JESUS KNEW HOW TO TEACH 2

Written by on in Jesus' Words

Jesus said: “When you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.” Matthew 6:3

TOPIC: Jesus used hyperbole.

BACKGROUND: Jesus often shocked the people with his exaggerations.

Jesus used several different ways to teach. As a master teacher, he knew the proper place, time, and setting to use his various methods.

“I could eat a horse!” Hyperbole is making an outlandish exaggeration to get attention. It was not intended to be taken literally but to emphasize a point. Hyperboles often include an amount of shock factor as well. Jesus’ exaggeration of the truth caused his listeners to become emotionally involved.

Hyperbole is often easy to recognize. Here are a few examples.

  • Luke 14:26: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.”
  • Matthew 7:3: “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?”
  • Matthew 5:29,30: “If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away.”
  • Matthew 23:24: “You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.”

When speaking of Christ’s ministry, the gospel writer John used hyperbole. “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written” (John 21:25).

Sometimes we need to be shaken from our complacency and our comfort zones. Jesus knows exactly when and how to do that.

 PRAYER THOUGHT: by Martha S. Lippencott

Jesus, my Sav­ior, teach me your will;
Will you pro­tect me, and keep me still
In your blest path­way, where you shall guide?
Oh! keep me ev­er close to your side. Amen.

PAUL WRITES ABOUT JESUS: “God showed how much he loved us by having Christ die for us, even though we were sinful.” Romans 5:8 CEV

From At the Feet of Jesus by Reynold R. Kremer

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