More than a teacher

Preaching about Mark 10:1–12:

Jesus was more than a teacher. Did you notice that in our passage? Even up there in verse 3. You know when the Pharisees asked him the question, look at what He said: “ ‘What did Moses command you?’ He replied.” Veeery interesting. Not us like the humble good rabbi should say, but you, as if Moses never commanded Jesus anything.

And even more so when you look again at verse 5 and you think about it for a minute. “ ‘It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law,’ Jesus replied.” You see what Jesus is doing there? It is something unheard of for a rabbi to be doing. Jesus is speaking of the motive behind God's law that Moses gave. Huh! Okay, how could he do that? That seems … hmm … Maybe there's a verse in Deuteronomy I didn't know about where God says this. Yeah, you read through all of Deuteronomy, all of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, you won't find any verse like that. How could Jesus claim something like this with a straight face --- unless he was, himself, claiming to know the mind of God, because he was claiming, himself, to be God?

— Mark Dever