Training Days
“A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been trained, will be like his teacher.” Luke 6:40
Pupil – What is your model for education? For almost all of us, it’s the classroom setting. An expert presents information to students. The students listen, take notes and remember the information. Then they regurgitate. From kindergarten to graduate school, from factory floor to executive board rooms, this is the typical way we educate. Even the translation of this Greek verse advocates this model. But it’s not what Jesus has in mind.
In order to understand how radically different the Biblical method of education is from the Greek model that dominates our world, we must re-translate verses like this one. We must pay close attention to the implications of the words. First, do you notice that the translation “pupil” for the Greek mathetes conjures up the classroom setting? Teacher and pupils brings to mind the kind of classes we have even in the church. If we knew that the Greek word meant disciple, then the classroom setting isn’t quite so compelling. After all, disciples can be taught anywhere. But this isn’t the only problem.
Looking deeper we discover that the Greek word itself is based in a rigorous, static paradigm. Look closely at the Greek word and you will see its root in mathematics. This word begins with the idea of transferring correct answers and static formulae from one person to another. It implies learning the rules of the fixed game so that the student has the right information. It is not a life-transformation kind of word. The reason we get disciple is that this Greek word was translated into the Latin disciplus, from a word that means “to study.”
Of course, Jesus didn’t use these words. He used the Hebrew word talmid. That makes an enormous difference. A talmid was a follower of a sage (a rabbi), but he was not an uneducated pupil. The difference between a sage and a talmid was this: A sage could answer any question regarding matters from the Scripture while a talmid could answer questions that related to his particular area of expertise in the Scripture. In other words, a talmid was a subject-matter expert, but a sage was an expert in all subjects. This radically changes our view of the relationship between master and disciple. We typically think that disciples are equivalent to students who know next to nothing and need to learn everything. We would be much better served if we thought of the master as a world-famous consultant and the disciples as subject-matter experts who come to the master in order to rise to his level of broad expertise.
Now notice what Jesus says in the Hebrew context. The purpose of the master-disciple relationship is to make the disciple into a sage (master). How is this done? In the Hebrew model, this is accomplished by spending an extraordinary amount of time participating in life with the master, because from the Hebrew perspective it is never simply transferring the information. That would not make the disciple a sage. To be a sage is to live according to the teaching. When that is accomplished, the talmid becomes the sage.
So, what do we do now? First, we must revise our entire outlook on education. We must stop being information-transfer organizations. Secondly, we must bring our subject-matter experts under the mentorship of a sage. Discipleship is not for novices. Thirdly, we must train subject-matter experts in Scripture from Scripture. Memorization, etymologies, cultural background and textual study must be first, not last. And just as God suggests, it must begin at home, in the kitchen. Sunday school is exactly what is says – a poor Greek substitute for true Hebrew discipleship, but if that’s all we have to start with, then that’s where we start. Transform it into God’s educational model and stop being Greek. Get off the milk diet!
Topical Index: Education
