He made the complex SIMPLE.

Jesus had the ability to take the complex and make it simple.

A prime example is Matt 22:37-40 where Jesus gives the Great Commandment. The context is this. He has just stumped the Sadducees. Literally, He silenced them with His wisdom (Matt 22:23). Next up are the Pharisees.

The Pharisees gather for a meeting. They devise a debate strategy. Their goal is to humiliate Jesus in front of the crowd. They choose their smartest guy, a lawyer, to take on Jesus. He asks Jesus which is greatest commandment of the Law. Of all the 613 comandments, he is asking Jesus for the greatest. He thinks he has got the Master teacher!

Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbour as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.’

He brought all the commandments into just two irreducible minimums! Amazing. He put the Pharisees out of speech! He was not lowering the standard of the Law. He was not abolishing it. He said all of it hangs on this. If you know these two irreducibles , you know it all. If you live them out, you have lived the entire Law!

He summed up 613 commands in two. Jesus took the complexity and the advancement of the Law and made it very simple.

I just love the way Jesus simplified the complex. Its a gift every preacher and teacher should desire.

Jesus was also a visual teacher. He pointed to the fields and the birds. He picked up a child and used a fig tree to make a point. After claiming to be the bread of life, He fed bread to five thousand men (Jn 6). After calling Himself the light of the world, Jesus put light in a blind man’s eyes. (Jn 8-9) After claiming to be the resurrection and the Life, Jesus called Lazarus to come out of the grave (Jn 11). The water conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well definitely involved real water (Jn 4).

A visual illustration increases clarity. It helps people remember better. And unless people remember, they cannot live it out. Jesus knew that and illustrated His teachings with relevant, precise down-to-earth illustrations. He was the Master Teacher.

Lord Jesus, I just wanna be like you!


ps. I wrote this post at my annual Personal Retreat in reflection of the question I asked myself - What is the one thing I am most satisfied with this year in relation to my personal growth?