Temple Society Australia - Confirmation 2005
Lesson 8 - Notes for Confirmands
Theme - Jesus
Who was Jesus?
Was Jesus a person like we are, or was he supernatural. What do you think?
Remember that it is people who think and believe. And, in history it has not been unusual for people to believe that an important person was more than an ordinary person. He or she must have been a god, or goddess. Today, most people no longer accept that people can be supernatural. Nor do they think that it is possible for a person to die, be buried for two nights and then to become alive again.
I personally think that Jesus was a person just as you and I are. I also accept that some time after his death, at the first Easter, the disciples of Jesus had a strong experience that Jesus had not left them. At least the spirit of Jesus (his ideas) was still with them. They became convinced that his teaching was still true and important, and it was now their job to tell the world about these ideas. Full of new confidence, they went out fearlessly and taught people the new truths they had received from Jesus. Over time this came to be described as Jesus rising from death and leaving his spirit with the community which grew around the disciples.
What are these new truths, which Jesus taught?
In the gospels we can read what Jesus said. I think the gist of what he taught is there, even though the gospels were not written until 30 or more years after he died. The 3 chapters of Matthew’s gospel (5, 6 and 7) which we asked you to read, are a particularly good collection of teachings in the one place. What did you read there?
I agree that much of what is written here sounds unreal and impossible. That is because it is written in the understanding of nature 2000 years ago. But there are gems of wisdom in there which remain true and obvious even for us scientific thinkers today. Let’s find some.
The teachings of Jesus
Ch. 5, v. 17 Do not suppose that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets [the existing teaching - Old Testament]; I did not come to abolish, but to complete.
v. 21 You have heard that our forefathers were told, “Do not commit murder; anyone who commits murder must be brought to justice.”
v. 22 But what I tell you is this; Anyone who nurses anger against his brother must be brought to justice. …
v. 23 So if you are presenting your gift at the altar [doing a religious act in the Temple or Church] and you suddenly remember that your brother has a grievance against you,
v. 24 leave your gift where it is before the altar. First go and make your peace with your brother; then come back and offer your gift. [Making peace in daily life is more important than doing a religious act].
v. 38 You have heard that they were told; “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.”
v. 39 But what I tell you is this: Do not resist those who wrong you. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn and offer him the other also.
v. 40 If anyone wants to sue you and takes your shirt, let him have you cloak as well.
What do these teachings mean to you?
To me these teaching sound as though we ought to change ourselves fundamentally from insisting on our rights (knocking out your tooth every time you knock out one of my teeth) to stopping being aggressive at all. (That is what is meant by repenting, changing ourselves fundamentally.) And to me this makes eminent good common sense, although it is not easy. Only when people can conquer their own selfishness, and truly think well of others can we have real peace. (How hard are we prepared to work to find real peace?)
If people could interact with everyone without aggression, trusting others and not deceiving them, just like mothers and their small children do naturally, it would be a wonderful world. This is a vision, a possibility for humans, although it means a lot of effort. This vision is what Jesus called the kingdom of God, (or of Heaven as Matthew calls it). That is the good news preached by Jesus. Become like this and enter this wonderful state.
Did Jesus have to be more than an ordinary person to have given us this wisdom? I don’t think so.
We can summarise the teachings of Jesus found in the bible in the following main ideas.
1. Jesus proclaimed that the Kingdom of God was now here. His listeners could, and should, enter it. They should not wait for the end of the present nasty world, nor should they wait for God, or anyone else, to give the Kingdom of God to them. They should enter the Kingdom by changing themselves.
2. Jesus did not mean a traditional worldly Kingdom, to be set up by armed force. But many of his listeners expected a worldly kingdom, like the glorious kingdom that had existed when King David ruled. Jesus was concerned with the spiritual side of mankind. If people listen to their conscience, think of inner values and work hard to become better in their attitudes and behaviour, then the community of people will improve outwardly as well.
3. To enter the kingdom of God is to change your attitude and behaviour so that you become a better person
4. Jesus also used parables. These are stories about familiar everyday things that contain a strong message about values humans should have or what God is like. You, the disciples are the light of the world. Don’t put your light under a tub, but put it on a lampstand so that everyone can see by it.
5. Living in his time, Jesus accepted without any doubt that God had made the world and all life on it. We can summarise how Jesus told people to understand God in one word. Father. God loves his children (humans and the rest of his creation) like a human father loves and protects his children. This is a much more reassuring way to think about God than to visualise him as a judge who is out to punish you if you break his commandments.
6. Elsewhere in the New Testament is a story about the most important commandment. A religious Jew asked Jesus: “What is the most important commandment?” Jesus answered: “Love God with all your might, that is fully, with your whole being. This is the first commandment. The second one is equal to this first commandment. Love your neighbour as you love yourself.” These are called the twin commandments of love.
7. People should strive above everything to establish the kingdom of God on earth. By listening to their conscience and following the good values this suggests, people can change their attitude and behaviour for the benefit of all. If you are successful in living according to such values, then all the worldly things like finding enough food for everyone, looking after those who have had bad luck, and so on, will take care of themselves. (This is the Templer Motto, found at the end of Chapter 6 in Matthew).
8. The mechanism by which you achieve this kingdom is the twin commandments of love. Loving God fully (being thankful to whatever is responsible for us being alive in a world that can be wonderful), implies that we should be thankful for all the good things we have received. Don’t take things for granted, and don’t continually complain. You have very much to be thankful for. By being thankful, you will enjoy life much more than if you continually complain and blame others for how bad the world is. The world is just the world. You can chose, by how you look at it, whether you find it wonderful, or whether you hate it. [Commandment 1]
9. If we love God and are thankful for all the good that has happened to us we should show this by extending good will to others. We should grant whatever rights we want, also to others. This is the meaning of loving others as you do yourself [Commandment 2]. It is a wonderfully accurate standard. You don’t have to let others always get more, you are as important as everyone else. But you must also never exploit, or cheat, or deceive others, more than you will accept yourself. What this implies is that the whole community should benefit from what you do. You work for the good of all, and of course you are entitled to your full share of what you, and everyone else, have achieved. Notice that this attitude, seeing the good of the whole as more important than your own selfish good, can be extended to the whole earth. No one should exploit the earth in such a way that its ecology gets damaged. This has become increasingly important, as humans have thoughtlessly polluted the planet more and more. We should not live just for our own good and ruin the world for our grandchildren. Jesus may not have said it in quite this way, but this is only a small extension of the idea of who our neighbour is.
Lesson 8 QUESTIONNAIRE FOR CONFIRMANDS