After spending a month teaching English to Thai kids, I think I know what Jesus felt like.
Jesus was a pretty popular guy. When he was alive, he couldn’t walk ten steps without getting pretty much mobbed. There are numerous accounts in the Bible of Jesus being surrounded by crowds, many of them simply seeking to touch him, or even just touch his cloak.
So, I think I know what Jesus felt like.
Yesterday was my last day of ministry in Thailand and in a few days, I will head to Cambodia. This month, I spent most days at Thai schools teaching kids to speak English. I have exactly zero official qualifications to do this, except that I happen to speak English as a native tongue. So they let us into the schools.
And we got mobbed.
Have you ever thought about what Jesus actually meant when he said, “Let the little children come to me”? Have you ever had 40 nine- and ten-year-olds running full force at you and flinging the entire weight of their little 60-pound bodies onto you in a giant group hug? It’s pretty much impossible to stay standing, and you have to do everything you can just to keep from falling and crushing those “precious little ones,” as Jesus calls them.
When I stood in the midst of that mob of children, I couldn’t help but wonder what the heck drew them to me in such a (nearly) violent way. For the most part, Thai people aren’t very physically affectionate, so for these kids to be hanging on my waist for dear life in a death-grip-hug seemed out of character. What did I give them besides a few silly songs, some games, and a few English words?
For the first few days of our ministry in the schools, I struggled to understand this: what are we really doing here? Aren’t they just going to forget everything we teach them once we leave? We can’t really tell them about Jesus’s love – they don’t understand what we are saying 90% of the time, and we can barely get them to sit down and listen.
When we are living in a country where less than 1% of the population knows who Jesus is, why are we standing in classrooms repeating the alphabet and pointing to shapes and colors?
My teammate Mary reminded me that wherever we go, we carry the Holy Spirit. Teaching English is just the door; when we get into the classrooms, we literally carry the presence of our God into those schools.
So what? I thought. If I can’t tell them what that means, what’s the purpose of being here?
So one day, we tested it out.
We decided to tell them a story. I narrated as Mary acted out the story of David and Goliath. For the most part, they had no idea what was going on. But I kept telling the story and hoping that something would get through.
“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”
Isaiah 55:11
As I told the story to rowdy, half-listening children, I doubted that anything was going to get through to them. But then, right after the part when Goliath comes crashing down, I told them how David, who was small, was able to defeat Goliath, who was so big. I told them,
“That’s how big our God is.”
And then: dead silence. Every eye looked at me. Not a single kid moved or spoke.
It was like Jesus had just entered the room.
I stood in shock for a moment, and then continued. I told them how God uses us to conquer big things, and that we don’t need to fear because He is on our side.
As I talked, the silence continued. And I knew that something was getting through, because Someone was speaking to their hearts.
We concluded the story, everyone clapped, and we continued teaching English. But something was different after that. It was as if Jesus had whispered His love to each of those kids. It gave them peace and joy, and when we concluded the day, we sang this song:
I love you, Jesus, deep down in my heart.
I love you, Jesus, deep down in my heart.
We’re talking about deep, deep, down, down, deep down in my heart.
We’re talking about deep, deep, down, down, deep down in my heart.
They may not have realized it, but I think they know now what Jesus feels like.
