"... he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law." (v. 29)
For reading & meditation:
Matthew 7:13-29
If the men and women of this world took an unbiased look at Jesus as presented to us in the four Gospels, they would see, as Bishop Stephen Neill put it, that "Jesus Christ is not in the least like anyone else who has ever lived." The way He taught, for example, is not the same as that of any other religious teacher. When He concluded the Sermon on the Mount, which some believe to be idealism, the people "were astonished and overwhelmed with bewildered wonder at His teaching, for He was teaching as [One] Who had [and was] authority . . ." (Amp. Bible)." What was this "authority"? An authority imposed from without? No, it was the authority of the facts. Jesus was divulging the meaning of life. He was uncovering reality. It was the authority of God; when He spoke, God spoke. It was the authority of truth, deed, and love. A good many people make the mistake of thinking that Jesus came to impose upon humanity a moral code. But Jesus was not a moralist in that sense at all. He was a revealer of the nature of reality. He revealed first the nature of God, and that the nature of God is the ground of God's conduct and ours. He then lifted up the laws written into the universe, written in the warp and woof of our being, and showed us that the only way to live is God's way. Instead of being an imposed idealism, it was exposed realism - Reality itself was speaking. No wonder it was authoritative. Here was the indicative become the imperative.
Lord Jesus Christ, revealer of all that is hidden, thank You above everything that You have revealed God to me. You are the Way, the Truth, and the Life. All of Your ways become the way - for everybody, everywhere. Now I am on the way. Hallelujah!
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