Did Christ Go About His Mission In the Right Way?
ON NOT BEING OVERPOWERED
Wisdom can come to a person even while trudging along the road and not particularly looking for it — and it can come from the most unlikely sources.
About 18 years ago I found myself teaching a sophomore religion class in a Catholic high school. I was really an English teacher. But there was a slot to be filled in the schedule — and there I was filling it.
I was given the freedom to make my own syllabus. Not sure of what to teach, and not feeling particularly motivated, I elected to teach the Gospels, certainly an important part of the Big Book. Here I was falling back on my experience as an English teacher (I had taught “Big Books” like the Iliad, Moby Dick, and Hamlet).
Knowing high school sophomores, I started with St. Mark’s Gospel: It was the shortest of them all. Even if neither the students nor I would be inspired, I figured that the stories might do us some good. That may not sound like St. Paul, but I wasn’t St. Paul — and the sophomores were definitely sophomores.
Early in my preparation for the course I came upon the passage in which Christ, after performing a miracle, immediately warns His audience not to tell anyone about it. The commentary on this passage said something about the “Hidden Way” employed by Jesus. That intrigued me. So I thought about the passage that night and was inspired with a question. My lesson was prepared for the next day.
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