WEBVTT 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:02.640 Okay, so terrible question. 00:00:02.959 --> 00:00:05.919 How about John 2 through 4? 00:00:06.080 --> 00:00:07.040 I mean, that's what we read. 00:00:07.280 --> 00:00:08.080 Small chunk. 00:00:08.240 --> 00:00:09.439 You know, this is what's nice. 00:00:09.519 --> 00:00:12.960 If you do the red book, so much less. 00:00:15.199 --> 00:00:16.320 What did this do for you? 00:00:16.399 --> 00:00:25.440 Did you have new um new insights into um into Jesus, into wisdom? 00:00:25.600 --> 00:00:32.719 Um were the things that sort of um pricked you or bothered you? 00:00:32.880 --> 00:00:35.600 Um where where did the readings take you this week? 00:00:38.240 --> 00:00:43.280 Well, I did the wrong thought uh on the chapter head of the head. 00:00:45.280 --> 00:00:56.560 What I did was I took notes on page one of this series, and I thought when I picked up my book to do the study, I thought, well, we've already done that, so I'll just flip over to the next one. 00:00:58.000 --> 00:01:00.320 So these readings did not do much for you this week. 00:01:02.880 --> 00:01:03.439 You're okay. 00:01:03.679 --> 00:01:05.280 I bet you've read them before. 00:01:06.560 --> 00:01:15.359 To me, they're um when I when I read Matthew, Mark, and Luke, I'm getting like a chronology. 00:01:16.159 --> 00:01:22.079 And when I read John, I get a spiritual. 00:01:25.359 --> 00:01:28.239 I I feel a lot more spiritual about it. 00:01:29.920 --> 00:01:34.719 Spiritual may not be the right word, but it's it's a little more in awe. 00:01:36.319 --> 00:01:39.519 Um because it's because it's not presented. 00:01:40.560 --> 00:01:48.480 I mean it's presented in a way that it brings the Bible, it brings John into you, and then it brings you into John. 00:01:49.280 --> 00:01:49.599 Okay. 00:01:52.560 --> 00:02:04.799 I I feel like I hear you saying that the in the other Gospels you get more of a description of events, and in John you get more insight into what those events mean. 00:02:05.120 --> 00:02:05.280 Yes. 00:02:05.760 --> 00:02:06.319 Okay, yeah. 00:02:07.120 --> 00:02:07.920 What they mean to me. 00:02:08.240 --> 00:02:08.960 What they mean to you. 00:02:09.280 --> 00:02:09.599 Great. 00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:11.680 Matthew, Mark, and Luke. 00:02:13.120 --> 00:02:16.879 I don't get the same feeling when I read those. 00:02:19.280 --> 00:02:19.680 Thanks. 00:02:20.240 --> 00:02:20.560 Thanks. 00:02:21.599 --> 00:02:32.000 I didn't realize until I was I was reading Wikipedia that um that uh I had never thought of, I thought Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and they were all like a little group. 00:02:32.479 --> 00:02:48.080 But John came after everything had happened, and he was trying to put everything in a perspective that I understood uh that would be correct and a way of explaining or talking about things. 00:02:59.439 --> 00:03:05.199 And when we get to the born-again thing, I uh I have a comment on that, but I'll I'll guess I'll wait for that one. 00:03:05.439 --> 00:03:05.599 Okay. 00:03:05.919 --> 00:03:07.120 Well, whenever you're ready. 00:03:07.360 --> 00:03:11.680 Well the born again thing was uh when I was 11. 00:03:12.319 --> 00:03:17.840 We were living in a teeny little Texas town called Sour Lake and went to a teeny little Baptist church. 00:03:19.199 --> 00:03:27.360 So that summer uh I went off to the church camp and I was really struggling with uh whether or not to uh profess my faith. 00:03:27.520 --> 00:03:29.199 This is what you do in the Baptist church. 00:03:29.919 --> 00:03:36.479 And um so I uh prayed about it and everything, and at big camp I made a decision. 00:03:36.639 --> 00:03:48.560 And I know of course campus sort of pointed toward that, but it was a very important stage in my life, and I realized that difficult decisions or just big decisions, I've always used the pattern that I started there. 00:03:49.120 --> 00:03:54.400 And so um I did profess my faith and uh was immersed, you know. 00:03:54.479 --> 00:03:57.199 Yeah, but I really felt like a different person that summer. 00:03:57.360 --> 00:03:58.639 I really remember that. 00:03:58.800 --> 00:03:59.919 I felt lighter. 00:04:00.159 --> 00:04:06.400 I don't remember why what the I felt lighter cleaning away from the little city after that. 00:04:06.479 --> 00:04:08.400 But uh, that was a good experience for me. 00:04:09.360 --> 00:04:16.000 It's amazing what is too thank you. 00:04:20.639 --> 00:04:27.040 Um Christian initiation for the Campbell Church. 00:04:27.600 --> 00:04:31.759 We had a young woman there who was just so shy. 00:04:35.360 --> 00:05:00.800 But now she was bad guys, she did a complete reversal, she just went, you know, and I think from that time on she was always a talker and she was happy, and you know, and we don't always see things like that because the babies, you know, they're like, you know, but uh anyway, it does make a difference. 00:05:02.800 --> 00:05:20.399 And before that reason, we we lived in Australia when my kids came of that age, but they went to an Anglican school, and so they would go through confirmation there, but they hadn't been baptized because I was raised with the belief that you should be of uh decision age for that. 00:05:20.720 --> 00:05:45.920 And so I asked, we I was at that time going to combined uh Presbyterian congregational church, you know, because I was a Presbyterian congregation and uh so I asked them they were doing a confirmation class at the church, and so I asked them if they could instead of having this free uh uh Episcopal school, which was no ceremony, that they could you know have a ceremony for my kids, and they did. 00:05:46.319 --> 00:05:48.879 It was it was very meaningful to me. 00:05:55.759 --> 00:05:57.040 Anybody else? 00:06:04.720 --> 00:06:07.199 Well, maybe we should just wade through our days. 00:06:07.279 --> 00:06:08.480 Does that seem okay? 00:06:08.639 --> 00:06:11.120 And yeah, as always, interrupt me. 00:06:11.360 --> 00:06:20.000 I don't want to try to trick you into thinking what I thought was important is, and you can say that that's not important. 00:06:20.240 --> 00:06:27.839 Um, but you know, it's great that we got to read the water to wine story because we just got to hear that, you know, two Sundays ago. 00:06:28.079 --> 00:06:35.680 And um, it's interesting what they highlight in the video was the quantity of wine. 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:42.399 Um she lets you know that there's like 10,000 vines with 10,000 clusters with 10,000 grapes. 00:06:42.560 --> 00:06:47.439 That's not in the Bible, that's in a Jewish apocryphal book called Jubilees. 00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:56.160 So, you know, the Jubilee year is every 50th year when there's basically debts are forgiven, lands are restored, etc. 00:06:56.480 --> 00:07:01.040 And this book of Jubilees is about the Jubilee of Jubilees. 00:07:01.439 --> 00:07:17.199 It's sort of kind of like heaven on earth, uh, and and and it's revealed in these insane quantities uh uh of of well things like olives and grape juice, etc. 00:07:17.600 --> 00:07:36.639 Um, so one approach to the Cana story is about the quantity of wine, and just to put that in perspective, uh there's um you know, each one of those vats holds like a hundred, holds thirty to fifty gallons, and there's six of them. 00:07:37.199 --> 00:07:53.600 So you're you're talking somewhere between a hundred and eighty and um well I just I don't know why I just blanked a nine, no, no, 120 to 150, and there's six of them. 00:07:53.759 --> 00:07:56.639 Yeah, so you're talking about 900. 00:07:57.519 --> 00:08:00.079 Yeah, up to 900 gallons of wine. 00:08:00.160 --> 00:08:04.720 Now you know a gallon is going to give you four bottles. 00:08:05.040 --> 00:08:08.800 So just think about the quantity of bottles of wine at this party. 00:08:08.959 --> 00:08:10.480 It's staggering. 00:08:10.720 --> 00:08:16.800 And we don't know how big the wedding was, and if the guests were even able to drink that quantity of wine. 00:08:17.519 --> 00:08:23.439 So I think one highlight is on the is on the abundance, and I think that's an interesting theme of reversal. 00:08:23.519 --> 00:08:25.920 They go from scarcity to abundance. 00:08:26.160 --> 00:08:30.879 The other theme is that they go from um, it's a backward thing. 00:08:31.040 --> 00:08:38.000 The the quality of the wine should go down as you drink it, and um, this is a good home tip. 00:08:38.320 --> 00:08:40.399 The quality of wine should go down. 00:08:40.639 --> 00:08:44.879 You don't drink a$10 bottle and then a hundred dollar bottle. 00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:46.720 This is not wise. 00:08:46.879 --> 00:08:50.399 Um so but in the story, it goes, it's the reverse. 00:08:50.720 --> 00:08:53.039 Uh I mean, it goes up. 00:08:53.360 --> 00:09:09.039 So it could be about that, but I as I put to you um about 10 days ago, I think there's another element in the story that the book misses, which is that this water is for Jewish ritual purification. 00:09:09.279 --> 00:09:16.559 It's water to wash off things that we wouldn't even consider germs, you know, like touching a cockroach. 00:09:17.279 --> 00:09:27.039 You know, you you think through it, and we have antibacterial soap, but even if you do that, you probably still feel like I can't get that gross off. 00:09:27.120 --> 00:09:44.720 I mean, that's kind of the world they I mean again, we don't live in a much different world, not an entirely different world, but there were many things like cockroaches, like women and gentiles, and you know, um dead bodies and things like that. 00:09:45.039 --> 00:09:57.679 Um probably if you touched a dead body, you would also feel like antibacterial soap would not fix that for you, because it's so foreign to our day-to-day experience, right? 00:09:58.399 --> 00:10:03.679 So what's interesting is Jesus turns that water into wine. 00:10:04.080 --> 00:10:08.080 Not just spring water or a jug. 00:10:08.639 --> 00:10:14.799 Water that's meant to wash off our dirt gets changed into wine. 00:10:16.480 --> 00:10:21.759 You know, again, I I think it's an interesting thought as to the inside of that. 00:10:21.919 --> 00:10:25.279 We can get bogged down with did Jesus really do it? 00:10:26.240 --> 00:10:27.440 Why can't I? 00:10:27.600 --> 00:10:34.000 You know, uh that would be a really lucrative skill for clergy to have, turning water into wine. 00:10:34.159 --> 00:10:38.240 Instead of thinking about the factuality, I'm not saying it did or didn't happen. 00:10:38.320 --> 00:10:41.039 I mean what's important though, they said is the inside. 00:10:41.679 --> 00:11:06.159 So with God, scarcity can be turned into abundance with God, um regular can become extraordinary, and then maybe even deeper, the things that remove what bothers us culturally can be instead celebrated. 00:11:06.720 --> 00:11:10.480 It's like turning brillo pads into party favors. 00:11:17.440 --> 00:11:28.080 So I think in that sense, it it is this invitation not to say, hey, we shouldn't be afraid of touching roaches, um, but but maybe going deeper than that. 00:11:28.559 --> 00:11:46.240 Um instead of being afraid to celebrate difference, especially in the things that we think are ordinary or even not good, uh, God is able to bring some really fine wine out of those things. 00:11:47.600 --> 00:11:58.879 I don't want to repeat the sermon too much, but again, uh I think this is the journey from loving somebody in spite of their habits to loving them because of their habits. 00:12:00.159 --> 00:12:03.120 Thinking about the things in my spouse that bother me. 00:12:03.600 --> 00:12:06.960 I don't want to totally repeat the sermon, but my wife's a clutter bug. 00:12:07.039 --> 00:12:07.919 I'm just going to say that. 00:12:08.080 --> 00:12:11.440 She is, and uh, but she also really likes the house picked up. 00:12:11.600 --> 00:12:25.200 So I kind of rush around and pick up clutter, and uh I used to love her in spite of that, but it occurred to me a few years ago, I think because she told me for the hundredth time, look, I you know, I'll pick that up later. 00:12:25.360 --> 00:12:32.639 I'm leaving it now so I can have time with you instead of time picking it up. 00:12:32.879 --> 00:12:38.320 So my priority is time with you first, I'll pick it up later. 00:12:39.279 --> 00:12:47.519 Well, that's something to love because of who she is instead of in spite of. 00:12:47.759 --> 00:12:56.720 So thinking about what's behind the behavior instead of just the behavior is sort of like the theme of the day: sight and insight. 00:12:58.240 --> 00:12:59.919 I hope that makes sense. 00:13:00.240 --> 00:13:12.639 Uh and I think as we grow in love with somebody, hopefully we start to love them even in the habits that can be annoying and frustrating. 00:13:14.080 --> 00:13:16.559 That's not always true, but I mean hopefully. 00:13:16.879 --> 00:13:21.840 Well, I think that's all great crazy in a way. 00:13:23.120 --> 00:13:36.000 What is expected of us as we don't act like everybody, but we are supposed to love everybody, but love has hardly sometimes just accepting a question. 00:13:41.759 --> 00:13:47.279 And uh or it's just many back or farm, you know. 00:13:48.399 --> 00:13:51.679 Or sometimes it's even as available in the order. 00:13:53.039 --> 00:14:04.960 Because uh the one thing that I really like about John is that there's John is there's that personal touch of God. 00:14:06.960 --> 00:14:07.759 He's a mystic. 00:14:08.240 --> 00:14:14.159 You know, he's had years in isolation, he survived everybody else. 00:14:14.480 --> 00:14:17.120 He had a lot of time to think and pray. 00:14:17.519 --> 00:14:41.679 And um, one of the things I was wondering about the other day was um we talk a lot about God uh and we uh and uh from my perspective, we've been trained by the church to look to the church for our spiritual inspiration and our nurturing us and so forth. 00:14:42.080 --> 00:14:50.720 But um, you know, I saw a few parallel to human life and life with God. 00:14:50.799 --> 00:15:17.600 And then, you know, when we're born, we're helping babies, and then we grow up to be children, and we are so dependent on our parents, and we love our parents, we've got good parents, and you know, and then gradually we get to the point where we become adults, and so then we still love our parents, but yet we are taking care of ourselves and we're growing and so forth. 00:15:17.840 --> 00:15:36.480 Well, I'm wondering if the same thing doesn't happen with our relationship with God, is that our relationship with God is to be as personal and intimate and loving as we are with our our parents or the person we love and so forth. 00:15:36.720 --> 00:15:44.720 And so, uh, yes, when we're growing up, we get trained in religious life, you know, and we learn about God and so forth. 00:15:45.120 --> 00:16:15.600 But there comes a time when we are an adult and then we walk with God as an adult and being stuck still, very dependent on God, but then we're you know, God expects us to be partners with Him, with God, and uh I think sometimes we really miss out on thinking like that because we don't spend enough time just being with God, just talking with God. 00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:18.159 Yes, we say prayers, and that's good. 00:16:18.399 --> 00:16:20.559 Yes, we read scripture, that's good. 00:16:20.799 --> 00:16:31.279 But how much do we actually quiet down and sit with God and listen to what God has to say to us? 00:16:31.600 --> 00:16:36.799 Because when we do that, then God really begins to work with us. 00:16:37.360 --> 00:16:49.200 And significant changes come about in our lives while we're listening and hearing, because there needs to be that communication and with God. 00:16:49.360 --> 00:16:51.360 Because God is not a silent partner. 00:16:52.159 --> 00:16:56.799 It doesn't mean he's gonna tap you on the shoulder every morning and say, okay, I'm gonna do this today. 00:16:57.039 --> 00:17:06.000 But the thing is this when we sit with God, when we seek relationship with God, then God speaks us all kinds of ways. 00:17:06.240 --> 00:17:10.559 It can be to another person, it can be an idea that kind of comes to you here. 00:17:10.960 --> 00:17:15.119 It can be, oh I feel I am so full of love with God today. 00:17:15.359 --> 00:17:18.240 You know, it's that personal connection. 00:17:18.319 --> 00:17:30.960 And here, when you look at the signs and uh works of Jesus here, he's showing you what that magnificent God can do for us because God loves us. 00:17:31.440 --> 00:17:43.599 Anyway, so you know, I I think it's helpful, and and I think you come from a different background where that's really positive. 00:17:43.839 --> 00:17:48.400 Um I I came from a background that time with God is an expectation. 00:17:48.720 --> 00:17:50.079 It was a should. 00:17:50.400 --> 00:17:57.519 And it was so strong that if I wasn't doing enough, I was disappointing God. 00:17:58.000 --> 00:17:59.839 And I don't hear you saying that. 00:18:00.079 --> 00:18:07.039 What I think this story is saying that's maybe more in parallel, is this is not an expectation, it's an invitation. 00:18:07.279 --> 00:18:12.160 And it's an invitation to have insight into God and insight into ourselves. 00:18:12.319 --> 00:18:20.720 I often think God has got the scrub brush ready to wash me clean because God sees all the dirt. 00:18:20.880 --> 00:18:26.400 And one way to hear this story is actually God is ready to say Mazletov. 00:18:27.519 --> 00:18:37.680 So if I'm ever thinking God is disappointed, I'm imagining God wrong, God is ready to celebrate who God has made me to be. 00:18:38.160 --> 00:18:53.599 And then the invitation might be, anytime I get ready to get my scrub brush out for my brother or sister, or my child, or my spouse, instead I could choose to get out some wine. 00:18:56.799 --> 00:19:12.079 How different would our experience of God be if in moments, those moments where we thought, oh my god, you're disappointed again, we could say, Oh, how about some wine together? 00:19:13.279 --> 00:19:14.960 Insight in the story. 00:19:15.359 --> 00:19:24.079 And um affects how we treat each other, but I think also affects not only how we view God, but how we view God viewing us. 00:19:25.279 --> 00:19:26.559 It's a two-way street. 00:19:27.279 --> 00:19:39.039 Yeah, and I I think I think for me, because of my own baggage, I can't hear words like should are really hard because they the mapping of this place is, oh, I'm not enough. 00:19:39.200 --> 00:19:41.519 Um we all come from different places. 00:19:42.079 --> 00:19:42.880 Invitation. 00:19:43.680 --> 00:19:47.279 Invitation to quit cleaning and start celebrating. 00:19:47.680 --> 00:19:54.559 And and I will tell you, interestingly enough, one last thought on weddings, because my brother just got married uh uh last year. 00:19:54.720 --> 00:19:56.160 It's not even been a year, it's been 10 months. 00:19:56.240 --> 00:20:00.480 He he converted to Orthodox Judaism and had an Orthodox Jewish wedding. 00:20:01.200 --> 00:20:05.920 I do lots of weddings, and I tell couples, they say, well, how long is this gonna last? 00:20:06.160 --> 00:20:09.440 12 minutes, which is which is how long it lasts, by the way. 00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:12.160 A wedding is 12 or 15 minutes. 00:20:12.319 --> 00:20:22.319 Um I went to an Anglo-Catholic wedding one time, it was an hour and a half, uh, because we sung five hymns, each that had seven verses, and we sang every verse. 00:20:22.480 --> 00:20:35.759 And then came the communion, and that took a long time, but not only did we do that, the priest did the dishes in front of us, you know, like the ritual oblations, so that we could see everything had been properly cleaned. 00:20:35.920 --> 00:20:43.759 And I thought, wow, all the celebration of the wedding was gone about an hour and 12 minutes ago. 00:20:43.839 --> 00:20:47.759 Uh, because 18 is really when it runs out, you know. 00:20:47.839 --> 00:20:54.079 I mean, so I try to approach these weddings from let's make it celebratory, which means short. 00:20:54.240 --> 00:20:57.200 And if you're gonna add communion, that's its own thing, you know. 00:20:57.279 --> 00:21:04.160 But but the ceremony itself, short and celebratory, because that's what we're there to do, not officiate, but celebrate. 00:21:04.400 --> 00:21:14.720 I'll tell you, even the shortest, most celebratory Christian ceremony I've been at or conducted pales in comparison to the Jewish wedding. 00:21:15.119 --> 00:21:33.440 In the Jewish wedding, the basic structure goes like this um there's a rabbi and there's some procession, just like we have, but they they bless this glass of wine, and then um that's the first thing that really happens. 00:21:33.599 --> 00:21:36.160 And then there's seven blessings. 00:21:36.400 --> 00:21:44.079 So instead of your friends getting up and reading a scripture or singing a song, they bless you as a couple. 00:21:44.640 --> 00:21:49.759 It's scripted, they give you a blessing, and after each blessing, you drink some wine. 00:21:51.839 --> 00:21:54.880 And what a sign of of celebration. 00:21:54.960 --> 00:21:59.759 Now, interesting enough, you know this the last the the wedding ends where you step on the glass. 00:22:02.960 --> 00:22:12.079 But I thought, you know, as a wedding person, I don't think our ceremony has enough joy in it. 00:22:12.160 --> 00:22:14.160 I'm just gonna be honest, I don't think it does. 00:22:14.319 --> 00:22:20.400 And um boy, I'd much rather have my friends get up and bless me than read a scripture passage. 00:22:20.559 --> 00:22:24.640 I know we could say it's doing the same thing, but it's just it's framed differently. 00:22:24.799 --> 00:22:38.720 You know, and I wonder, I mean, I to be honest, those Jewish blessings, they come right out of the Torah, but but they're they're sort of announced as blessings on the couple, and the wine, of course, is the symbol of celebration. 00:22:38.880 --> 00:22:42.400 Um so it's an interesting thought. 00:22:42.559 --> 00:22:57.039 Um maybe I wouldn't do this with a cold couple, but you know, the next couple I I uh I celebrate the marriage of, I might ask them, do you want to have some wine at your wedding in the ceremony? 00:22:57.119 --> 00:22:59.200 And do you want family and friends to give you a blessing? 00:22:59.359 --> 00:23:00.880 Because uh, gosh, it's beautiful. 00:23:00.960 --> 00:23:03.200 I mean, it's a beautiful, lovely tradition. 00:23:04.400 --> 00:23:16.240 Symbolizes what the relationship's supposed to be like, and not just that relationship, but the way all relationships could revolve through the insight of marital vows and living into them. 00:23:17.119 --> 00:23:18.480 Probably ever talked to Cana. 00:23:19.200 --> 00:23:20.640 Did I miss anything? 00:23:20.720 --> 00:23:32.400 Or you also said uh in your homily that the that the wedding of Cana was the coming out party for Jesus. 00:23:32.799 --> 00:23:36.880 Yeah, yeah, and and his mother actually pulled him out of the closet. 00:23:38.640 --> 00:23:39.119 Yeah. 00:23:39.279 --> 00:23:41.680 He he he didn't come out willingly. 00:23:41.920 --> 00:23:42.319 Yeah. 00:23:42.799 --> 00:23:44.319 You think that's very significant? 00:23:44.960 --> 00:23:47.599 I mean, sir, is uh Yeah, I mean I do. 00:23:47.680 --> 00:24:01.440 I you know, I I I I and I I think what I told you before in the sermon is the sort of the same thing is you know, part of like being part of the family of God is to say, here's an opportunity for you with your gifts. 00:24:01.519 --> 00:24:03.039 I don't care if you're ready. 00:24:03.440 --> 00:24:12.079 Like this, if you choose not to take this invitation, God will do it some other way, but it's not because you need it, it's because you can. 00:24:14.960 --> 00:24:20.880 I I used to hear growing up, God needs me to save my friends, and that's poppycock. 00:24:21.039 --> 00:24:27.279 God invites me, invites me to join God in doing these things. 00:24:27.440 --> 00:24:30.319 And listen, if I pass, I mean, God's God. 00:24:30.400 --> 00:24:36.079 Like it'll happen one way or another, maybe not till we're all dead, but fine, it'll end up happening. 00:24:36.319 --> 00:24:41.039 But so it's not an obligation or they're going to hell because you didn't do this. 00:24:41.279 --> 00:24:43.119 It's an invitation. 00:24:44.400 --> 00:24:50.160 Do you get the same feeling with Matthew, Mark, and Luke about an invitation? 00:24:54.160 --> 00:24:55.200 I don't know. 00:24:55.359 --> 00:24:56.880 That's a good question. 00:24:57.839 --> 00:24:59.200 Because I don't. 00:25:00.559 --> 00:25:07.200 Yeah, I'll tell you, most people don't read John as an invitation either, but um this year, that's what I'm hearing. 00:25:07.440 --> 00:25:09.599 Next time I might hear something different. 00:25:10.640 --> 00:25:15.039 Yeah, um in Luke, yeah, I think there's definitely invitations. 00:25:15.119 --> 00:25:19.200 And the the big is the story about the well, well, you know, it's about a wedding banquet. 00:25:19.359 --> 00:25:21.680 And a lot of people say, I don't want to come. 00:25:21.920 --> 00:25:26.079 And and the host packs the party with people who weren't originally invited. 00:25:26.240 --> 00:25:30.160 And the story sort of says the party's gonna go on with or without you. 00:25:30.720 --> 00:25:32.880 But this is a party you don't want to miss. 00:25:33.039 --> 00:25:36.000 I mean, again, I think it's an interesting way to frame it. 00:25:36.160 --> 00:25:43.119 It's not a school lesson or an opportunity to earn a degree, it's a party, which is supposed to be fun. 00:25:43.440 --> 00:25:46.400 And if you miss it, you missed out on the fun. 00:25:47.519 --> 00:25:49.119 So I think Luke maybe so. 00:25:49.440 --> 00:25:50.400 Luke maybe so. 00:25:50.720 --> 00:25:59.839 Matthew's a little more severe because of who Matthew's writing to, but it's written by the written to the Jews, and then Matthew's just seems to be, yeah, seems to be. 00:26:01.119 --> 00:26:03.839 Um, okay, you know, the interesting thing is clearing the temple. 00:26:03.920 --> 00:26:05.039 We got to read about that. 00:26:05.200 --> 00:26:08.160 You know, in John that happens right up front. 00:26:08.480 --> 00:26:12.400 And in the other gospels, that happens right at the end. 00:26:12.880 --> 00:26:18.000 Now, as a Baptist kid, you know, of course, what I grew up is, well, Jesus did it twice. 00:26:18.400 --> 00:26:20.880 But I want you to know, I was probably silly. 00:26:21.039 --> 00:26:22.559 I mean, just it's silly. 00:26:22.720 --> 00:26:26.400 Um, and and so that you know, there's a diagram. 00:26:26.799 --> 00:26:34.240 This is where these pictures are maybe helpful behind you, just to give you an idea of the scale of what's going on. 00:26:34.960 --> 00:26:40.240 I this is like four football fields big, it's just huge. 00:26:40.640 --> 00:26:50.000 And um, the temple actually is just this part here, and and the rest of this functioned like, well, an Acropolis. 00:26:50.160 --> 00:26:54.400 So that's a city above the city, literally, in Greek, right? 00:26:54.480 --> 00:26:55.920 I mean, that's the same thing in Athens. 00:26:56.000 --> 00:26:57.440 The Acropolis is up there. 00:26:57.599 --> 00:26:59.680 Well, you can look at the city here. 00:27:01.039 --> 00:27:02.799 Well, where's the marketplace? 00:27:02.960 --> 00:27:06.640 They didn't have shops like we have now. 00:27:08.160 --> 00:27:10.240 This is the marketplace. 00:27:10.559 --> 00:27:15.440 So this is where all the vendors went, and the vendors, you see, didn't go in here. 00:27:16.160 --> 00:27:26.319 This area is called the court of the Gentiles, because anyone can go in there, but if a Gentile person went through those doors, they could be killed on the spot. 00:27:26.480 --> 00:27:31.599 Not by crucifixion, uh, ancient equivalent to lynching is to get stoned. 00:27:31.920 --> 00:27:32.240 Right? 00:27:32.319 --> 00:27:34.640 So that just that's that's what happened there. 00:27:34.880 --> 00:27:56.720 Um the thing is, even though you could have your shops up in this huge area, you couldn't bring money in there uh because the money of the day had the portrait well of Octavian or Tiberius, and graven images, you know, in the in the Decalogue are forbidden. 00:27:56.960 --> 00:28:06.160 So this is where all the commerce is happening, but you can't use the standard currency because it's idolatrous. 00:28:06.319 --> 00:28:15.920 So, right down here, actually, and you'll see it here below, this is where the money changers are. 00:28:16.079 --> 00:28:21.920 They're changing your money from uh the denarii the denarius or the talent. 00:28:22.000 --> 00:28:24.400 A talent is like a million dollars, right? 00:28:24.720 --> 00:28:25.920 Very few people have that. 00:28:26.160 --> 00:28:28.240 Daenerys is a day's wage. 00:28:28.319 --> 00:28:35.519 Um, they're changing that money to a solid silver coin that has no portraiture on it. 00:28:35.759 --> 00:28:37.759 I used to know the name of the coin. 00:28:37.920 --> 00:28:41.680 Um, it comes from one particular region of the Roman Empire. 00:28:41.839 --> 00:28:44.799 Um, and I forgot, it happens when you get older. 00:28:45.039 --> 00:28:47.759 Um they'd get these silver coins. 00:28:47.920 --> 00:29:08.559 Now, look, I it's not like the exchange rates were exorbitant, but it is true that you can only conduct commerce with this particular coin that you don't really use anywhere else, and you have to trade money in to get it and trade back when you leave because that little silver coin won't serve you when you leave Jerusalem, essentially. 00:29:08.799 --> 00:29:10.079 I don't know if that makes sense. 00:29:10.240 --> 00:29:19.920 It's sort of like if you go to um uh to Disney World and you buy Mickey Bucks, it's cute and it's fun, but you can't spend the dang Mickey bucks at McDonald's. 00:29:20.079 --> 00:29:24.079 You've got to cash them in when you leave, and they might not. 00:29:24.319 --> 00:29:25.759 I don't know if that makes sense. 00:29:25.920 --> 00:29:28.319 So straight cash is fine for me. 00:29:28.559 --> 00:29:44.319 So people are having to pay the commission in and out, and beyond that, um there's an interesting thing happening in this temple, which is that the debt records of people are kept in the building. 00:29:46.400 --> 00:29:51.680 So the temple has become not a house of prayer for all nations. 00:29:51.839 --> 00:30:03.839 Certainly, all Gentiles are welcome, so all nations are invited, but instead of it being a house of prayer, the scriptures are saying it's becoming a nest for robbers. 00:30:04.160 --> 00:30:13.519 It's a place where people who are profiting from religion are able to have a base. 00:30:13.599 --> 00:30:17.839 And they're not homeless profiteers, they're based there. 00:30:18.079 --> 00:30:21.599 Sometimes we hear this and we think, oh, we should never sell anything in church. 00:30:21.759 --> 00:30:23.039 This is not about that. 00:30:23.279 --> 00:30:29.279 This is about people profiting, exploiting people off of faith. 00:30:29.359 --> 00:30:36.880 Not only because you have to do this transactional currency and there's money, you know, and you have to do it. 00:30:37.119 --> 00:30:47.759 So they're exploiting the exchange rate, um, but also because the debt records for the temple tax and what you owe the Romans are kept up in the temple. 00:30:48.000 --> 00:30:53.039 It would be like having the local IRS agency in our sanctuary. 00:30:54.880 --> 00:31:00.319 It's this bizarre merger, you see, of church and state and power. 00:31:00.960 --> 00:31:10.240 Um, so again, this is not about Jesus doesn't want you to sell Anglican prayer beads because you should never sell things in a church. 00:31:10.480 --> 00:31:16.880 This is really about exploiting people and doing it in God's name, quite honestly. 00:31:17.200 --> 00:31:19.839 Selling Anglican prayer beads is not that. 00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:21.519 I just I want you to know that. 00:31:21.920 --> 00:31:26.000 Selling art in the hallway is not that, because you don't have to do it. 00:31:26.319 --> 00:31:28.319 In the temple, you had to do it. 00:31:28.559 --> 00:31:33.200 You have to pay the tax, and the tax is exorbitant. 00:31:33.359 --> 00:31:37.519 And if you can't pay it, you have to put your land up. 00:31:38.240 --> 00:31:45.920 And if you default, the temple takes your land and gives it to the priests, interestingly enough, who are not allowed to have land. 00:31:46.319 --> 00:31:49.279 And this is the kind of thing Jesus is commenting about. 00:31:49.359 --> 00:31:53.680 So again, at face value, it's don't sell stuff in church, it's not about that at all. 00:31:54.240 --> 00:31:59.440 Flipping over the money tables and driving away all the commerce, Jesus could not possibly have done. 00:31:59.519 --> 00:32:01.200 I mean, just look at the scale of that. 00:32:01.440 --> 00:32:06.640 There is no way Jesus went up there and stopped anybody from coming into the temple. 00:32:06.720 --> 00:32:08.079 That's a hyperbole. 00:32:08.640 --> 00:32:12.720 That's that is two or three football fields full of vendors. 00:32:13.200 --> 00:32:15.599 I mean, he wouldn't even have the physical strength. 00:32:15.759 --> 00:32:20.240 I mean, that's like doing an Iron Man to go flip all those tables over. 00:32:20.400 --> 00:32:22.799 You know, that's what he'd be doing all day. 00:32:23.279 --> 00:32:25.200 Instead, it's a sign, don't you see? 00:32:25.279 --> 00:32:32.960 It's it's a sign, something you could see that gives you insight into the criticism. 00:32:34.799 --> 00:32:39.200 If he'd flipped over all the money and disrupted commerce, they'd have killed him on the spot. 00:32:39.279 --> 00:32:40.240 I mean, I just want you to hear. 00:32:40.720 --> 00:32:41.680 There's no way you could do that. 00:32:41.839 --> 00:32:44.720 That's like shutting down the mall of the Americas with a gun. 00:32:45.359 --> 00:32:47.119 That is really the equivalent. 00:32:50.799 --> 00:32:56.799 And you also had to purchase your sacrifice there too, right? 00:32:57.200 --> 00:33:09.279 Yeah, I mean, you could have brought it from somewhere else, but see, most people come to Jerusalem on like festival days, and if you've gone a long way, I mean, you don't want to be bringing a lamb with you or a pigeon. 00:33:09.519 --> 00:33:10.240 So, sure. 00:33:10.319 --> 00:33:18.480 I mean, I when we could say, oh, it's because those sacrifice sellers were charging unfair rates. 00:33:18.640 --> 00:33:23.279 I I mean, maybe, but I I don't I don't know if that's necessarily it. 00:33:24.880 --> 00:33:33.759 Now, with regard to this cleansing of the temple, you're saying that is really uh symbolical for a deeper problem? 00:33:35.599 --> 00:33:43.200 I think if we focus on the particulars, and the video said this, so we focus on what we see, we miss the insight. 00:33:44.559 --> 00:33:50.880 And again, we just did you know that's where the debt records are kept? 00:33:51.039 --> 00:33:51.119 No. 00:33:51.359 --> 00:33:52.960 Or that there was money commissioned? 00:33:53.119 --> 00:33:58.799 I mean, again, that affects the if the fact pattern affects what the story could mean. 00:33:59.119 --> 00:34:04.000 So the temple authorities were very angry with Jesus for whatever he did. 00:34:04.160 --> 00:34:06.079 So what is it that he really did do? 00:34:06.400 --> 00:34:08.079 He said they're phonies. 00:34:08.239 --> 00:34:10.400 Oh, so it's what he said, not what he said. 00:34:10.639 --> 00:34:12.960 It's what the act the actions speak louder than words. 00:34:13.760 --> 00:34:18.239 But he said He also said this is a house of prayer for all nations, you made it in a robber. 00:34:18.400 --> 00:34:19.199 So he's both in. 00:34:19.440 --> 00:34:19.840 Yeah, right. 00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:21.119 Well, I definitely understand. 00:34:21.199 --> 00:34:26.800 But if you said he didn't turn over any table, he might have turned over a few. 00:34:27.039 --> 00:34:28.639 There's no way he turned them all over. 00:34:28.719 --> 00:34:29.679 That's what I'm trying to say. 00:34:29.840 --> 00:34:31.760 There's no way he cleared the temple out. 00:34:31.920 --> 00:34:34.079 I mean, again, he would have been executed right there. 00:34:34.320 --> 00:34:34.559 Yeah. 00:34:34.880 --> 00:34:38.559 So, yeah, if he just turned over a few, he got everybody's attention. 00:34:38.800 --> 00:34:40.480 I mean, here's how it would have worked. 00:34:40.639 --> 00:34:44.880 He goes up and flips over a table, the guy behind the table says, What the hell are you doing? 00:34:45.440 --> 00:34:47.920 It's supposed to be a house of prayer. 00:34:48.400 --> 00:34:49.599 Get out of here, you crazy. 00:34:49.760 --> 00:35:06.320 I mean, but but you know, the story's memorable because it's in all four Gospels, because it represents Jesus saying that, you know, that this is supposed to be a place of access to God, and instead it's a place where oppression in God's name has become located. 00:35:06.400 --> 00:35:08.719 It's the capital of oppression. 00:35:08.960 --> 00:35:10.960 Jesus is not anti-temple. 00:35:11.119 --> 00:35:12.880 I mean, he was dedicated at the temple. 00:35:12.960 --> 00:35:14.320 You can read that in Luke. 00:35:14.480 --> 00:35:19.440 He went there to pray, he probably went there for Passover, but it's sort of this both end. 00:35:19.599 --> 00:35:27.360 It's kind of like when Martin Luther goes to Rome and he actually bought an indulgence himself, but he sees what indulgences are doing. 00:35:27.519 --> 00:35:30.400 They're being sold to build Saint Peter's. 00:35:30.480 --> 00:35:34.880 The Colosseum was being denuded to build Saint Peter's. 00:35:34.960 --> 00:35:38.000 And Martin Luther sort of said, hang on a second. 00:35:38.239 --> 00:35:50.880 This this seems like it's exploiting people in their area of their spiritual need to really prop up a small segment of the aristocratic priesthood. 00:35:51.360 --> 00:35:53.360 I don't think that's what God had in mind. 00:35:53.440 --> 00:35:56.239 I mean, that's that's really Luther's critique. 00:35:56.880 --> 00:36:03.920 For what it's worth, Luther did not intend to be a Lutheran, he intended to be a Roman Catholic. 00:36:04.400 --> 00:36:06.559 But this thing bugged him. 00:36:06.880 --> 00:36:12.639 And when he pushed on it, the pushback he got was so hard that it forced him to leave. 00:36:15.760 --> 00:36:21.519 So I I didn't think Jesus wanted to burn the temple down. 00:36:22.159 --> 00:36:27.599 I think what he wanted to do was cleanse it of being a base of exploitation. 00:36:34.000 --> 00:36:36.000 It would be another provocation. 00:36:36.159 --> 00:36:42.320 He was already going around doing things that were suspicious, and then he had them at their very core when he did that. 00:36:43.760 --> 00:36:53.119 Yeah, and and it but see, and and then hear then also that if you're Rome, this guy's saying the tax business is wrong. 00:36:53.440 --> 00:37:01.599 So it's not just a challenge to the priestly class, this is an act of insurrection, which by the way is what he gets executed for. 00:37:03.280 --> 00:37:07.440 Because this is where Roman revenues are based. 00:37:09.920 --> 00:37:14.639 Beyond that, you knew the temple was made that big because of something called the temple tax. 00:37:14.719 --> 00:37:16.719 You used to have to pay it once in your life. 00:37:16.960 --> 00:37:25.840 Herod the Great instituted it that you paid it every year, and it was darn expensive because, as I've told you, that's the eighth wonder of the ancient world. 00:37:26.079 --> 00:37:28.480 And um, people at the time write about that. 00:37:28.639 --> 00:37:36.880 So this is this is a time Herod mate turned that thing into a little dinky chapel into huge. 00:37:37.039 --> 00:37:41.199 And if you've seen like the wailing wall, he said there's nothing special about that. 00:37:41.280 --> 00:37:43.360 There's not, it's a retaining wall. 00:37:43.840 --> 00:37:50.960 It's a retaining wall, and it's huge, and it was backfilled to make this ginormous Acropolis. 00:37:51.039 --> 00:37:52.559 That's the mall of the Americas. 00:37:52.719 --> 00:37:53.920 I mean, huge. 00:37:55.039 --> 00:38:06.880 Yeah, Herod turned Jerusalem from a podunk regional capital into a truly cosmopolitan city by building that. 00:38:09.440 --> 00:38:11.440 Um, should we move to John 3? 00:38:14.880 --> 00:38:17.440 If I'm wasting your time, you're gonna tell me, right? 00:38:19.119 --> 00:38:26.159 This is a really cute incident because I learned this as a kid, and in fact, probably we all did, uh, you have to be born again. 00:38:26.239 --> 00:38:34.400 And of course, if there's a little, there's a little superscript on that if you look in your Bible, and it says, or born from above. 00:38:35.360 --> 00:38:43.280 So it's really interesting that I think the whole conversation is based on Nicodemus misunderstanding what Jesus says. 00:38:43.519 --> 00:38:46.079 Jesus says, You've got to be born from above. 00:38:46.480 --> 00:38:47.840 What do you mean, born again? 00:38:48.000 --> 00:38:50.719 How can I get in my mother's womb and be born a second time? 00:38:50.880 --> 00:38:55.280 And Jesus says, No, you silly, like you you you misunderstood, right? 00:38:55.440 --> 00:39:02.079 You have to be born not just physically, but there's another birth of your spirit. 00:39:02.400 --> 00:39:04.559 Spirit, remember, just means moving air. 00:39:04.639 --> 00:39:06.639 There's this there's this other breath. 00:39:06.719 --> 00:39:12.000 It's almost like Jesus seems to be saying, there is uh more than meets the eye. 00:39:12.159 --> 00:39:19.039 I don't think he's talking about ghost in the machine, but there's a way of living that's ordinary, and there's a way of living that's extraordinary. 00:39:19.920 --> 00:39:35.119 And uh to accomplish the extraordinary way of living, I mean, it really almost amounts to be having a new total identity, sort of like getting new wineskins did, right? 00:39:35.199 --> 00:39:38.239 I mean, you have to change your container. 00:39:38.960 --> 00:39:41.920 You have to be born totally different. 00:39:46.800 --> 00:39:58.880 What we wanted to do, you see, when I was a kid, was pray the center's prayer, and that was that, instead of changing our container. 00:39:59.199 --> 00:40:02.000 Again, think about the container change we already talked about. 00:40:02.159 --> 00:40:07.679 When I get out the brille pad to clean my brother, I put it away and we celebrate. 00:40:09.039 --> 00:40:10.400 I don't do that. 00:40:10.800 --> 00:40:15.599 Actually, since I prayed the center's prayer, now I want everyone to do that. 00:40:15.840 --> 00:40:18.719 And if they don't, then they really need the brille pad. 00:40:19.039 --> 00:40:19.840 You see what I'm saying? 00:40:20.079 --> 00:40:29.360 There's a way to do this where instead of actually changing it all, we've just got extra things we're worried about in one another. 00:40:32.079 --> 00:40:43.119 Or there's a way where we start to view each other and say, What could I celebrate in you as you are? 00:40:52.320 --> 00:40:53.760 She was a different person. 00:41:26.960 --> 00:41:29.199 What they bring is exactly what they will get. 00:41:30.000 --> 00:41:37.440