4. John 8:6-8
Undoubtedly, the Gospel of John describes some of Jesus’s most wonderful actions. Indeed, the famous interaction between Jesus and a woman who is condemned to be stoned to death is one of the most famous descriptions in all of Biblical literature. And with good reason: The passage illustrates the central facet of Jesus’s teachings about forgiveness.
The passage runs thus: “But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.”
There is much that we can learn from this brief interaction between Jesus and the people around him. Firstly, we must understand that Jesus is being set up within this scene. At this point in the story of Christ’s life, Jesus has angered local religious authorities to the point where those authorities want to have Jesus imprisoned and executed as a heretic.
Indeed, they bring a woman who is condemned to die to Jesus in order to put Jesus into a legal trap: If Jesus condemns the woman to die according to the law, in other words, he is reaffirming the legal power of local priests.
However, if Jesus contravenes the law about punishing the woman, the priests will be able to say that Jesus is teaching heretical concepts that run counter to established legal codes.
Of course, Jesus understands the conundrum that he has been put in by the local priests. By suggesting that only a person who has not sinned can cast stones at the woman, Jesus provides a course of action that causes the gathered crowd to reflect on their own shortcomings. Jesus also provides a response that uses the logic of the hypocritical priests against them.
In this lesson from Jesus, however, we should also consider how often we choose to condemn the actions of others without first considering our own flaws. How often have each of us looked at the mistakes of a person we don’t like and condemned them out of hand? To be more like Jesus, we must use our capacity for love and forgiveness.
Indeed, it is vital for our well-being and even for our very souls to treat others with kindness and care. We simply can’t do so if our hearts are full of judgment.
As these Bible verses show us, Jesus’s message was one of love for our fellow human beings. To treat others with anything less would be to do Jesus’s memory an injustice.
A Concluding Prayer
Heavenly father, allow us to emulate your son Jesus Christ by focusing more on the needs of others this week. Allow us to look beyond our own flaws to see the good in other people. Allow us to strive towards a higher level of personal accountability as we complete our tasks. Allow us to act with good will to the people we interact with. Amen.