He Was a Great Teacher

Over the years as I have been confronted by those who are in doubt about Christianity being the only truth. They are offended that I take such a fanatical stand on Jesus as the Son of God, the truth, the only way and the life.  They want to project open mindedness and acknowledge that Jesus was important, but will not go so far as to call Him the Son of God or acknowledge the need for Him to be crucified.  So I will hear something like "Jesus was a great teacher" or "Jesus led a life that we all should follow by loving those around us and doing good".  The implication is all this fanaticism about Jesus was man made, the result of leaders in the church manipulating who Jesus was in order assert control.  I might be reading more into this than intended, but interestingly enough when I ask the person if they have read the Bible, they say no.  Thus their conclusion is one of convenience due to their unwillingness to confront the Savior face to face.

As we go through the Gospel of Luke we will continue to confront the Savior face to face.  In these next couple of verses just before Jesus begins to teach we see the following verses.

Luke 6: 17He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coast of Tyre and Sidon,18who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by evil[a] spirits were cured,19and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.

A large crowd had gathered to see Jesus.   As might be argued by my friend, they gathered to hear Jesus teach. "who had come to hear him".  But there is more.  "They came to be healed".   It goes on to say:

• Those troubled by evil spirits were cured
• power was coming from him and healing them all.  

So now what do I do with this great teacher?  According to the Bible he was a miraculous healer, and able to drive out evil spirits.   We are confronted now with someone that is more than a man.  Someone with power.  Someone with power over evil spirits.  Someone able to heal all that came to him.   This is just the tip of the iceberg as we go through the gospel being exposed to claims about Jesus and claims he makes himself that will require us to either reject him and his followers as delusional  and needing to be ignored OR more than a great teacher, he is the Savior that we need to be searching for.