What makes a good teacher?

This was the question that I posed to the boys during the first Chapel for this term as a means of introducing our topic for the term. As I held the microphone around to some of the boys sitting in the Hall many commented that a good teacher was someone that cared about them, someone that supported their learning or someone that challenged them to do new things or expand their learning.

Our topic in Chapel this term is ‘Jesus the Teacher’ looking at specific teaching that Jesus gave. We’ve been working our way through the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew. This is an extended passage in the Bible where Jesus delivers a range of teaching to his disciples, and then to us reading them, about ways to live with each other and ways to be in a relationship with God.

As we’ve gone through the weeks we have looked at some of the interesting teachings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. For example, we explored what does it mean when Jesus says “You are the salt of the earth”. So, I brought my shopping bag with me and asked the boys why do we have to be the salt of the earth? Why can’t we be the tomato sauce of the earth or the coffee of the earth!

I explained to them that in Jesus’ day salt was one of the most important staples as it helped to preserve meats etc. So, when Jesus is telling us that we are the salt of the earth it means that we are the most important thing. Our challenge is to not take that for granted but to show that same value to those people around us; to show how important people are in our lives.

Another challenging teaching that we looked at in Chapel was Jesus’ instruction to “Go the extra mile” for someone. I asked the boys what they thought it meant and many were a bit puzzled. With my hiking pack as prop, I explained to them that in Jesus’ day there was a law that stated that a Roman soldier could ask a Jewish person to carry they heavy pack for them for one mile.

So, I asked a few boys how they’d feel if I asked them to carry my hiking pack, which was almost the same height as some of the younger boys, all the way to Koola Park. Some said they’d be able to do it, but they’d be pretty tired. I then asked them whether they thought they’d then voluntarily offer to walk to Killara station with the pack. To which they responded no!

But that’s the challenge of what Jesus it is teaching here, to not just do the bare minimum of what is asked of us but to go further. My suggestion to the boys was to ‘go the extra mile’ when you parents ask them to do one chore to offer to do five more.

When we think about what a good teacher looks like we can see that modelled in Jesus too. His messages are challenging and can be very difficult to live out. But we see in him a teacher that cares about every one of us.

So perhaps ask your sons how they’re showing those that they love that they’re the ‘salt of the earth’ or even ask them to ‘go the extra mile’ at home.

Pastor La’Brooy