Experiencing God 222 The teacher Leaning Hard On Thee.

LORD, who am I to teach the way
To little children day by day,
So prone myself to go astray?

I teach them KNOWLEDGE, but I know
How faint they flicker and how low
The candles of my knowledge glow. 

I teach them POWER to will and do,
But only now to learn anew
My own great weakness through and through.

I teach them LOVE for all mankind
And all God’s creatures, but I find
My love comes lagging far behind.

Lord, if their guide I still must be,
Oh let the little children see
The teacher leaning hard on Thee. 

The Teacher by Leslie Hill

I thought this poem to be very appropriate on the Feast Day of Simon and Jude because very little is known about them.  For those who are accustomed to hearing a long list of achievements and sacrifices accompanying our Saints, Simon and Jude will be a disappointment.  But, then again, maybe they can serve as a reminder to all of us that apostleship has really little to do with a record of achievements. 

As expressed in the poem, it has much more to do with leaning hard, by faith, on the one who calls us into discipleship in the first place.  

Simon and Jude were called to be apostles of  Christ.  They said "yes" to that request.  This "yes" to Christ for them meant that they were to share, as best they could, Jesus' message that the Kingdom of God is close at hand.  The message that they taught is beautifully captured by St. Paul in his writing to the Ephesians during those early years when the church was just beginning.  St. Paul's message was for all people, but in a particular way, for the Gentiles who found themselves not only outside, but alienated from the Jewish culture and tradition.

"You are no longer aliens or foreign visitors.  You are citizens like all the saints and part of God's household.  You are part of a building that has the apostles and prophets for its foundation;  and Jesus Himself for its main cornerstone.  You too, referring to all people, are being built into a house where God lives in the Spirit. "

This vision of church presented by St. Paul is much more universal than what we find in his other letters.  In his other letters, St. Paul speaks of the church as being the Body of Christ from a local perspective, but in Ephesians, he blows that image away and emphasizes a universal image including people of all cultures. Jews and Gentiles are joined together as one great people of God.  In his earlier chapters of Ephesians, he announces that this is God's great plan, hidden from the beginning of the world.  It's as if God, through Christ, wishes to erase all social and religious barriers that had previously divided humankind into separate and conflicting groups, to create a united people, a new community of the faithful.

When we look at the world today with its seemingly unending conflicts, war and division, we must sometimes wonder how such a universal vision presented some two thousand years ago could ever take place.   

The way, as Jesus taught, the way as illustrated by the above poem, is not to be found in our own individual achievements and plans. 

Lord, if their guide I still must be, 

Oh let the little children see
The teacher leaning hard on Thee.