A few days ago, I was reading through Matthew 10, and I came to verse 24, paraphrasing it would be that a servant cannot be above their master. Great principle. In context, this is telling the disciples that they should be ready to be mocked, scorned, and disgraced because that is what the leaders were doing to Jesus. If they did this to Him, the disciples should expect something similar to happen to them. It would be foolish to think otherwise.
A different application that I have been thinking about as a father and a teacher is that a son, daughter, or student can’t be above their father, mother, or teacher. If I want to be the one teaching something, I have to know it first. I am confined to the level of my knowledge of what I can teach someone. If I want to be a resource for my children and students to keep learning from, I have to keep running ahead of them. There will never be a time that I “arrive” and can stop studying. I want my kids to continue to excel and go beyond where I am now. If I want to be a part of this journey, I need to keep pushing myself to continue to grow.
I do look forward to the day when the relationship changes. I look forward to when I can stop being the parent and start to be the co-laborer. I don’t want my children to always be dependent on me. I want them to come and work alongside me. This means several things: I need to live a Christian, inclusive, and broad life. My life should be marked by Christ and His sacrifice, calling my kids to Him. I need to lead in asking for forgiveness and sacrifice. I need to build a life big enough to include them in the process of it. I can’t be like, “This is my work. You go and do your own work over there.” They need to see how they fit into it. It also has to be broad enough to cast a big enough shadow to include all their different walks of life. Each of my kids is different, with different skills and abilities. I need to make a life big enough to fit them all in so that they all have a space. Humanity is strangely consistent, there are only so many different types of people. It is not that hard to find fits for everyone. But I have to be cognizant of these differences to build a space for them all.
As a teacher, I want to encourage and build a community that is big enough to keep my students here. I want to equip them in such a way that they will become part of the solution after they have walked across the stage at the end. I don’t want my students to leave. I want them to grow up and come back and help with the work. There is work to do here beyond the school too. I don’t want to only create other teachers. I want all my students to be scholarly, but not just to fill the ranks of teachers. I want scholarly mechanics, business owners, and restaurateurs. The world is big. Our community is big. We can have an impact here in our local area. I am focused on training men and women to fill our town with people that I am proud to live next to. I am looking out and in. I have a pretty good idea of where I need to grow. I know all the jobs that I am doing that I am not doing well. I need someone to come and take some off my plate. I am looking for students to come and do it better than me.
I also want to be a challenge to them. I want to be running so hard in all directions that they have to struggle to replace me. I don’t want to make it easy for them. This is the only way that we can make a society that is worth being a part of.
This is the work that we are doing at Evangel Classical School and Comeford College. If this is something that sounds good for you or your students, please come to our info night for Evangel Classical School. We have a future to build and are looking for our kind of people to help us.
Details are in the video