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Jesus and Lao Tzu: Seven Striking Parallels

Jesus and Lao Tzu: Seven Striking Parallels

Last updated on: September 28, 2026 at 3:42 am by Gregory T. Smith

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Jesus and Lao Tzu: Seven Striking Parallels 2026-09-12T20:18:59-08:00 Gregory T. Smith

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What’s the most astonishing thing about Lao Tzu? Sometimes, he sounds uncannily like Jesus—centuries before Jesus was born!

Jesus and Lao Tzu: Seven Striking Parallels

I noticed this strange resonance between the Chinese philosopher and the carpenter from Nazareth. (Image created by Gregory T. Smith on Canva)

Four decades ago, when I first learned about Tao Te Ching, I noticed this strange resonance between the Chinese philosopher and the carpenter from Nazareth. No—I’m not suggesting that Jesus was part of a secret Taoist school. Neither am I in the camp that believes he traveled to the Far East in the silent years between ages twelve and thirty. And I’m not saying that Christianity and Taoism are the same—they aren’t. But both traditions repeatedly return to themes of humility, surrender, simplicity, nonviolence, and compassion. And, taken seriously, the teachings of both masters could easily be confused for weakness.

Parallel Sayings

My book, Jesus and Lao Tzu: The Way of Love, explores that conversation at length. Read on—I promise you won’t find a summary of the book here. Instead, I offer these as a handful of glimpses—some of the moments that first made fourteen-year-old-me stop and wonder whether these two ancient teachers might have a great conversation if they ever sat down at a campfire together. So, I hope you’ll enjoy these parallel sayings of Jesus and Lao Tzu:

1. To Lead, Go Low

Jesus

“Whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant.”

Mark 10:43

Lao Tzu

To lead people, place yourself beneath them.

Tao Te Ching 66

Here, Jesus upends what we think of as greatness. We don’t usually think of leaders becoming servants. Lao Tzu does almost the same thing, asking genuine leaders to take the lower place rather than lording it over other people.

2. The First and the Last

Jesus

“Many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”

Matthew 19:30

Lao Tzu

The victory will go to the one who knows how to yield.

Tao Te Ching 69

Remember a few years ago when “Winning!” was the catchphrase? Jesus and Lao Tzu challenge the assumption that winning means coming in first place. In their very different ways, Jesus and Lao Tzu suggest that the real trophy belongs to the one who helps others cross the finish line before them.

3. Blessed Are the Meek

Jesus

“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”

Matthew 5:5

Lao Tzu

The soft and flexible belong to life.
The hard and rigid belong to death.

Tao Te Ching 76

Imagine that reed that bends in the windstorm, next to the mighty oak that topples because it will not give in. Jesus blesses the meek, saying it is they who will endure. Lao Tzu sees this kind of flexibility as a sign of life itself. Both overturn the usual assumption that when the going gets tough, the tough get going.

4. Become Like a Child

Jesus

“Unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Matthew 18:3

Lao Tzu

Return to the state of the little child.

Tao Te Ching 28

Do you want to become spiritually mature? Jesus and Lao Tzu both indicate that unlearning is more important than learning. It’s not about becoming more sophisticated, guarded, or self-important. Instead, it’s about becoming more gentle, simple, receptive. Becoming childlike is how we truly grow.

5. Strength Without Violence

Jesus

“All who take the sword will perish by the sword.”

Matthew 26:52

Lao Tzu

Force has a way of boomeranging.

Tao Te Ching 30

These wisdom teachers agree that violence ultimately consumes those who rely on it. Therefore, use minimal force against your adversaries, or none at all.

6. Do Not Resist

Jesus

“Do not resist an evildoer.”

Matthew 5:39

Lao Tzu

That which offers no resistance overcomes the hardest substances.

Tao Te Ching 43

When you read the Gospels and the Tao Te Ching, neither advocates passivity in the face of injustice. But both recommend a kind of strength that refuses to become the kind of evil that it seeks to oppose.

7. Enough

Jesus

“One’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”

Luke 12:15

Lao Tzu

Those who know they have enough are truly wealthy.

Tao Te Ching 33

Don’t get caught up in the race for money and possessions. Jesus and Lao Tzu both question one of humanity’s oldest assumptions: that bigger is better and more equals more. Instead, they point out that wealth too often amounts to hoarding.

The Journey Begins

I’m not claiming that Jesus and Lao Tzu agreed on everything or trying to force them into an uncomfortable agreement that would dishonor both traditions. But, when you read the Gospels and Tao Te Ching together, the echoes are striking.

My book begins with those echoes and follows them much further. It invites the reader into a journey of compassion, surrender, and leadership that question conventions of violence, ego, and control. And it asks what it might actually mean to walk “the Way.”

Consider these a few peeks through the doorway. The book is “The book is the journey of a thousand miles that begins with a single step.”

Jesus and Lao Tzu: The Way of Love is finally available on Amazon. Order your copy today. Order one for a friend—and maybe another for an enemy.