Jesus’ model of apprenticeship was a far cry from our Western educational system. As one pair of scholars put it, “Learning wasn’t so much about retaining data as it was about gaining essential wisdom for living, absorbing it from those around him. This was…the ancient method whereby rabbis trained their talmidim, or disciples.”[21] To follow Jesus, then, meant to walk alongside him in a posture of listening, learning, observation, obedience, and imitation.[22] For Jesus’ first apprentices, the goal wasn’t to pass a test, get a degree, or receive a certificate to frame on your office wall; it
...more
