What Jesus Taught About Most (hint, it’s not money)

What did Jesus talk about the most? What did He preach about the most? The Bible topics that Jesus taught about most probably aren’t what you think.

If you’ve been to church during a money series you’ve probably heard that Jesus taught about money more than anything else. And Jesus did talk a lot about money, but he didn’t teach about it in the way that you might think.

So, what did Jesus teach about the most? How we answer that question will depend on which lens we look through. You can count specific words Jesus used, the number of parables told on specific topics, or the number of verses dedicated to various subjects. Depending on how you count it you will get different answers.

Rather than put an argument out for what single topic Jesus taught about most, I want to look at the range of topics Jesus taught about. That way we can see some of the important themes that Jesus continually went back to.

But before we get to the topics Jesus most commonly taught about I want to look at the topic most people think He taught about the most. Money.

Money

The common statistic given to show how much Jesus emphasized money is that 11 of the 39 parables talk about money. To add emphasis sometimes it’s pointed out that 1 out of every 7 verses of Jesus’ words talk about money. Those are both true. BUT those stats don’t tell the whole story.

Jesus did talk a lot about money, there’s no debating that. However many, specifically pastors, have overemphasized Jesus’ teaching on money to prove their point. Oftentimes Jesus is simply using money as an illustration to a bigger point. Thus he’s not really teaching about money; he’s using it as an illustration to a bigger point.

Let me put it this way, eleven of Jesus’ parables do mention money however eighteen of Jesus’ parables mention food. It would appear that Jesus taught about food more than money. But that’s not what’s going on here. The money and food aren’t always the message of the parables. Rather they are an illustration that points to the larger truth.

What I’m getting at is money is not the focal point to many of those 11 parables. And in a quest to prove a point, many have thrown out a statistic to back a point without doing much research. Thus we have this idea in our heads that Jesus was always talking about money. But in reality, he wasn’t.

Jesus often used money, something everyone understood, as an illustration to a larger point. Think of the Parable of the Lost Coin. Jesus isn’t actually teaching us about money, instead, He’s using money as an illustration for how we should search for the lost.

We need to look at the context. The context will tell us whether Jesus was talking about money or using it as illustration to point to a larger truth.

Did Jesus talk about money? Yes. Does he care how we use our money? Yes. Is it the most talked-about/taught issue? Not even close.

Kingdom/God

Depending on how you want to count it, remember you can make statistics say almost anything. This is the most common topic in Jesus’ teaching. In fact, you could make a strong argument for this being his primary message that everything else was centered around.

It shouldn’t surprise us that Jesus, who was God, taught mostly about God and His Kingdom. In Matthew 3:2 John the Baptist is preparing the way for Jesus by claiming that the Kingdom of God is at hand. From the very beginning of Jesus ministry the focus was on the Kingdom He was establishing.

But this Kingdom was diametrically different than all the other kingdoms that existed. So, oftentimes He contrasted earthly rulers and kingdoms with God and his kingdom. Jesus emphasized that His kingdom was different. It played by a different set of rules. He showed how God stood in starch contrast to the other gods.

In order to show the kingdom in a different light, Jesus sometimes uses money as an example, or illustration. Which is what causes many to assume he’s talking about money. But he’s not. We have to look at the surrounding context to determine what Jesus is actually pointing to.

Faith/Salvation

While it is clear that the focus of many of Jesus’ messages were about God/Kingdom, those teachings would have been pointless to us if there weren’t a way for us to get there. If I could sum up Jesus’ message it would be the Kingdom of God is at hand, AND I’ve made a way for you to enter. That’s the Gospel message. That all who believe can be a part of the Kingdom.

It would be hard to untie these two things and discern which is the more prevalent message. Many theologians have tried to discern what the most common theme in Jesus’ teachings was, and it often comes down to Kingdom or Salvation. Personally I don’t have a desire to label one as the most common teaching. I think we should just acknowledge they are both focal points of Jesus’ messages.

Honorable Mention – Hell

I thought I’d include one more topic that Jesus regularly talked about. He didn’t mention it as much as the previous ones, but he certainly did spend a lot of time talking about it. My guess is when you think about Jesus you probably don’t start thinking about the things he said about hell. But he didn’t shy away from this difficult topic. Many of his teachings and parables talked about hell.

However Jesus doesn’t tell us what hell is and who goes there. Rather he speaks in parables and illustrations. It’s not a clear picture, because that was never his point. A major problem arises when people try to pull absolutes out of these stories. Jesus isn’t trying to communicate as a textbook tells us facts. He is painting a picture that uses some artistic liberties.

While this certainly isn’t the most common topic it is one that surprises many people. If you want to read more about what Jesus said about hell you can check out this article I wrote: What Jesus Said About Hell

The Point

Besides pointing out a few of Jesus’ most common topics that he taught about, the point I’m trying to make is how easy it is to read into the Bible what we want to see. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard that Jesus taught about money more than any other topic. The problem is, that’s not true. At least not in the way it’s often portrayed. And this is just one example of many of how we misuse Scripture. We should use the context of the Bible to shows us the point of the message and not just a singular verse. 

Thanks for reading! I would love to hear from you! Drop a comment down below!


Additional Resources

Here’s a REALLY great book that can help you understand Jesus on a deeper level:

Jeffery Curtis Poor
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