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Jesus And His Students
by Donne Hayden
Whatever else he was, Jesus was a great teacher, and was
acknowledged as such by all faith traditions. Because I was a high school
English teacher for over twenty years, I am touched by the vision of Jesus the
Teacher.
First, here's a humorous piece that circulated among public school teachers
about 20 years ago. This is called "The Lesson."
Then Jesus took his disciples up to the mountain and gathering them around him,
he taught them, saying. . .
Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of
Heaven;
Blessed are the meek;
Blessed are the merciful;
Blessed are they who search for justice;
Blessed are they who are persecuted;
Blessed are you when you suffer;
Be glad and rejoice for your reward is great in Heaven.
Then Simon Peter asked, "Do we have to write this down?" And Andrew said, "Are
we supposed to know this?"
And James said, "Will we have a test on this?"
And Philip said, "What if we don't know it?"
And Bartholomew said, "Do we have to turn this in?"
And John said, "The other disciples didn't have to learn this." And Matthew
said, 'When do we get out of here?"
And Judas said, 'What does this have to do with real life?"
Then one of the Pharisees present asked to see Jesus' lesson plans and inquired
of Jesus his terminal objectives in the cognitive domain
And Jesus wept.
Although this is humor—as Shakespeare said, many a truth is spoken in jest. Some
of these irreverent questions stimulate me to think about the “Gospel,” the
canonical New Testament, i.e. that which was accepted by Christian authorities
about three hundred years after the life and death of the man Jesus.
Take for instance, Simon Peter's question. "Do we have to write this down?"
As a classroom teacher, when I gave information, of course I expected students
who wanted to remember it to write it down—Take notes. But Jesus taught in the
oral tradition. He could have had no inkling that 50 to 100 years after he was
gone, remnants of what he said would be collected from the memories of those who
heard him speak, or those who heard stories about him from someone who knew him,
or from someone who knew someone who knew him. If the disciples had had stylus
in hand, taking notes. I imagine the Gospel would be significantly different.
Jesus didn't expect his students to take notes of course. Instead, in order to
promote understanding and retention of the material, he used time-tested
teaching techniques in the oral method—repetition and stories or parables. In
Matthew 13: 10-17. he explains the teaching theory of parables:
. . . the disciples came and asked him. Why do you speak to them in parables?'
He answered. 'To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of
heaven. but to them it has not been given. The reason I speak to them in
parables is that “seeing they do not perceive and hearing they do not listen.
nor do they understand.”
In this sad school, the disciples are his star pupils; they are-the A students.
"But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears for they hear," he tells
them. ''Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what
you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it"
(Mt. 13:16-17).
At several points in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus voices frustration at how
poorly even his best students grasp the message. Here are a couple of instances
in which Jesus sounds like many teachers I have known and remarkably human in
his exasperation.
The religious authorities, the Pharisees, challenge Jesus because his disciples
do not always follow the Hebrew law of washing their hands before eating. Jesus
answers them, telling them they are hypocrites who insist that others obey the
law while they find ways to, as he says, “make void the word of God.” Then Jesus
tells the crowd: "Listen and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that
defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles."
A little later, the disciples come to him and Peter says to him. "'Explain this
parable to us.”
Then (Jesus] said. 'Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see
that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach and goes out into the
sewer? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what
defiles. For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery . . .
theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person, but to eat with
unwashed hands does not defile.”
In another instance, the Pharisees and Sadducees, desiring to test Jesus
. . . they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. He answered them, “When it
is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ And in the
morning, ‘It will be stormy today for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know
how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs
of the times.’ . . . Then he left them and went away.
When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any
bread. Jesus said to them, “Watch out, and beware the yeast of the Pharisees.”
They said to one another, “It is because we have brought no bread.” And becoming
aware of it, Jesus said, “You of little faith, why are you talking about having
no bread? Do you still not perceive?” Then he reminds them of the five loaves
that fed five thousand with some left over. “How could you fail to perceive that
I was not speaking about bread? Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and
Sadducees!” Then they understood that he had not told them to beware the yeast
of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees."
Another time, a father brings his epileptic child to Jesus with the complaint
that the disciples have been unable to banish the demon; the A students failed
the lab—failed in applying what he's taught them. Jesus responds with words like
those I heard near the end of every school year from teachers spent and
exhausted: "You faithless and perverse generation. How much longer must I be
with you? How much longer must I put up with you?"
When the disciples ask him how come they weren't able to banish the demon, he
continues: "Because of your little faith. For truly I tell you, if you have
faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here
to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.'" Even his
best students had trouble with the challenging material he brought them in his
lessons, so it's no surprise the rest of us struggle.
Back to the list of irreverent questions from the disciples-- 'Will we have a
test on this?" Let's consider our accountability as students.
I suspect that Jesus would answer that your life is your test. In one of Dr.
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross' books on death and dying, she interviewed people who had
near-death experiences. Many reported that "their lives flashed before their
eyes," and some individuals recalled evaluating their own lives in light of
three questions: Did you love? Did you serve? And Did you seek knowledge?
(Whether you believe this or not, these are not bad questions to hold up to your
life.)
Given the depth of his love for us, I can't imagine that Jesus wanted anyone to
fail—that he was one of those teachers who apply the Bell curve to every graded
activity-meaning a certain percentage of people must fail As any good teacher,
Jesus wanted all his followers to succeed, to pass the test.
Although there are passages in the New Testament that threaten Hellfire if we
fail, that doesn't fit with the rest of Jesus' lesson of love and compassion.
Perhaps some school superintendent-type, an old-fashioned disciplinarian, put
that in the New Testament to scare students into achieving. Instead, I imagine
we will be responsible for grading our own papers. When we look at our lives to
see how well and how often we have applied the lessons of our teacher, we'll
find it impossible to cheat on the final exam.
Finally, the most important question, asked by that disinterested disciple,
Judas: 'What does this have to do with real life?"
Let's identify the "this"—the essence of Jesus' teaching encapsulated in Matthew
22:37-40. 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all
your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment.
And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two
commandments hang all the law and the prophets." That’s it.
In addition to this succinct summary of his message, Jesus demonstrated through
his actions what we're supposed to do, how we're supposed to live. Consider the
overwhelming evidence of his actions—
He was loving and inclusive; Jesus excluded no one who genuinely and humbly
sought to accept what he had to give. He made a big deal of including outsiders.
He made a big deal of the Spirit of the Law rather than the Letter of the Law.
He made a big deal of faith and love.
I think of my experience as a teacher. However caring and concerned I was, Jesus
must be many times more caring and concerned. However much I wanted my students
to learn and grow, to gain confidence, to master the subject matter, how much
more must Jesus want those things for his disciples, for us, who are still his
students.
As a teacher, I was flattered when students liked me, but what I most wanted was
for them to apply what I taught them about writing; I wanted my students to
become good writers, who revised and edited their own writing. I was pleased
when those with little or no talent learned to apply revision and editing
techniques in some way. I loved it when a few students absorbed what I taught
them and went beyond, becoming graceful and confident writers. In the same way,
I believe Jesus is more gratified when we live his lesson than whet we worship
him.
When I taught literature, I hoped my students would understand and appreciate
the subtleties and deeper meanings of great works, though I realized not all of
them would. A student reading at the 4th grade level understands Huckleberry
Finn differently from one reading at college level. Some people can only see the
adventure story. Some people can only respond to the offensive language used at
the time. But a reader's limited understanding or appreciation doesn't make
Huckleberry Finn any less powerful as an indictment against racism and
prejudice. As is true in Jesus' teaching, the message is there, whether or not
we fully understand it.
Occasionally when a student transferred into my class from another school I
would discover that student could write well already, or had already studied the
Shakespeare play we were reading. It was clear when a student had had excellent
teachers. I acknowledged the talent of the student and the excellent instruction
the student had received, without feeling threatened because she or he had
learned it from another teacher. I was simply glad the student knew how to write
well or could add dimension to class discussion of the literature.
Yes, I am making an analogy here. Can we believe that if a person learned
compassion from Buddha, Jesus would have felt threatened and jealous of that,
insisting his lessons on compassion were the only lessons that counted? Or would
Jesus the Teacher, whose "classroom" included everyone, even those ordinarily
left out, gratefully acknowledge that here was a student who had mastered a
significant portion of the material that is key to ''the secrets of heaven" and
to Real Life.
I am certain that Jesus would have agreed with the way the Buddha phrased this
lesson:
The thought manifests as the word;
The word manifests as the deed;
The deed develops into habit;
And habit hardens into character.
So watch the thought and its ways with care,
And let it spring from love
Born out of concern for all beings.
PRAYER: May we be humble and loving students of the lessons of Jesus, and may
our lives give honor and tribute to this great Teacher.
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