Hi, Welcome to Redeem the Commute. I’m Ryan, your host for the daily challenges. This week’s topic is part of our series called Jesus Is… where we’re trying to learn about the identity of Jesus, through studying some key stories in the Bible.

Our daily challenges are meant to help you explore what it means to follow Jesus, even if you don’t have a lot of time. We have a rhythm that keeps us in sync, even if we’re not a community that meets together in person regularly. Every Monday we introduce the week’s idea. Every Tuesday we study it in the Bible. Every Wednesday we see how that challenges and transforms our thinking on the topic. Thursdays we try to apply and live it out. Friday is a day for prayer and reflection before we take a rest on Saturday, and Sundays we meet together with others in community.

In university, I studied Engineering Physics, which involved a combination of practical engineering courses and theoretical physics. One of our professors was heavily involved in the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory, which is an underground facility in Sudbury, Ontario that was attempting to measure the mass of an elusive particle called a neutrino. I remember him as a kind, friendly and fair prof who I liked, and who was always helpful in the lab. He was a good teacher.

He had roped many others into helping as well. We heard about the observatory all the time, as professors worked it into example after example in exams, assignments and lectures.

By the time I finished school, I had heard far too much about this place, and it seemed familiar and unexciting.

Well, this year that now retired professor won a Nobel Prize for Physics, for his work on the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory. Suddenly that kind, familiar and friendly man I once knew was a household name, celebrated across Canada for at least the length of a news cycle.

He was not just a good teacher, he was one of Canada’s best minds, actually once of the best in the world! I was proud to have known him once.

This week we’ll explore a story where Jesus proved himself to be a decent teacher as well, but then amazed people by showing himself to be so much more.

Question: What good teachers do you recall? Was it because of their teaching skills, or other qualities?  Why?