However, Lewis is certainly right. You can’t look at Jesus clearly and call him a good moral teacher, but not because of some claims of divinity. Rather, it is because of the reasons for his morality. You can see that his morality has a pretty crazy streak—
“Bless those who persecute you”
“Do good to those who harm you”
“Love your enemies”
“Lend money and do not expect it back”
“Give to those who ask of you”
“He who is angry at his brother is guilty”
“He who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery”
“If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off”
“If you hold a feast don’t invite your friends or family”
“Sell all your possessions and give to the poor”
“He who becomes my disciple must surrender all their possessions.”
“If anyone would come after me he must… take up his cross…”
This is frankly an insane morality. This is the reason that Christians have been spiritualizing and explaining it away for millennia. They can’t make sense of it, either. Almost every Protestant reformer simply dismissed it and every orthodox Christian faith marginalizes it because it makes no sense for a community that is trying to live in the world, to make some progress. It is the morality of anti-progress. It takes the basic moral ideas of reciprocation, responsibility and personal survival and dismisses them out of hand. Frankly, if this is the teaching of a “great moral teacher”, then morality really is a personal preference.
There is only one way, one piece of the puzzle of the foundation of Jesus’ morality, that makes any of this make sense: That this world is not where justice is contained. Jesus made it clear that the rewards and benefits of living out his morality is not in this world, but in the next. Rewards come in “the kingdom” or in “heaven”. All benefit comes, not from society, but from the Father, who rewards what is not seen. The heroes of Jesus’ morality, those who achieved the highest goals, are prophets and martyrs.
This means that Jesus’ morality is based on a completely spiritual basis, with no benefits to this world. This doesn’t mean that Jesus’ doesn’t give the occasional nod to benefits in the present life. Jesus says that the community of faith will be so strong as to give each apostle the wealth of a hundred people, but it is so noticeable, first of all because it is rare, but secondly because he says that these benefits come “with persecutions” (Mark 10:29-31).
Jesus’ morality is so heavenly-minded that it has no personal earthly good. It could be of great benefit to others, potentially. The poor, for they gain great benefit, and the persecutors because they don’t have to go looking for you. But the one who follows Jesus’ morality gains their only real benefit after their life is over. This is truly living by faith, and only faith. This is the confidence that Jesus’ morality is based.
Thus, Lewis is completely correct. Either Jesus has some amazing revelation from God and knows more than any human could know about the nature of reality, or Jesus is insane. No other teacher has been so out of touch with the reality we see and touch. So we cannot call Jesus a “great moral teacher” and still hold to our materialistic ideas. It’s either one or the other.
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