Jesus was more than a morals teacher, but he was that, too
September 04, 2024
The idea that Jesus of Nazareth was a great teacher of morals isn't new, but it has something of a rocky history. Which is to say that some Christians over the years have thought it was a wildly inadequate thing to say about Jesus.
For instance, the famous British theologian and author C.S. Lewis, in his classic book Mere Christianity, argues that to say he was simply a moral teacher misses the point:
"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil Himself."
Well. Oh, my. And similar responses. Lewis had a certain way with words.
The other end of the who-was-Jesus spectrum, however, tends to affirm what Christianity calls the full divinity and full humanity of Christ and his work of salvation but then ignore his moral teachings.
David P. Gushee, who teaches Christian ethics at Mercer University, has written a new book (to be published Sept. 10), The Moral Teachings of Jesus, that looks at 40 different moral teachings of Jesus and tries to unpack the meaning of them for people today.
Gushee seems to be in essential harmony with Lewis' sentiment, though he almost certainly wouldn't have worded it the way Lewis did. And Gushee's argument is that Jesus, the incarnation of God, was, in fact, a wonderful teacher of morals, though often the teaching is so deep that it takes some unpacking to find the core message.
Indeed, Gushee writes, "Jesus says, give me a pure heart and deeds of mercy rather than ritual purity, if a choice must be made." It's a point that Jesus made over and over, as Gushee emphasizes in this new book.
In parables, sermons and conversations with his disciples, Jesus is almost always teaching how to live a moral life, and as Gushee correctly summarizes, "true greatness" for Jesus "takes the form of servanthood." No wonder Christianity is a difficult faith to live out consistently and with grace.
Gushee believes that the "Beatitudes," found in Matthew 5's account of the "Sermon on the Mount," constitute "the most significant body of moral teachings, not just of Jesus, but of any biblical figure." This counter-cultural list of "blessings" shows Jesus challenging the conventional wisdom of his day -- in a memorable way.
Starting with the Beatitudes, Gushee writes, Jesus is "offering a description of the kinds of people who are ready to participate with him in interrupting this timeless, fallen world with deliverance. He is offering a kingdom ethic." Yes, and it's an ethic that runs counter to much of today's focus on me-first, on wealth as a measure of importance, on limiting one's community to people like you.
Indeed, Gushee writes, "Jesus teaches very hard things, offering an aspirational ethic, pretty much impossible, an ideal to strive for but always beyond our reach." And: "Jesus teaches a scale of values that is upside down from standard human values." If only we could hear that message from his brief time on Earth.
In the chapter on loving our enemies, Gushee notes that "Jesus is calling us to action, not feelings. . .People who are determined to love their enemies are the freest and, in some ways, the most powerful people in the world."
If Christians are to "obey God's will out of a humble, meek, just, merciful, pure heart that is seeking God's kingdom," Gushee writes, it "would define a 'Christian' not simply as someone who believes certain doctrines but as somebody who lives a certain kind of life. That is not how Christianity is defined in many churches." You can almost hear a deep sigh from the author there.
As Gushee rightly concludes, "our moral work on Earth is not about judging who is good and who is evil, but attending to the battle between the two that goes on within ourselves."
Oh, and not rooting for evil.
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FAITHFUL SISTERS CHALLENGE CORPORATE AMERICA
One reason I know a little about the women religious who are part of the Benedictine community at Mount St. Scholastica in Atchison, Kan., is that my wife is a Benedictine oblate and her group of oblates does periodic retreats there under the guidance of one of the sisters. So I was especially intrigued to read this Associated Press story about how the 80 nuns there are among corporate America’s most persistent shareholder activists.
They understand that their religious beliefs require some kind of response to help fix this wounded world, and they have chosen to make sure America's corporations (well, some of them, anyway) are considering matters of economic justice as they also make money for their shareholders. As the AP reports, the sisters "have taken on the likes of Google, Target and Citigroup — calling on major companies to do everything from AI oversight to measuring pesticides to respecting the rights of Indigenous people." To which I say, good for the sisters. See what you say after you read the story.
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P.S.: Human rights violations continue in appalling ways in Turkey. Which is why I wrote this blog post and this one, both in 2019, and why I'm giving you several links here to more recent unjustified actions taken by the Turkish government. In early May, as this article notes, Turkish authorities "detained 14 minors, all reportedly aged 15, during raids in Istanbul for alleged links to the Gülen movement." A freedom-advocacy group called Advocates of Silenced Turkey has reacted by releasing this recent call to action. It also has released this report and this one as supplemental information. If you are in the Kansas City area, the organization that knows the most about all of this and that can tell you how you can help is the Dialogue Institute of Kansas City. And it wouldn't hurt to let you members of the House and Senate know you want them to be aware of all this and to help shape U.S. policy that will oppose this kind of abuse.
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ANOTHER P.S.: You can get an email with a link to my blog every time it publishes by registering here. It's free and easy.