Mennonite Weekly Review

We’ve all heard sermons on the love of God. It is reported that when Calcutta’s Mother Teresa got up to speak and said the familiar “God loves you,” people immediately hushed and leaned forward in their chairs, taking in her every gesture and nuance. What gave the diminutive and unpretentious Mother Teresa that commanding presence, that authority? Did her own dark night of the soul, revealed after her death, lend integrity to her words?

Stackley

Was it the consistency of word and deed that set Jesus apart from other teachers of his time? The people were astonished, spellbound, at his authoritative sermons and stories. They also hung around afterward and watched as he responded to sick people.

But anybody who was anybody, those who were “well and didn’t need a physician,” questioned his authority. (Notice, the “evil spirits” never questioned it!) Do we detect a bit of jealousy here?

The ripple effect of teaching

What impresses me is that Jesus was also teachable. What? The Master Teacher has something to learn?

And, for example, from a woman? Matt. 15:21-28 and Mark 7:24-30 describe a Syrophoenician woman winning her argument with Jesus: Yes, in spite of all his good Jewish logic to the contrary, he should take on the case of her sick daughter.

Are we willing to learn from unexpected teachers? Teachers like the persecuted Colombian Mennonite Church, whose members frequently get death threats, repeatedly imploring North Americans to live the good news of Jesus Christ. Teachers like Kenya’s “People of the Lamb” and “The Abejas” (the Bees) in Chiapas, Mexico, two Christian communities who teach historic peace churches to remember and renew their commitment to nonviolence. Teachers like the Mennonite-trained Bible teachers in Botswana who now, in turn, have something to say to us: “If you don’t read the Bible you can’t understand what kind of person you are.”

In teaching we are taught. In learning we grow. Messiah Teacher teaches us.