9.10.2025

I found out that one of my favorite high school teachers died this past Sunday. Maynelle Harwell was the wife of our school president (and pastor – it was a religious school) but also a wonderful history and drama teacher. She had a gift for making history come alive! 

I particularly remember her teaching about the Civil War. She had such a knowledge of the geography of the battles and knew so many poems and songs from that era (not because she lived during it, as she pointedly reminded one of my fellow students who asked her) that we experienced life during that period far beyond the mere facts of the war. 

And getting beyond the mere facts of history is really what matters.

But learning the facts is an important part of learning anything. In Jesus’ day, students spent the first years of their education, up until they were 10 or so, learning the first 5 books of the Old Testament – we call it the Torah (a word that means “instruction” and not Law as it’s often translated). 

When I say learning, I mean memorizing. That’s 5,845 verses. 

Can you imagine! Of course, it was what we call an “oral society” anyway, so memorizing stories and genealogies and psalms was just the way education was done. Unless you were rich, you didn’t own “books,” so you had to rely on your memory. 

Which is why I say the people of Jesus’ day knew their Bible better than we’ll ever know any book. 

By the time Jesus was born, education was compulsory for Jewish boys. By 6 or 7, the Jewish boy began studying the Torah as well as geography and some arithmetic. There were (and still are) four classes of pupils, which teachers evaluated in terms of their ability to retain the knowledge taught to them. First, there was the Sponge, who retains everything, but is unable to distinguish between correct and incorrect points or significant and insignificant ones. The Funnel lets information go in one ear and out the other, gaining nothing. The Strainer discards significant material and retains the incorrect or insignificant points. He remembers all sorts of trivial, useless details of the material he studied, and no more. And finally, the Filter who retains all the significant material, and discards the trivial and inconsequential details.

All of which was important because it determined the future of the learner. Those who were Filters could possibly be future Rabbis. The other categories . . . by the time they were 13, they were dismissed to go home to their family jobs, get married and have sons who they prayed would be smart enough to be Rabbis! 

But education was far more than just memorizing the facts. The Hebrew word for a student was Talmid, which is often translated as “disciple.” And the 12 whom Jesus calls would have been his disciples or his talmiddim. 

While we’ve been raised calling the Twelve Disciples, recent studies suggest that “apprentice” is a better translation for “disciple.” 

When I hear “apprentice,” I think of a more personal relationship. The apprentice is spending time with a Master, and is learning a trade – and absolutely everything about that trade – in order to one day have apprentices of his or her own. 

To follow Jesus meant to walk alongside him, listening, learning, observing, obeying and imitating him. For Jesus’ 12 apprentices, the goal wasn’t to pass a test or get a degree, but was to master the art of  living in the Kingdom of God.

Note that the Hebrew word for apprentice is Talmid, a noun and not a verb. Don’t let your eyes glaze over yet! This matters, and I’ll explain why in a minute. 

But for the last 40 years or so, disciple is treated like a verb (it’s like people using “read” as a noun. They’ll say of a book, “That was a good read.” Drives me crazy). So, you’ll hear someone ask something like, “Who discipled you?” or “Who are you discipling?” But there’s no place in the Bible where disciple is used as a verb. 

I mean, think about some of the synonyms we use for “disciple.” We don’t ask “who are you Christianizing?” or “who are you Believerizing?” You are either a Christian or you’re not! You’re either a believer or you’re not!

And you’re either a disciple or not. 

If disciple is something that is done to us – a verb – then that puts the responsibility for our spiritual formation on someone else: the discipler. But, if disciple is a noun it's someone you are or are not, then the responsibility lies squarely on your shoulders. You either choose to follow Jesus or you don’t.

Jesus calls us to be disciples before we can make disciples. We must first enroll as Jesus’ student, and to do that means we build our lives around this 3-fold aim: to be with Jesus, to become like him, and to learn how to do as he did. 

The rest, as Einstein said, are just details. 

Blessings,
Pastor Terry