Patterning After the Master Evangelist
51
explaining the Old Testament Scriptures. So unlike the explanations
of the scribes and Pharisees was His explanation that the attention of
the people was arrested. He taught as one having authority, and not
as the scribes. With clearness and power He proclaimed the gospel
message.—
Letter 129, 1903
.
Methods Peculiarly His Own—He attended the great yearly fes-
tivals of the nation, and to the multitude absorbed in outward ceremony
He spoke of heavenly things, bringing eternity within their view. To
all He brought treasures from the storehouse of wisdom. He spoke to
them in language so simple that they could not fail of understanding.
By methods peculiarly His own, He helped all who were in sorrow and
affliction. With tender, courteous grace, He ministered to the sin-sick
[55]
soul, bringing healing and strength.
The Prince of teachers, He sought access to the people by the
pathway of their most familiar associations. He presented the truth
in such a way that ever after it was to His hearers intertwined with
their most hallowed recollections and sympathies. He taught in a way
that made them feel the completeness of His identification with their
interests and happiness. His instruction was so direct, His illustrations
were so appropriate, His words so sympathetic and cheerful, that His
hearers were charmed. The simplicity and earnestness with which He
addressed the needy, hallowed every word.—
The Ministry of Healing,
22-24
(1905).
Jesus Studied Faces—Even the crowd that so often thronged His
steps was not to Christ an indiscriminate mass of human beings. He
spoke directly to every mind and appealed to every heart. He watched
the faces of His hearers, marked the lighting up of the countenance, the
quick, responsive glance, which told that truth had reached the soul;
and there vibrated in His heart the answering chord of sympathetic
joy.—
Education, 231
(1903).
Appeal of Fallen Humanity—In every human being, however
fallen, He beheld a son of God, one who might be restored to the
privilege of His divine relationship.—
Education, 79
(1903).
Simplicity, Directness, Repetition—Christ’s teaching was sim-
plicity itself. He taught as one having authority. The Jews looked
for and claimed that the first advent of Christ should be with all the
representations of glory which should attend His second advent. The
great Teacher proclaimed the truth to humanity, many of whom could