Like many rabbis of his day, Jesus told parables and gave object lessons to convey truth.  He was a master storyteller who often wove biblical concepts and passages together in a new way.

 

The people of his day recognized Jesus as being a rabbi with an exceptionally gifted ability and authority to teach his own interpretations of the Word.  As Matthew 7 states, “he taught them as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law." Matthew 7:29

 

As an authoritative rabbi Jesus had probably memorized the entire Hebrew Testament. His teaching assumed that his audience also knew a great deal of the Text by memory. He often quoted a portion of a passage, knowing that his audience would remember the rest.

 

Jesus was careful to use passages and concepts that his audience would know.  When speaking to women, for example, he quoted from Psalms, one of the books that girls studied during their synagogue education. And when teaching in non-Jewish areas, he would not quote from the Text at all, but would draw on word pictures and concepts from their own culture.

 

How well do we know Scripture?  Do we know it well enough to recognize what Jesus is teaching us today?  Do we use Scripture when we witness to other Christians?  Do we draw on word pictures for those who do not know the Bible?  We can learn a lot from Jesus’ model of teaching!