Jesus Taught with Humility

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. - Matthew 11:29-30 NIV

Jesus, Immanuel, came to earth not on chariots or strands of gold as a heavenly King but as a humble baby (Mt. 1:22; 2:1).  His time on earth concludes with the other bookend of humility, the scene in the garden where Jesus asks God to remove the burden of death on a cross but if it cannot be so, then may God’s will be done (Mt 26:39-42).   Throughout His life with us, one consistent tenet was that of teaching with humility, with a humble heart.  

“Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.” -C.S.Lewis in Mere Christianity

The most powerful presentation of the principle of Christian humility is when Jesus places the little child in the midst of the disciples (Mt. 18:1-5, 19:13-15; Mark 9:33-37, 10:13-16; Luke 9:46-48,  18:15-17).   Judith Gundry-Volf, in her outstanding article about Jesus’ view of children and the Kingdom of God teaches us that this is not only about the “first shall be last” but that children demonstrate “Entering the reign of God “as a child” thus seems to involve both a certain status-actual dependence on God - and a corresponding quality-trust-that are both “childlike.”   (Emphasis is my own.) 1

As I awoke for my first class in Ethiopia this July, I began a checklist of how ready and prepared I was for the class.  Underlying all of that busyness was, “Will they like me?  Will  I be good enough?”  God’s answer came loudly and clearly, “Wendy, this course is not about you. I needed no more reprimand.  I shifted my focus to sharing and bringing glory to God who revealed Himself through the Bible with students He called to come.  

How Did Jesus demonstrate humility in teaching?  We will all be able to gather our favorite stories of this.  Here are just a  couple of mine:

-Jesus drew His curriculum (His yoke) from their life experiences, from their daily lives;  He had to know their lives, He had to know them in order to do that; 

-Jesus used teachable moments that arose during His time with them (Samaritan woman in John 4:4-42;  Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s in Mark 12:17)

-Jesus let or used others to teach - as in the little child with the loaves and fishes (John 6), sending the 12 disciples out on a mission to reach others (Luke 9)

-Jesus asked open-ended questions that invited the disciples to analyze, synthesize, compare,  their own lives, teachings to the good news Jesus brought;  (Who is my mother? Who are my brothers? (Matt 12:48); But who do you say that I am? (Matt 16:15); What’s a good image for God’s kingdom? What parable can I use to explain it? (Mark 4:30); Salt is good, but what if salt becomes flat? (Mark 9:50); Does the law allow healing on the Sabbath or not? (Luke 14:3); Where can we buy enough food for them to eat? (John 6:5). Will you really lay down your life for me? (John13:38)

 C.S. Lewis suggests we are all prideful and conceited.  We want to be well-liked, well-respected, to prove we are knowledgeable, godly!  We even compete with other teachers to be the students’ favorite.  How instead, particularly in cross-cultural teaching do we identify strategies of teaching with humility and then allow the space within our curricula for those strategies to occur? 

1.  Gundry-Volf, Judith.   “To such as these belongs the Reign of God:  Jesus and Children,”  Theology Today.  56 (4). p. 474. January, 2000.