By Jennifer Taylor

 The National Center for Education Statistics recently reported that just one year at a private university averages $35,000. Even public colleges can cost more than $10,000 each year.

Despite these rising costs, millions of students attend college classes. Others watch online videos or listen to podcasts. We are a culture that likes to learn.

People in the first century were no different. Crowds followed Jesus in every city, eager to hear the sometimes confusing, always interesting stories he told. Wouldn’t you like to have been there? How amazing it would be to see the miracles first-hand or hear the Sermon on the Mount.

Good Word

In this well-known passage, John teaches that Jesus is the Word. In the original Greek he called Jesus the logos, or the ordering principle behind the world. He writes that God not only created the world with words, but through the Word—by speaking creation into existence with the ageless wisdom of Christ.

Even more amazing, John tells us this Word came to earth and lived among us. The God who spoke words of life became the tangible, in-person God speaking directly to us.

So the first hearers of Jesus’ message had the greatest educational opportunity of all time! For a few short years they could learn from the source of all wisdom.

Learn to Listen

But they squandered it. Instead of listening, they argued. Instead of following Jesus, they fought him. John says, “He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him (John 1:10).”

It’s easy to wonder why they didn’t get it. But are we really any different? Today we attend leadership conferences but don’t follow Jesus’ example. We read church growth books but don’t read the Bible. We spend thousands of dollars to attend classes but never stop to ask God what he wants us to learn.

We can’t see Jesus’ smile, witness a miraculous healing, or hear his first sermons. But we, too, have the opportunity to sit at his feet and learn from the Creator. The Word is still speaking if we will listen.

Jennifer Taylor is a freelance writer and editor in Nashville, Tennessee.