Jesus, Our Pedagogue

 St. Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-215 AD) described the Christian life in terms of the Word of God (Jesus Christ) acting as companion educator (paidagogos) of the Christian.  

In Greek and Roman times, the pedagogue was a trusted slave who accompanied the child back and forth daily through the streets and marketplace to the academy, where he was taught by a master.  The slave remained with the child during the lesson, making sure of the child's attention and behavior, and then returned with him through the streets to his home, ensuring the child's safety and continued instruction.  Through his example, advice, and the decisions he made, he helped the child learn his culture and environment, teaching him to be wary of evil influence and temptation. His way of teaching was not so much "doctrine" as continuing and faithful companionship. 

To Clement, the Word, Christ does this for us.  This way of growth is based on an understanding that a continuing dialog takes place between Christ and the Christian person, and that the dialog occurs in shifting circumstances and continues through all stages of development.

I dare to say that in our culture, most of us think of Jesus more as a moral teacher whose lessons were laid down some 2000+ years ago, and that it is up to us to now follow or not follow His teachings.  Rarely do we imagine our living Pedagogue who accompanies us through sickness and health, for better and worse, always by our side, always comforting, teaching, supporting, healing and upholding us.  

St. Ignatius of Loyola based his spiritual exercises on the conviction that God can and wants to be met in dialog.  Jesus said to the Pharisees, You diligently search the scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life, yet you refuse to come to me to have life (Jn.5:39).  It is clear that He does not want us to only read the Word, but to enter into dialog with the Word Himself.  The apostles came to him for explanation of the parables, and after the Resurrection, it seems He could not wait to begin unfolding the Scripture to His followers on the road to Emmaeus and in the upper room.  He even promised to send the Holy Spirit to continue the teaching dialog after his ascension.

In the 12th century, Aelred of Rievaulx wrote a tract called When Jesus Was Twelve Years Old in which he moves spontaneously from describing Jesus in the temple to speaking directly to him.  Almost any classic spiritual writer we pick up today will exhibit the same characteristic -- moving from meditation on scripture to direct discourse with the God of Scripture.  St. Augustine, pierced to the heart by Romans 13:14, recognized the voice of God speaking directly to him and cried out, "O beauty ever ancient, O beauty ever new; long have I sought thee in things without and all along, You were within!" 

For the first 1000 years of Christianity, there was no question of Christians "reading" scripture.  It was all spoken word and response.  People heard the letters of Paul and the memoirs of the apostles read in the assembly, and they responded in dialog, question, reflection, etc. before entering into communion with the Living Word in the breaking of the bread.  Or else, someone they knew told them about Christ and his teaching....or they heard someone proclaiming Christ in the marketplace.  And always, there was a response: belief, curiosity, or rejection.  There was no Bible meant for silent, private reading. The context was not that of private study but rather of announcement (i.e. "good news") by one person to another that brought about a reaction and a response.

Hearing the Word of God was an affective experience:  it affected the hearer one way or another and demanded a response --either awareness of God's personal call to receive His love and respond to it or a decision to reject and disbelieve what was being heard in the heart. 

In the Middle Ages, despite the then-current emphasis on the authority of the church, Ignatius found that his life was a dialog between God calling and himself responding. For him, authority, though respected, did not substitute for the communication that God could address to an individual heart and the response that the person could make.

If reading and hearing Scripture leaves us cold today, maybe it is because we do not enter into dialog with our Pedagogue, with the living Christ, who willingly and lovingly unfolds and reveals Himself to us if we ask.  All the Scriptures speak of Him, but unless He shows us, we cannot see it. And He wants to accompany us throughout our lives, in the streets and in the marketplace, in the workplace and in the hospital, on vacation and during pandemics, always, always, showing us who He is and who the Father is for us and in us!

Jesus, teach us! Jesus, teach me!