Sermon on the Mount 5 E92 (SFMC Episode)

Direct from ER Bay 4 at St. Francis Medical Center, Alan & Shawn discuss going the extra mile! Shawn had an emergency and received excellent care, thanks be to God! Alan popped by the ER to record an episode of this series on the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus calls us to go beyond the minimum requirements in hopes of witnessing to others and the guys got the assignment as they recorded their most expensive episode to date!

Stay in the Fight!

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:05

All right. Here we are. This is a new one. New studio this week. I mean, big multi-story facility. You know, all these uh extra people coming in to offer you.

SPEAKER_00 0:20

Some of the greatest tech available. Yeah, yeah. Not for recording podcasts. Not for what we're doing. Hey, does do I look like E.T.? You do. You do.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

A little less like him with uh the gown. Yeah. Well, no. He wears a gown though, doesn't he? Didn't he wear a gown at one point?

SPEAKER_00 0:38

He did dress like the ghost. Yeah, that's true. All the kids are like, what's E.T.? Yeah. Yeah. Uh, thanks for getting with us on Fight in the Shade. Uh, this is the St. Francis Medical Center edition.

SPEAKER_01 0:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:52

Who would have?

SPEAKER_00 0:53

Episode. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:54

You know, one day we'll be doing the nursing home edition of these. You know, it's 25 years from now. This is a little too close to that. The old folks home. Yeah. Here we are. So uh just after we finished our domino game. Are you gonna eat your puddin? Good stuff. Good stuff.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

All right. I am uh I am in ER Bay number four. Um and I've been here for 24 hours, a little over 24 hours. Um not quite 12 hours, sorry. It's been a long day, man. Yeah, it's been a long 12 hours. It feels like 24 hours. Yeah. Yeah, I got here uh 12 hours ago um due to some um complications from dehydration and some medicine I was taking uh to treat AFib. So essentially uh my heart rate, my blood pressure dropped. Dropped. And Courtney's sitting quietly over in the corner, it dropped to 60 over 10? 20. 20, 60 over 20. Um, 60 over 20 at one point, the ambulance guys. I think that was the point, Alan, where the uh guy in the back with me is like, hey, I don't want to freak your wife out, but uh I'm gonna tell the guy in the front to go a little faster because uh your blood pressure just dropped again.

SPEAKER_01 2:18

Yeah, they they put the hammer down. Yeah, they do. And then got you here quick. So yeah, you've been here since basically three in the morning. Um, so yeah. Shout out insane.

SPEAKER_00 2:28

Yeah, shout out. They've done great, they've taken good care of me, um, comical people, and um, yeah, it's been good. But uh the show must go on. Yeah, this is it, man.

SPEAKER_01 2:38

This is determination, dedication, make every effort, spudazo. Spadazo right here.

SPEAKER_00 2:44

Spadazo.

SPEAKER_01 2:45

I like it.

SPEAKER_00 2:46

Uh Alan just finished giving me my um sponge bath. And uh we got a fresh new robe on, and so yeah, we're ready.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

Rectal exam incoming.

SPEAKER_00 2:59

People are gonna think we're joking. I really am in the hospital. Yeah. It's the wildest thing. Yeah, no doubt. Not on my bingo card this week.

SPEAKER_01 3:07

No, no, not what you had planned, but it's what you've uh been dealt. So here we go.

SPEAKER_00 3:12

Here we go. All right, so we're uh still in the Sermon on the Mount.

SPEAKER_01 3:15

Yep, still in Matthew 5.

SPEAKER_00 3:16

Still in Matthew 5. Uh, I think we're picking up in verse 38, and we're getting to the uh what you and I would call, because of the chosen, the extra mile section. Uh but it's really uh a lot of people I think before the chosen would have said it's the eye for an eye, yeah, or tooth for a tooth, uh the Mississippi. Right, yeah. Sorry. You're from Mississippi. The way Charlie Daniels sees it. He's a simple man. He's a simple man. Do you want to do you have some of that pulled up? Do you want to read a little bit of it? Or do you want to jump in and kind of passage?

SPEAKER_01 3:47

I can.

SPEAKER_00 3:47

I mean, I don't know how much you want to read of it. Uh I'm using my phone to record, so the quality may be a little different than what you used to. Could be better.

SPEAKER_01 3:54

Who knows? Could be better. That's true. So this is like you said, verse 38, it's 38 through 42. It's probably if you've been in church, you've heard this whole thing before. Um, you might not have known where it was, but you know it was in there. You've heard it said, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, but I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. Those would be cheek cheeks, not butt cheeks. That's what he's talking about. And uh and if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well, which there's some cool stuff about that, if you don't know. And then if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles, which is the whole Roman soldier scene in the chosen. And then give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. Those are the words of Jesus in Matthew 5. That's good.

SPEAKER_00 4:49

Alright, so uh we call it the extra mile. Then a lot of people quote this eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, and they quote it in the Old Testament scene, you know, in the in the uh expression of of justice. Right. But Jesus is is talking about a lot more than justice here. Yeah. Um how would you I mean if you is it I'm trying to think of the one word, you know, we we were looking at this. It it's it's but it's not, it's not one word. It's like he won he wants you to exceed there there's layers here that you know.

SPEAKER_01 5:24

Go beyond what's expected, I think, when when submitting or when is because most of these phrases initially start out with things you basically have to do. If someone sues you and takes your shirt, what are you gonna do about it? They took your shirt. You know, they sued you, they won, you know. If you're forced to go one mile, what are you gonna do about it? I mean, you have to go the mile that the soldiers forced you to go.

SPEAKER_00 5:47

Yeah, because that was part of the Roman rule.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

It was the expectation of the culture at the time.

SPEAKER_00 5:52

The soldiers could press you into service and say, carry our gear.

SPEAKER_01 5:57

Yeah, but only limited to one mile.

SPEAKER_00 5:59

One Roman mile. And so if you if you haven't seen that play out on the chosen, that's a great episode. Yeah, it really, really is. And and you can see where Jesus has already taught this in like the end of the first season or second season? Yeah, and then and then this is in the third season.

SPEAKER_01 6:19

It's later the you actually have to they actually have to live it out.

SPEAKER_00 6:22

Yeah, they live it out, and you can see in the actors' faces, the disciples' faces, they're they're remembering what Jesus said as they watch Jesus hit the mile and say, Oh, we'll keep going. And all and all of a sudden you kind of see the bewilderment on their face. Wait a minute, I don't understand. And so it's one thing to to read it, study it, live it. It's another thing to get a place to or to apply it.

SPEAKER_01 6:48

Yeah. Yeah. That's a great point. Like we we hear all this stuff in church all the time, you know, like, oh yeah, Pastor, that's a good sermon, or yeah, let's be like Jesus and all that stuff, but then when we actually have to do it, then it becomes something else. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:05

Are we prepared to?

SPEAKER_01 7:06

Are we really prepared to go go go the extra one?

SPEAKER_00 7:09

And and so the eye for an eye and a tooth-for-tooth references are old testament calls for justice. Now, you made a great point in prep. It it it calls for justice, but it also limits. Like justice is one of those things like we're gonna fulfill a debt that's owed, but we're also not gonna allow you to take more than what's owed.

SPEAKER_01 7:28

Yeah, like somebody read, like if if somebody knocks out your tooth, justice means you can knock out theirs, not knock out five of theirs.

SPEAKER_00 7:36

Yeah, you know, break their jaw or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 7:38

So that's the so the Old Testament stuff, we always see it as like, yeah, get what's coming to them, you know, or whatever, but really it's it was those laws are put in place to see that we don't go overboard and then we we don't become extremely hostile poor people who who hit us.

SPEAKER_00 7:54

Yeah, and then and then create more injustice. So how you doing? Mr. Sean? That's me, yes, sir. Set it right here. That'd be great, thank you. Yeah, appreciate it. Is there any chance I can get a water instead? Um, you can ask your nurse if you're able to get you some. Okay, thank you.

unknown 8:12

What with the black man tag?

SPEAKER_00 8:14

You too.

SPEAKER_01 8:15

Yeah, you are that's that's that's the great thing is you uh dinner's right here and it's super early. So I know.

SPEAKER_00 8:21

I feel like I'm getting the uh like if you didn't believe we were in the hospital, that was the food service just came by. Yeah. Delivered my evening meal. And it's four. It's four. Yeah. Is it like the Denny's Grand Slam special? Am I 90 now? We're already there, man.

SPEAKER_01 8:35

50 is the new 90, right? So um Oh my gosh. A fib and covered covered dish hospital lunches or dinners at four. So uh yeah. Um solid, solid. There we go. Where were we? Um we were finishing up talking about eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.

SPEAKER_00 8:56

Yeah, the justice piece. Yeah, so it's limiting. It's limiting, but but Jesus comes back and says, okay, those of you who owe, be prepared to exceed what you owe. Yeah. Because he's saying it's not enough to just do what you owe. He's saying you need to, you know, to go beyond. And and the way that works out in the chosen, I know we keep coming back to that, but in some ways, I don't know if I don't know if that's what Jesus originally meant, but I think so. It in some ways it humbles the soldiers.

SPEAKER_01 9:32

Yeah, it's like well, when we talked about it several weeks ago with a group of men, someone brought up the idea that it's like it's like the scripture about pouring coals on your on your enemy's head, you know, by praying. Yeah. You put them in a situation where they have to go, you know, and look around. Yeah. And and I do think I I do really like the the tooth-for-a-tooth thing, because our normal reaction when someone comes against us is to come back with an even stronger attack against us. The Chicago way. Yeah. And Jesus is Jesus is saying, no, not only do you not need to do that, what I'm saying is you should actually give them more. And so the the suing and taking your shirt, which is funny, that's stuck with a uh, you know, that ranch they took the shirt as well, you know, or whatever, you know, you you hear that. I I lost my shirt, you know, that phrase. You lost my shirt, yeah. Well, so so it's funny that 2,000 years later that's still a used phrase. But what the deal is, is Jesus says, offer them your cloak as well. The shirt's the inner garment, the cloak is the outer garment. And what commentaries and stuff that we read were saying that, well, the there was the Jewish law, you couldn't take somebody's outer garment for the night, because that might be the only thing they have to serve as a blanket, and you weren't allowed to do that to us. And then, well, Jesus is saying, actually, you know, you go ahead and do that. Go ahead and give. Right. You know, and and it's not because you want to give away everything you've got, or not because you want people to slap your cheeks a hundred times when you turn the other cheek. You know, it's not that. It's not so people run all over us. It's just pointing out the fact that this way that we're gonna do the kingdom, what God's calling us to, is something so subversive, it's so different than the way the world operates, it's gonna be like you're turning the other cheek and you're you're it's gonna be like you're you're if you're if you're gonna lose your shirt, well then you give them this blanket, which is even more of a a possession. Like, you're not we're not just trying to go by the letter of the law here, we're gonna have to go beyond it to get the point of the kingdom across.

SPEAKER_00 11:44

Yeah, and and you know, the meekness that he talks about earlier in the Sermon on the Mount, you know, blessed are the meek, you know, those are those aren't those aren't people who are weak, they're people who are powerful yet control that. And so part of what he's saying is, look, you may be entitled to something, but it doesn't mean that you should receive it. And I think that that entitlement mentality is a plague that we have in our society today where people are constantly talking about what they're owed. Yeah. And and what's fair and what's not fair and what they deserve. And I'm like, man, that's just that's that's a nice concept, but sometimes you gotta go beyond that because the kingdom demands it, because that's what's required, and because that or or not even what's required, that's what it takes to get whatever you're trying to do done. Yeah, in this case, to make the kingdom a reality on earth.

SPEAKER_01 12:35

Yeah, and let's say that they sued you, took the shirt, and you really know that it was unfair, and then you're gonna give up your blanket, and you're gonna put them in the situation where they're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, I can't take your blanket. Yeah, you know, I'm not even supposed to do that, you know. I can't take your cloak. And so you're like saying, Hey, but if if what you're wanting here, it's I mean, you can take everything I got, but it's you're not gonna take me, you know? Yeah. And you can, and this isn't how you win, you know, I think is what she was trying to say as well.

SPEAKER_00 13:06

Yeah, and the the slap, that was interesting too, because the slap is implied culturally that the slap so on the right cheek means that you backhanded them with your right hand.

SPEAKER_01 13:17

And you think of them as a a lesser value than you.

SPEAKER_00 13:20

Right. It's it's a it's a way that uh a master or superior would have shown uh disgust or punishment to somebody of a uh lower stature. And and then, you know, Jesus' response is okay, well hit them back, right? No. I mean, no, he's he says, give them the other cheek, and and it's interesting, it's almost like I don't want to say defiant, but it's uh it's a way of saying, you know, I you you offered a rebuke, and I and I don't I it's not I don't take it as a rebuke uh because I'm not lesser than you. Yeah, so if you want to slap me again and prove yourself abusive, it's almost like go ahead, hit me again, show me how tough you are. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:04

Yeah, I was thinking about a gladiator when they when they have Russell Crowe and he's first been bought by the Proximo, you know, the guy that's gonna train train him in the team in the arena, you know, and that they're trying to make him fight and see what he'll do, and he won't fight. Right. You know, they give him the wooden sword and he throws it down, and the guy gives him the nod, and the guy squacks him in the stomach, and he stumbles back, and then he steps back up. And then he hits him in his shoulder where he was uh wounded, and he goes down for a minute, and then he gets back up. Yes. And then uh he's about to hit him across the face with the wooden sword, and the proximal guy's like, ah, that's enough. And so by saying, Hey, hit me again, hey, here I am, you're not gonna break me almost. You're putting them in the he put Proximo in a situation where he's like, Well, I'm not gonna do that to this guy. Right, right. He called his bluff, yeah. Yeah, and and so so it it is like that for us to and and you you made a good point. If if you turn the left cheek, it's like, no, I you I'm your equal, I'm not lesser than you, and if you want to keep hitting me, you can keep hitting me.

SPEAKER_00 15:16

Yeah, you can open pan me. Yeah, but but it's not which is the work of an equal. Like I, you know.

SPEAKER_01 15:21

Yeah, yeah. You're not, you're not, you're not gonna beat me, you're not gonna break me, I guess, is what it would be.

SPEAKER_00 15:27

You know, so it is and the other thing is like this was culturally accepted and understood to be in the place of insults, not in the place of violence. Like it is a violent insult. It's not like I'm rubber, you're blue, whatever you say, bounces off you and sticks on you. Uh, but it it it's not like that kind of insult, but it is is still that you know, it is still a form of insult versus uh I'm gonna break in your house and steal all your stuff and beat you. That's not the same thing. This isn't what he's talking about. Yeah, this is this is more of a stature and and and out of the world kind of thing, especially as you're dealing with these occupying forces that Israel constantly is dealing with throughout their history.

SPEAKER_01 16:11

Yeah, and that is a great point. All three of those examples, the getting sued, um, being forced to carry things a mile, or getting slapped as an insult or whatever, all three of those are very like you know, like you said, out in front. So it's not like someone's coming in and trying to murder your family, and Jesus is like, hey, turn the other cheek. Don't show violence to the people who are trying to kill your kids or whatever, you know. Right. It's not that at all. This isn't wimpy Jesus. This is actually very strong, very tough Jesus. And I think that we forget this, all of these things that he just said, he's saying this is what it's gonna take to show a non-believing world what the God of the universe looks like. And so that's what we need to be thinking about, our actions out in public, out with the rest of the world. How is how are my responses to certain injustices or whatever, how are my responses to those gonna show a non-believing world what the God of the universe actually looks like. Yeah, what the creator of the world is really about, what the mission of the kingdom really is. So I see.

SPEAKER_00 17:24

And and when we when we walk around with that mindset versus the mindset of I gotta get mine. Yeah, right, it's a game changer. It's a total game changer. Yeah. It's not about my image, my pride, my dignity, my my whatever.

SPEAKER_01 17:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:40

Uh it's more about well, what can I give up for the kingdom to go forward?

SPEAKER_01 17:44

Yeah. Yeah. It's it's what can I yeah, that's a great way to see it. What can I give up to show this person who can't see it at all to show this person who God is. Yeah. Like that's that's it's all the kingdom is always the goal. Jesus isn't doing this to just because I showed some guys at old vintage Jesus sufferers, like, and I'm Jesus, and here I am, and that's just because I'm Jesus. And I think we just we get into that mindset that it's supposed to be about that, and just meek and mild and blah blah blah. No, it's not even close to that. This is a way to show people who God is like. And heaping burning coals, like getting their attention by the way you respond to injustice. So amen. Okay. I like it. Hey, not bad. Not bad. We should come hang out at St. Francis more often. I know, right? Limit our time. It's the most expensive episode we've ever had. That's true, yeah. Yeah. Well, those hat prices have just gone up. Yeah, yeah. Buy a hat at Paper Sean's Emergency Room. Yeah, go fund it. Oh my gosh, it's good stuff.

SPEAKER_00 18:59

That is good stuff. Okay. All right. Uh, my prayer if you hear this um is that uh everything's clot-free. Although I think by the time this airs, everything will be done. But uh I'm healing. Yeah. And uh doing well. And resting. And resting, yeah. Yeah. That's what we're going for.

SPEAKER_01 19:19

I'm down with that. Uh, we'll pick back up later in five. Um, so adios. Stay in a fight.