Good classroom teachers
develop an armory of looks.
There’s the child-if-you-don’t-sit-your-butt-down-right-now
look, the no-before-you-even-ask-NOOOOO look, the I-dare-you-I-double-dog-dare-you-to
mess-with-her-one-mo’-time look, and of course the
forget-about-them-you-can-do-this-I-got-your-back look.
But my favorite look is the
blank-and-misdirect.
The Look
Ask a kid a question they're unsure of or feel vulnerable (because they have to take a public stand on some topic) and the kid will look at the teacher for clue. The student will watch your facial expression and body
language, trying to figure out which answer you WANT to hear.
So when I asked those
question I’d immediately blank my facial expression and adopt neutral body
language. No clues. No cues. BLANK. When the student started answering, whether
the answer was right or wrong, I’d twist my face to look like they were uttering
the most ridiculous thing in the history of uttering. MISDIRECT
And if I felt really mischievous,
I’d phrase the question to make it seem like the wrong answer was the right
answer.
I’d ask something like, “Moses
and Aaron were brothers, but only one of them came back to save his people from
slavery. Aaron was the oldest, so it
wasn’t Moses, was it?”
Oh, yeah. I still use blank-and-misdirect when I teach
adult Bible study.
I didn’t develop the
blank-and-misdirect look to torture my students (that was an unexpected
bonus). I want my students to KNOW their
stuff, not just know my face. I want
them to study themselves into confidence, to KNOW the right answer for
themselves no matter how people look at them.
And that’s what God wants for
us. Which is why some of the greatest
leaders of the Bible also used the blank-and-misdirect.
Joshua’s Blank-and-Misdirect
Joshua, protégé of Moses and
general of the Israelite armies that took possession of the Promised Land,
gathered the leadership of Israel and offered what seemed like a blankly
neutral choice.
If
it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you
will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the
other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.
(Joshua 24: 15)
When the people answered the
way they figured Joshua wanted them to answer, Joshua misdirected.
They
said, “We also will serve the Lord, for He is our God.”
But Joshua said to the people, “You cannot serve the Lord,
for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive
your transgressions nor your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign
gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after He has done you
good.” (Joshua 24: 18-20)
Despite Joshua’s
blank-and-misdirect, the people stood by their answer.
So
Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord for yourselves, to serve Him.”
And
they said, “We are witnesses!” (Joshua 24: 22)
Jesus’ Classroom Review
In Matthew chapter 13, after
a long day of teaching and preaching a series of parables, Jesus pulled His
disciples aside for a review and asked, Have you understood all these things?”
(Matthew 13: 51)
The disciples immediately auto-replied, “Yes, Lord.”
And I think that Jesus’
expression at that point said, “Yeah, right.
Of course you don’t,” because Jesus didn’t just accept their answer.
Good teachers know that “We
understand” may really mean, “We don’t want you to ask us anymore questions.”
The Lord pushed His disciples
to demonstrate mastery of the concepts He’d taught.
He said to them, “Therefore every scribe instructed
concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his
treasure things new and old.” (Matthew 13: 52)
When
you, the scribe/ scholar/ student, understand
what God is saying out of His Word, when you really get it then you’ll have
some evidence. You’ll be able to show
your work as treasure: new treasure and old
treasure.
Your
new treasure will be revelation and applications for your specific life in this
particular moment. Like when you read the
Sabbath laws in Leviticus and you realize how to reorder your financial
practices to achieve prosperity without working yourself to death, compromising
your integrity, or waiting to hit the spiritual lottery.
The
old treasure is a deeper reassurance of God’s Word. You read 1 Thessalonians and come away knowing
that Hell is as real as Heaven. You don’t
like that old truth, but you receive it because you really studied. You didn’t just look around at your teacher
or your peers and repeat what you think their faces say they want to hear.
Joshua
wanted for his people what I want for my student, which is what Jesus wants for
all of us who call ourselves His disciples.
We want
you to KNOW the truth in the Bible. We want you to know FOR YOURSELF that the
Bible is true for always and true for right now. We want you to stand on that Truth and for
that Truth no matter how many blank stares you get. We want you to stand on that Truth no matter what
forces try to misdirect you into compromise or quasi-intellectual rejection of
God’s Word.
Because
when you can stand for God’s Truth against the blank-and-misdirect, then you
will discover the treasures of the kingdom of heaven.
Therefore prepare yourself and arise,
And speak to them all that I command you.
Do not be dismayed before their faces,
Lest I dismay you before them. (Jeremiah 1: 17)
And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them nor be
afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you and you
dwell among scorpions; do not be afraid of their words or dismayed by their
looks, though they are a rebellious house. You shall speak My words to them, whether
they hear or whether they refuse, for they are rebellious. (Eekiel 2:
6-7)
---Anderson T. Graves II is a writer, community organizer and
consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.
Rev. Anderson T.
Graves II is pastor of
Miles Chapel CME Church in
Fairfield, Alabama; executive director of the Substance Abuse
Youth Networking Organization
(SAYNO); and
director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human
Development (
NIHD).
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
Support by check or
money order may be mailed to
Miles Chapel CME
Church
P O Box 132
Fairfield, Al 35064
