The most complete illustration of Christ's methods as a teacher is found in His training of the first disciples. Upon these twelve men were to rest weighty responsibilities. He had chosen them as men whom He could imbue with His Spirit, and who could be fitted to carry forward His work on earth when He should leave it. To them, above all others, He gave the advantage of His own companionship. Through personal association He impressed Himself upon these chosen colaborers. "The life was manifested," says John the beloved, "and we have seen, and bear witness." 1 John 1:2.
Only by the communion of mind with mind and heart with heart, of the human with the divine, can be communicated that vitalizing energy which it is the work of true education to impart.
In the training of His disciples the Savior followed the system of education established at the beginning. The Twelve, with a few others who ministered to their needs and were from time to time connected with them, formed the family of Jesus. They accompanied Him on His journeys, shared His trials and hardships, and, as much as possible, entered into His work.
Sometimes He taught them as they sat together on the mountainside, sometimes beside the sea or from the fisherman's boat, sometimes as they walked together. Whenever He spoke to the multitude, the disciples formed the inner circle. They pressed close beside Him that they might lose nothing of His instruction. They were attentive listeners, eager to understand the truths they were to teach in all lands and to all ages.
The first pupils of Jesus were chosen from the ranks of the common people. They were humble, unlettered fishermen unschooled in the learning and customs of the rabbis, but trained by the stern discipline of toil and hardship. They had native ability and a teachable spirit. They could be instructed and molded for the Savior's work. In the common walks of life there are many workers patiently treading the round of their daily tasks, unconscious of latent powers that, if roused to action, would place them among the world's great leaders. Such were those who were called by the Savior to be His colaborers. And they had the advantage of three years' training by the greatest educator this world has ever known.
In these first disciples there was marked diversity. Destined to be the world's teachers, they represented widely varied types of character. There were Levi Matthew the publican, called from a life of business and subservience to Rome; Simon the zealot, an uncompromising foe of the imperial authority; warmhearted Peter, impulsive and self-sufficient, with Andrew his brother; Judas the Judean, polished, capable, and mean-spirited; Philip and Thomas, faithful and earnest yet slow of heart to believe; James the less and Jude, of less prominence among the group but men of force, positive both in their faults and in their virtues; Nathanael, a child in sincerity and trust; and the ambitious, loving-hearted sons of Zebedee.
In order to carry forward their work successfully, these disciples, differing widely in natural characteristics, in training, and in habits of life, needed to come into unity of feeling, thought, and action. To secure this unity, Christ worked to bring them into unity with Himself. The burden of His efforts for them is expressed in His prayer to the Father, "that they all may be one; as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us: ... that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them, as You have loved Me." John 17:21-23.
The Transforming Power of Christ
Of the twelve disciples, four were to act a leading part, each in a distinct way. In preparation for this, Christ taught them, foreseeing all: James, destined to swift death by the sword; John, who followed his Master the longest in labor and persecution; Peter, the pioneer in teaching the heathen world; and Judas, in service more capable than his associates, yet brooding in his soul--these were the objects of Christ's greatest solicitude and the ones who received His most frequent and careful instruction.
Peter, James, and John sought every opportunity to come into close contact with their Master, and their desire was granted. Of all the Twelve their relationship to Him was closest. John could be satisfied only with a still closer intimacy, and this he obtained. At that first conference beside the Jordan, when Andrew, having heard Jesus, hurried away to call his brother, John sat silent, rapt in the contemplation of wondrous themes. He followed the Savior, ever an eager, absorbed listener.
Yet John's character was not faultless. He and his brother were called "Sons of thunder." Mark 3:17. John was proud, ambitious, and combative, but beneath all this the divine Teacher discerned a sincere, loving heart. Jesus rebuked his self-seeking, disappointed his ambitions, and tested his faith, but He revealed to him that for which his soul longed--the beauty of holiness, His own transforming love. To His Father He said, "I have made Your name known to those whom You gave Me from the world." John 17:6, NRSV.
John's was a nature that longed for love, sympathy, and companionship. As a flower drinks in the sun and dew, so he drank in the divine light and life. In adoration and love he beheld the Savior, until his character reflected the character of his Master. "Behold," he said, "what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God." 1 John 3:1.
From Weakness to Strength
The history of none of the disciples better illustrates Christ's method of training than does the history of Peter. Bold, aggressive, and self-confident, Peter often erred and often received reproof, yet his warmhearted loyalty and devotion to Christ were recognized and commended. Patiently and lovingly the Savior dealt with His impetuous disciple, seeking to check his self-confidence, and to teach him humility, obedience, and trust. But only in part was the lesson learned. Self-assurance was not uprooted.
Often Jesus attempted to open to the disciples the scenes of His trial and suffering, but the knowledge was unwelcome, and they did not see. Self-pity, which shrank from fellowship with Christ in suffering, prompted Peter's protest, "Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!" Matthew 16:22. His words expressed the thought and feeling of the Twelve.
So they went on, the crisis drawing nearer. They were boastful and contentious, hoping for high positions, and not dreaming of the cross.
Peter's experience in betraying Jesus had a lesson for them all. To self-trust, trial is defeat. Christ could not prevent the sure outcome of unforsaken evil, but as His hand had been outstretched to save when the waves were about to sweep over Peter, so did His love reach out for his rescue when the deep waters swept over his soul. Again and again, on the very verge of ruin, Peter's words of boasting brought him nearer and still nearer to the brink. Over and over again was given the warning, "You will deny three times that you know Me." Luke 22:34. But the grieved, loving heart of the disciple responded, "Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison, and to death" Luke 22:33. And He who reads the heart gave to Peter the message, little valued then, but that in the swift-falling darkness would shed a ray of hope: "Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail: and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren." Luke 22:31, 32.
When in the judgment hall the words of denial had been spoken; when Peter's love and loyalty, awakened under the Savior's glance of pity, love, and sorrow, had sent him forth to the garden where Christ had wept and prayed; when his tears of remorse dropped on the ground--then the Savior's words were an anchor for his soul. Christ, though foreseeing his sin, had not abandoned him to despair.
If the look that Jesus directed toward him had spoken condemnation instead of pity, how dense would have been the darkness that encompassed Peter, how reckless the despair of his tortured soul! In that hour of anguish and self-abhorrence, what could have held him back from the path trodden by Judas?
He who could not spare His disciple the anguish, did not leave him alone to its bitterness. His is a love that never fails nor forsakes.
Human beings, themselves given to evil, cannot read the heart; they do not know its struggle and pain. They need to learn of the rebuke that is love, of the blow that wounds to heal, of the warning that speaks hope.
It was not John, the one who watched with Jesus in the judgment hall, the one who stood beside His cross, and who of the Twelve was first at the tomb--it was not John, but Peter, who was mentioned by Christ after His resurrection. "Tell His disciples--and Peter," the angel said, "that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him." Mark 16:7.
At the last meeting of Christ with the disciples by the sea, Peter, tested three times by the question, "Do you love Me?" was restored to his place among the Twelve. His work was appointed him; he was to feed the Lord's flock. Then, as His last personal direction, Jesus said, "You follow Me." John 21:17, 22. Now he could appreciate the words. Knowing more fully both his own weakness and Christ's power, he was ready to trust and obey. In His strength he could follow his Master.
At the close of his ministry, the disciple once so unready to discern the cross counted it a joy to yield up his life for the gospel, feeling only that to die in the same manner as his Master died was too great an honor.
Peter's transformation was a miracle of divine tenderness. It is a life lesson to all who desire to follow in the steps of the Master Teacher.
A Lesson in Love
Jesus warned, cautioned, and reproved His disciples, but neither John, Peter, nor the other disciples left Him. Notwithstanding the reproofs, they chose to be with Jesus. And the Savior did not, because of their errors, withdraw from them. If they will be disciplined and taught by Jesus, He takes men and women as they are, with all their faults and weaknesses, and trains them for His service.
But there was one of the Twelve to whom Christ spoke no word of direct reproof until very near the close of His work.
Judas introduced an element of antagonism among the disciples. In connecting with Jesus he had responded to the attraction of His character and life. He had sincerely desired a change in himself, and had hoped to experience this through being with Jesus. But this desire did not become predominant. He was ruled by the hope of selfish benefit in the worldly kingdom that he expected Christ to establish. Though recognizing the divine power of the love of Christ, Judas continued to cherish his own judgment, opinions, and his disposition to criticize and condemn. Christ's motives and movements, often so far above his comprehension, excited doubt and disapproval, and his own questionings and ambitions were insinuated to the disciples. Many of their contentions for supremacy, and much of their dissatisfaction with Christ's methods, originated with Judas.
Jesus, seeing that to antagonize was but to harden, refrained from direct conflict. Christ endeavored to heal the narrowing selfishness of Judas' life through contact with His own self-sacrificing love. In His teaching He unfolded principles that struck at the root of the disciple's selfcentered ambitions. Lesson after lesson was thus given, and many a time Judas realized that his character had been portrayed and his sin pointed out, but he would not yield.
Mercy's pleading having been resisted, the impulse of evil bore final sway. Angered at an implied rebuke and made desperate by the disappointment of his ambitious dreams, Judas surrendered his soul to the demon of greed and determined to betray his Master. From the Passover chamber and the joy of Christ's presence he went forth to his evil work.
"Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him." John 6:64. Yet, knowing all, He had withheld no pleading of mercy or gift of love.
Seeing his danger, Christ had brought Judas close to Himself, within the inner circle of His chosen and trusted disciples. Day after day, when the burden lay heaviest upon His own heart, He had borne the pain of continual contact with that stubborn, suspicious, brooding spirit. He had witnessed and labored to counteract among His disciples that continuous, secret, subtle antagonism. And all this that no possible saving influence might be lacking to that imperiled soul!
So far as Judas himself was concerned, Christ's work of love had been to no avail. But to the other disciples it ever would be an example of tenderness and longsuffering as they dealt with the tempted and erring. And it had other lessons. At the ordination of the Twelve, the disciples had greatly desired that Judas should become one of their number. He had come more into contact with the world than they, he was a man of discernment and executive ability, and, having a high estimate of his own qualifications, he had led the disciples to hold him in the same regard. But the methods he wanted to introduce into Christ's work were based on principles aimed to achieve worldly recognition and honor. The working out of these desires in the life of Judas helped the disciples to understand the antagonism between the principle of self-aggrandizement and Christ's principle of humility and self-sacrifice. In the fate of Judas they saw the end to which self-serving tends.
For these disciples the mission of Christ finally accomplished its purpose. Little by little His example and lessons of self-denial molded their characters. His death destroyed their hope of worldly greatness. The fall of Peter, the apostasy of Judas, their own failure in forsaking Christ in His anguish and peril, swept away their self-sufficiency. As they saw their own weakness and something of the greatness of the work committed to them, they felt their need of their Master's guidance at every step.
Many of His lessons, when spoken, they had not appreciated or understood; now they longed to recall these lessons, to hear again His words. With what joy His assurance now came back to them: "The Helper ... whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you." John 14:26.
The disciples had seen Christ ascend from the Mount of Olives. And as the heavens received Him, there had come back to them His parting promise, "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Matthew 28:20. They knew that His sympathies were still with them. They knew that they had a representative, an advocate, at the throne of God. In the name of Jesus they presented their petitions, repeating His promise, "Whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you." John 16:23.
Faithful to His promise, the Divine One, exalted in the heavenly courts, imparted of His fullness to His followers on earth. His enthronement at God's right hand was signaled by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on His disciples. By the work of Christ these disciples had been led to feel their need of the Spirit, and under the Spirit's teaching they received their final preparation and went forth to their lifework.
No longer were they ignorant and uncultured. No longer were they a collection of independent units or discordant and conflicting elements. No longer were their hopes set on worldly greatness. They were of "one accord," of one mind and one soul. Christ filled their thoughts. The advancement of His kingdom was their aim. In mind and character they had become like their Master, and people "realized that they had been with Jesus." Acts 4:13.
Then there was such a revelation of the glory of Christ as never before had been witnessed by mortals. Through the cooperation of the divine Spirit the labors of the humble men whom Christ had chosen stirred the world. In a single generation the gospel was carried to every nation under heaven.
The presence of the same Spirit that instructed the disciples of old will produce the same results in educational work today. This is the end to which true education tends. This is the work that God designs it to accomplish.