Teacher Tuesday: Judge Not...

As a Catholic child, I was told by my mom that the Bible was to be read by priests alone. If it got into the hands of regular people, all kinds of strange and dangerous interpretations would be the result.

The order to “leave the Bible alone” wasn’t a tough one to follow. The rare times we went to church and listened to the priest speak about Nephtali and Mideon and shekels and seraphim… well, it was enough to convince me that mom was correct. The Bible was like a foreign language best left for the priests to decipher. 

I was a young adult before I ever picked up a Bible with the intention of reading any words inside the covers.  I wasn’t reading it for a deep spiritual reason however.  I was not yet a believer. I was just tired of arguing with my husband over my unwillingness to attend Sunday School classes, so I was trying to prove that I could gain Biblical knowledge on my own. Who needed Sunday School?

That didn’t work out so well for me.

I don’t know if all of you seasoned Bible readers are aware of this, but the Bible is filled with weird names, weird places, weird measurements and Leviathans.  It was a bit much for a newbie like me.

Funny thing is, once you start reading God’s Word, God starts changing you. Soon, I was reading it to learn more about Him, not just to show my husband that he was wrong about his biblically ignorant wife. Granted, I skipped most of the “beget” and “begotten” passages, and nicknamed the majority of the people in the Old Testament, but I continuously desired more of the Truth.

Sunday School, here I come!

My excitement over joining a Sunday School class lasted until about two minutes after the teacher took attendance. He instructed us to open up our Bibles to the book of Judges and then went around the class and assigned several people to read passages - long passages. I was assigned Judges 1:27-36.

Just for a minute, stop reading this blog, pick up your Bibles and look at this passage.  Am I the only person who skimmed, skipped or mentally edited out some of the words?

As person after person effortlessly read their verses about Adoni-Bezek and Kirjath Arba and Achsah, I was quietly pleading with God to make me pass out so an ambulance could take me away with dignity and drama. That didn’t work out so well for me either.

I left this class feeling humiliated, defeated and convinced that the Old Testament was unfathomable and insufferably boring. And that my mom was right – it was better left to the priests.

How I wish I had someone like Mrs. Cyr leading my first Sunday School class!

Last week, I was invited to her Bible Survey class to take pictures of the students learning about - guess which book?

Yep! You guessed it - the book of Judges!

Even though I’m well past my earlier stumbling, crying, sweating, shaking experience with this book (I’ve even read it through several times over the years without skipping any words!) some of the scars still remain, but I knew Mrs. Cyr, and I knew her style of teaching was not going to allow mind-numbing boredom or torture into the lesson.

I was right!

Mrs. Cyr had her classroom set up in six story-telling stations. At each station was a historical figure eager to tell their story.

Mrs. Kolkman played Japhthah.

Mrs. Terrill played Samson.

Mrs. Cyr played Ehud.

Pastor Anderson played Gideon.

Mrs. Anderson played Deborah.

And Mrs. Wright played the Levite who took for himself a concubine.

Rather than simply instructing the students on the story of the judges, Mrs. Cyr wanted the students to experience, to feel, and to participate in the lives of each Bible character. By telling the stories in stations, with drama and costumes and props, Mrs. Cyr made the Bible R.E.A.L.

I asked her, “Why teach Judges? What do you want the students to gain from learning about this book?”

Her reply was one I believe every Christian parent would want to hear from their child’s teacher, “As with everything I teach, my prayer is that students will learn more about God, His Word, and His love and grace for His children. My desire is that students will not just learn the facts about Scripture, but that they’ll apply God’s Word to their lives. The stories of the judges have lots of very practical applications for today – man without God is helpless, leaders need humility, God’s grace is undeserved. My ultimate desire though, is that students will have a personal relationship with the God of the Bible.

“The Jesus Storybook Bible starts this way:  ‘God wrote, “I love you” – he wrote it in the sky, and on the earth, and under the sea.  He wrote his message everywhere!  But God created everything in his world to reflect him like a mirror – to show us what he is like, to help us know him, to make our hearts sing... And God put it into words, too, and wrote it in a book called “The Bible.”

                Now, some people think the Bible is a book of rules, telling you what you should and shouldn’t do.  The Bible certainly does have some rules in it.  They show you how life works best.  But the Bible isn’t mainly about you and what you should be doing.  It’s about God and what he has done.

                Other people think the Bible is a book of heroes, showing you people you should copy.  The Bible does have some heroes in it, but (as you’ll soon find out) most people in the Bible aren’t heroes at all.  They make some big mistakes (sometimes on purpose).  They get afraid and run away.  At times they are downright mean.  

                No, the Bible isn’t a book of rules, or a book of heroes.  The Bible is most of all a Story.  It’s an adventure story about a young Hero who comes from a far country to win back his lost treasure.  It’s a love story about a brave Prince who leaves his palace, his throne - everything – to rescue the one he loves.  It’s like the most wonderful of fairy tales that has come true in real life!  

                You see, the best thing about this Story is – it’s true.

                There are lots of stories in the Bible, but all the stories are telling one Big Story.  The Story of how God loves his children and comes to rescue them.  

                It takes the whole Bible to tell this Story.  And at the center of the story, there is a baby.  Every Story in the Bible whispers his name.  He is like the missing piece in a puzzle – the piece that makes all the other pieces fit together, and suddenly you can see a beautiful picture. 

                And this is no ordinary baby. This is the Child upon whom everything would depend.  This is the Child who would one day – but wait.  Our story starts where all good stories start.  Right at the very beginning…’”

 


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