Pay Attention!

Blind Faith (No. 28, 2008)

Student attitudes in school are a frequent topic of conversation

with our high school teacher son. Often, any ideal of the classroom as

a place where young minds eagerly seek to expand their knowledge and

experience soars far above the schoolday reality. No matter how gifted

the teacher might be, students sometimes respond with boredom,

indifference, or other self-serving lack of attention.

Several discussions of classroom deportment reminded me of a

wry fictitious encounter someone wrote about how contemporary classroom

behavior might sound if Jesus was teaching his 12 students today:

“Then Jesus took his disciples up the mountain and

gathering them around him, he taught them saying: “Blessed are the poor

in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven, Blessed are the meek…

Blessed are they that mourn… Blessed are the merciful… Blessed are

they that thirst for justice… Blessed are you when you suffer… Be

glad and rejoice for your reward is great in Heaven.”
Then Simon Peter said: “Are we supposed to know this?”
And Andrew said: “Do we have to write this down?”
And James said: “I don’t have any paper.”
And Bartholomew said: “Do we have to turn this in?”
And John said: “The other disciples didn’t have to learn this!”
And Matthew said: “May I go to the rest room?”
And Judas said: “What does this have to do with real life?”
Then one of the Pharisees who was present asked to see Jesus’ lesson

plan and inquired of Jesus: “Where is your anticipatory set and your

objectives in the cognitive domain?”
And Jesus wept.
(Author Unknown)

We are conditioned to imagine the disciples intently absorbing

every word Jesus said as he taught them a radical understanding of the

Kingdom of God. Several times in the Gospels, however, Jesus chides

them for failing to catch onto his teaching. Only after Jesus’

resurrection did they recall that he had told them prior to his

crucifixion that he would rise from the dead on the third day. I

wonder what the disciples were doing , instead of paying attention to

those lessons. And what keeps us from paying attention to what the

Lord is trying to teach us about the love of God today?

At least three examples of paying proper attention to Jesus are

recorded in the New Testament as models for becoming sharper students

of the Master. Educators today seek to engage students with diverse

learning styles. Even though a particular student may have a dominant

learning style )visual, auditory, tactile-kinesthetic), applying

multiple teaching methods often produces the best understanding for the

most students. Jesus always offers lessons of his love and grace so

that every person can get the point.

Visual learners often need to see the instructor’s body

language and facial expressions to fully understand the subject matter.

They tend to prefer sitting at the front of the classroom. Once when

Jesus was teaching at the home of his friends Lazarus, Mary, and

Martha, he validated this approach to learning:

As they were traveling along, Jesus went into a village.

A woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. {39} She had a sister

named Mary. Mary sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to him talk. {40}

But Martha was upset about all the work she had to do. So she asked,

“Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work all by

myself? Tell her to help me.” {41} The Lord answered her, “Martha,

Martha! You worry and fuss about a lot of things. {42} There’s only one

thing you need. Mary has made the right choice, and that one thing will

not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:38-42 GWT)

Mary appears to have been a visual learner, sitting at Jesus’ feet,

able to concentrate on both his spoken words and his body language.

Jesus affirms her choice of methods for receiving the instruction he

was offering — and that Martha was unfortunately missing on that

occasion.

Auditory learners gather and process information through

listening or speaking. They are best able to learn through verbal

lectures, discussions, and listening to what others have to say. Jesus

encountered two students who were already deep in discussion, trying to

sort out the events of Good Friday and what they had understood of

Jesus’ teaching up to that time:

On the same day, two of Jesus’ disciples were going to a

village called Emmaus. It was about seven miles from Jerusalem. {14}

They were talking to each other about everything that had happened.

{15} While they were talking, Jesus approached them and began walking

with them. {16} Although they saw him, they didn’t recognize him….

{27} Then [Jesus] began with Moses’ Teachings and the Prophets to

explain to them what was said about him throughout the Scriptures. {28}

When they came near the village where they were going, Jesus acted as

if he were going farther. {29} They urged him, “Stay with us! It’s

getting late, and the day is almost over.” So he went to stay with

them. {30} While he was at the table with them, he took bread and

blessed it. He broke the bread and gave it to them. {31} Then their

eyes were opened, and they recognized him. But he vanished from their

sight. {32} They said to each other, “Weren’t we excited when he talked

with us on the road and opened up the meaning of the Scriptures for

us?” (Luke 24:13-16, 2732 GWT)

Jesus led them to verbalize what they had seen and heard, and what

they understood it all to mean. Then, as they walked, he explained

God’s saving grace. They were excited to have God’s saving message

presented in a method that they could readily comprehend.

Tactile-kinesthetic learners respond most effectively to

moving, doing and touching. They learn best through a hands-on

approach. Jesus set his disciples on this course of learning what he

had demonstrated for them. After teaching them by both word and

example in the Upper Room, he gave them the hands-on assignment of

serving one another in the spirit of his love:

[Jesus said,]“You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and

rightly so, for that is what I am…. {15} I have set you an example

that you should do as I have done for you…. {17} Now that you know

these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” (John 13:13, 15, 17

NIV)

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus had taught that hearing and doing

what he taught made the lesson rock-solid, while merely hearing it

often resulted in the lesson being swept away. (See Matthew 7: 24-27)

James adopted the teaching method, counseling, ” be doers of the word,

and not merely hearers who deceive themselves…. not hearers who

forget but doers who act–they will be blessed in their doing.” (James

1:22, 25b NRSV)

How do you learn best? Do you pay attention to the lessons

from Jesus’ love and instruction in living by grace God tries to teach

you? Do you pay as much attention to God’s lessons as you do to

instructions about a hobby or new skill you want to learn? For those

pursuits, do you attend to private lessons, extra reading, practice and

repetition, or rapt attention to demonstrations by a master? Do you

pay that kind of attention to God’s lessons? God offers his grace by

methods corresponding to your best learning style. So, students, no

excuses this week! Pay attention in God’s personal classroom.

J. Edward Culpepper, Ph. D.