“I’d rather see a sermon than hear one any day;
I’d rather one should walk with me than merely tell the way…”
– Edgar Guest
There are some things in this world that you can learn from a book or a video. For example, I have successfully prepared some complicated dishes based on a printed recipe and a basic knowledge of cooking. I have done some modest car repairs by watching a four minute video. Carrie has also had great success doing a variety of household repairs after watching how-to videos available online.
But there are limits to this. Some things are very difficult to learn just from reading or observation. Everything from riding a bike or playing an instrument to public speaking or performing surgery can only be adequately learned by doing. Teaching is also an example of this—although emerging educators take classes on how to teach, they also complete numerous hours of student teaching in real classrooms with real students under the guidance of experienced teachers to truly hone their craft.
I believe the same is true of the Christian faith. We can gain some knowledge and understanding of the faith by reading the scriptures. We can watch others worship, pray, bear witness to Jesus, or give generously and learn a few things. But it is very difficult to internalize practices like forgiveness, loving our enemies, standing up to injustice, or returning good for evil simply by reading about it. Some aspects of our faith we must learn by actively observing and then practicing them in community.
Paul hinted at this embodied teaching when he told the Philippian church, “Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you” (Philippians 4:9).
In Ephesians 4, Paul expressed his horror at some of the behaviors of the Ephesian Christians who are trying to reform some of their pagan behaviors: “You did not so learn Christ,” he gasps, as he reflects on the lifestyle of people who once had “abandoned themselves to licentiousness, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.” To “learn Christ,” as Paul describes it, is not to master a list of answers from a book. To “learn Christ” is to come to understand the will of God as embodied in Jesus, as manifested throughout his lifetime, as seen supremely in his self-giving death on the cross. To “learn Christ” is to understand deeply that Christ himself is the substance of the curriculum.
An ancient Jewish saying allegedly goes, “May you be covered in the dust of your Rabbi.” The saying can also describe our desire as Jesus’ disciples to be so close to our Lord that his (metaphorical) dust covers us, and more to the point, that we come to closely reflect his priorities and commitments, his deeds and words. May it be ever so!
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