I'm hanging out with my buddy Despin in Alabama right now as I record this. I'm actually using his setup here at his office. It's fun being in Alabama. I I really, really like northern Alabama. First time I visited here, I had probably a lot of the same assumptions that many other people do, you know, negative stereotypes and stuff of the South. And maybe I'm being a jerk for even acknowledging that those negative stereotypes exist. But this place blew me away. Everybody is so dang nice and it's just beautiful down here. And I've really come to enjoy coming down to visit and reconnecting with people who I've met along the way. Yet when I'm here, I find myself more than ever really liking to talk about the West because it's kind of, you know, a bit of a curiosity to people here. And maybe there's always a touch of insecurity, like, whoa, what do I really bring to the table? Is there anything interesting about me? And so talking about home is kind of fun. You know, I live in the Black Hills of South Dakota now. I live near Deadwood Spearfish up north in the mountains. It's a really fun, interesting place with fascinating, weird, quirky history. In a way, you know, where I'm from, it kind of says something about me. You dress appropriately for it and affects your speech and your mentality. And yeah, we're tough because we get lots of snow and I have to plow the snow. I don't know how many times I've told these stories, and they're not even good stories, but it's just it's something we do when we travel because where we're from says something about us. Where Jesus is from says something about him. And we talked a lot about what it says about him and what opportunities setting up shop on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee in the first century AD in a fishing village next to a Roman garrison would provide Jesus in his ministry. And what I mentioned yesterday, though, is that there is more to Jesus' geographical choice than just, hey, it makes for an interesting story, or it says some interesting stuff about him. There's actually a theological significance to where he sets up shop. And I want to read this passage from Matthew 4. Some of it we've already covered. I'm going to read all the way through to the end so you can get a sense of this. I think you're going to recognize some of the language. So once again, Matthew 4 12, when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, we will come back to that, he returned to Galilee, leaving Nazareth. He went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulon and Naphtali, to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah, land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, along the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people living in darkness have seen a great light. On those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned. Huh. You've heard that language before, right? I think we've read it on here before, but theoretically you heard that language at Christmas. Because it's from the Christmas passage in Isaiah chapter 9. Remember, this is the to us a child is born passage. So I'm just going to flip over to Isaiah chapter 9, and you're going to get a lot of Bible today because I'm going to read this to you as well. Nevertheless, says the prophet Isaiah, who writes a book that is very, very tough to swallow for the original audience, hundreds of years before the time of Christ. But Isaiah has woven into its first half some encouraging stuff, glimpses of it. It all has to do, it all points to Jesus. And then there's a pivot point in Isaiah chapter 40 toward the end where it kind of pivots toward encouraging stuff. So this is some of the encouraging stuff from the beginning of Isaiah. I'm going to start again here in chapter 9. Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles by way of the sea along the Jordan. The people walking in darkness have seen a great light on those living in the land of the shadow of death. A light is dawned. You've enlarged the nation and increased their joy. They rejoice before you, as people rejoice at the harvest, as men rejoice when dividing the plunder. For as in the days of Median's defeat, you've shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor. Every warrior's boot used in battle, and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire. For to us a child is born. To us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders, and he'll be called wonderful, counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there'll be no end. He'll reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness. From that time on and forever, the zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. And then it gets into some pretty difficult stuff again. So whoa! Another one of those dot dot dot dot dot moments here. Jesus, in choosing to live in Capernaum by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali, he's not just picking a place that's a convenient crossroads or a place that's a more affordable bedroom community so he can commute into the place where he actually wants to redeem all of planet Earth. He's picking something that is absolutely in follow-up to probably one of the most cherished passages, not just for Christians today, not just for non-Christians today who continue to feel warmed by sentimental Christian vibes that include references to this passage in Isaiah, but one of the most important passages for the original audience. This would have been like the thing that they clung to. And I don't know, I it's hard for me to even think of anything to like in this to that isn't offensive because politics and conquest and everything, it's such a sore subject, and it should be. It's a brutal thing to be displaced, to have some outside group that just bought more swords or had a little better run over the last 10 years economically, or has a little bit more popular, trendy idea, be able to march in and be like, ha ha ha, we win, we get your thing now. You have to be assimilated and accommodate what we're about. Imagine if that happened to you right now. If somebody from some other culture, some other place, maybe your neighboring state goes rogue and they come and conquer you. You think 30 years from now, you would just be like, oh, I'm glad they came. I don't miss anything about the way things used to be. No, there's always going to be something that was like, I liked it when we had self-rule. I liked it before alien outsiders came in and did this to us. And I bet you would have some cherished phrases, images, things that you would remember that's part of your local lore, your state lore, your territory lore, your province lore, your regional lore, whatever that you would all cling to. Maybe that symbol would get banned by the new occupiers, maybe it wouldn't. But I think that's kind of the purpose that Isaiah chapter nine had to have been accomplishing. I think this transcended religion and theology. I think people read it, and it was this vague promise of hope. The language of it even acknowledges the darkness of the situation. Living in darkness is the rods of the oppressors, but then God, you know, breaks the rod of the oppressor and things get better, and the bloodshed is over, and there's this child that's going to be born, and things are going to pivot and change. And so, just in case the throwbacks to Deuteronomy were a little bit too old school, and the first part of chapter four is Jesus is answering the temptations, we're going right back to that gritty center-cut prophecy of hope. God is not done with his chosen people, God is not done redeeming yet language. And this comes on the heels of a horrible century of defeat and humiliation and being exploited for taxes and military resources that these people had endured. So people maybe hadn't made the connection as they get into the new part of Jesus' story about who he is and where he's from and what this might mean. But they certainly did after reading the first three and a half full chapters of the Gospel of Matthew. It definitely would have clicked that, hey, whether you believe that Jesus is who he claimed to be, who people are saying he is or not, you gotta admit, it ticks all the right boxes. Jesus is coming to bring light, he's coming to bring restoration, and all Matthew had to do was reference the first part of this little phrase for everybody else to fill in the rest and be like, oh yeah, that's all the promises that come with that phrase. Somebody drops a we the people in the United States or a when in the course of human events. I don't need to read the whole preamble of the Constitution to you. I don't need to read the entire Declaration of Independence to you. Your brain fills in what all of that means and conjures that for itself. So much more so. That is what's going on here. Jesus' arrival in this part of the world, instead of charging right at the enemy lines and going to Jerusalem, is a theological gesture, is a theological reality that points to the sovereignty of God's plan manifest in the person of Christ, guided by the Spirit of God present at the baptism of Jesus. It points to all of that unfolding exactly the way it's supposed to. And this thing is supposed to start small and humble, and it's supposed to grow into something much bigger and much more influential. And the fact that we're having this conversation 2,000 years later over the interwebs means that that's exactly what it did. Okay, we're three conversations into Jesus' adult life and ministry, starting in Matthew 4, verse 12. And I keep leaving this thing hanging all the way back at the beginning. Remember the thing about John had been put in prison? We gotta go back and figure out what that's about because it's gonna come into play really soon. And it's kind of sad because I mean, like 12 verses earlier, John's baptizing people and things seem to be going really nicely. So tomorrow we're gonna break that down. I want to say thank you again to everybody who supports the program at patreon.com slash the tmbh podcast. And as always, thanks to everybody for being here and hanging out with me. It's very humbling and very fun. I'm Matt. This is a 10 minute Bible hour podcast. We'll catch you tomorrow.