<p>6:40 <i>The disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is perfected, shall be as his teacher</i>- The Lord is partly speaking to the possible desire in some of the disciples to be martyrs for His cause. Peter's attitude in Gethsemane was clearly of that nature, and some of the disciples came from radicalized, fanatical backgrounds. Martyrdom was a common concept in the first century, and the Lord's warning to flee persecution, to bring about a quiet revolution rather than a political one, was aimed at warning against any desire for a quick, glamorous death for the sake of the Kingdom. In the context, He has warned them to endure persecution. He could be saying that the game plan was that&nbsp;<i>He</i>&nbsp;was to die, but&nbsp;<i>they</i>&nbsp;were to seek to preserve their lives so that they could make a longer and more effective witness to Him. They were not 'above' Him- He was the one who had to die as the perfect sacrifice, not them. They were to be 'as' Him in terms of personality, and be satisfied with that- it was to be &quot;enough&quot; for them to bear His reproach (Mt. 10:25). The Lord elsewhere taught Peter that the time for martyrdom would indeed come for Peter, when he was &quot;perfected&quot; or matured- but not right then. So there is the possibility that the Lord is implying 'You are not at this stage&nbsp;<i>huper</i>&nbsp;(&quot;above&quot;) Me, for the moment, focus on being &quot;as&quot; Me, as disciples learning to copy their teacher'. This suggestion is strengthened by the fact that Paul later writes that we are indeed to be&nbsp;<i>huper</i>&nbsp;Christ, in the sense of being instead of Him, for His sake, in our witness. Thus we are to preach &quot;<i>huper</i>&nbsp;Christ... in Christ's stead <i>huper</i>&nbsp;again&quot; (2 Cor. 5:20), suffering in the work of preaching&nbsp;<i>huper&nbsp;</i>Christ (2 Cor. 12:10; Phil. 1:29; Col. 1:24), giving our lives&nbsp;<i>huper</i>&nbsp;Christ (Acts 15:26), in response to Christ's death&nbsp;<i>huper</i>&nbsp;us (Rom. 5:8 and often). So when the Lord taught that the disciples were not to give their lives&nbsp;<i>huper</i>&nbsp;Him their Lord and Master, He might have meant 'at this time'. The time would come, but for then, they were to focus on learning of Him.&nbsp;</p><p>Today, students are 'trained' to think for themselves, be creative, develop their own opinions, push forward their own independent research, using question / problem-based learning as a paradigm for their education. 'Education' in the first century wasn't like that at all. The idea was that &quot;every one when he is fully taught will be like his teacher&quot; (Lk. 6:40). The idea was that a person born into a certain social situation was trained to take their place in society, given that 'station and place' into which they had been born. Initiative in that sense was not encouraged; it was all about training up a person to correctly fulfil societies' expectation of them. The idea of being personally taught by the invisible Master / teacher Jesus, becoming like Him rather than like the person whom society expected, being given talents by Him which we are to trade and multiply at our initiative (Mt. 25:15-28)... this was all totally counter-cultural stuff. What was so vital in the Mediterranean world was that a person achieved conformity to accepted values. Cicero advised that in any good presentation of a legal case or encomium, emotions and passions shouldn't be referred to. Individualism was seen as a threat to tradition and the collective society. The huge New Testament emphasis on becoming disciples, learners, of an invisible Lord, Master and teacher located in Heaven, serving Him alone, worried about <i>His</i> standards, perceptions and judgment of us- that was and is so totally opposite to the expectations of society. People were educated to be embedded in society, rather than to come out of their world and live in the new world in which Christ was the light, and all things were made new in a new creation, a new set of values.</p>