In Chapter 5 of Matthew we all are so taken by the declarations made in what is called the Beatitudes. It is a profound scripture whose meaning I am sure I am not even close to grasping. Literarys and devotionalists have written long and hard about the core of this chapter and if that is what you are geared up to read, perhaps you need to go and find something like that.

What I have to write about comes as a prelude to this description of the kinds of people being sought to populate God’s Kingdom. Verse one begins by saying, “Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them saying.” The italicized and bold print should be read a second time for this is the inspiration. When His disciples came to Him, if you are not yet accustomed to doing so read it this way, when I come to Him. For you are every bit the disciple as Peter, Matthew, James and Thomas was. Some of us may even have Judas in us. I am not afraid to say that I have stolen, betrayed and compromised the Word of God, just as Judas may have. If Paul can lay down the old man of his past and let the new man of his future emerge, so can I.

The verse indicates that He began to teach them….. there is no ceremony, there are no stained glass windows, marbled arches, or controlled environments. There is the Holy Teacher and His Disciples on the side of rugged mountain terrain, a Teacher with a Message and a group of people willing to be taught.

Gone are the steeples, the altars and air conditioned stadium like churches. There are no bulletins, programs or dramas to emphasize the points of worship. For the Bible also says, “where two or more are gathered in my name, I am there among them”. Add to that, to teach them. Remember the verse says that when His disciples came together, like my writing this and your reading this, He began to teach them. I don’t have the ego to even consider being the teacher here, but will stand up for tossing seeds around. Seeds of wonder, seeds of curiosity, seeds that quench the thirst and feed the hunger, the seeds of my faith and belief, seeds that are shared in His Name with the hope that they inspire others to search out the Lord to themselves be taught.

The call of disciples is to come to Him, and when they do Jesus responds by teaching them. It is the most natural thing we can encounter, the closer you get to Jesus, the closer He gets to you. He is waiting to welcome you to His class. All you have to do is come, and He will teach you, and your life will never be the same