Jesus Was a Super Coach
- olivierbranford
- Jul 8, 2024
- 8 min read
Updated: Jul 9, 2024
Jesus was a human being. The only difference between him and us was that he only ever came from a place of love (he always asked the question “What would love do now?") and he was convinced that whatever he prayed for had already happened.
Jesus was a Super Coach. He always listened to those who needed him. He was an Enlightened Witness in that he walked the path before you and was crucified, which led to his transformation and resurrection. He saw the soul in people; their Higher Self, until they saw it too.
Jesus was a Super Coach
It is easy to think of Jesus as a leader, a servant, and a teacher. However, can we see Jesus as a coach?
Jesus was always totally present in the holy instant: The present moment. He said in Matthew 6:34 is “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” It is the thirty-fourth, and final, verse of the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament and is part of the Sermon on the Mount.
He knew that the answer to transformation was to look within. In Luke 17:21 Jesus said "For, behold, the kingdom of God is within you" in response to the Pharisees asking when the Kingdom of God will come.
There are many different models of coaching. However, there has never been a model of coaching quite like Jesus. The New Testament shows that Jesus was the coach and facilitator of the learning of twelve men, his disciples, that he was helping to expand the Kingdom of God.
Great coaching is a process that aims to improve the performance and transformation of other people. When Jesus recruited his first disciples who fished for a living, he said, “Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:19)
Jesus was an effective coach for his disciples. After they returned from their mission trip, Jesus listened to their report, offering both affirmation and correction. In particular, he underscored the value of relationship with the divine. Jesus coached his disciples, that is, he trained them to live as he lived, so they could thrive in his absence. In fact, Jesus practiced coaching that has the greatest level of influence - the kind that doesn't revolve around set meetings, simple goals, and formal curriculum. Jesus practised Deep Coaching.
In coaching others, Jesus was helping the individual to improve their performance by asking questions. Good coaches ask great clarifying questions. Good coaches help those they coach to learn. Jesus was an expert at asking questions.
There is a vast difference between teaching someone and helping them to learn. Jesus was an expert at this. In coaching others, Jesus was helping the individual to improve their performance by asking questions, so that they came up with their own answers..
Asking questions about doubt can help create an environment of right answers. Doubt is not the opposite of Faith. It is an element to help grow Faith. Doubt can be understood as a good catalyst when handled as Jesus addressed it. Here are a few questions of Jesus about the subject of doubt:
Why did you doubt? (Matt 14:31)
Why are you testing me? (Matt 22:18)
My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me? (Matt 27:46)
You are a teacher in Israel, and you do not understand this? (John 3: 10)
If I tell you about earthly things and you will not believe, how will you believe when I tell you of heavenly things? (John 3: 12)
Being able to ask questions is a skill of all great coaches. Jesus once asked, “Do you not yet understand?” (Matthew 16:8). Jesus asked nearly one hundred questions when he was coaching his disciples.
The goal of his questions was to coach his disciples in how to respond to the questions themselves rather than him answering. Here is a list of “how,” “what,” “where” and “who” questions Jesus asked others to respond to. These type of questions will lead people to give some thought to their answers and provide more information:
How can anyone enter a strong man’s house and take hold of his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? (Matt 12:29)
How many loaves do you have? (Matt 15:34)
What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life and what can one give in exchange for his life? (Matt 16:26)
How are you to avoid being sentenced to hell? (Matt 23:33)
How many baskets full of leftover fragments did you pick up? (Mark 8:19)
Salt is good, but what if salt becomes flat? (Mark 9:50)
What king, marching into battle would not first sit down and decide whether with ten thousand troops he can successfully oppose another king marching upon him with twenty thousand troops? (Luke 14:31)
If therefore you are not trustworthy with worldly wealth, who will trust you with true wealth? (Luke 16:11)
For who is greater, the one seated a table or the one who serves? (Luke 22:27)
How does this concern of your affect me? (John 2:4)
How is it that you seek praise from one another and not seek the approval that comes from God? (John 5:44)
Where can we buy enough food for them to eat? (John 6:5)
Woman where are they, has no one condemned you? (John 8:10)
What concern is it of yours? (John 21:22)
Jesus asks, “What do you want?” (Matt 20:32)
1. This question is a strong coaching question of Jesus. It places the responsibility of the answer entirely into the hands of the one being coached.
2. Laziness and disconnection will take place if someone else is doing everything. However, when someone needs the help of another who is stronger and wiser, this question must be asked.
3. To assume we know what someone wants from us without asking can lead a coach/leader in dozens of directions.
In Matthew chapter 20 the story that includes this question is found:
1. As Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him. Two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”
2. The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”
3. Jesus stopped and called them. “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.
4. “Lord,” they answered, “we want our sight.”
5. Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.
On many occasions, Jesus coached his followers and his doubters to consider what the scriptures had to say about a particular subject. A good coach will do the same. Here are a few examples:
Did you never read the scriptures? (Matt 21:42)
And why do you break the commandments of God for the sake of your tradition? (Matt 15:3)
What did Moses command you? (Mark 10:3)
What is written in the law? How do you read it? (Luke 10:26)
If you do not believe Moses’ writings how will you believe me? (John 5:47)
One the signs of a great coach are their ability to ask “why” questions. This type of question will cause the one being coached to provide the answer. Jesus was an expert at challenging those who followed him to respond to questions when he asked:
Why are you thinking such things in your heart? (Mark 2:8) Why are you anxious about clothes? (Matt 6:28)
Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye yet fail to perceive the wooden beam in your own eye? (Matt 7:2)
Why are you terrified? (Matt 8:26)
Why do you harbour evil thoughts? (Matt 9:4)
Why do you ask me about what is good? (Matt 19:1)
Why do you make trouble for the woman? (Matt 26:10)
Why this commotion and weeping? (Mark 5:39)
Why does this generation seek a sign? (Mark 8:12)
Why were you looking for me? (Luke 2:49)
Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’ and not do what I command? (Luke 6:46)
Why are you sleeping? (Luke 22:46)
Why are you trying to kill me? (John 7:19)
Why do you not understand what I am saying? (John 8:43)
Jesus had a strategy of asking “why” questions that created a process of deep thinking. A good coach asks the right questions. A productive coach encourages a person’s development as a thinker. The values of other people and their opinions are recognised by excellent coaches:
What are you discussing as you walk along? (Luke 24:17)
Who do people say the Son of Man is? (Matt 16:13)
But who do you say that I am? (Matt 16:15)
What were you arguing about on the way? (Mark 9:33)
Everyone is looking for something in life. A good coach can help those they lead to finding those things that mean the most to them. Jesus asked:
What are you looking for? (John 1:38)
What did you go out to the desert to see? (Matt 11:8)
Whom are you looking for? (John 18:4)
Do you have eyes and still not see?
Do you have ears and do not hear? (Mark 8:17-18)
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I have a Bachelor's degree in Natural Sciences from Trinity College, Cambridge; a Master's Degree in Philosophy from Trinity College, Cambridge; a PhD Doctorate in Scientific Research from University College London (UCL); a Medical Degree (MD/MBBS) from The Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, London and have been a doctor and reconstructive trauma and cancer surgeon in London for 20 years. I have published over 50 peer reviewed scientific journal articles, have been an associate editor and frequent scientific faculty member, and am the author of several scientific books. I have been awarded my Diploma in Transformative Life Coaching in London, which has International Coaching Federation (ICF) Accreditation, as well as the UK Association for Coaching (AC), and the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC). I have been on my own transformative journey full time for four years and I am ready to be your guide to you finding out who you really are and how the world works.
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