Have you ever had a favorite teacher? Mine was Mrs. Averill, our school’s English, Debate and Drama teacher. She worked so hard to show us that the skills she was attempting to teach us we not just things in a book- but real life tools that we were going to desperately need. Many years later, I can 100% confirm that this is true!
There are so many things that she taught me. If I had not followed her instruction there are many moments in my life that would have been very different. In order for her lessons to be effective I had to do the work- I had to be a good student. Mrs. Averill expected my best effort at all times- and she was fully aware of when I wasn’t pulling my weight. As her student she had expectations for me, for my future and for my performance in each of her classes.
I’m sure many of you have heard me to refer to the teenagers in our church as students over the years. I come to give you updates on the student ministry each Sunday, and refer to them as such when I talk about them. You’re probably thinking “Of course you call them students- they go to school, so that’s what they are!”
Hold that thought for a moment. You said it- I call them students because that is what they are. I don’t run a youth ministry. I don’t lead the teens. I teach the students. It seems like a small distinction, but lets look a little closer.
A youth is defined as: The period between childhood and adult age.
A student is defined as: A scholar or learner, an attentive systemic observer.
There is a big difference between the two terms! There is no expectation of behavior from a youth- it is simply a stage of life. But a student is someone who is attentively observing and learning about the topic in front of them. There is an expectation that a student will learn and grow at the teachers instruction.
When I refer to our teenagers as students, I’m setting an expectation for them and for me. I am taking responsibility for helping them to learn more about Jesus and his will for their lives. I’m also expecting that they come prepared to learn how to look more like our Savior and apply that to their daily lives. By calling them students I am showing them that they are not just someone going through life- they have a purpose.
Jesus did the same thing. He traveled all of Israel and taught many people, but not all of them were his students- his disciples. He spoke to the crowds that followed him in parables like this:
Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”
-Mark 4:1-8 (NIV)
But later, what did he do with his disciples?
When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that,
“‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’”
Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”
Mark 4:10-20 (NIV)
Jesus took his students and explained the meaning of the message to them. He wanted, needed them to understand because some day he would be entrusting them to Kingdom building work, calling them to go into all nations and make disciples. To teach others about Him. And that call has been passed down from teacher to student ever since, through God’s word. He has called everyone of us to be a student- learning and growing in our faith as we attentively study the Scriptures. But he also calls us to be teachers- to go out and spread the Good News that has been taught to us.
Where are you at in this journey? Are you just another in the crowd, listening to the Word, but not understanding or applying it? Are you a student who is actively seeking to learn? Or are you a teacher, showing others what Jesus has taught you? I challenge you to take some time to pray over this in the week to come, and to act on what God is calling you to do.
Without Mrs. Averill’s patient teaching, I wouldn’t even be able to craft this post. I see her every now and then and I know she is proud of the woman I am becoming- even though I still struggle with correct comma placement.
I hope that someday we can all see that same pride in the eyes of our Teacher!
In Christ,
Karen