My dad was a sixth grade teacher who later moved into school administration, and in our large family, “back to school” was a high time of the year. In northern Minnesota, killing frosts already threatened our early September nights, but the return to school meant friends and school activities and, in those days, it also meant stiff new blue jeans and a fabric-covered notebook that had to last the whole year.
Little did I know then that I would be in and out of school for the rest of my life, with undergraduate studies and degrees from two seminaries, and that the aspect of school I dreaded most — sitting in class — would become a privilege I relish today. I’m not an academic, but build study into my routine, and now more than ever, “the more I learn the less I know.”
So, in one of my classes at a Pasadena seminary, Dr. Dallas Willard challenged us to “rehabilitate” Jesus as teacher. He explained the importance of becoming students to the one called “rabbi” and challenged us to establish him again in this role and to sit at his feet as students.
He described it like this: “You are pushing through a crowded and dusty market when you come upon an obscure, hand-written sign that simply says, ‘Students Wanted,’ with an arrow pointing down a dim, narrow alleyway. Intrigued, you walk till you come to a small shop where you look in and see people sitting at the feet of Jesus as he teaches them.”
It is said of Jesus that in him “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,” suggesting he has the most important things to say about all of the most important topics. And among his teachings is a call to “obedience,” meaning that his students are learning to live what he teaches.
There are some who claim to be Christians without having the slightest smell of Jesus about them. Their belief is academic, and they have even killed each other over those beliefs. The student of Jesus, on the other hand, takes in his teachings through the mind, but allows them to touch the heart and break into a new way of living.
Today, the small sign is still at the crossroad of our lives, beckoning us with “Students Wanted,” as Jesus invites us to learn from him the best way of living.
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