We’ve Never Heard Anyone Speak like This!

 We’ve Never Heard Anyone Speak like This!

 

The people were amazed at his teaching, for he taught with real authority — quite unlike the teachers of religious law.

MARK 1.22

When the crowds heard him say this, some of them declared, “Surely this man is the Prophet we’ve been expecting.” Others said, “He is the Messiah.” . . . So the crowd was divided about him. Some even wanted him arrested, but no one laid a hand on him.

When the Temple guards returned without having arrested Jesus, the leading priests and Pharisees demanded, “Why didn’t you bring him in?”

“We have never heard anyone speak like this!” the guards responded.

JOHN 7.40-41, 43-46

 

Some speakers are hard to listen to — sometimes it is something about the person’s voice, and other times the speaker is just boring, or what he or she is saying seems unimportant. So we tune the speaker out and daydream rather than listen.

No one who listened to Jesus speak got bored and tuned him out. People listened to him all day, not even wanting to take a break to eat. They followed him wherever he went, wanting to hear more. It wasn’t that he was humourous, although he did tell interesting stories. And it wasn’t that he was always easy to understand. People were often mystified by what he said, trying to figure out what it meant. His messages often caused controversy and discomfort, and he asked people to do hard things.

The people were amazed at Jesus’ teaching — no doubt they got goose bumps. There was a sense of reality and authority to what he said that made their hair stand on end. What he said was profoundly true and in some cases profoundly troubling. What Jesus says both convicts us and comforts us. He speaks both judgment and salvation. No one else speaks like Jesus. And no one’s teaching matters as much as his does.