A new school year always brings back memories for me, both as a student and as a teacher. This year, I was reminded of being a student-teacher. It’s that in-between time when your coursework is finished, but you’re not yet certified to teach a class of your own.
However, before declaring a major and choosing teaching as my career, I participated in a pre-teaching experience. This gave me the chance to observe a real-life teacher (and her student-teacher) so I could taste and see if teaching was really what I wanted to do. I watched all their comings and goings for several days and decided it was!
After meeting all my course requirements, I had the privilege of becoming a student-teacher under two outstanding master teachers. A physical education teacher taught me the organizational skills I needed to manage a gym full of middle schoolers. Years later, an elementary school teacher taught me that learning can be fun, but it also requires hard work.
These two ladies offered many words of instruction and encouragement, but I learned more by just watching them. I saw how they got to work early, planned their lessons, interacted with their students, managed work and family, and dealt with parents. (I could have used a few more lessons on that last one!) They saw every minute with me as a teachable moment. In so many ways, I wanted to be just like them.
The Jewish people have a special blessing they say to one another: “May you be covered in the dust of your rabbi.” To us, that might seem strange. We might picture Pig-Pen from the Peanuts comic strip and wonder why being dirty would be considered a blessing. However, in Jewish culture, a rabbi’s follower desires nothing more. Wearing the dust kicked up by your rabbi’s shoes means you are following close behind him. You want to see what he sees and hear what he says. To do that, you must stay close. Every minute with the master teacher is a teachable moment.
The Twelve apostles participated in their own kind of pre-teaching experience. Each had a personal encounter with Jesus that allowed them to taste and see that His way was good. After observing His comings and goings, He offered them an invitation: “Follow me.” And they did!
The Twelve understood what it meant to be covered in Jesus’ dust. They followed Him everywhere because He was always on the move. When He saw a fig tree, vine, sheep, or coin, He used it to teach a lesson. He used water, bread, salt, and light to teach profound truths. When He sensed His followers needed a few more lessons on how to treat others, He taught them. Every moment with Jesus was a teachable moment. They still are!
So, what I have to ask myself is, “Am I covered in the dust of Jesus, my Rabbi?” Do I stay close enough to hear His voice? Do I follow Him no matter where He leads me? What if He leads me where I don’t want to go? Will He stay with me?
The question isn’t whether He will stay with us; it’s whether we will stay close to Him. His Spirit within us won’t lead us somewhere His grace and mercy won’t cover us. We can trust Him no matter what comes.
I am so glad the apostle Paul had a personal encounter with Jesus, the real-life Teacher. He tasted and saw that Jesus’ way was good, and he chose to follow Him. Let’s blow some dust off of Paul’s words and let him take us back to school.
“I continually long to know the wonders of Jesus and to experience the overflowing power of his resurrection working in me. I will be one with him in his sufferings and become like him in his death. Only then will I be able to experience complete oneness with him in his resurrection from the realm of death. I admit that I haven’t yet acquired the absolute fullness that I’m pursuing, but I run with passion into his abundance so that I may reach the purpose for which Christ Jesus laid hold of me to make me his own. I don’t depend on my own strength to accomplish this; however I do have one compelling focus: I forget all of the past as I fasten my heart to the future instead. I run straight for the divine invitation of reaching the heavenly goal and gaining the victory-prize through the anointing of Jesus. So let all who are fully mature have this same passion, and if anyone is not yet gripped by these desires, God will reveal it to them. And let us all advance together to reach this victory-prize, FOLLOWING one path with one passion.” (Philippians 3:10-16 TPT, emphasis mine)
Let’s lean in, get a bit dustier, and become more like our Master Teacher!
