Spirituals Gifts: Teaching and Learning

Recently I was invited to be a part of an interfaith panel discussion called Faith Forum. The panel meets monthly and is representative of local faith communities – Judaism, Islam, Roman Catholicism, and representing the myriad of Protestant bodies, a member of the Protestant clergy. Well, Mr. Protestant left town, so someone gave them the notion of calling me.

I told them I was interested, but the kicker? This forum discussion is strictly taped for cable TV. That made me pause. Granted this is not the Today Show, but still, I had never been on TV, at least on purpose. I’ve been told that I have a face for. . . radio. Now, I was promised to be seen by literally tens of viewers. Of course, I accepted.

We sat there in the luxurious studios of Altoona High School. We’re on the set and the cameras are pointed at us. We’re seconds from beginning, and I’ll tell you what was going through my head.

This is it. The jig is up. Everyone is going to find out that I am a fraud. I know nothing about Christianity. I can’t even talk. I am a bumbling idiot.

Questions like “Who gives you the right to speak on behalf of the Christian faith?” occurred to me. Sadly, I hadn’t stopped to ask those questions when asking might have helped.

You may have noticed that in our Gospel lesson today, people asked almost this same question of Jesus:

“Who gives you the right?”

So I am in good company.

How did Jesus answer this question? Well, we need to be mindful first, that the folks posing the question had some good reasons for asking. First of all, they were the chief priests and elders of the Jewish faith in those parts. It was their job to know who was teaching what in the name of Israel and on whose authority.

And let’s face it – the Scriptures can be pretty difficult to teach. A simple teaching like “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy,” can be taught in many many ways. What is a Sabbath? What does it mean to remember it? How do you keep it holy? This potential for many interpretations and countless applications is something I have heard discussed, at least superficially, many times. I have heard this point used in objection to reading the Bible or taking the faith seriously:

“The Bible can be twisted to mean whatever you want it to mean.”

They’re right. Without reliable guides, the Scriptures can be twisted to mean just about anything. But that’s where faithful guides, teachers, come in. The Rabbis understand that the Bible is open-ended and must be interpreted. In Israel’s history, each rabbi came up with his own set of rules of application, not just what you need to know, but then how you should live it. A rabbi’s set of rules and lists, which was really his way of interpreting the Torah, was called that rabbi’s yoke. People chose to follow a certain rabbi because they believed that rabbi’s yoke was closest to what God intended in the Scriptures.


Most rabbis taught the yoke of a well-respected rabbi that had gone before them. Everyone knew then, what you were going to teach. The two main schools, or yokes, of rabbinical teaching were Shammei and Hillel. If you were a rabbi worth your salt, you basically taught the yoke of Shammei or Hillel. And so, you taught by the wisdom, learning, and experience that they had already revealed. You taught by their authority.

Once in a great while, maybe once in a lifetime, a new rabbi would come along teaching a different yoke. They would need the confirmation of other rabbis for their authority. The other rabbis would essentially be confirming that this rabbi has authority to make new interpretations.

One new rabbi even said his yoke was easy. It was this rabbi that the chief priests and Pharisees were worried about.

Secondly, many of those folks in charge had seen or heard about what this new rabbi had done just the day before – threw a fit and threw out the money changers. The Jewish leaders were concerned, and they were right to be.

But Jesus never directly answers them, although he does use the moment to teach the teachers with a parable. What does Jesus teach the teachers?

You play the part of the obedient Son, but you don’t obey. I may not look like I’m obeying God as you understand the Scriptures, but my yoke is the right one because I am the “right One.” My authority, Jesus says, is me.

So what does this have to do with me and you? Well, for most of your believing life you have been trying to avoid the pastor coming to you and saying, “We need a teacher for such and such class.” You’ve been successful all these years. Those of you who are teaching now just were not very good at avoidance. You heart must not have been in it.

But those of you who have successfully avoided the call, maybe, deep down you feel a little guilty. Maybe you honestly feel that you weren’t ready or didn’t have the gifts for it. And you may be right. But if the barrier to you teaching was, is, or ever will be the question of authority, then today the barrier is removed.

By whose authority do any of us teach the Christian faith? By Christ’s authority, by Christ’s!

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.”
Matthew 28.18-20


The authority of the rabbi has been given to his disciples. As Rob Bell writes, “The rabbi thinks that we can be like him.”

And he thinks we can teach others, or he wouldn’t have commanded us to do it. Duffy Robbins suggests looking for this quality in yourself that, if you’ve got it, makes you qualified to teach the faith - Are you a FAT Christian?

This has nothing to do with your weight. A F.A.T. Christian is

· Faithful
· Accountable
· Teachable.

Are you faithful? Are you growing in faithful obedience to the commands of Christ? Are you accountable, connected, ready to serve? Are you teachable, humble, always ready to learn more, be corrected, and share what you have learned with others?

A healthy church is constantly growing good teachers of the faith - because there is so much need, for Sunday School, Home Fellowships, Youth, Children, Seniors, and so on. You just cannot overstate the importance of a good teacher. Good teachers strike chords that ring for eternity in the hearts and minds of their students.

The writer and actress, Tina Fey, won an Emmy Award last week and I loved what she said in her acceptance speech. She thanked her parents, who. . .

“Gave me confidence way out of proportion to my looks and abilities. That’s what good parents do. That’s what every parent should do for their child.”

Good parents and good teachers equip us with knowledge and confidence way beyond our natural abilities. They do this because its been done for them.

“For it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” Philippians 2.13