His system emphasized the practical
It must be remembered that this instruction was given to men of mature minds, and tended to fit them to become teachers of all men in whatever station. Probably none of the apostles were under thirty. They were men who had become settled in a life work. John, the youngest, was most susceptible to spiritual teaching, and at length developed this nature so fully that his spirit left his body in vision.[52] Painter expresses well the method of instruction followed by Christ. He says: “He observes the order of nature, and seeks only a gradual development,—‘first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.’ With His disciples, He insists chiefly upon the practical and fundamental truths of religion, building, as it were, a substantial framework in the beginning, which the Holy Spirit was to conduct afterward to a harmonious and beautiful completion.”[53]
Visible results of His teaching
It was thus that all the truths we call doctrines were taught. The lesson on the resurrection was at the tomb of Lazarus; the one on Sabbath observance was in the synagogue, healing the withered hand, or bidding the dumb to speak. “One finds in His program,” says a French writer, “neither literary studies nor course of theology. And yet, strange as it may seem, when the moment of action arrives, the disciples—those unlettered fishermen—have become orators that move the multitudes and confound the doctors; profound thinkers that have sounded the Scriptures and the human heart; writers that give to the world immortal books in a language not their mother tongue.” If the worth of a system of education is to be judged by results, the world must hold its peace when looking upon the work of Christ. Astonishment will again take hold of men when Christians return to His methods. Of His reference to nature we have no need to write, for His parables are the wonder of the ages, and take a unique position in the literature of all times. Christ was not, as many other teachers, a writer of books. His writing was on the hearts of men. He spoke, and the vibratory waves set in motion have continued until to-day, and still beat upon our hearts. The soul of the spiritually minded hears, and men to-day become pupils of the Man of Nazareth as verily as did Peter, James, and John.
Indications of a completed course
A student was ready to go forth from Christ’s teachings to open the truth to others only when he could say, “Lo, now speakest Thou plainly.... Now we are sure that Thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask Thee. By this we believe that Thou camest forth from God.”[54] With the multitudes He did a work similar to that with the disciples; but because they were coming and going, He could not do the same thorough work. His teaching, however, was always practical, and the farmer went to his field a better man, seeing God in the growing grain; the fisherman returned to his nets with the thought ringing in his mind that he should be a fisher of men; the mother returned to her home recognizing her children as younger members of God’s family, and with a strong desire to teach as He taught. The tendency always in all His teaching was to arouse thought, to awaken soul-longings, and cause hearts to beat with a new life fed from above. Standing between heaven and earth of the musical scale, His life vibrated in unison with those higher notes of the universes circling round His Father’s throne, and with His human arm He encircled the world, imparting to beings here the same life, striving always to bring them into tune with the Infinite. “I, if I be lifted up,” He said, “will draw all men unto Me.”