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nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these” (Matt. 6:

28-29). 156

Jesus avoided abstract terminology, words that end with “ation and ality.” 157 Archibald Hunter

explains this with an example, saying, “We talk of Providence . . . What he says is: ‘Your

heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things.’” 158 When he instructed the

Eucharist, Jesus did not analyze and conceptualize the nature and significance of it. He just held

a loaf of bread and said, “Take, eat; this is my body”(Matt. 26:26). Then he took a cup of wine

and said, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for

many for the forgiveness of sins”(Matt. 26:27-28).

One of the outstanding traits of Jesus’ using picture-creating words in his preaching is his use of

imagery. His sermons are replete with word pictures and figures of speech from common life. 159

He clothed his message in metaphor using pictures of word. He was “a master of soul-capturing

imagery.” 160 In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if

your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is unhealthy, your

156 Ibid., 123-24. Horne provides a complete list of Jesus’ using the concrete word pictures
in illustrating the abstract theological concepts. These are some examples: “Grapes and Figs” for
“Fruitful Discipleship,” “Serpents and Doves” for “Wisdom and Harmlessness,” and so on.

157
Jones, Teaching Methods, 17.
158 Archibald M. Hunter, A Pattern for Life: An Exposition of the Sermon on the Mount,
Its Making, Its Exegesis and Its Meaning, rev. ed. (Philadelphia, PN: The Westminster Press,
1965), 21.

159
White, Listening Carefully to Jesus (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans
Publishing Company, 2000), 10. He says, “the main difference between Jesus’ language
and our own is his constant use of visual metaphors.