On Sunday mornings I am teaching a class at a local Church.
The Gospel of Mark is our text.
As I teach, I ask the students to listen with two questions in mind:
1. What is Jesus like?
2. How can I be more like Him?
One of the students was kind enough to put together a list of all the qualities we have come up with through the first half of the book - Chapter 8.
I listed them at 130 Gifts Jesus Gives Us for Christmas.
The first one -
Jesus is an example of one who is a teacher.
In Japan, the high schools are ranked by education quality.
For more than a decade, I taught at the number two school in the prefecture.
This was through no fault of my own, mind you. I think they just wanted a blonde-hair, blue-eyed, living being, and my hair was blonde at the time.
I once surveyed my students, asking them what qualities did they look for most in a teacher.
Their answers surprised me just a bit.
There was a variety of answers, but two qualities stood out.
They might at first glance seem contradictory.
The type of teacher the best students in Japan wanted most was one who was strict and one who was kind.
The students wanted someone to draw boundaries for them, give them guidelines and be strict and fair about enforcing them.
For those students who kept within the boundaries, they hoped for kindness.
Jesus is this kind of teacher. He demonstrated the standards of life that he expects from us. He is strict in that those standards cannot be compromised. He is also kind, loving, gentle, and more with those who stay within those boundaries.
Jesus is a strict, yet kind teacher to me.
When I teach, I want to be like Him.
What kind of teacher do you like?
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