GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 8:18
The Pedagogy of Experience
In a job interview, the interviewer often asks the interviewee about his or her experience. An often-repeated truism is that experience is the best teacher. Well, like many truisms, this one can also have a negative effect. Experience often leads to pessimism, teaching us what we cannot do. It can lead to a kind of resigned hopelessness. But there are positive experiences. When I was a novice welder, the foreman assigned a job that required overhead welding. I told him that I had never done that kind of welding, to which he replied, “Yes, you can.” I started the job and developed a new skill. I’ve stood beside friends who were experiencing paralyzing sorrow, but with the love and support of friends, they came through it still standing. We face the experience of temptation, and somehow we do not fail. Sometimes we are at our wits’ end and put one foot forward and then another until we succeed.
On a boat ride across the Sea of Galilee after a confrontation with the Pharisees, the disciples failed to provide food for the six-or-so-hour-long trip—they had only one loaf for thirteen men. They began discussing their situation, and Jesus interrupted their conversation with a warning to beware of the leaven of the hyper-religious opponents. The disciples were taken aback by what they thought was an abrupt statement and began debating among themselves about what Jesus was getting at. At that point, Jesus said, “Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember?” (Mark 8:18) It seems that Jesus was pointing out the disciples’ failure to learn from their experience. They had eyes, ears, and memory, but from the experience of seeing, hearing, and thinking, they had not drawn a positive conclusion.
It is profitable to keep the spiritual eyes, ears, and mind open to what the Father wants to teach through experience, and to learn positive lessons.
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