What is it that makes Jesus different?
He’s not the only moral or spiritual guide we might choose, so why choose Jesus over any other?
Well, it’s not because Jesus’ moral teaching is totally different to that of humanity’s other great moral teachers. After all, as C.S. Lewis once pointed out, a totally different morality would mean exalting cowardice, disloyalty, dishonesty, and so as moral virtues. No moral teacher does this and we don’t expect Jesus to do so either.
So how does he vary?
We can see the answer to this when we look not just at what Jesus said, but also at what he did.
Take, for instance, the events recounted in Mark 3:1-6:
1 And He entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand. 2 So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him. 3 And He said to the man who had the withered hand, “Step forward.” 4 Then He said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they kept silent. 5 And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other. 6 Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.
Here Jesus finds himself coming into conflict with the Pharisees directly and with the Herodians. Those two groups might be thought of as the “religiously minded” and “politically minded” members of society—in fact, it’s kind of telling that the Pharisees had to leave the Synagogue in order to conspire with the Herodians. Clearly synagogue attendance wasn’t a big priority for the later!