Editorial: What the ultimate teacher taught at the ultimate meal

["Taiwan Church News" <enews@pctpress.org>]

      Taiwan Church News

      3057 Edition

      September 27~October 3, 2010

       

      Editorial: What the ultimate teacher taught at the ultimate meal

       

      Translated by Lydia Ma

       

       



      A recent soap opera in Taiwan has captured people’s attention. 
It’s about the lives of parents 

      on the verge of emotional and financial burnout as they shuttle 
their kids back and forth from 

      one class to another just to raise them to be somebody someday. 

       



      Though the cram school teachers featured in the program 
couldn’t care less about the children 

      they’ve been entrusted with and are too busy with their 
“private” lives, students and parents in 

      the soap opera were willing to stay and turn a blind eye if the 
school could help them get high 

      scores in exams.

       



      In response, the Ministry of Education, arguably the “boss” of 
all cram schools, allegedly 

      cautioned cram schools against being profit-driven when 
recruiting students, and admonished 

      them to be more “educational”. Alas, it seems this counsel 
persistently falls on deaf ears.

       



      As long as we are a test-driven, test-defined society, there 
will be no shortage of people 

      enslaved by their grades. But just as every student crowds 
around the starting line, gets ready 

      to run for it, has it occurred to anyone to ask where the 
teacher might lead them? These weird 

      stories I just mentioned are so deja-vu, they make one yawn – 
but they are all products of 

      twisted social mores in Taiwan. 

       



      Turning to Jesus, who was also a teacher, we’re prompted to 
ask: What did he teach his 

      students? Well, Jesus taught his disciples to emulate his life, 
his sacrifice, his giving, and his 

      humility. The culmination of his teachings was probably during 
the Last Supper, when he did 

      something very uncharacteristic and special. 

       



      John 13 records that Jesus set aside his robe, put on an apron, 
poured water into a basin, 

      and began to wash the feet of his disciples. When he finished 
washing their feet, he said to 

      them: “So if I, the Master and Teacher, washed your feet, you 
must now wash each other’s 

      feet. I’ve laid down a pattern for you. What I’ve done, you 
do.” In washing their feet, Jesus 

      commanded his disciples to serve one another.

       



      During this meal, Jesus took a piece of bread, lifted his cup, 
and told his disciples that the two 

      items represented his body and blood given for them. Centuries 
later, John Calvin would go 

      on to explain that communion, to be complete, must include 
remembrance and participation. 

      When we obey God’s command to love and serve one another, we 
remember Christ’s sacrifice.

       



      In today’s world, we no longer feel it’s enough for preachers 
to deliver sermons without proving 

      that they’ve also learned them through their own words and 
actions, because Jesus did exactly 

      that when he gathered his disciples during the Last Supper. He 
not only shared a meal and a 

      teaching with them, but ultimately, shared his life for the 
benefit of all humankind.

       



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