Most of the moments we treasure from Jesus’ life occurred in the midst of daily activities. During an evening meal, a woman of questionable reputation anoints his feet with oil, enraging the host and eliciting from Jesus as eloquent a defence as any woman ever received from any man, a defence that smashed the cultural barriers of his time and still echoes today.[1]

As Jesus stops on a dusty road for a drink of water, a Samaritan woman approaches and he reveals his identity to her in an unforgettable and significant encounter, changing her life and the life of her community forever.[2]

Zaccheus catches Jesus’ eye from his perch in a tree, a precarious outpost in the ancient Mediterranean landscape. Jesus’ response is, as always, worthy of reflection. He doesn’t waste a moment or a word. “Come down from there immediately. I must stay at your house today.” The crowd (public opinion) aligns itself against Jesus’ action. Does he lack discernment? Doesn’t Jesus know that Zaccheus is a tax collector, a swindler? Jesus ignores the crowd’s murmuring and maintains his focus on Zaccheus. “Here and now”, Zaccheus commits half of his possessions to the poor and promises full reparation to all he has cheated.

In my mind’s eye, I see the ripple effect of Zaccheus’ transformation – his reparations benefiting the vulnerable families and communities of his time: children’s school fees, food on the table, medical care for urgent cases, help for people who had given up hope. Good news instead of bad news.[3]

Did Jesus have nothing better to do with his time than to spend it so freely on the seemingly insignificant or dishonoured citizens of his day?

There was never a man with more to do in the allotted time he was given. And yet, was there a moment, regardless of circumstance, when Jesus gave the slightest hint that these encounters were interruptions? No. They were the very fabric of his life.

When we ask “what needs to change to close the education gap?”, perhaps a clue to the answer can be found here. Perhaps it is we who need to change. We need to discern more clearly the crucial opportunities. Most importantly, we need to renew our own faith in the power of transformation and recapture a transformative rhythm.

Moments of transformative power
I believe that development practitioners in the 21st century, working on the front lines of rural and urban communities, understand best the importance of this transformative rhythm exemplified in Jesus’ work and ministry.

Most recognise that it is not an easy rhythm to master. In fact, the demands of globalisation and a world operating at break-neck speed militate against it.

However, the communities in which development practitioners work are, in fact, universities that can re-create this rhythm. The community is a university that teaches us to listen long and listen hard. It teaches us to observe first and respond second. It teaches us how to weave development work seamlessly into the moments of each day.

The community is also a university in which practitioners learn to identify complex development indicators as they are expressed in the natural language of daily conversations. They learn to be alert to the off-hand remark of a mother, haltingly expressed – a remark that holds the dreams of the mother for the child playing at her feet.

In the open air “classroom” of a village street at twilight or in a busy urban thoroughfare, a child’s question reverberates and the experienced development practitioner registers it, almost as if his or her mind is the blank page on which the child is writing.

With practice, development workers see the open doors in the lives and hearts of the community members. It was this discernment that allowed Jesus to recognise and create the transformative moment.

Learn to listen
What does this mean for policy-makers? What does it mean for decision makers at every level? It means that we all have to learn to listen. It means that we have to slow down our schedules and silence our cell phones long enough to hear the questions that children raise – to let them challenge us to action on their behalf. It means that we must be guided by them to search for ways to address the global gap in education, to build a bridge across the chasm.

Our front-line development practitioners, those who carry the seeds of the parents’ dreams and the children’s questions and plant them in programme designs and project indicators, deserve our support. Our advocacy workers, those who follow through on advocacy issues regardless of how long and arduous the road, need our commitment. If we accept the mother’s dreams and the children’s questions as part of the fabric of our own personal and institutional lives, the education gap can be addressed through creative and dynamic action.

Children will always be learning something. Let that “something” be that we can all learn – learn from them how to keep the doors of their schools open and welcoming.

One of the most treasured moments of Jesus’ life occurred when he gathered the children in his arms.[4] In that profound encounter, he was able to both welcome the children and address the adults who tried to block them. As Jesus was recognised as a teacher in his day, the children wanted to learn from him. And he wanted to teach them. Today, I believe that he would be walking the kids to school, checking their homework, encouraging future plans. But he wouldn’t stop there. He would simultaneously be working with parents and transforming the government officials to ensure that the schools were worthy of the children’s potential. We can carry that legacy forward – transforming the present to transform the future.

Ms Barbara Frost is Learning Management Specialist for the Integrated Transformational Development Models team, World Vision International


All Bible quotations from The Holy Bible, New International Version.
1 Luke 7: 37–50
2 John 4: 7–26
3 Luke 19: 1–10
4 Luke 18:16