esus’ teachings were different than anything anyone had ever said before. Sometimes He seemed to teach things which are impossible, such as the commandment to love our enemies, to turn the other cheek, and to pray for those who do evil to us.1 How can ordinary people achieve such things? The answer to that question is that we cannot do such things naturally. One would need to be divine to forgive and love enemies. Can human beings become ‘divine’?
Jesus’ teachings were revolutionary. However, this was not a military revolt, but a turning upsidedown of human principles. And Jesus nearly always spoke in parables, telling stories which had a meaning, a meaning which was not always obvious, and this He did on purpose. To the humble of heart His words turned on the light in a dark room, and to the proud His sayings were foolish. To the person who desperately wanted to experience the love and salvation of God, His words were the sweetest music ever played, but to the religious hypocrite, they were a sound they couldn’t bear to hear.
He never gave a formula for becoming a Christian. He never said that believing in God, going to church or being christened as a child would save you, in fact He made it abundantly clear that being a Christian would have a personal cost, a cost most people were, and are, not willing to make. He never taught that we are born sinners; He never said that children who are not christened will go to hell if they die. On the contrary, He said that unless adults become like children in their humility, that they would be the ones missing out on heaven. He never told men to call themselves father, cardinal, archbishop, his holiness, or reverend; indeed, He said to call no man your spiritual father, and all of His opposition came from those who considered themselves as righteous religious leaders.
Jesus painted a portrait of God the Father which was much different to the Jewish leaders of His day, and often much different from what some who have called themselves ‘christian’ have claimed God to be. Jesus’ portrayal is of a loving Father who longs to heal His children, waits and watches for them when they leave home, forgives every sin of the sincere and repentant person, and is preparing a wonderful eternity for those who love Him. Some understood, but many did not, and when He confronted the arrogance of the Jewish religious leaders, they began to plan His death. But not all of them.
One night a Pharisee, a member of the ruling Jewish council, came to Jesus in secret to speak with Him.2 His name was Nicodemus and He was convinced that Jesus was from God because of the miracles He had performed. Jesus told him that ‘unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven’. This statement seemed very strange to Nicodemus who rightly said that an old man cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb. Jesus went on to explain that there is a physical birth and a spiritual birth, a birth from flesh and a birth from above.
Nicodemus was a man that everyone respected. He was the kind of guy you wanted in your church, on your local council, or as the archbishop or pope. He was very religious, and not a hypocrite like so many of his contemporaries. He was a priest, a teacher, and he dressed as such. Yet Jesus told him that if he wanted to enter and experience the kingdom of heaven, then he would need a re-birth, another birth. It was not enough to be a really good man, not enough to be a priest or the equivalent of a cardinal or archbishop, and to Nicodemus this most likely came as a bit of a shock. Jesus then went on to explain to Nicodemus that any person who believes on Christ for their salvation will receive the Holy Spirit and be born again. It is not enough to merely believe in Jesus, millions do that who don’t know Him at all, rather, one must put their life into His hands, hand over control, give their life to Him so that He can give back a new life, a new birth.
Sometimes crowds were following Jesus as if they were ready to follow Him to the ends of the earth. He would turn to them and challenge them about the cost of being His disciple.3 Jesus never suggested that there would be true Christians who were nominal believers. He spoke only of disciples, people who recognised that finding the way to heaven is the single most important thing any human being can do. There is no distinction between disciples and believers in the Bible, such things are human traditions which were created later. For Jesus and the New Testament writers, being a Christian and a disciple are one and the same, a radical change of life.
Jesus used many ways to express the same idea concerning what it meant to be a Christian. He told Nicodemus that he must be born again and he told the crowds that if they wanted to be His disciples, they crowds that if they wanted to be His disciples, they 38). Jesus was not suggesting literally that people must becrucifiedtobecomeaChristian,butHewasusinga symbol of death to describe the meaning of being born again. It is the self which must be surrendered to God, the human will must be prepared to submit to God’s will. In his letter to the Galatian church, the apostle Paul, who was formerly a persecutor and accomplice to murder, stated that his ego had been crucified with Christ and his ego no longer lived, rather his life was under the control of Jesus Christ.4
Those who commit crimes on Monday, commit adultery on Tuesday and then think they can confess to a man who calls himself ‘father’on Wednesday, and go back to their sins on Thursday are not Christians. They are people who have a convenient form of man-made religion which allows them to live as they please. Jesus warned that those who are His sheep hear His voice and obey His commandments. They have surrendered their lives to Him, they have been filled with the Holy Spirit, and they joyfully live for Him growing more in-love every day.
Some may call such people fanatics, however, the same people know in their hearts that such people love and worship Christ. Jesus broke many so-called rules of men and made many enemies because of this. His teachings were radical and all consuming. He took the laws of Moses and made them apply to the heart of a person rather than religious rules to be observed and abused. God is no fool. If you are in love with sin rather than truth, then sin is your master.