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 10:1-12; 1 Corinthians 4:5; Acts 17:31
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.
