“. . . everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.” Luke 6:40b

 

Who was your favorite teacher? What do you remember about that person? If not a teacher per se, think of someone who taught you life’s most important lessons. I’ve listened to a number of people describe their most influential instructor over the years, and most share similar traits.

 

Favorite teachers are often those who pushed us to work hard. They challenged, corrected, and stretched us. Instructors’ standards of excellence resulted in what many of us would admit, that because of that special teacher, we accomplished “more than I thought possible”. They expressed confidence in our ability that called out a deeper commitment and stronger response than we could have mustered on our own. Learning went beyond the textbook to discovering more about ourselves and life. We will never forget them – those who believed in us.

 

As the following days lead to Good Friday and Easter, my thoughts focus on a favorite Teacher available to each of us. Sure, He instructed his twelve disciples with the textbook of Old Testament scripture, but we see Him doing much more. As you spend time with these familiar events from the Gospels, watch Jesus’ interaction with His followers. He challenges their assumptions about their Heavenly Father and the Kingdom of God He is establishing. He expresses confidence that as they trust, their future will hold “abundantly more” than could be imagined. He corrects their reliance on human strength, to stretch their belief in God’s power.

 

For their part, the disciples committed their daily lives to following this Teacher. They lived with His schedules, accommodations, meal plans, and travel arrangements. Their choice to remain with Jesus expressed the decision of the rabbinical students of the day, “to desire to be what the Rabbi is”.

 

Jesus’ offer is extended to us as well. Will you respond to His invitation? He calls. Will we seek forgiveness and be free? Like a favorite teacher, He challenges and corrects. To seek Him is to approach One who knows us completely, yet still believes in us. He is confident that as we trust, He will answer with abundantly more than we thought possible.

 

Like most favorite teachers, He has a schedule for the day posted for every student. Will you submit your list of plans and accept His schedule? It is a daily choice, but, once made, it will pull from you a deeper commitment and stronger response than you imagined. There is hard work and great fulfillment in His schedule. Who will set the order of your days this year as Easter draws near?

 

-Pastor Todd Witmer