Remember what happened in grade school when the teacher stepped out of the room for a moment?
Even though she left instructions to continue working on the lesson, usually something quite different took place!
Without the Teacher things go downhill very fast! Students quickly forget the instructions. Lose focus, begin to play around and sometimes even fight.
Here we see what happened when Jesus left some of His disciples alone to go up on the mountain.
When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them.
This is still what religion comes to without the Teacher. Christians begin to focus on arguments about truth rather than practical lessons about how to live it.
It’s only possible to follow Jesus successfully when we learn to practice the continual presence of the Teacher. It is only He who keeps us focused on our lesson at hand - becoming more like Him!
There is another unfortunate result of the Teacher’s absence. His students lose power. A man in crowd reports – I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.
Religion without power is always the result when the Teacher is not present. We can only do what He asks and become what He desires when we remain conscious of His presence.
Weak, ineffective, argumentative! That’s religion – and life - without the Teacher!
"As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him." Mk 9:15.
ReplyDeleteWhen we compare ourselves with Jesus, Jesus always amazes. When we compare others with Jesus, we are always amazed. No one can do the things He did (or does.)
The teachers of the Law argue with his followers when he isn't there. When Jesus is present, they don't have ground to stand on. He always answers them to the point where they can't respond, except with anger to go and plot to kill him.
The disciples are trying to do good, but lack the faith to pull it off. Now by this time I would suppose they would have had the faith that Jesus could have done this, but for themselves, not quite there.
So if we honestly compare ourselves with the Teacher - we will be amazed. Unfortunately, we have a tendency to compare ourselves with others - those that lack faith, or those who mis-teach the law. When we do that, we can look pretty good in our own eyes.
However, comparing ourselves with the teacher will lead to seeing areas we need to work on. Because when we look at the Teacher, we're always amazed.