They had been asked by the teacher to join his class. They spent the next year or so watching what the teacher did and listening to his teaching. The lessons were difficult. Following his example of how to live and how to treat people seemed something beyond possibility. Then one day the teacher sent them out in pairs to practice. You see, faith like knowledge can’t be all in your head. You have to practice it. Like a saying I once heard, practice doesn’t make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect.
Mark reports a time when Jesus sent his inner circle out to live out what they had been taught. His instructions were simple–travel light; don’t shop around for the best house-if someone takes you in, stay there until you leave the town; teach; heal; if the people of a village don’t want to hear the message, then leave and show them you’re through with them. He sent them in pairs for mutual support and protection as they traveled. Mark doesn’t say how long they were gone. Or what Jesus did during that time. He just says that they preached repentance (turning from a sinful life to a life with God) and healed people. It was good training for what they would have to do when they became the teachers after Jesus left them.
That’s what teachers should do–and have done for thousands of years. First you instruct a little, then you make the students do, then you reflect on the practice and start the cycle again. At some point the student is able to become a teacher. And so it goes. Whom are you teaching today? Not just with a few instructions, but showing them the way to live?
Faith Venture 
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