4B. Teaching Methods that Jesus Used

After a teacher's own preparation in prayer, the first thing he or she should consider is the process by which truth is transferred from the adult to the child. A very useful guide to this is to look at some of the ways our Saviour taught. The New Testament is full of stories about Jesus speaking to a crowd or addressing His disciples or even conversing with an individual as He takes a cup of water. As we look closer however, we discover that many different ways of communicating truth were used. Here are just a few of them.

Parable Teaching

There are almost forty parables recorded in the Gospels, two thirds of them being found in the Gospel of Luke, only nine in Mark and not a single one in St. John. Jesus obviously loved to use stories with a spiritual meaning, which is exactly what a parable is. One of the better known of these "earthly sayings with a heavenly meaning" is the parable of the sower, which is also one of few found in all three Synoptic Gospels (i.e., Matthew, Mark and Luke).

The Sower

When Jesus told the parable of the sower (Luke 8:415) He was speaking of things which would have already been very familiar to the people. There may have been a farmer working His field in the very view of the crowd. One can imagine Jesus playing out the actions as the man reaches into the sack at his side and in a long sweeping arc casts forth the precious grain. An equally familiar scene to us might be the mailman delivering letters, strolling up the drive and depositing them at our door.

Jesus developed the story to explain the spiritual meaning of the separate items. Seed, path, birds, thorn bushes and soil all take on a new dimension, revealing new spiritual meaning in a hidden drama of life.

"Listen, then if you have ears!" concluded Jesus, driving home the message with a challenge. But when the disciples asked what the parables meant. Jesus revealed another side to this teaching method. "The knowledge of the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven has been given to you," he said, "but to the rest it comes by means of parables, so that they may look but not see, and listen but not understand." He seemed to imply by this that parable teaching keeps every one happy. Those who know God are struck by the spiritual implications, those who don't know God simply think, "What a pretty story."

Spiritual Meaning

Sunday school teachers today can still tell the same lovely tales and explain the spiritual meaning as Jesus did, but they can also use other non-Biblical parables to teach truth about God. Marvellous examples of this are to be found in the Jungle Doctor series, where the animals in Africa adopt human personalities and live out real-life dramas. As with parables a clear conclusion is brought out, a heavenly meaning from an earthly saving.

"Practical Christian Outreach in the Local Church"

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