How do we measure up?

Scripture references

• Isaiah 22:15, 19-23
• Romans 11:33-36
• Matthew 16:13-20

Reflection

In a few short days the new school year will begin.  Although students may still have another week of holidays, many elementary and high school teachers may already be hard at work preparing their classrooms and getting ready to welcome children who will spend the next year exploring and learning any variety of lessons.

Yes there will be lessons about reading, writing and arithmetic.  There will also be lessons to be learned about how to deal with competition, how to strive for perfection, how to question and seek out answers, and how to win and lose gracefully.  If they're truly lucky, some students may actually learn lessons about how to avoid some things like thinking too much of ourselves, like not taking life for granted, like the value of honest hard work and appreciating the gifts and blessings that have been received.

When all is said and done, these are lessons that we can all learn regardless of our ages, our occupations or our stations in life, and if we are all students in this kind of school then eventually we all learn to appreciate the fact that nothing should be taken for granted, that power and prestige, which are human perceptions stemming from positions of great responsibility, are meant to be exercised in service to others and not as God-given rights.  Otherwise we may end up in the same boat as Shebna, the master of the household in the first reading today (Is 22:19-23), thrust from office as it were.

Teachers today have an awesome responsibility.  Those who are good at what they do know how to impart knowledge, but they also know how to identify potential in the students who are placed in their care, and provide opportunities for each child to realize their individual capabilities.  This is no easy feat.  It means that teachers must get to know their students well enough to identify their gifts and talents as well as their struggles and hindrances.  They must then be creative enough to find ways to overcome the latter while accentuating the former.

Jesus gives us the example of one such teacher.  He spent time with his disciples, forming them as it were so that they could eventually continue the work he had begun.  He taught lessons both publicly to vast crowds and privately to his inner circle of twelve.  Like wise teachers today, he knew that none of the students in his classroom were alike.  Each of them had their own strengths and weaknesses, their own gifts and struggles.

At some point in our lives, we all face the same final exam that the disciples did.  Jesus asks us, 'Who do you say that I am?' (Mt 16:15).  Some human beings go through life denying the fact that Jesus even exists.  Some agree that he was a good and holy man, but cannot accept the lessons he taught.  Others look to him for guidance and may actually have experienced the joy of knowing him in prayer and in the many experiences that are discovered and appreciated only with the eyes of faith.

When Jesus confided the keys of the kingdom to Peter, he was acknowledging the fact that Peter had learned the truth that all things come from God and that life in faith is truly worth living.  Like all teachers, Peter and his companions were entrusted with the awesome responsibility of inviting others to discover this truth for themselves.

In our own turn, we are invited to experience the riches, the wisdom and the knowledge of God (Rom 11:33) and ultimately to pass them on to others.  Are we up to the task?