I went with a group of other American English teachers to shadow an English teacher at a Korean high school today. The students' reactions were astonishing. I've never seen anything like it. While some of them clammed up from nervousness, and a few simply ignored us completely, the majority of them acted as if we were superstars.
Now, you have to understand that South Korea is the most culturally homogenous culture in the world. Less than 2% of their population is foreign. Some Koreans can go almost their entire lives without ever seeing someone from another country. And to see 17 foreigners, all in the same place at the same time, is almost unheard of. They were screaming, and running up and touching us, and trying to rub off our freckles, and practicing their English with us, and telling us how beautiful or handsome we all were, and giggling and staring and whispering from behind their notebooks, and all sorts of other things that I'm sure the average American would never even think would ever happen to them.
It was all very strange. But at the same time, however, it was also quite flattering. In an effort to improve their English curriculum, the South Korean government in recent years has made a strong push to put a native English-speaking teacher in every single school in the entire country - hence why we were all there today. The students in these schools know that you have come a long way to help them and teach them. You might be different, you might be strange, but they respect you for that. They want to spend time with you, and get to know you better, and learn about your ways that are so strange from what they're used to.
My experience today made me think about how people acted around Jesus when he walked on this Earth. I get the feeling that the students' reactions today were very similar to some of the reactions that we might have found about Jesus. Our Bible tells us that he had a small following of the crazy, "Jesus is a rock-star" students. The twelve disciples didn't always understand Jesus' ways, but they wanted to, and were willing to sacrifice everything to learn. But I wonder about the other people who interacted with Jesus. Some followed Him. Some knew that He was different, but still clammed up and did not approach Him. And still others ignored Him completely.
A lot of times it's easy to forget, with all of the iPhones and MP3 players and touchscreens and advertisements and clothes and whatever else gets thrown at us, that Jesus still walks among us. He did not disappear on that cross 2,000 years ago. I wonder, if Jesus was the American, and I was the Korean student, which student would I be? Would I be the one who focused on nothing else, whose sole objective was to get close to Jesus and to get to know Him better? Would I recognize His greatness, but be too frightened and intimidated by it to approach Him? Would I even notice Him? It's an important question to ask. Because the thing is, it's not a hypothetical question. He really does walk among us.
Now, you have to understand that South Korea is the most culturally homogenous culture in the world. Less than 2% of their population is foreign. Some Koreans can go almost their entire lives without ever seeing someone from another country. And to see 17 foreigners, all in the same place at the same time, is almost unheard of. They were screaming, and running up and touching us, and trying to rub off our freckles, and practicing their English with us, and telling us how beautiful or handsome we all were, and giggling and staring and whispering from behind their notebooks, and all sorts of other things that I'm sure the average American would never even think would ever happen to them.
It was all very strange. But at the same time, however, it was also quite flattering. In an effort to improve their English curriculum, the South Korean government in recent years has made a strong push to put a native English-speaking teacher in every single school in the entire country - hence why we were all there today. The students in these schools know that you have come a long way to help them and teach them. You might be different, you might be strange, but they respect you for that. They want to spend time with you, and get to know you better, and learn about your ways that are so strange from what they're used to.
My experience today made me think about how people acted around Jesus when he walked on this Earth. I get the feeling that the students' reactions today were very similar to some of the reactions that we might have found about Jesus. Our Bible tells us that he had a small following of the crazy, "Jesus is a rock-star" students. The twelve disciples didn't always understand Jesus' ways, but they wanted to, and were willing to sacrifice everything to learn. But I wonder about the other people who interacted with Jesus. Some followed Him. Some knew that He was different, but still clammed up and did not approach Him. And still others ignored Him completely.
A lot of times it's easy to forget, with all of the iPhones and MP3 players and touchscreens and advertisements and clothes and whatever else gets thrown at us, that Jesus still walks among us. He did not disappear on that cross 2,000 years ago. I wonder, if Jesus was the American, and I was the Korean student, which student would I be? Would I be the one who focused on nothing else, whose sole objective was to get close to Jesus and to get to know Him better? Would I recognize His greatness, but be too frightened and intimidated by it to approach Him? Would I even notice Him? It's an important question to ask. Because the thing is, it's not a hypothetical question. He really does walk among us.
John 1:14
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
You're right - it's not a hypothetical question. Sadly, these days we have so many distractions that it's totally possible to miss Him while we're glued to the internet or texting our friends!
ReplyDeleteIronically, we tend to place our worth on how busy we are, which makes it hard to spend time with the very One in whom our worth lies!!