A Bible Study for Teachers: They Aren't Getting It!

First Things First:  As you read the account of the friends bringing their paralytic friend to Jesus, ask the Lord to show you which child in your classroom needs you to believe that deeply about them.  Let’s read Mark 2:1-12.

The guys who bring their paralytic friend to Jesus are pretty amazing.  Think about the scene.  They hear that Jesus is back in Capernaum.  They have heard He is a healer, so they go get their dear friend who can’t walk and carry him all the way to the house where Jesus can be found.

When they arrive, there are SO MANY people there that they can’t get their friend anywhere NEAR Jesus.  They try to push through the crowd at the front door--the crowd pushes back.  One of them suggests an open window but the crowds won’t budge at the window either.  In desperation, I see them looking up to the sky to beg the God of Heaven to let them get their friend to Jesus when they see it.  The roof.

    

One man goes up first, scans the area, and starts digging at the roof.  The others join and bring the paralytic up.  The people inside near Jesus start feeling drops of something landing on their shoulders.  What is that?  Looking up from inside, suddenly a beam of light begins to shine through the ceiling.  Is that a hole in the roof?  What’s causing it? Is that men digging a hole in someone else’s ROOF?  Who does that?!

The men lower their friend to Jesus where his sins are forgiven and he gets to rise, pick up his bed, and go home.   The former paralytic moves through that same crowd that wouldn’t let him in the doorway earlier, hearing their proclamations that they had never seen anything like this before.  The friends on the roof probably cried with joy at the sight of looking down on their friend walking for the first time. 

Now if these friends had been able to bring the paralytic through the front door and Jesus had forgiven and healed him, that would have still been incredible.  But isn’t it somehow MORE incredible because of the tremendous struggle that it took to get him there? 

When Plan A didn’t work, the friends went for Plan B.  I imagine the roof was about Plan G.  I mean, let’s get real, cutting a hole through the roof is not usually in the top five plans.

Does trying to get a student to understand a difficult concept ever feel like this?  You teach the lesson one way.  No luck. You press in with the lesson material a different way.  No luck again.  You pull out manipulatives, videos, puppets, dances, basically anything that has EVER thought about being in your arsenal of lessons…and still no luck.

Sometimes a teacher has to go all the way to Plan G before her student “gets it.”  Sometimes we never get to see the magical light bulb “get it” moment.  Sometimes, developmentally, they need another year or two before it clicks and by then they “belong” to another teacher.

So whenever you feel like a student “just isn’t getting it,” remember the awesome faith of these men.  Most importantly, have you PRAYED for GOD to show you how to best reach this child?  He alone knows whether you can enter through the front door, side door, window, or roof.  He created that child’s brain!  Trust Him to show you the best way to reach them.

Even if you have to go for Plan G.

Because, dear teacher friend,  it is sometimes at Plan G where God does His very best work.

Classroom Connections and Life Applications:

1.       Who is your student this year who just isn’t getting it?

2.       How would praying to the CREATOR of that child’s brain help you find the way to reach them?

3.       Is it possible that they won’t get it until years later?  Even realizing that, should you stop doing everything in your power to reach them now?  List ways you can go above and beyond to reach this child.