His Self Centered Teaching

Excerpt from Basic Christianity by John R.W. Stott:

The most striking feature of the teaching of Jesus is that he was constantly talking about himself. It is true that he said a great deal about the fatherhood of God and the kingdom of God. But then he added that he is the Father’s “Son,” and that he himself had come to launch the kingdom. Entry into the kingdom depends on how people respond to him personally. He even went so far as to call the kingdom of God “my kingdom.”

This self-centeredness of the teaching of Jesus immediately sets him apart from the other great religious teachers of the world. They tend to be self-effacing. He is self-advancing. They point people away from themselves, saying, “That is the truth so far as I understand it; follow that.” Jesus says, “I am the truth; follow me.” No other religious founder who dared to say such a thing would be taken seriously. The personal pronoun forces itself repeatedly on our attention as we read his words. For example:


I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to be will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.


I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.


I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.


I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.


Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me.


The great question to which the first phase of his teaching leads is, “Who do you say that I am?” He refers back to figures from the distant past and makes the astonishing claim that Abraham rejoices to see his day, that Moses wrote about him, that the Scriptures point to him, and that indeed in the three great divisions of the Old Testament – the law, the prophets and the writings – there are things "concerning himself."


Luke describes in some detail the dramatic visit that Jesus pays to the synagogue of his home village, Nazareth. He was given a scroll of the Old Testament Scriptures and he stood up to read. The passage is from the book of the prophet Isaiah 61:1-2:


'The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

because he has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

and recovery of sight for the blind,

to set at liberty those who are oppressed,

to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.'


He closed the book, returned it to the synagogue attendant and sat down, while the eyes of all the congregation were fastened on him. He then broke the silence with the amazing words, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’ In other words, ‘Isaiah was writing about me.’