My family and I went to Ireland last year. And if you haven't done that before, you should consider doing it because it is within striking distance cost wise. I can't do just crazy, insane, expensive travel, but we are the types who have all kinds of alerts on our phone all the time. And if anything comes up and it's like right now, it's dirt cheap to go to this place. We're like, cool, buy it. And then we go there and we stay in super cheap places to save money. And then we spend our money on a car rental and gas so we can just go and explore places. That's how we like to travel. It's weird, but it's what we're into. And by going cheap and spontaneous, we've been able to see some pretty cool parts of the world and cool people. The well, I'm guessing you are listening right now. I won't out you by name, but there is somebody who lives in Ireland who listens to the podcast. And we connected and did a whole day together. She was a lovely host. We had a really nice time there as well. We also met people who you know don't know anything about this modest little podcast, and just everybody is wonderful. Ireland was so hospitable. It was a great trip. If you've never been there before, I highly recommend Ireland, especially because you can do it on the cheap, and that is important to me. So we go, we're driving around Ireland, right? And we hear a rumor that there's some site out by Donegal when we're out there that is associated with John Newton, the guy who wrote Amazing Grace. And we went out and had to drive this crazy circuitous route along, like, I mean, it's I don't know what they call it there, like a big inlet, like in Norway, maybe you'd call it a fjord or something. We drove all around this cool, you know, land feature around the water and clear out to this little town that I remember being called Bunkrana, but I'm probably saying it wrong, and I'm probably not even those probably aren't the right letters, right? But the this town had this set of plaques, it's very subtle, but it's there. A set of plaques dedicated to John Newton and the writing of Amazing Grace. Now, it wasn't written in Ireland, it was written in England years later, but there was a storm at sea, and John Newton almost died in that little inlet, that body of water, whatever it was, right there next to this town I'm talking about. And that incident is what inspired the beloved lyrics to Amazing Grace. And so we're reading all of these plaques and Googling some stuff at the same time, and Camilla's you know reading stuff to the kids and kind of teaching, you know, as we're wont to do. And we spent a little time learning about you know John Newton's uh you know youth. And I remember that it was bad that he was involved in the slave trade and that he wasn't even like a great assistant slaver, but that he was kind of a turd and an insubordinate, and just really churlish and difficult, and he practically ended up being a slave himself. He was so difficult to work with at times, and just not a not a super guy. He did a lot of really dumb things, and then you know, God opens his eyes and stuff changes, and God uses this incident with this storm and this bay that we're looking at right now, kids, and this guy's life has changed, and he goes on to become uh a minister, and he writes this beautiful hymn, among other things. And it was kind of one of those moments where you look at it and you're like, Man, well, if you're ever feeling bad about your youthful mistakes or whatever, think of a guy like Newton, and you go, All right, well, you know, God redeems things. And like we were talking about, was that just yesterday, the day before? Like people can change. And believing that people can change and that God changes people, and you know, that's that's a really important thing. Well, likewise, there's another John. Oh, see what I did there? Youth pastor, flip around the chair, put the hat on backwards. Well, kids, let me tell you about another John. John the Evangelist is a very similar John, just maybe not as overt in his bad behavior as a kid. We don't get anything about John the Evangelist in the Gospels that indicates that you know he was a scandal plagued, ne'er do well, but rather just he comes off as kind of an entitled turd in his youth. He and his brother had it looks like a little extra dose of power in the group of Jesus' disciples, because one-sixth of the disciples were them. I mean, there were other brother combos in there too, but that was to their advantage. Also, it looks like just about everybody else in the group did not come from means, but it does look like James and John, who earned the nickname the Sons of Thunder, had a little bit of money, and it also looks like maybe other members of their family tagged along, including their mom, which that also, I mean, that's an adult, an adult who maybe has some resources, who's along for all of these things. Like their mom was there, having their back as they went around being disciples of Jesus. You don't really picture that, but we're gonna talk about it in the Bible here in just a minute. There's a very formative event that she's involved with in kind of an odd butt-in sort of way as well. And so as I look at the early life of John and his brother, you kind of get a picture of somebody who, yeah, maybe wasn't brave enough to really go do some of the, you know, get into real hot water and do really ugly stuff. But you I just get a sense of like a little bit of that 80s bully entitlement kind of thing, um, mom's fancy boy kind of thing. And it comes through in how he interacts with Jesus. And yesterday we looked at a couple of incidents in his early life that reflect entitlement. And one of them, well, someone else is hedging in on our stuff, and he's doing Christian things too. Jesus, make him stop. And Jesus' like, you stop it. What are you doing? And Jesus gives a very important speech. Like, you should root for people who are also for you and for the gospel. And by the way, I will tell you, that is a very influential passage for me. For a long time, I think I felt a lot of the same stuff John did. Like all the versions of Christianity that are wrong kind of bother me. I'm kind of mad about it, and we should maybe defeat them. And then I don't know, a couple things happened, and that passage happened to me, and I kind of started thinking, uh, what would it look like to root for other people who are doing biblical, orthodox Christian things in the name of Jesus instead of spending my energy and my insecurity being threatened by the fact that there are people who come at it a little differently than me. So I got a soft spot for that passage we looked at yesterday because it has affected and continues to affect me as well. And then in the other passage we looked at yesterday, John doesn't respond well to being told no. He's like, well, you guys need to prepare the way for Jesus. And they're like, we don't want to. We don't really want, you just keep going, mister. Get out of here, Buster. We don't we don't want any of that stuff. You're going to Jerusalem, we don't want your Jesus. And John's like, Well, you, but he's great and he's full of love and you should believe in him, paraphrases mine. And they're like, Yeah, it might be so, but we don't want him. And he's like, find and burn Jesus, burn them, show them that you are the true God of love. Burn them. And Jesus, you know, chews out James and John for being idiots about that as well. So entitlement doesn't like to be told no. That's what we're seeing. And now we're going to get another mark of entitlement here in Matthew 20, when his mom intervenes to try to get him special treatment as the most precious, bestest boy of all the disciples. The incident starts in Matthew 19, where Peter is like, you know, he's a little bit concerned coming out of an interaction with a rich young ruler. And Jesus talks about, you know, talks to the rich young ruler and famously is like, well, you know, just give away all your stuff and then you're good to go. And he was, you know, he's kind of putting it to the rich young ruler, who was also pretty entitled and pretty John-like in that regard. And the rich young ruler walks away sad because he had a whole bunch of wealth. And then the disciples are all like, Well, then, you know, who can be saved if all of that stuff is an obstacle? And Jesus looked at him and said, With man, this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible. And Peter answered him, We've left everything to follow you. What then will there be for us? And I did a whole two or three episodes on this stuff back when we covered Matthew. Maybe if Jeff has time, he can link it down below. And you can go and check out those episodes if you want to know more about what's going on here in the text. But this is where it gets juicy and relevant to our stuff about John. Jesus said to them, answering Peter, I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who's left houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or children, or fields for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first. Again, if Jeff can link it, and even if he can't, go search it. Go check out the episodes we did on this a few years ago when we were going through Matthew. I mean, I remember covering this stuff. It's important stuff, it's powerful stuff. It's the kind of stuff that gets beyond the academic, as happens to us sometimes in this podcast. You know, we get into passages that just can't help but get past the, well, what do you make of this passage? What's happening into the story? And can't help but get into our business, like our lives and our priorities and our hearts. And this is one of those passages that's really important. So I encourage you to explore it further. So Jesus throws that out, and now, you know, we're making our way toward Jerusalem. Jesus and the disciples, and more than just the 12, there's this whole entourage that's with Jesus, right? And they've all got this in their minds. And as they're cruising along in light of that, in chapter 20 of Matthew, Jesus is telling them this beautiful parable, and it's about all the different workers who this landowner goes and he hires, and he agrees to pay them a certain amount at the beginning of the day, and they come and work, and he's like, Ah, I need more workers. And he goes and gets some new ones midday, and then he's like, I need more workers. And then right toward the end of the workday, he goes and gets more. He brings them all in at the end of the day, he pays them all the same amount. And the ones who were there first kind of melt down a little bit, and they're like, ah, that's not fair. And then the landowner is like, I paid everybody exactly what I agreed to pay you. Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I'm generous? When you think about what we know about the Sons of Thunder, James and John, eh, I mean, if you squint at it a little bit, you're like, is that is that a little bit of a dig at some stuff we've seen from them? You know, and then maybe you talk yourself out of it and you keep reading. So the last will be first, and the first will be last. And of course, I bet off more than I can chew. Again, why would I think I could do like half a chapter of Matthew in one day? I don't, it's like I don't understand how time works. I mean, it's right there in the name, Doug. 10-minute Bible hour. Come on, Whitman. Okay, we're gonna have to split this one up again because I want to. I mean, this is important to understanding who John is. This is his cringiest moment. This is the thing that, you know, hopefully by the grace of God, he didn't stay awake at night and think about for the rest of his life. But I mean it's a bad look, this story that we're getting into here, and we'll look at the rest of this bad look tomorrow. But John Newton had a bad look. It's a different kind of bad look. And look at what became of him. He he got it. The the bad look is kind of what led into the good look and the stuff that was dumb and missing the point. Somehow, God, who is very good at this sort of thing, flipped all of that on its head, and John Newton went on to write maybe the greatest hymn of the faith, the most succinct expression, articulation of how God does things in these kind of situations that's ever been written. So we're all turds, we're all dumb, we all have awful, stupid, cringe moments. What are you gonna do? By God's grace, grow, learn, change, be forgiven, and be a part of something that's redemptive and beautiful after that. And we'll track more about how that happened in John the Evangelist's life. Manana. All right, that's good for now. I'm Matt. This is the 10 Minute Bible Hour podcast. Let's do this again soon.