Is Jesus important because of his ideas?

A reader of my list of Jesus' five ideas responded in part,

If the teachings of Jesus were all that he left, he would have long ago been absorbed into the folds of history and little known, I firmly believe. So, the question you are dealing with seems to me a diversion from the Gospel and not all that helpful.

As I have tried to point out in my elaborations on these ideas, it was precisely Jesus' incarnation of this life and the legacy of a community of disciples who have -- at their best -- articulated these teachings into real life. Far from being a diversion from the Gospel, they are a description of the the good news of how the Kingdom of God is to be made real here and now.

It is certainly true that Jesus' student followers have not consistently brought to life the Kingdom of God in the world. The powers and principalities on which the kingdom of this world is based are seductive. Without a clarifying proclamation of the alternative foundations on which the Church is to be founded we will be more easily seduced.

My contention is that these five teachings distinctively mark how Christ is embodied in the Church. Jesus' teachings are important because they are critical for understanding who he was, what his life meant, and how his student followers are to continue to live God's presence in the world.