I remember that after I received my permanent residency in Australia, I had to get an Australian driver's licence. Until then I had been driving on my Indian licence, which the law permitted at the time, but once I became a permanent resident I needed to obtain the Australian licence within the required period. A friend began preparing me for the driving test, and I quickly discovered that he did not only have to teach me new things. He also had to unteach me habits I had already picked up and then teach me again.
That was not easy, because when you have been doing something in a particular way for years, there is always a thought in the mind: "I have been doing it like this and there has not been a problem, so why should I change?" Yet if I wanted to pass that test, I had to accept something very basic: I needed to be taught. It is important for a person to be able to admit that.
You Have to Accept That You Need to Be Taught
In the Gospel, the two disciples are walking towards Emmaus, away from Jerusalem, disturbed and disappointed by everything that has happened. Jesus comes and walks with them, although they do not recognise Him. They already have their own understanding of events: they had hoped Jesus would be the one to redeem Israel, but He had been crucified, the women had reported the empty tomb, and they did not know what to make of it all.
One beautiful thing happens on that road: they permit this stranger to teach them. They do not know that it is Jesus, yet they allow Him to challenge the conclusions they have already formed. That is a very important aspect of discipleship. We have to permit the Lord to teach us, especially when we have already decided that we understand what is happening.
And the teaching Jesus gives them is not particularly soft. He says, "Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared!" (Luke 24:25). Usually, if somebody begins teaching us by telling us how foolish we are, we become defensive. We close ourselves, argue back or decide that the person has no right to correct us. These disciples do something different: they allow Jesus to continue teaching them.
That willingness changes the journey. Jesus begins with Moses and the prophets and explains the Scriptures concerning Himself. Later, after their eyes are opened in the breaking of the bread, they look back and say, "Were not our hearts burning within us while He was talking to us on the road, while He was opening the Scriptures to us?" (Luke 24:32). Their hearts burn because they were willing to be taught.
Do Not Become Unteachable
The Pharisees and scribes often show us the opposite attitude. In John 9, after Jesus heals the man who had been blind, that man begins speaking to the religious leaders about Jesus. Their response is revealing: "You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?" Then they drive him out (John 9:34). Their problem is not simply that they disagree with him. They have reached a point where they cannot imagine that this man might have something to teach them.
That is a dangerous place to reach spiritually. Proverbs asks, "Do you see persons wise in their own eyes? There is more hope for fools than for them" (Proverbs 26:12). When I begin thinking, "I know enough. I cannot be taught anymore. I do not need anybody to correct me," I become the opposite of the disciples on the road to Emmaus.
Proverbs is even more direct elsewhere: "Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but those who hate to be rebuked are stupid" (Proverbs 12:1). The language is strong because correction can be uncomfortable. Jesus rebukes the Emmaus disciples, but they do not reject Him because of the rebuke. They stay open long enough for the rebuke to become teaching, and for the teaching to open their eyes.
When I was small, I used to be terrified of my teachers. Very often I thought that whenever a teacher asked me a question, the purpose was to discover how much I did not know. I did not see the other possibility: perhaps the teacher was trying to show me how much more I could know. If I interpret every question or correction as an attack, I become defensive; once I become defensive, I become difficult to teach.
Let Jesus Teach You About Yourself
I have another habit. When I open a new electronic gadget, I want to start using it as quickly as possible. I read the first few instructions in the manual, learn how to switch it on and get the basics working, and then I lose patience with the rest of the manual. Weeks or months later I discover that I need the gadget to do something else, but I have no idea how because I never allowed the manual to teach me what the device was capable of doing.
We are far more mysterious and complex than any gadget. There is so much about ourselves that we still do not understand. Even after many years of life, we can discover patterns in our behaviour, reactions, relationships and spiritual life that we have never properly recognised. There is always more for the Lord to show us about who we are, what we have done, what needs to change and how much more deeply we need to know Him.
That is why I need to let Jesus teach me. I need to let Him open the "manual" of my life, point by point, and show me things I may not have seen before. If I remain closed and keep telling myself, "I know everything I need to know," then beautiful truths about myself, about God and about other people can remain hidden simply because I refuse to be taught.
The Lord says in Psalm 32, "I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you" (Psalm 32:8). That is a promise, but it also asks something of us. If the Lord is going to instruct me, I must be willing to learn. If He is going to correct me, I must be willing to hear correction. If He reveals something in me that is uncomfortable, embarrassing or even shameful, I need the humility to believe that His teaching is for my good.
Open Your Heart to Be Taught
Sometimes the Lord will teach us directly through prayer and Scripture. At other times He may teach us through people around us, including simple people from whom we did not expect to learn anything, or through situations that expose something in our character. The question is whether I will recognise His teaching when it comes, or reject it because it does not arrive in the form I wanted.
It would be sad if the Lord looked at me and said, "You are unteachable. You hate to be rebuked. You hate to be corrected." I do not want to become so wise in my own eyes that there is no room left for God to show me anything new. The disciples on the road to Emmaus had already formed conclusions, but they allowed Jesus to reopen the Scriptures, correct their understanding and teach them again. That openness changed everything.
So today our prayer is simple: Jesus, teach me about myself. Teach me who I am, what kind of person I am and what kind of person I need to become. Show me what I have done wrong, what needs to change and what I still need to learn about You. Give me the grace not to become defensive when Your teaching comes through correction, rebuke, another person or a difficult situation.
Lord, sometimes it is painful to hear the truth about ourselves, and sometimes it can even make us ashamed. But when I permit You to teach me, directly or indirectly, it is for my good because there is still so much I need to know. Open my heart and make me humble enough to be taught. Amen.