PCEA

The Ministering Prophet

The prophet in Israel was supremely a teacher, a forth-teller of the message rather than a fore-teller. [Although] It is true that the special gift of prophecy in the sense of foretelling was given to meet special circumstances. The title most frequently given to Christ was “Rabbi”, which really meant “Teacher”, though generally translated “Master”. Christ’s mission, in the first instance, was one of enlightenment. He presented Himself as the Light of the World. He had not only to oppose error, but to correct the misinterpretations of truth that were so common among the Jews of His day and, furthermore, to impart knowledge not accessible to them. To do this He had to teach, and His teaching ministry belonged not only to His addresses and sermons, but also to His miracles, and to the example set by His character and conduct. As an example of this last, in washing His disciples’ feet, He told them He was setting an example which they were to follow towards one another (John 13:15). The following factors entered into His capacity to teach, apart from the over-riding fact that He was specially taught by the Holy Spirit of God.

His Early Training

Christ, being truly human, was to be given training for the mission on which He was to enter.

(1) This He had initially in the home. The Jewish home was a sanctuary and a nursery for the training of mind and character such as never has been surpassed, and Jesus had the blessing of this discipline and training in a deeply religious home. Two comments on this period of His life, given by Luke, no doubt through Mary, shed light on this: “And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favour of God was upon him.” (Luke 2:40); and “he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them.” (Luke 2:51). A third we leave for notice later on.

(2) Without doubt the Synagogue of Nazareth had also a place in the training of Jesus. The service of the synagogue was simple and communal, as distinct from that of the Temple which was ornate and hierarchical, and its worship and discipline have become the pattern of evangelical Presbyterian [worship] to this day. In His later years, Christ Himself took part actively in the synagogue worship and teaching, with solemnity and knowledge that impressed all who heard Him (Matt. 14:54).

(3) There was also the carpenter’s workshop as a training school for Christ. There is no doubt but that Jesus was apprenticed to Joseph who was a carpenter in Nazareth, and that He was popularly recognised as Himself a carpenter to trade (Mark 6:3). The carpenter’s trade in those days included the supply, not only of domestic needs as today, but also of agricultural needs such as ploughs, oxen yokes, and other agricultural implements, a combination of what we would call today carpenter and blacksmith. All this indicated that our Lord had an upbringing such as was common to most Jewish youths of His day, and the development of His mind and character is thus given by Luke (again, no doubt, through Mary): “And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favour with God and man.” (Luke 2:52), indicating a four-fold development of mind and body, of spiritual and social character.

His Direct Teaching

This was Bible-based, and largely an exposition of the Old Testament and especially of passages relating to the promised Messiah. By this means He corrected misinterpretations current in the school of the Pharisees of His day, and there is ample evidence that He spoke with more than human authority on matters that concerned the world beyond. He drew aside the veil from the mysteries of Heaven and Hell as no one has ever done, before or since.

His Teaching by Parable

The capacity to use parable was a striking feature of Christ’s teaching both in public and in private. These memorable parables were framed to arrest attention and to elucidate spiritual truth as it had never been presented before, and their teaching is as relevant and inexhaustible today as when they were uttered nearly two thousand years ago.

His Teaching by Miracle

While many of Christ’s miracles were deeds of mercy actuated by compassion and love, all of them had deep spiritual truth to convey. They were what the New Testament calls “signs” — pointers to His mission. They were His Gospel in action. In the house of Jairus, for example, His words to the child who lay dead on her bed — Talitha cumi (Mark 5:41) — could more properly be rendered: “Little girl, be getting up”, a mother’s morning call, a form still in use in homes using the Aramaic language. This leads us to say that Christ’s miracles were never unnatural though they were manifestly supernatural; not against nature, but above it.

It is clear that the immediate impression left by the teaching of Jesus was that of more than human authority. The “officers” sent by the Pharisees to arrest Him — not a very impressionable group, one would say — came back without Him, and gave the totally unexpected apology: “No one ever spoke like this man!” (John 7:46). Instead of arresting Him, He arrested them!

We can conclude that the ministry of Christ was in the direct line of the Hebrew prophets throughout the ages, of whom He was the last and the crown. Since a word is the expression and revelation of a thought in the mind, it was appropriate that the One who gave a perfect revelation of God’s mind should be known as The Word, and that it could be added: “And the Word was God” (John 1:1). None less than God could thus perfectly reveal the mind of God.