“Come to Me”

And when Jesus completed these words, the crowds were astounded by his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority and not as one of their scribes.

Matthew 7:28–29

Many misinterpret the Sermon as nothing more than good advice. Matthew 7:12 (the “Golden Rule”) may in this sense be the most abused verse in the Sermon. An ironic mistake, since it falls directly prior to the teaching that is designed to prevent this sort of thinking.

The words of Jesus are not one tome in a library of wisdom, nor is the Teacher himself one voice among a pantheon of sages. He stands a world apart from “influencers” and all other self-proclaimed brokers of wisdom. As C.S. Lewis writes, “Let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”