Greatest Teacher

“Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him.  He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons.  These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter), James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means ‘sons of thunder’), Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddeus, Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.” (Mark 3:13-19)

Jesus is the greatest teacher the world has ever known.  He had to be. He had the most challenging curriculum imaginable—teaching about the Kingdom of God with its upside-down values that many of His students had no desire to learn. It was a daunting task, requiring effective strategies and single-minded focus.

So Jesus kept His class size small, choosing just twelve men for His inner circle.  This smaller grouping allowed Him to uniquely craft instruction for each disciple, slowly building on each man’s prior knowledge and experience.  Jesus genuinely loved His students and worked hard to build trust with them. He created an environment of intimacy, in which they would feel safe enough to ask and answer hard questions and practice lessons they would fail again and again.

And ultimately, the disciples learn the lessons of Jesus so well that they are able to take over the classroom when He’s gone.

Meditation

Learning from Jesus starts from a place of being loved by Him.  Spend a few moments sitting in His loving presence this morning.