The Perfect Substitute

If you have been following this blog at all (or peeking at my facebook wall), you know I have been working as a substitute teacher this year.  It has been the most exciting, eventful, changing, stressful, fun, difficult, challenging, and hilarious job I’ve had.  I have felt like a vagrant teacher; I have felt like a nomadic teacher.  I have no “home” school; I have no consistent schedule.  And the work can be far more difficult than what my paycheck indicates.

Clearly, I have truly enjoyed it, or else I probably wouldn’t force my facebook friends to read daily updates and “moments” from my days in the classroom.  I always have a story to tell by the day’s end. 

But I don’t post everything on facebook.  Like when I line the class up to head to music, only to realize I don’t know where the music room is and I receive 12 different answers from Kindergarteners about where the music room is located.  I don’t tell you about the times I abandon an entire lesson plan because, well, things just aren’t working.  I don’t tell you about the times I can’t find the materials and forgo the science lesson that was supposed to take place at 10:45.  I don’t tell you about the days I end feeling worn out and ineffective.  Simply put, I don’t tell you about my faults as a substitute. 

The definition of substitute is, “one that takes the place of another; a replacement.”  This is precisely what I do on a daily basis.  I take the place of a teacher who is sick, who is out of town, who is at a meeting, or taking care of sick kids at home. Being a “substitute” is difficult due to its own definition; it’s hard to take the place of someone else.  

When I serve as a substitute, I make a lot of mistakes.  I simply cannot be the exact replacement of another teacher.  I can’t count how many times I’ve been told “that’s not how Mrs. So-And-So does it!”  I don’t know how to run each teacher’s “math warm-up.”  I often struggle to figure out the password to the copy machine.  I don’t line up the students like they usually do to go to lunch.  I probably tell too many jokes.  I am an imperfect substitute. 

I was thinking about this the other day: I come into a classroom, do my best to decipher (sometimes seriously lacking) substitute plans, and leave the day not being all too responsible for what happened (or what DIDN’T happen) during the day.  I always end my sub notes with something along the lines of “don’t hesitate to call me with any questions about the day,” but I know they really won’t call because the moment that teacher walks back in the room, they are back to being responsible for their students and I am out of the picture, at least until the next 24 hour flu comes their way.

So what makes a “perfect” substitute?  A perfect substitute is a complete replacement; a perfect substitute wholly takes the place of another; a perfect substitute does not leave any loose ends; a perfect substitute leaves nothing more to be desired.  Sound familiar?  Jesus is our complete replacement, wholly takes our place, does not leave any loose ends, and leaves nothing more to be desired. 

During this Easter holiday, this truth becomes a focus of many.  Rather than give us the punishment due our sins, we are offered the perfect substitute requiring only one thing: saying “OK.”  All we have to do is believe and accept the gift of perfect substitution.  We don’t have to write sub plans (we don’t need to come up with an elaborate way to accept this gift; we can simply say “OK”), don’t have to make copies ahead of time in case the substitute can’t figure out the copy machine (we don’t need to have all our ducks in a row before we are eligible for this gift), and we don’t have to worry about the issues of student problems and unfinished lessons when we come back (this gift will never be revoked, even when we continue to sin). 

Our substitute is complete and enduring.  And the sub notes?  They look something like this:

“I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25, 26)