Necessary Repetition

Spiritual teachers tend to repeat themselves, and to repeat other teachers. Maybe there really aren’t that many different truths to tell. Just a lot of slow, sleepy human beings—like us—who need to hear the basics over and over. Consider today’s readings. People complain that God isn’t “fair,” and Ezekiel answers that God is more than fair. People choose their own fates, and people can change. Even evildoers can turn, do right, and live.

“Actions speak louder than words.” A fresh new insight? Hardly. Paul tells the Philippians he would truly be encouraged if those who claimed to be believers would, in fact, look to others’ interests and not their own. “The proof of the pudding is in the eating.” A novel idea? I don’t think so. In Jesus’ story of the farmer and his sons, everyone knows the one who said he wouldn’t work—but did— is way ahead of the one who said he would work, but didn’t. “Talk is cheap.” Heard that before?