Jesus the good teacher

One of Jesus' "identities" was that of a good teacher. So, what kind of teacher was He? When you hear "teacher" what do you think of? Going to school? We lined up stools for the kids to sit on in rows, and had them all wear neckties to symbolize "school uniforms."

But no, Jesus was not that kind of teacher. So, was He a teacher like me? Here at Merciful Love Family Fellowship, we don't have to wear uniforms, and you can sit anywhere you want. But we still like to have you come on time, and if you come too late or the wrong day of the week, you won't get any teaching from me! Nope, Jesus wasn't like that either. He had a group of "students" called disciples who went with Him everywhere, walking through the whole country of Israel, from town to town. Sometimes they would have to camp out…we'd given each "disciple" a bag containing a bath towel. So camping out meant spreading our towels on the ground and pretending to go to sleep. The photo didn't turn out too great—everyone DID lie down; just not all at the same time, ha!

Then the next day they would continue walking. When they got to a village, when Jesus sat down to teach them, the local people would also gather around to hear them (we all sat on the floor at the parents' feet). Jesus would often teach in parables, drawing comparisons between common situations and God's truth.

The parable "Jesus" told that day was about a mother with many children. Although there were many, she loved each one of them. We asked each child, "Does your mother love you?" They all answered yes right away except one girl who checked with mom first! (Mom said yes.) We talked about all the things she did for them, & acted them out together—cooking, helping with homework, playing, etc. Well, then "Jesus" said, one of this mom's children was mentally handicapped. Suddenly all the moms got real quiet. They wanted to hear this! Jesus went on to say that although she loved all her children, she loved this one in a special way, and spent a lot of extra time and money to try to help her. And when she made some progress, it was more exciting to mom than if one of her other children came in first in his class! Dear children, "Jesus" said, this is what your Heavenly Father is like. Don't ever think that you are too slow, or too naughty, for Him to love you. He created all of us, and loves us all, but He has a special heart for those who need Him the most.

Yes, I know, Jesus never told this exact parable. Though He might have, if He'd visited Merciful Love Fellowship! This parable was modeled on Luke 15:4-7 about the shepherd going after the one lost sheep out of one hundred, and the great rejoicing in heaven when a sinner repents. Bruce brought that out in the Bible study.

Game time was "follow the leader". One of our girls had been begging to be allowed to teach a game or craft, so I assigned her to be the leader we were supposed to follow and imitate. Two problems: to give enough room for the long line (parents played too), we had to go out through the bedrooms & the balcony & back around to the living room, which meant the front of the line was rarely in sight of the back. But even if it had been, our leader was the shortest person in the whole group—oops! One thing that helped was positioning myself at one of the corners and copying what I had seen the leader do as she passed, so those who could see me (at 5'4" I'm considered fairly tall) could join in.

For craft time, we wrote out the two most important commandments and rolled them up on chopsticks to make scrolls. I had printed out the words for each child to copy from. Most of the kids were almost finished when I noticed that the girl who'd asked her mom if she loved her hadn't even started yet. I guess she hates to write, and mom was trying to force her to do it by not helping her. Hope I didn't ruin things, but with the time crunch, I suggested she could just glue the printed commandments on her scroll paper and roll that up. She liked that & was soon finished.

The boy I'd whacked on the head two weeks ago didn't come at all this Sunday. Last week they came just as we were winding up. I neglected to call mom this week to see if everything was okay. We will see what happens this coming Sunday. We have to leave right after the service for a conference in Hong Kong, so won't be able to call them during the week. But when we get back it will be time for Chinese New Year, and traditional house-to-house visits. They must get one, whether they come this week or not!