2*/ The vocational pedagogy of Jesus

by Rosanna Virgili

Vocational pedagogy is one with the proclamation of the Gospel itself. There are two poles: the first is that there is no Gospel without apostles; the second that there is no Gospel without the crowds who "are without a shepherd". On the first point we must say that Jesus does nothing without the apostles. As if the way of announcing it, the form, were the Gospel itself: two by two. In more pairs. Twelve, an even number.

Among other things, a number equivalent to that of the tribes of Israel, which were twelve plus the thirteenth, that of the Levites - Jesus, in fact, who is also a thirteenth, is the part of God, like Levi in ​​the midst of Israel. This group is already the Gospel, it is already the Kingdom of God near, complete time, because it is an evangelical reality, that is, which is outside the human reality (= that of blood). In this way Jesus judges the Jewish religion as still a "human" phenomenon.

The Gospel announced by the apostles with their own identity of communion becomes intimately involved with the crowds: "sick and possessed" (1, 32); «the whole city» (1, 32); «many people» (2,2); "the whole crowd" (2, 13); "a large crowd" (polu plethos, 3, 7) who came from everywhere, from Judea, from Jerusalem, from Idumea and from Transjordan and Sidon... (cf. 3, 8). «Again such a crowd gathered that they could not even take food» (3, 20). The crowd is the true "family" of Jesus, the one that Jesus chooses:

«His mother and brothers arrived and, standing outside, sent for him. The crowd was sitting all around and they said to him: Behold your mother, your brothers and your sisters are outside looking for you. But he answered them, Who is my mother, and who are my brothers? Looking at those who were sitting around him he said: here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother, sister and mother" (Mk 3, 31-35).

The vocation of the apostles is in the crowd, for the crowd, not for themselves. The channel is no longer that of the family, but that of a universal, complex and contaminated reality. The environment in which the apostle grows is global, universal, not protected by walls, exposed to the world. The apostles also learn from their new family, now rooted in that of Jesus, which he chose for himself and, as a new family, in turn "educational subject". In this new reality of bonds, everyone learns as if by osmosis.

We must therefore conclude that Jesus' pedagogical care towards the crowds intersects inextricably with the pedagogy and mission of the apostles. There remains, however, a difference in levels, in language, in degrees, between these two realities.

Jesus pedagogue of the crowds

Jesus' attention towards people is immediately manifested through the prodigious works that he carries out. Jesus drives out demons, heals the leper, makes the paralytic get up from his bed. Jesus begins to educate the crowds, meeting their needs and their weaknesses. Freeing from evil. His pedagogy is based on the evidence of things, so much so that people's reaction is this: "We have never seen anything like it" (2,12).

Jesus also performs miracles for the apostles, but the text just quoted from Mc 3,31-35 acts as a watershed between a before and an after in Jesus' vocational pedagogy. From this moment he will be a declared pedagogue, given that "his mother and his brothers" are those who "do the will of God". Now Jesus is openly an alternative pedagogue to the Law. Let's try to identify the special aspects of the pedagogy that Jesus uses towards the apostles.

The particular teaching for the apostles

to. The explanation of the parables: «(...) those who were around him together with the Twelve questioned him about the parables. And he said to them: To you the mystery of the kingdom of God has been entrusted, but to those outside everything is explained in parables" (Mk 4,10-11). Jesus teaches the Twelve and those close to them a special knowledge of things, the "mystery" that is inside the parable. “In private he explained everything to his disciples” (Mk 4,34:XNUMX).

b. The commitment and effort of the mission: Jesus gives a great mission to the Twelve (cf. Mc 6,7-13). He sends them two by two to chase away demons, perform healings, to teach everyone what concerned Jesus himself. The missionary work of the Twelve consists of the same things that Jesus did, who, in turn, taught and performed miracles. At the end of their mission: "The apostles gathered around Jesus and told him everything they had done and taught" (Mk 6,30).

c. The cure of weaknesses and the most human feelings: his kind and affectionate style, comprehensive and close to the intimate humanity of his apostles, is part of Jesus' pedagogy. He is not scandalized by their feelings of fear, on the contrary, he goes to meet them to be able to reassure them: «Why are you so fearful? Have you no faith?" (Mk 4,40); "Courage, it's me, don't be afraid" (Mk 6,50); with extreme sweetness Jesus notices and worries about the tiredness they may have after the mission and, like a mother, invites them by saying: "Come aside and rest a little" (6,31). Jesus worries about his tiredness, their fragility and rests with them in a solitary place. Finally, Jesus shows meekness and patience in waiting for the Twelve to understand what he is doing in his public life. With humility and trepidation he questions them: "Do you still not understand?" (Mk 8,21:XNUMX). (continues)

* Report at the Josephites Conference in San Giuseppe Vesuviano