While on a nature walk, a preschool teacher asked her students to keep their eyes and ears open for anything unusual. Suddenly, one of her 4-year-old students pointed to a green pod-like structure hanging from a leaf and asked his teacher “What is that?”
“Would you look at that?” his teacher exclaimed, as she gathered the rest of the class around their classmate’s discovery, “You found a chrysalis!”
“What’s that?” the children asked excitedly.
“It’s one of the most remarkable creations in the world,” his teacher explained “and is similar to what happens when Jesus comes into our hearts. We become something new.”
This teacher was grateful for this teachable moment and once the class was back in their classroom, she would pull out her resources - cards, matching games, puzzles and puppets - on metamorphosis and the life cycle of the Monarch butterfly and let the children explore and ask all of their questions.
Children, with their innate curiosity, provide innumerable opportunities for teachable moments. While spontaneous and often sparked by a child's interests or curiosity, teachable moments require in-the-moment planning to make the most of these opportunities. By following children's interests during play or activities, you create an environment where teachable moments naturally occur, similar to how the preschool teacher encouraged her students to look for something unusual while on their nature hike.
In today’s reading, we witness Jesus taking advantage of three teachable moments to communicate hard truths concerning eternal life, His upcoming death and boldly asking God for what you need.
Read Luke 18:18-43
A rich young ruler approached Jesus with a legitimate question, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (v 18) This wealthy man was most likely a synagogue ruler, or perhaps a leader of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish court of law that tried cases of both religious and secular significance and had final say on rulings pertaining to Jewish law. And he was right to be concerned about eternity. If Heaven were attained by personal achievement, or by righteous deeds, who could know whether they had done enough? Who could be certain that the heavenly scales would tip in their favor, or whether their good deeds outweighed their bad deeds? Jesus sees this as a teachable moment and asks why the man calls Him good? Hasn’t his tribe concluded that Jesus is a threat, a teacher of false doctrine? He then goes on to quote from the Torah those laws that must be followed perfectly in order to achieve right standing with holy God, “Do not commit adultery; do not murder; do not steal; do not bear false witness; honor your father and mother.” (v 20, quoting Ex 20:12-16) The commands Jesus cites are the horizontal laws, pertaining to our relationships with others, but we can assume that the vertical commands were also expected. The young man claims to have kept all of these commandments since his youth and I imagine he is breathing a sigh of relief. The good teacher, Jesus, can’t find anything wrong with him!
Jesus then tells him, “You still lack one thing: Sell all you have and distribute it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me,” (v 22) harkening back to His earlier challenge to those who desired to be His disciple, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.” (Luke 9:23) What does following Jesus have to do with achieving eternal life? Everything! The sad young man walked away, more confused and uncertain of eternity than ever before. Jesus felt his sadness and explained how impossible it is for those who are rich (and anyone else, for that matter) to enter God’s kingdom on the basis of their works, or to have the desire to seek God’s kingdom above all else apart from God’s grace.
Third and Final Prediction
Jesus pulled the Twelve aside and shared the full details of what was to come once they arrived in Jerusalem. “Everything that is written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished. For he will be handed over to the Gentiles, and he will be mocked, insulted, spit on; and after they flog him, they will kill him, and he will rise on the third day.” (vv 31-33) Jesus was no longer speaking to them in parables, yet this was too awful for the guys to understand or process in the moment, so on to Jerusalem they went. Eventually, however, after the predictions became reality, they would distinctly remember all that Jesus had told them and it would strengthen their faith in Him.
What Do You Want Me To Do For You?
A blind man was begging, “Have mercy on me, a poor blind man. Can you spare anything for this poor blind beggar?” Seated beside the road to Jericho, this was something he did every day except for the Sabbath, and especially during festival seasons. Passover was approaching and pilgrims to Jerusalem tended to be more generous while traveling. But something was different today. There were more people walking by, talking in excited voices, as if something important was about to happen. Unable to see what all of the commotion was about, the blind man asked the people close by to describe what was going on and was told, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” (v 36) He’d heard of Jesus and began to address Him correctly, not as Rabbi or Good Teacher, but as the Son of David. Everyone in front of him tried to hush him up, but he wouldn’t be quieted. He cried out all the more, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (vv 38 & 39)
Jesus stopped and had the blind man brought to Him. He asked, “What do you want me to do for you?” (v 41) He could have asked Jesus for anything - money, food, a job - but he didn’t. He wanted to see. And just like, his faith in Someone he could not see resulted in his sight being restored, and even more than sight, his faith in Christ saved him.Unlike the rich young ruler, the blind man who could now see perfectly, had nothing tying him down and began following Jesus, all the while glorifying God for the gift of sight and salvation!
Big Picture Questions for Today:
Do you find yourself impatient with children’s or adults’ questions and curiosity? How might you look for teachable moments this week?
Can you imagine Jesus entrusted the details of His impending death to you? How do you think you would have responded if you’d been one of the Twelve?
Pray and thank Jesus for His incredible patience with you, your curiosity, your doubts and desires. Ask for eyes to see and ears to hear when He uses a situation in your life as a teachable moment.
