Leave Me Alone
Do not become teachers in large numbers, my brothers, since you know that we who are teachers will incur a stricter judgment. James 3:1 NASB
Teachers – didáskaloi. “Teachers.” “imparting theoretical and practical knowledge with the highest possible development of the pupil as the goal.”[1] Oh, how this verse terrorizes me. I teach. Frankly, I can’t help it. It’s in my DNA. I don’t think I could stop this inner compulsion even if I tried. I love the delivery, the dialog, the illumination—not just for me, but for those I care about. Oh, I suppose I could be a modern Spinoza, closeting myself in an attic somewhere in Italy, meditating over the esoteric material of Scripture and eventually leaving behind some tome for others to digest. But I don’t think so. I need the interaction, and give-and-take of debate, the human connection. And that means I’m subject to James’ warning—and a very serious warning it is.
“ . . . preachers and theologians, who spend so much of their lives talking about God that, unless they are very careful, God starts to lose all reality for them and to become just a subject for metaphysical speculation.”[2]
James tells me that I am more accountable than most, that I will receive a “stricter judgment.” megas kríma in Greek, read as “greater condemnation.” What I really need is mégas splánchnon, greater compassion. Most of the time I feel like Nietzsche: “Some cannot loosen their own chains and can nonetheless redeem their friends.”[3] I know God is merciful. If that were not so, I would have been finished long ago. But James haunts me. I try not to think about him too much, but “an idea once fully formed” sticks in your mind. You can’t erase what you already know. You can only put it on the shelf and hope it stays there.
Most of the time, it doesn’t.
Topical Index: greater condemnation, teacher, James 3:1
[1] Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1985). Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged in One Volume (p. 161). Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans.
[2] Frederick Buechner Secrets in the Dark: A Life in Sermons (HarperOne, 2006), p. 17.
[3] Friedrich Nietzsche, citied in Irvin D. Yalom, Becoming Myself: A Psychiatrist’s Memoir, p. 235.
Skip, I, for one, are among the many, who are grateful that you did not “LEAVE ME ALONE” to the leaning and learning of my own imagination or to ancient and erroneous denominational creedal claptrap. May YHWH continue to grow you in wisdom and knowledge so that you can share it with those of us who the enemy would fain lead us back into the barren wilderness, exposed to the elements of the harsh winter, without nourishment, to either wither away or rebel against Yah and bow down to worship him. Don’t ever think that your words are unimportant, insignificant or metaphysical speculation. They are not- because by extension they belong to the sacred domain of God breathed words, thus they are life and daily you remind us of the Truth and He Who Is True. Thank you.
I’m also thankful you are keeping at it.