Week 19—Sunday Matthew 23:25-26
Week 19—SUNDAY
“ALL THAT JESUS BEGAN TO DO AND TEACH”
We come now to the other side of “all that Jesus began to do and teach.” It was first doing and then teaching. That is not a chance order—doing and then teaching—it was the center of the Christian faith—the Word became flesh before the flesh became word. He talked what he lived and lived what he taught. In all other teachers it was the opposite: “Follow my truth, but not me.” Jesus says, “Follow me and you shall know the truth.” The truth he shared was operative fact—operative in his own experience. So the truth he uttered came with authority—deep spoke to deep. When Jesus finished the Sermon on the Mount, the people were astonished at his teaching, for “he taught them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.” They quoted authorities—he spoke with authority, the authority of doing and then teaching. All his teaching was an exposition of his doing.
A pastor said in the Hour of the Open Heart at an Ashram in Japan, “My wife sent me to this Ashram, for, she said, ‘When you stand up and preach you sound like a radio announcer—parroting news that doesn’t concern you.’” It didn’t come from the heart, hence it didn’t reach the heart. A Sikh driver for a missionary in India became interested in the village preaching and said to the missionary, “Sahib, let me preach to these people.” “What would you preach about?” asked the missionary. “Oh, I would preach against liquor and tobacco,” said the Sikh. “But,” said the missionary, “you use both.” “Yes, I do, but these people don’t know that.” But actually the people do know, “for nothing is covered that will not be revealed,” and the people sense reality as they sense beauty and harmony. So when Jesus spoke, Reality spoke. The people knew that his teaching was not the exposition of a text, but the exposure of the texture of his being.
O Jesus, in you I feel the feel of consistency. Your words and your deeds have a consistency—they hold together, for they are two sides of one reality. Therefore speak to us, for everything within us listens, for everything in you speaks when you speak. So we listen. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: My doing and my teaching must be one—or I do not teach.