Today we continue in our Names of God series with another one of my favorite titles/names of Christ… Today we will be learning that Jesus is Didaskalos.
Then a scribe came and said to Him,
“Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.”
Matthew 8:19
Didaskalos is the Greek word for teacher and it means: a teacher, in the NT one who teaches concerning the things of God, and the duties of man one who is fitted to teach, or thinks himself so, the teachers of the Jewish religion, of those who by their great power as teachers draw crowds around them, by preeminence used of Jesus by himself, as one who showed men the way of salvation.
Jesus is our Teacher. He is Didaskalos. Even those who deny His Deity will profess that His teachings are amazing. Even those who refuse to acknowledge Him as the Son of God and the Only Way unto salvation study His teachings and marvel at them. Many that deny Him as Lord still seek to understand His teachings on love, humanity, justice, and mercy.
When we go to the Old Testament in the book of Isaiah we see that God pointed to the day that the Didaskalos would come…
Although the Lord has given you bread of privation
and water of oppression,
He, your Teacher will no longer hide Himself,
but your eyes will behold your Teacher.
Isaiah 30:20
When these words were spoken through the prophet Isaiah the nation of Israel was living in rebellion towards their God. Their worship of Him had become simply a religious ritual. They also had added the worship of false gods into the temple of the One True Living God… It was a sad day. God would discipline His people with bread of privation and water of oppression, but because He loved them with an everlasting love and was bound in covenant to them, He would one day also send them the Bread of Life and the Living Water… He would send the Teacher.
The word Teacher in the Hebrew, here in Isaiah 30:20 is Mowreh and it means, (early) rain, and it comes from the word Yarah which means to throw, to cast, lay, set, to shoot arrows, to throw water, rain, to point out, show, to direct, teach, instruct
I read this definition and I thought how true this is of the Word of God, the Word made flesh, Jesus came to throw water in our face…
When Jesus came on the scene teaching, His teachings came to wake people up out their slumber.
His watchmen are blind,
All of them know nothing.
All of them are mute dogs unable to bark,
Dreamers lying down, who love to slumber;
Isaiah 59:10
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For this reason it says,“Awake, sleeper,
And arise from the dead, And Christ will shine on you.”
Ephesians 5:14
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Jesus was going throughout all Galilee,
teaching in their synagogues
and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom,
and healing every kind of disease
and every kind of sickness among the people.
Matthew 4:23
When Didaskalos showed up teaching, His words shot throw the hearts of those who listened. His teachings pointed out things the scribes and pharisees could not see. He came and He taught people the law of God in a way in which they had never heard it… He came and He taught and the crowds came to hear Him speak and teach.
When Jesus saw the crowds,
He went up on the mountain;
and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him.
He opened His mouth and began to teach them…
Matthew 5:1-2
People would come from all over to hear Him teach because He did not teach with mere repetition and rote…
Jesus did not teach in a way that left people staring into a zoned out space and drooling in their sleep… He taught with authority and power.
When Jesus had finished these words,
the crowds were amazed at His teaching;
for He was teaching them as one having authority,
and not as their scribes.
Matthew 7:28-29
Now here’s the thing that got me as a teacher and writer and speaker… I tend to judge my efficiency according to how many “likes” and “shares” and “repost” I receive. The enemy of my soul is very good at heaping condemnation and ineptness upon me by using the lack of “crowd” against me. However as I studied this lesson my God brought me to tears and to my knees as He showed something I hadn’t really seen before…
Yes Jesus taught and the crowds came to hear Him… but it was the recorded one on one, face to face ,and heart to heart moments of His teaching that were the most amazing and life changing and poignant for humanity.
In John 3:1-21 when Jesus shared that one must be born again to enter the kingdom of heaven, when He shared that God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life… when He shared these truths of salvation it was with Nicodemus alone. It was one on one, face to face, and heart to heart… and Nicodemus would never be the same.
In John 4:7-26 when for the first recorded time in Scripture, Jesus reveals Himself as the Messiah. He says, “I who speak to you am He.” it was to one woman, the woman at the well. He was one on one, face to face, and heart to heart with this woman… and this woman would never be the same.
Precious one, we may join the crowds to hear someone speak an teach amazing things. I have been there at the conferences when the teacher taught and the people cried and shouted and walked away exclaiming how great the message was… but it only changed them long enough to get out to the parking lot. It only changed them long enough to meet their current need… it was not enough to change them.
If we choose to keep Jesus on the mountain, if we choose to leave His Word at the podium on the stage, if we choose to remain a part of the crowd… then we can take Him or leave Him. We can remain apathetic and unchanged… but if we choose rather to leave the crowd as the disciples did…
When Jesus saw the crowds,
He went up on the mountain;
and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him.
He opened His mouth and began to teach them…
Matthew 5:1-2
We cannot remain the same.
Precious one, don’t leave Him on the mountain! Don’t stay a part of the crowd. Don’t keep the Didaskalos at a distance. Come to Him and sit at His feet. If you are in a group that ridicules the Teacher, that mocks the Christ, that sets up legalism over grace, that preaches a religion instead of a relationship, and you might be afraid to come boldly out of the crowd because you are just not sure about this Jesus, this Teacher, this Didaskalos, then my friend come as Nicodemus came, come at night, come alone… open the Word of God and ask the Teacher to teach you one on one, face to face, and heart and to heart. He will!
Maybe you are involved in a lifestyle that has covered you in shame. Maybe you are shunned by society. Maybe you are mocked. Maybe you fear the rejection of the church, of those who profess to be Christians, maybe you even fear the rejection of Christ… maybe you have to come to sneak out to get nourishment for yourself when you know no one will be around because you don’t want to be subjected to the judgmental stares and offhanded remarks and sneers… then beloved come as the woman at the well came. Come and open the Word of God and ask the Teacher for a drink. He will give you His living water and you will never thirst again.
When we come to Him He will teach us… He has promised He would… He will teach us Himself if we will just simply leave the crowd and come and sit at His feet. Then He will give us His Spirit and His Spirit will teach us all things and bring to remembrance all that He has taught us…
“These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you.
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit,
whom the Father will send in My name,
He will teach you all things,
and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.
John 14:25-26
I can testify to you that if you come with a seeking heart, the Teacher will indeed teach.
O how I love Your law!
It is my meditation all the day.
Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies,
For they are ever mine.
I have more insight than all my teachers,
For Your testimonies are my meditation.
I understand more than the aged,
Because I have observed Your precepts.
I have restrained my feet from every evil way,
That I may keep Your word.
I have not turned aside from Your ordinances,
For You Yourself have taught me.
How sweet are Your words to my taste!
Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
From Your precepts I get understanding;
Therefore I hate every false way.
Psalm 119:97-104
And never forget that it’s not about the crowds.
Mom… Dad… think about the opportunity you have to teach the beautiful truths of God one on one, face to face, and heart to heart with your child. Don’t leave the teaching of the Word of God to the preacher at a distance… don’t leave it at the podium on Sundays. Never underestimate the power of your one on one with your child.
Pastor, teacher, writer never forget its not about how many come… its about who leaves changed.