Jesus used teaching principles with high-impact that have stood the test of time.
Early in 1994 a waitress in Denver, Colorado, was kidnapped. She fled her abductor and flagged down a passing motorist on an interstate. The rescuing motorist was named Jaquie Creazzo. As the two drove to the hospital, the kidnapper caught them, shot the motorist, and re-abducted the waitress. A newspaper headline said, “Failure to Save Woman Pains Good Samaritan.”
The story began, “Jaquie Creazzo, the good Samaritan who helped a woman fleeing her abductor, doesn’t feel like a hero,” then went on to say that Creazzo was shot twice and will never walk again. The woman she tried to help was eventually found murdered.
Quite a story. With one major fallacy. Jaquie Creazzo is not from Samaria, a hilly region halfway between Jerusalem and Galilee in present-day Israel, over 6,800 miles from Colorado. Jaquie is an American living in Denver. Did the reporter get her notes jumbled? There was no mistake. Everyone who read this newspaper article knew what the reporter meant by calling Jaquie Creazzo a “good Samaritan.” The reference came from a parable of Jesus told twenty centuries ago to a different culture, in a different time, and speaking a different language and yet it is a household expression today.
“Good Samaritan,” “A prodigal,” “go the extra mile” — all terms used and understood by non-christians and Christian alike. Why? Because Jesus was a master teacher. Historian, writer, and teacher Henry Adams said that “a teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.”
How to develop the principles that gave His teaching impact.
1. The principle of preparation.
A master teacher spends much time learning his or her subject.
2. The principle of humble authority.
A master teacher serves his students by exhibiting nonauthoritarian
authority.
3. The principle of compassion.
A master teacher shows compassion for students.
4. The principle of awareness.
A master teacher is acutely aware of the students, the environment,
and the teaching process.
Teachers are change-agents.
“To learn is to change. Education is a process that changes the learner,” says George Leonard, award-winning writer and educational consultant.
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