Religious historian Diana Butler Bass explores what it meant for Jesus to be called “teacher” or “rabbi”:
Although Christians call Jesus by many names, those who knew him best mostly called him “teacher.” Of the ninety or so times Jesus is addressed directly in the New Testament, roughly sixty refer to him as “teacher,” “rabbi,” “great one,” or “master” (as in the British sense of “schoolmaster”). In the gospels, the preponderance of action that occurs is Jesus teaching. He teaches at the Temple, on a hillside, by a lake, in a field, by a campfire, at a dinner table, while at a wedding, and in the center of the city. He teaches individuals, his disciples, large crowds, small groups, his friends, and his foes….
The word typically translated as “teacher” was the title “rabbi” or “rabbouni,” a fairly new—and even revolutionary—term in the first century. The word “rabbi” did not mean a Jewish clergyperson, as it does today, nor did the title appear in the Hebrew Bible. Indeed, it was just coming into use during Jesus’s time for one whose teachings bore spiritual authority—a sage, a storyteller, an insightful interpreter of the Law, or a particularly wise elder….
To be a rabbi in the first century was to be a teacher who was crafting a new approach to Hebrew texts, traditions, and interpretations. And, sadly, both Christians and Jews have forgotten how completely innovative and challenging Jesus was as a rabbi.
Biblical scholar Amy-Jill Levine describes how Jesus worked as a rabbi:
Jesus did not spend his time engaged in a (somewhat) systematic understanding of Torah or developing a plan for the sanctification of daily life through practice and prayer. Rather, he addressed issues when they presented themselves or when he was questioned about them. He is better seen as a charismatic teacher, healer, and speaker of traditional wisdom than as a rabbi who, in a study house, focused on understanding the words of Torah and determining how best to implement them. [1]
Bass emphasizes Jesus’ role as a teacher of wisdom within his Jewish lineage:
As a teacher, Jesus is not contradicting Moses or demeaning other Jewish teachers. He is offering his interpretation of the law, teachings that surprised his followers with their originality and insight. To understand Jesus as a teacher in this sense—even if one does consider him divine—is to remember that teachers, even those with great authority, teach within a long line of communal interpretation, something that Jesus himself would have known. Jesus does not replace. Jesus reimagines and expands, inviting an alternative and often innovative reading of Jewish tradition….
As a rabbi, Jesus was remarkable, challenging, and inventive. His teachings remain compelling, influencing people throughout the ages and well beyond Christianity; and those teachings stand on their own as beautiful without needing to diminish others…. If Christians really followed the one they claimed as Teacher, the world would be a more just and loving place.
References:
[1] Amy-Jill Levine, The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus (HarperSanFrancisco, 2006), 132.
Diana Butler Bass, Freeing Jesus: Rediscovering Jesus as Friend, Teacher, Savior, Lord, Way, and Presence (HarperOne, 2021), 29, 30, 41–42.
Image credit and inspiration: Mishal Ibrahim, untitled (detail), 2022, photo, Unsplash. Click here to enlarge image. Jesus found wisdom in the transformative truths of everyday life.
Story from Our Community:
I have enjoyed reading the many reflections on the Jesus Prayer and the spiritual impact it has had on others. It makes me grateful to think that we have been united in saying the prayer as a litany of wisdom—and sometimes as a desperate cry of hope. Over the years, I have been adding a phrase to the end of the prayer, which comforts me. I close by saying, “Jesus, redeem me with your Love.”
—Greg H.
