Episode Transcript
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It has taken me a long time to realise that
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my greatest insights into the nature
of God and my relationship with God,
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did not come from theologians – at
least not the classically trained ones.
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I realise now that I've learned
more about the incarnation
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and the redemptive nature of God
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from people who maybe didn’t even
realise they were teaching at the time.
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People who didn’t clutter their lives
with profound theological arguments
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and long treatises on transubstantiation.
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Their explanations were earthy and
practical and not constrained by fear
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of not being accepted as a
credible source of knowledge.
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They were people whose words and
witness made me ask questions
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about the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of God and creation.
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Now, the common characteristic of all these
people is that they all had simple insights
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and a certain faith born of experience
and a realistic approach to life.
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It started to become clear to me that we don’t
really learn about God so much as we live God,
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sometimes by trial and error,
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but never without getting to know the
part of us that connects up with God.
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Although Jesus never ran for public office
or sought to join any religious community,
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He too had to trust His own lived experience.
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Along the way when He shared that wisdom,
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He was rejected because He was not one
of the publicly acknowledged authorities.
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We can imagine that He lived and learned
from the simple people of Nazareth.
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He knew first hand that their hardships were like His own
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and that He saw that His role to assist them to lift those burdens,
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by reminding them that not all
burdens are important
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and some are mere ‘baggage’ not ‘responsibilities’.
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But not all people saw His inner
purpose of doing the Fathers will.
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Maybe He thought that the rabbis and
those who were educated in the word of God
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would be the first to recognise
what He had come to offer.
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But on many occasions, He was disappointed.
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What He came to realise is that the
Father often overlooks
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the learned and the clever to settle His favour on the simple,
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on those who have received no
formal training in the Law.
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So when it comes to revealing who He is,
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Jesus looks to people who exercise no power
and enjoy no prestige in the community.
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He looks to people like His own disciples.
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Remember that in Jesus’ time there were whole
groups of people who were dismissed as sinners
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because chose they follow what were
regarded as dishonourable callings
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– people whose lifestyle did not permit
them to observe the small print of the Law.
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These people were at the bottom of
the social heap and were ignored,
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but Jesus had a word for them
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and all those people who were bowed down
by the interpretation of the law.
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He had no intention of doing away with the law,
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but He refused to support those who spent their
time finding new burdens for broken people.
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Saint Peter in Acts 15 also
admits that the disciples of Jesus
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could not bear the full yoke of the Law.
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He said: “Why should they demand of others that
which they have never managed to do themselves?”
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So then a gentle reminder that are saved
in the same way as the lawmakers are:
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through the grace of the Lord.
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Jesus offers any who were prepared to listen,
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an invitation to come and learn from Him
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and find rest for their souls
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and in doing so He makes Himself
the centre of His own teaching.
