Most people—Christian and not—view Jesus as a great moral teacher who came to show us how to create a good and just society in order to better this world for the future. But for Jesus there wasn’t going to be much of a future for this world.
Like all biblical prophets before and after him, Jesus believed “the end of all things is near” (1Pet 4:7). That is, the kingdom of God was coming and very soon (Mar 1.14-15).
So people needed to prepare by repenting, changing the way they live, act and view the world.
As a result, what ultimately lies at the heart of all his teachings, ethics/morals included, is to prepare yourself and others for that coming judgment.
Luke 10
After this the lord appointed seventy others, and sent them ahead in pairs to every town and place that he intended to visit. “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few,” he said to them. “So pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest fields. Now go — I am sending you like sheep among wolves. Do not take a money belt or bag or extra shoes, and do not stop to talk with people on the way. When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ If a person of peace is living there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will come back to you. Stay in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they give you, as workers deserve their pay. Do not go from house to house. Whatever town you enter, if the people there welcome you, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick people there and say to them, ‘The Kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But whatever town you enter, if the people do not welcome you, go into their streets and tell them, ‘We are wiping off against you even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet. Yet be sure of this: The Kingdom of God has come near.’ I tell you, it will be better in the Day of Judgment for Sodom than for that town.
1 Corinthians 4:5
Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.
Acts 17:31
For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.
The ethics and morals of Jesus are to prepare for the coming kingdom; they’re not to better your society and turn it into that kingdom.
