Jesus the Teacher
Posted by amijares on December 15, 2007
Homily (Dec. 14, 2007, Sto. Nino Seminary)
Seminary Feast Day
Today is our feast day of the Sto. Nino. Last Sunday was our recollection with the parents. Yesterday was our grace-filled concert preceded with the investiture of our 1st year college seminarians, after the mass we will have a Christmas party. We have done all this for the Sto. Nino who was born of a virgin. In this seminary, we have not evicted our patron from our celebrations.
In a world where it is now possible to celebrate Christmas without Jesus, we as members, in one way or another, of the SNS community are very much aware that Christmas without Christ, makes Christmas our novena, concert, party, devoid of meaning.
Last Sunday’s recollection made us aware that we are partners in educating your sons, a product of post modernism and therefore have needs and exigencies of their own. Jesus, the God who became man however, is always the same, yesterday today and tomorrow. It is therefore good to have first of all a good, long and loving look at him this Christmas to go ahead educating our seminarians.
There is a statement made by Jesus in the gospel that causes us to stop and think and that can shed light on education in the family. It says: “You have one teacher, and you are all students” (Mt 23:8).
For Jesus there is only one teacher: he himself.
This does not mean that Jesus is denying the authority of parents. He is saying that this role should be carried out as a service and not as means to domineer or exert power. Because in serving, which is the same as loving, it is not only the human being who acts; rather it is Christ, and therefore Christ is truly the first teacher.
If Jesus is the teacher then Christian parents and the teachers have the duty to look to him in order to learn how to educate.
But what kind of teacher was Jesus?
There are several important characteristics that come to mind when looking at Jesus in his role as teacher. Let me offer some:
First of all, Jesus teaches by example. He incarnates his doctrine in his very person. He does not impose burdens on others that he has not carried first: “Woe also to you lawyers! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not lift a finger to ease them” (Lk 11:46). Jesus puts into practice what he then asks of others.
With Jesus as our model we realize that the first method in educating, also for parents, should not simply be setting out to instruct or correct, but to live out one’s Christianity radically. Parents must first put into practice themselves what they ask of their children. Do they ask for sincerity, commitment, loyalty, obedience, charity toward their brothers and sisters, chastity, patience, forgiveness? Then their children should be able to find all these qualities first of all in them.
Mothers and fathers, priests and teachers must be indisputable models that their children can always refer to.
Jesus leaves us free to take responsibility and make decisions. We see this in his encounter with the rich young man (see Mt 19:16 ff.).
We must never impose our ideas, but rather offer them with love, as an expression of love.
Children are first of all sons and daughters of God and not ours. Therefore, they should not be treated as our possessions, but as people who have been entrusted to our care.
When necessary, Jesus does not hesitate to rebuke with firmness and strength. To Peter, who wanted to stop him from facing his passion, he says: “Get behind me, Satan!… You are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things” (Mt 16:23).
Yes, discipline is also necessary. It is an integral part of education. In fact, in the book of Proverbs (13:24) it is written: “Those who love them (their children) are diligent to discipline them.” God, father and teacher, formed the Jewish people and educated them using instruction and discipline.
Woe to those who do not exert discipline! What an omission they will be responsible for!
A statement made by the prophet Ezekiel is quite strong in this regard: “If… you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but their blood I will require at your hand” (Ez 33:8).
Therefore, it is the our duty to discipline their children. If admonishment is given with peace, calm, and detachment it will make an impression upon the children’s sense of responsibility and they will remember it.
In the marvelous parable of the prodigal son, Jesus shows us the Father’s mercy – and therefore also his – toward those who repent and return to doing good.
Parents should treat their children as God treats us.
In a family, the mercy shown by the mother and father must reach the point of knowing how to forget and to “bear all things” (1 Cor 13:7), in conformity with God’s love.
Jesus, in educating the people around him, does not hesitate in turning the existing value system upside down. This is evident when he announces the Beatitudes (see Mt 5:2 ff.). In fact, he calls blessed those who do not appear to be so. He presents a path that is difficult to travel and that goes against the current of the one offered by the world.
We too must have the courage to proclaim what really matters in life.
We should not fool ourselves into thinking that if we present a feeble Christianity, a Christ that does not exist, our proposals will be more readily accepted. God makes himself known in the hearts of our children. They react positively only to the truth. But it must be presented in a way that is both accessible and acceptable, presented by parents who, before teaching, have made the effort to understand and share the true needs and desires of the new generations.
The gospel shows us a Jesus who speaks “as one having authority” (Mt 7:29).
Parents need to trust in the grace they have been given as parents and should never shrink from their task as educators. Deep down this is what they need and what they asked from us. In fact, it often happens that children will judge their parents, at times mercilessly, for not having had the courage to tell them the truth.
Jesus educates his disciples by passing on to them “his” typical teaching: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you” (Jn 15:12). By specifying that “as I have loved you,” he indicates that he is the “teacher” of this love.
It is the teaching par excellence, the gospel in a nutshell, which parents must pass on to their sons.
In putting this teaching into practice, priests formators, teachers and parents must imitate Jesus so well that they can repeat to their children that commandment as if it were their own: My little children, love one another as I have loved you.
Therefore, imitate Jesus.
Imitate him as teacher.
Imitate Jesus, or better still, allow him to live in us.
Yes, it would be best that he himself take his place within us.
If he lives in us, our performance as teachers will be irreproachable. If we introduce him as educator into our families, then perhaps this years Christmas would me more meaningful. Again Merry Christmas and I hope you enjoy each other’s presence today.
