Thursday 17 October 2019

Jesus' Teachings.


"Thus says the Lord God: Ah, you shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves!  Should not the shepherds feed the sheep?  You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the sheep.  You have not strengthened the weak, you have not healed the sick, you have not bound up the injured, you have not brought back the strayed, you have not sought the lost, but with force and harshness you have ruled them."  Ezekiel 34: 2-4 (NRSV)

This passage from Ezekiel where God criticizes the shepherds of Israel contains not only the seeds of Jesus' criticism of the Pharisees but the source of many of his teachings.

Healing the sick, The Parable of the Good Samaritan, The Parable of the Prodigal Son, The Lost Coin, The Lost Sheep, "Feed my sheep" and more.....

Much of Jesus' teaching derives from the Old Testament.

In fact one Jewish scholar claimed that Jesus said nothing new - it was all in the Old Testament.

This may be true.

But Jesus brought a new perspective to Old Testament writings. 


[Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission.  All rights reserved.]

Photo Credit: spbda Flickr via Compfight cc

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