Jesus: the great Teacher

Richard C. Bergenheim

The oldest written record we have about Jesus Christ is in the first chapter of Mark. It tells us that Jesus went to Galilee, preaching the good news of God's kingdom and saying, "The time has now come—God's kingdom is at hand." He said people should repent, leave evil behind, and believe the good news (see Mark 1:14, 15). This message about the kingdom of God is Jesus' main teaching.

People saw the remarkable things Jesus said and did, and they followed him. Soon after he began preaching, Jesus asked four men—Simon, Andrew, James, and John—to join him as he prepared to go to other cities in Galilee and spread the word (see Mark 1:16–39, 45). (You might remember that later, Jesus changed Simon's name to Peter.) These men, and some other people, became known as Jesus' disciples, or students.

Jesus and these followers went to a city called Capernaum, which was on the northwest shore of the Galilean Sea. Then, on a Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, Jesus went into the synagogue. A service in a synagogue began with prayer and was followed by readings from the Scripture. Next, someone would be invited by the ruler of the synagogue to teach a lesson based on what had been read. On this day. Jesus was asked to speak.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

What Jesus taught about loving our enemies