WEBVTT 00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:05.120 This morning's reading is from Mark chapter 2, verses 18 to 22. 00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:17.039 It says, Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, and people came and said to him, Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast? 00:00:17.359 --> 00:00:22.719 And Jesus said to them, Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? 00:00:23.039 --> 00:00:26.559 As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 00:00:26.960 --> 00:00:33.119 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day. 00:00:33.359 --> 00:00:37.280 No one sows a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. 00:00:37.439 --> 00:00:42.640 If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. 00:00:42.880 --> 00:00:46.159 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. 00:00:46.399 --> 00:00:51.039 If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. 00:00:51.200 --> 00:00:53.520 But new wine is for fresh wineskins. 00:00:53.679 --> 00:00:54.640 This is the word of the Lord. 00:00:54.880 --> 00:00:55.920 May be seated. 00:00:56.640 --> 00:00:58.000 Thanks for joining us this morning. 00:00:58.159 --> 00:00:59.359 My name is James Rathman. 00:00:59.520 --> 00:01:00.159 I'm the pastor here. 00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:02.880 If you're in the parking lot, thanks for joining us in the parking lot. 00:01:03.679 --> 00:01:18.000 We uh opened up a new way of attending this Sunday, so uh you can pull in and scan a code and watch from your car if you're looking to remain socially distanced during this holiday season. 00:01:18.159 --> 00:01:20.959 Um and I want to talk a bit about that actually. 00:01:21.200 --> 00:01:37.840 So uh we've uh we've gotten quite a bit of feedback with regards to the live stream turning off and us uh uh encouraging, you know, gathering here in person and trying to draw the community together even amidst a season like this. 00:01:38.079 --> 00:01:45.359 And I was talking with my wife, and she's a teacher, uh, teaches at a school called Stanley British Primary School. 00:01:45.519 --> 00:01:49.519 Um the it the head of school is Mary Poppins. 00:01:51.680 --> 00:02:02.640 Um so they uh uh and she was describing to me they have a new head of school this year, and they are in they are meeting in person. 00:02:02.799 --> 00:02:15.520 They have this Stanley British philosophy of education, which is in person and dancing with penguins, and that sort of one man band is the class, is the music class. 00:02:15.680 --> 00:02:18.960 Um, and they are uh chimney sweeping. 00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:36.479 Uh uh so they're facing this difficulty because they have this tension in their philosophy, which is we are uh we believe that education needs to take place within-person gathering, that the social development of kids is just as much what we're here to foster. 00:02:36.800 --> 00:02:42.080 And so it they're looking for ways to navigate through all the regulations to honor that principle. 00:02:42.240 --> 00:02:53.599 And I was like, man, I feel just like that, uh, just like that head of school, because we as a church have this deep value of in-person gathering. 00:02:53.680 --> 00:03:03.840 And we we don't think it's just a value like something we all really like, but uh a true biblical teaching, which is that church is the assembled body. 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:11.360 Uh, and there are things that we can't do digitally, but things that need to be done in person, like the sacraments. 00:03:11.759 --> 00:03:21.199 Uh, the sacraments take place in the context of the body coming together, and there's an elder of the church who's appointed, who administers the sacraments and praying over them. 00:03:21.599 --> 00:03:30.000 And during a season like this, where there's real tension placed on our gathering, we've been just wrestling as a board of elders. 00:03:30.080 --> 00:03:32.319 How do we honor both of these things? 00:03:32.560 --> 00:03:39.280 You know, there's uh uh such a trend in churches right now of just taking everything digital. 00:03:39.439 --> 00:03:46.479 I read a blog post from uh another pastor with like a very big online church. 00:03:46.719 --> 00:04:00.159 Um and he was saying that churches need to start primarily thinking of themselves as digital marketing companies and secondarily as offering in-person uh you know uh possibilities for worship. 00:04:00.400 --> 00:04:03.680 And I I think that's just so horrible. 00:04:04.240 --> 00:04:13.280 That's uh uh it's counter to who we are as humans, and it's counter to the physicality of worship that we're called to. 00:04:13.759 --> 00:04:16.480 You know, the sacraments are weird, right? 00:04:16.560 --> 00:04:17.600 We can all agree. 00:04:17.920 --> 00:04:21.439 Right now we have crackers and grape juice from Amazon. 00:04:21.680 --> 00:04:28.079 Uh but there's uh bread and wine that we're called to all share together. 00:04:28.319 --> 00:04:30.399 And we're we're not Catholic, right? 00:04:30.480 --> 00:04:33.920 We don't think that it's the actual body and blood of Jesus. 00:04:34.079 --> 00:04:36.079 We don't believe in transubstantiation. 00:04:36.240 --> 00:04:38.720 It's the actual body and blood of Jesus. 00:04:39.040 --> 00:04:42.240 But we think that something is happening. 00:04:42.480 --> 00:04:46.079 We think that the church is really being nourished. 00:04:46.240 --> 00:04:52.079 We think that we are really partaking of something that can't be replicated online. 00:04:53.759 --> 00:04:59.759 In cultures past, we would have the tendency to spiritualize everything. 00:05:00.800 --> 00:05:06.639 And this is actually a trend in church history, and it's one of the first heresies that Christianity came up against. 00:05:06.720 --> 00:05:08.160 It's Gnosticism. 00:05:08.480 --> 00:05:19.040 And Gnosticism is where you view the spiritual world as the most real, and this physical world is just an illusion to be overcome. 00:05:19.279 --> 00:05:35.279 So it sounds a lot like a Buddhist way of thinking, and it's actually what Plato taught as well, is this type of uh Greek dualism, which moved into the church in a type of Gnosticism, which is you just gain a secret knowledge, and the knowledge is all that matters. 00:05:35.439 --> 00:05:41.600 There's no physicality, there's no reality to our bodies and our experiences with one another. 00:05:44.160 --> 00:05:50.160 Right now, I think in our culture, we don't have a threat of spiritualizing everything. 00:05:50.480 --> 00:05:54.240 But we do have a threat of digitizing everything. 00:05:54.720 --> 00:06:01.279 And I do think that we can consider that the church is something that can just be made digital. 00:06:01.439 --> 00:06:18.319 Our relationships are things that can just be made digital, or our uh uh uh or that the most true things about us or that happen to us are the things which we say and reflect about ourselves online. 00:06:19.279 --> 00:06:28.639 And then what we do here is just kind of uh uh establishing some sort of setting for uh the things that really matter, which is what we say online. 00:06:30.160 --> 00:06:31.439 Here's my point. 00:06:32.079 --> 00:06:40.959 In the midst of a situation like that, we're we're pressing into and continuing on with our in-person gathering safely, you know, as we are. 00:06:41.040 --> 00:06:52.480 And we're looking to accommodate ways for our church during this season, so that you can, if you're watching this in your phone in your car, so that you can be a part of us in that way, be a part of the community. 00:06:52.800 --> 00:07:00.560 But we really don't want to let go of this tension of gathering is real and is really important. 00:07:00.800 --> 00:07:07.839 It would be simpler, especially at a time like this, if we didn't see scripture call us to not forsake our assembling together. 00:07:08.079 --> 00:07:12.160 But scripture does call us to not forsake our assembling together. 00:07:12.399 --> 00:07:34.560 Uh so I say that because I I want us as a church to just kind of own that tension that we're in, own this place that we're looking to live in so that we can learn in this season to value one another in this space uh together uh more completely than perhaps we ever would have if we didn't face a season like this. 00:07:34.879 --> 00:07:36.000 Does that make sense? 00:07:36.879 --> 00:07:38.240 Okay, cool. 00:07:38.720 --> 00:07:39.360 All right. 00:07:39.759 --> 00:07:45.439 Then I'm gonna go ahead and pray and get into the text for today. 00:07:46.399 --> 00:07:52.079 Father, you are a good God, great king among all gods. 00:07:52.319 --> 00:07:55.680 You take care of us and you draw us together. 00:07:56.399 --> 00:07:59.600 Lord, you build up your church in love. 00:08:01.120 --> 00:08:14.399 And Father, we pray that you would uh throughout this holiday season, Lord, I pray for the the health and safety of our church, and I pray that you would uh protect our families as we go forward. 00:08:15.279 --> 00:08:29.519 Lord, I pray that you would work deeply into our hearts just the reality of our humanity, in terms of our our vulnerability because of that, but likewise the grace that you distribute to us because of that. 00:08:30.480 --> 00:08:32.799 Lord, we praise you that you took on flesh. 00:08:33.600 --> 00:08:38.159 We pray that this morning we would hear your word and that we would see you more completely. 00:08:38.720 --> 00:08:40.159 Lift this up in Jesus' name. 00:08:40.399 --> 00:08:41.039 Amen. 00:08:42.320 --> 00:08:52.799 So speaking of 2020, among its many great features, another one of the great features that went mainstream in 2020 was the term virtue signaling. 00:08:52.960 --> 00:08:55.759 Did any of you guys know that term before 2020? 00:08:56.000 --> 00:08:59.360 I didn't, but that's like a mainstream zing right now. 00:08:59.519 --> 00:09:04.960 Like if you see somebody virtue signaling, you can feel cool if you say they're just virtue signaling. 00:09:05.200 --> 00:09:07.840 That's a burn that we didn't have before 2020. 00:09:08.080 --> 00:09:10.799 So not a and we have in and out now. 00:09:10.960 --> 00:09:12.879 So 2020, not a total loss. 00:09:13.039 --> 00:09:16.000 We have in and out 12 hours from now. 00:09:16.240 --> 00:09:19.440 12 hours from whenever you want it is when you can get it. 00:09:19.519 --> 00:09:21.120 So we'll get it worked out. 00:09:21.360 --> 00:09:25.279 Um now uh virtue signaling, I think. 00:09:25.360 --> 00:09:26.960 Here's my virtue signaling theory. 00:09:27.120 --> 00:09:38.080 I think it went mainstream this year because remember when we were all quarantined, like in March and April, and the only virtue that we could have was signals because we weren't around each other. 00:09:38.240 --> 00:09:39.600 There's nothing else you can do. 00:09:39.759 --> 00:09:42.799 So if you want to be virtuous, then you signal something. 00:09:42.960 --> 00:09:48.159 You'd say the right thing on Instagram, you make the right post, you send a virtue signal. 00:09:48.320 --> 00:09:51.279 And then we realized, well, this feels pretty thin. 00:09:51.440 --> 00:09:54.000 Uh, this isn't doesn't seem to be actually virtuous. 00:09:54.080 --> 00:09:57.200 And so someone came up with the term virtue signaling. 00:09:57.360 --> 00:10:02.000 Now we uh uh have a term in the church that for virtue signaling. 00:10:02.240 --> 00:10:03.519 What do we call it? 00:10:04.720 --> 00:10:05.840 Any ideas? 00:10:07.039 --> 00:10:09.200 Hypocrisy, yeah, that's right. 00:10:09.440 --> 00:10:12.799 You think our culture thinks they can get a corner on hypocrisy? 00:10:12.879 --> 00:10:14.080 That's our thing. 00:10:14.879 --> 00:10:16.240 We're taking it back. 00:10:16.399 --> 00:10:21.200 The uh oh, yeah, we've been doing hypocrisy for a long time now. 00:10:21.440 --> 00:10:26.000 Uh you can't just swoop in with your virtue signaling and think you're gonna take our hypocrisy, no way. 00:10:26.240 --> 00:10:34.159 Uh so what we see throughout uh the text and throughout the course of Jesus' ministry is he hates hypocrisy. 00:10:34.480 --> 00:10:44.879 And he's constantly exposing the falseness between what we want to demonstrate to the world and what's actually taking place in our own hearts. 00:10:45.120 --> 00:10:53.440 He's always seeking to bring a unity between what you're demonstrating and what is actually happening in your own heart. 00:10:53.600 --> 00:10:59.840 And Jesus is the perfect one to expose that because he's the only perfectly authentic person. 00:11:00.159 --> 00:11:07.200 You know, Jesus, when he shows up, he's not just acting virtuously, Jesus is love. 00:11:08.159 --> 00:11:15.919 And so if you think that you're just gonna signal love and sneak it past him, just his very presence will expose your hypocrisy. 00:11:16.159 --> 00:11:21.360 Jesus isn't just being honest, he is truth. 00:11:21.759 --> 00:11:28.879 So when he shows up and you're just trying to signal how authentic you can be, uh, you're going to get exposed. 00:11:29.039 --> 00:11:31.759 You know, he's this bright light that shines in. 00:11:31.919 --> 00:11:41.440 And so wherever he goes, he's always sending these signals that are being misinterpreted by the people that are observing him. 00:11:41.840 --> 00:11:45.200 Because we're used to a culture of signals. 00:11:45.519 --> 00:11:54.320 We're used to our own inauthenticity, we're used to virtue amounting to sending the right signals at the right time. 00:11:54.639 --> 00:12:04.000 What's strange and what's shocking is when we see someone who is truly authentic, who is honest, who is loving. 00:12:04.320 --> 00:12:06.559 That's what we see with Jesus today. 00:12:07.600 --> 00:12:30.480 Our culture with uh its hypocrisy, our culture with its uh uh hypocrisy, you we can see that uh we're much more like a religious signaling culture than we would typically think of ourselves as. 00:12:30.879 --> 00:12:35.120 We're a much more deeply religious culture than we would think. 00:12:35.279 --> 00:12:57.039 You know, I think there was a time when when I was when I was younger, um growing up, and we we I think that there was this assumption kind of in the church that the culture is going to drift towards this listless, irreligious, every man for himself uh type of moral compass. 00:12:58.159 --> 00:13:05.840 And so we had to put a stop to that, towards this irreligious chaos by putting like explicit labels on CDs. 00:13:07.279 --> 00:13:16.240 But I think we were wrong because we misunderstood how deeply religious everyone is. 00:13:17.120 --> 00:13:20.720 Everyone is deeply religious. 00:13:21.039 --> 00:13:27.360 So we didn't drift towards this, oh, anything goes, whatever, everybody do whatever you want. 00:13:27.759 --> 00:13:31.039 We just changed the virtues that we want to signal. 00:13:32.000 --> 00:13:35.279 And so, what is our culture concerned about now? 00:13:35.440 --> 00:13:42.320 We're concerned about virtue and hypocrisy, and those are the things that we dive in on. 00:13:43.200 --> 00:13:49.279 Just like this ancient Near Eastern Jewish community that Jesus is a part of. 00:13:49.519 --> 00:13:52.399 The difference is the signals that we use are different. 00:13:52.960 --> 00:13:57.519 It's Facebook frames on pictures and uh things like that. 00:13:58.320 --> 00:13:58.639 Okay. 00:14:00.159 --> 00:14:05.759 So let's see how the uh signals that Jesus sends are misinterpreted. 00:14:06.799 --> 00:14:19.759 And then we're going to see how we need to change our whole view, our whole way of assessment, to move beyond just reading signals to be able to see the truth of Christ. 00:14:21.519 --> 00:14:23.279 Mark 2, verse 18. 00:14:23.440 --> 00:14:34.399 Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, and the people came and said to him, Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast? 00:14:35.360 --> 00:14:40.080 Okay, so we see wherever Jesus goes, he's always provoking these questions. 00:14:40.240 --> 00:14:42.559 And this question is asked just by common people. 00:14:42.720 --> 00:14:54.399 This isn't asked by the Pharisees, this isn't asked by the scribes, but it's asked by people who know the signals of the time, and they look at Jesus' ministry and they're trying to figure out what category does this fit into. 00:14:54.879 --> 00:14:57.440 They see John's disciples, John the Baptist. 00:14:57.679 --> 00:14:59.279 They're all fasting, okay? 00:14:59.440 --> 00:15:01.840 Maybe Jesus is like John the Baptist, right? 00:15:01.919 --> 00:15:05.440 He seems to be prophetic in this deeply profound way. 00:15:05.600 --> 00:15:08.720 Uh, maybe it's just like John the Baptist's ministry. 00:15:08.960 --> 00:15:11.679 But those disciples are are fasting, okay? 00:15:11.840 --> 00:15:13.519 Well, maybe Jesus is like the Pharisees. 00:15:13.600 --> 00:15:15.120 He's a great teacher of the law. 00:15:15.279 --> 00:15:20.399 He gathers these disciples around him in order to exposit what the Old Testament really means. 00:15:20.559 --> 00:15:23.840 Perhaps he's like the Pharisees, but the Pharisees, they fast. 00:15:24.720 --> 00:15:35.279 So these normal people that are trying to figure out what is going on with this Jesus event, they look out and they say, okay, we got a question. 00:15:35.840 --> 00:15:38.159 Why are you not fasting? 00:15:38.399 --> 00:15:41.759 Everybody that we know that looks like you fasts. 00:15:42.399 --> 00:15:45.360 Why is Jesus not fasting? 00:15:46.000 --> 00:15:56.639 Well, the fasting is uh fasting took on this interesting quality during the uh Jewish culture at this time. 00:15:56.960 --> 00:16:04.960 So uh the law, the Torah, only required one fast a year on the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. 00:16:05.360 --> 00:16:14.320 Uh and it was meant to, you would fast and you would reflect on your sins, and it would develop this heart of contrition because of your own sinful state. 00:16:14.559 --> 00:16:23.440 And uh the Pharisees developed a tradition saying if you think fasting one time a year is good, well then we're gonna fast you know twelve times a year. 00:16:23.679 --> 00:16:26.080 And then it becomes once a week. 00:16:26.240 --> 00:16:29.279 And Pharisees were known for fasting twice a week. 00:16:29.519 --> 00:16:33.519 Uh so uh I don't think that's what bi-weekly means. 00:16:33.759 --> 00:16:35.279 That's every other week, right? 00:16:35.440 --> 00:16:37.279 I don't think we have a word for twice a week. 00:16:38.159 --> 00:16:39.360 It's both. 00:16:41.279 --> 00:16:43.200 Oh man, words mean nothing. 00:16:43.919 --> 00:16:45.519 Postmodernists are right. 00:16:46.639 --> 00:16:54.320 So bi-weekly, in the meeting which you understand me to hold, is uh every every two weeks, and or no, is twice a week. 00:16:54.399 --> 00:16:56.320 So they're fasting all the time. 00:16:56.639 --> 00:16:58.399 They're fasting all the time. 00:16:59.360 --> 00:17:06.640 And uh what they're uh they're looking to cultivate this affliction of the soul. 00:17:06.880 --> 00:17:11.200 So the question is, well, why don't Jesus' disciples fast? 00:17:12.160 --> 00:17:16.960 Uh are they not fasting because they don't experience a contrition over their sin? 00:17:17.839 --> 00:17:22.400 Are they not fasting because they aren't sad over the broken state of the world? 00:17:22.559 --> 00:17:26.960 Do they not are they not concerned about the broken state of the world? 00:17:27.279 --> 00:17:31.680 You know, the people are always shouting, you're not being sad enough. 00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:37.279 If you really understood the way things are going, you'd be more sad and you'd be more discouraged. 00:17:37.440 --> 00:17:43.920 And so did Jesus' disciples just not understand the real brokenness of the world? 00:17:45.839 --> 00:17:49.599 Well, let's look at Jesus' answer in Mark 2, 19. 00:17:49.759 --> 00:17:54.559 And Jesus said to them, Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? 00:17:54.799 --> 00:17:59.200 As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 00:18:00.160 --> 00:18:02.400 Okay, well, this is a weird answer. 00:18:03.359 --> 00:18:08.799 Jesus says, Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? 00:18:09.039 --> 00:18:12.799 When they have the bridegroom with them, they can't fast. 00:18:13.440 --> 00:18:16.160 Okay, well, let's put a little context around this. 00:18:16.400 --> 00:18:20.160 Weddings were a giant feasts. 00:18:20.480 --> 00:18:24.240 Uh now, weddings today are feasts as well. 00:18:24.400 --> 00:18:33.440 Uh, and I've done enough of your weddings to know that they're street tacos, and there's mason jars with burlap wrapped around them. 00:18:33.680 --> 00:18:35.279 And that is a feast. 00:18:35.519 --> 00:18:44.559 Uh and the uh uh uh weddings at that time though, this wasn't just an evening, they were seven days long. 00:18:45.359 --> 00:18:47.599 A seven-day long party. 00:18:47.759 --> 00:18:55.359 And when one of those was happening in your village, even the rabbis would participate for all seven days, and those guys don't do anything. 00:18:55.599 --> 00:19:14.000 Uh the I don't really know about that, but the uh but they would be able to uh uh basically like cancel whatever else the Torah required of them, and they would feast because they recognize this is a time of life to be marked by celebration. 00:19:14.240 --> 00:19:17.440 The only appropriate response to this is celebration. 00:19:17.599 --> 00:19:20.799 And it literally translates the sons of the bridegroom. 00:19:20.960 --> 00:19:32.160 That's just a way of referring to basically like the groomsmen, the the ones associated with the groom's side of the party, and they were closest to the groom, and so they would be feasting. 00:19:32.319 --> 00:19:41.759 And during that feast, if you were to say, I'm gonna go fast now because that's what it requires me to do twice a week, it would be this incredible dishonor to the moment. 00:19:41.920 --> 00:19:43.839 This is a time that called for feasting. 00:19:43.920 --> 00:19:50.240 It would be unthinkable to respond to it with a fast, that wedding celebration. 00:19:51.359 --> 00:19:57.039 So Jesus makes this parallel and he says, Look, I'm the bridegroom. 00:19:57.440 --> 00:20:01.920 I'm the groom, and this is my wedding feast. 00:20:02.480 --> 00:20:13.359 And it would be absurd for the disciples that are following me to respond to my presence with anything other than feasting and celebration. 00:20:13.519 --> 00:20:15.599 I'm here, I'm with them. 00:20:15.839 --> 00:20:22.160 So what he's saying is being one of my disciples is not like being one of John's disciples. 00:20:22.319 --> 00:20:25.279 It's not like being one of the Pharisees. 00:20:25.519 --> 00:20:30.319 The difference is that they aren't with the bridegroom. 00:20:30.559 --> 00:20:37.119 When they're with the bridegroom, which is with me, with Jesus, then it's a time for feasting. 00:20:37.359 --> 00:20:38.640 And so that's what they do. 00:20:38.799 --> 00:20:39.440 They feast. 00:20:39.599 --> 00:20:46.559 He's saying, I'm not like these other uh categories that you think you can plug me into. 00:20:46.720 --> 00:20:48.240 We do this with Jesus all the time. 00:20:48.400 --> 00:20:55.920 Whenever we say things like he's a he's a another great moral teacher, you know, he's like a Gandhi or he's like a Muhammad who has this great influence. 00:20:56.079 --> 00:20:58.480 Jesus is like, no, I'm not like those guys. 00:20:58.640 --> 00:21:03.039 I'm this totally different category, totally my own thing. 00:21:03.519 --> 00:21:12.640 Um now, the outrageous claim here is that Jesus is claiming to be the bridegroom. 00:21:12.799 --> 00:21:14.480 Now, what does that mean? 00:21:15.680 --> 00:21:25.200 The bridegroom is an image throughout scripture that God uses to refer to himself in relation to the nation of Israel. 00:21:25.519 --> 00:21:32.160 When he chose Israel, he chose Israel to be Israel's husband. 00:21:32.799 --> 00:21:36.880 And Israel, the nation, would be his bride. 00:21:37.279 --> 00:21:48.799 And so they united together in a covenant relationship, just like how marriage is a covenant relationship, so too God and Israel are united in covenant. 00:21:49.039 --> 00:21:58.240 And so this is not a term like son of man that's used to refer to the Messiah, the messianic, the promised messianic figure. 00:21:58.400 --> 00:21:59.839 This is a term throughout the Old Testament. 00:22:00.640 --> 00:22:05.759 Which is exclusively used to refer to God Himself. 00:22:07.359 --> 00:22:14.400 So Jesus is saying, When God is with you, you feast. 00:22:15.039 --> 00:22:19.759 What is the appropriate response to being in the presence of God? 00:22:20.240 --> 00:22:21.920 It's feasting. 00:22:22.400 --> 00:22:24.319 That is the appropriate response. 00:22:24.559 --> 00:22:38.480 Isaiah 54, 5 says, For your maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name, and the Holy One of Israel is your redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called. 00:22:38.960 --> 00:22:42.400 Jesus is taking a verse like that. 00:22:47.599 --> 00:22:51.279 The Holy One of Israel is your redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called. 00:22:51.440 --> 00:22:53.759 And he's saying, That's me. 00:22:54.960 --> 00:22:56.000 That's me. 00:22:56.559 --> 00:22:58.000 I'm the Maker. 00:22:58.240 --> 00:23:00.079 I'm the God of the whole earth. 00:23:00.240 --> 00:23:01.039 That's what I'm called. 00:23:01.200 --> 00:23:03.519 So why are my disciples not fasting? 00:23:03.759 --> 00:23:08.160 Because they're in the presence of God, their husband. 00:23:08.400 --> 00:23:11.759 This is an outrageous type of claim. 00:23:12.240 --> 00:23:15.039 Jesus does this with his language. 00:23:15.200 --> 00:23:22.880 You know, uh two weeks ago, before he called the tax collector when he healed the Levite, nope, when he healed the paralytic, tax collector's name was Levi. 00:23:23.279 --> 00:23:27.359 Uh, the the paralytic, uh, you we talked about this before. 00:23:27.440 --> 00:23:35.440 How simple would it have been for Jesus to have healed him like everyone expected, and then go outside alone and be like, hey, by the way, your sins are forgiven. 00:23:35.599 --> 00:23:37.680 This one's on the house, but it's between you and me. 00:23:38.000 --> 00:23:39.839 Nobody would have questioned that. 00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:42.240 They expected to see a healer. 00:23:42.960 --> 00:23:55.200 But instead, Jesus flips the order and he says, your sins are forgiven, in order to provoke those listening into thinking only God can forgive sins. 00:23:55.599 --> 00:23:57.359 What is he doing? 00:23:57.519 --> 00:23:59.200 Who does he think he is? 00:23:59.440 --> 00:24:05.920 The whole shape of Jesus' ministry is about provoking this question: who does he think he is? 00:24:06.160 --> 00:24:10.559 And then the the question that follows, which is, I think this guy thinks he's God. 00:24:11.440 --> 00:24:13.200 That's a crazy claim. 00:24:13.440 --> 00:24:18.480 And that's exactly what he's doing when he claims to be the bridegroom right here. 00:24:18.799 --> 00:24:25.920 But just when you don't think that claim could get any stranger, Jesus adds this, Mark 2.20. 00:24:26.160 --> 00:24:35.680 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they and then they will fast in that day. 00:24:41.680 --> 00:24:45.839 That's why it's different to be one of his disciples. 00:24:46.880 --> 00:24:51.680 But then this God who is in their presence will be taken away. 00:24:54.240 --> 00:24:56.160 What is he talking about? 00:24:56.799 --> 00:25:04.079 This story doesn't fit into any category that anyone would have been able to understand him by. 00:25:04.400 --> 00:25:10.160 The idea of a groom being taken away during the wedding feast is unthinkable. 00:25:10.240 --> 00:25:12.160 It's unthinkably strange. 00:25:12.720 --> 00:25:22.400 But the idea that the bridegroom of Israel, that God could be taken away, that it's completely absurd. 00:25:23.440 --> 00:25:26.400 That's a this isn't just beyond social convention. 00:25:26.480 --> 00:25:29.519 This is beyond a covenantal possibility. 00:25:30.720 --> 00:25:32.799 What is Jesus talking about? 00:25:32.960 --> 00:25:34.799 It's completely unthinkable. 00:25:36.079 --> 00:25:37.519 The question began. 00:25:37.680 --> 00:25:41.440 The question that Jesus received was so you don't fast. 00:25:41.759 --> 00:25:44.640 Should we fast or should we not fast? 00:25:45.599 --> 00:25:50.720 You know, what are we supposed to add into our lives if we're going to follow you? 00:25:50.960 --> 00:25:54.160 Or what are we supposed to take away from our lives if we follow you? 00:25:54.240 --> 00:26:03.519 Is it, do we add more fasting like John's disciples, or if we follow you, does that just mean we're like them, but we don't fast? 00:26:04.720 --> 00:26:08.640 You see, they're asking for the differences in terms of the signals. 00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:15.200 But Jesus is saying to them, No, you're gonna need a completely different story. 00:26:15.519 --> 00:26:25.200 You're going to need a completely new understanding of these categories that you approached me with in order to be able to become one of my disciples. 00:26:25.519 --> 00:26:28.480 You'll have to convert your way of thinking. 00:26:28.640 --> 00:26:31.440 You'll have to be born again. 00:26:32.960 --> 00:26:38.480 Because the symbols that you're bringing to interpret me by, I transcend all of them. 00:26:39.359 --> 00:26:46.720 That's why next, Jesus begins to talk about conversion, a complete transformation. 00:26:47.759 --> 00:26:49.920 Mark 2, 21 through 22. 00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:57.440 I'll go ahead and read both of these, because they're there are two parables that uh demonstrate the same point. 00:26:58.319 --> 00:27:02.400 Jesus says, No one sows a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. 00:27:02.559 --> 00:27:07.920 If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, a wor and a worse tear is made. 00:27:08.160 --> 00:27:10.799 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. 00:27:10.960 --> 00:27:15.839 If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. 00:27:16.000 --> 00:27:19.599 But new wine is for fresh wineskins. 00:27:20.640 --> 00:27:32.160 Okay, there's two parables, uh, both deeply relatable for when we're transporting wine and wineskins and when we're sewing uh our clothes back together. 00:27:32.400 --> 00:27:39.839 So the first one, you've got an old uh garment and you've got a new patch of cloth that's unshrunk. 00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:49.680 When you sew it on there, and then when you send it through the wash again, it that unshrunk patch will shrink and it'll tear away from the garment and it will destroy it. 00:27:49.839 --> 00:28:02.640 So when you try and merely incorporate the new thing into your old, already existing thing, the new thing destroys the old thing. 00:28:03.759 --> 00:28:08.880 The wineskins, the new wine poured into old brittle wineskins. 00:28:08.960 --> 00:28:13.680 You need soft wineskins that are going to expand when the wine continues to ferment. 00:28:14.559 --> 00:28:22.079 Uh, but with old wineskins, when the new wine is poured in, it continues to expand and then it breaks the skins and you lose the wine. 00:28:22.240 --> 00:28:23.440 Both are broken. 00:28:23.839 --> 00:28:35.839 What Jesus is saying is you cannot treat me like something that can be merely incorporated into your current understanding of life. 00:28:36.400 --> 00:28:42.880 If you do, both myself and your old understanding will be destroyed. 00:28:43.599 --> 00:28:46.400 I need a total conversion. 00:28:46.799 --> 00:28:51.039 If you're going to come to me, you need new wineskins. 00:28:51.200 --> 00:28:52.559 You need to start over. 00:28:52.720 --> 00:29:00.319 Those symbols that you're interpreting good and evil by, you need something totally different, totally new, completely beyond that. 00:29:00.640 --> 00:29:18.400 Jesus cannot be merely incorporated into our lives, but he requires a death and a resurrection, a hit reset, a totally clean slate to start fresh, so that Jesus becomes the center of our interpretive world. 00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:22.000 He's not to be incorporated. 00:29:22.559 --> 00:29:31.759 And we see this as Jesus is, as they attempt, as people looking at Jesus' ministry attempt to just incorporate him into their normal way of thinking. 00:29:31.920 --> 00:29:33.279 Like, oh yeah, here's Jesus. 00:29:33.359 --> 00:29:34.720 He's another book on my bookshelf. 00:29:34.880 --> 00:29:38.240 And from Jesus I learned that there's times to celebrate too. 00:29:38.480 --> 00:29:40.079 No, that would not be enough. 00:29:40.480 --> 00:29:42.720 You admiss that he claimed to be God. 00:29:42.960 --> 00:29:52.960 And it Jesus is is uh he's he's not understandable in any of the categories that they would have approached him with or that we would approach him with. 00:29:54.160 --> 00:30:00.640 We see that he is neither an anarchist nor is he a traditionalist. 00:30:01.839 --> 00:30:10.480 He's not an anarchist because he goes in and he preaches in the synagogues, the normal religious structure that the Jewish people had been given. 00:30:10.799 --> 00:30:19.519 But he's not a traditionalist because when he goes in and preaches in the synagogues, he preaches with authority, talking as though he is God himself. 00:30:20.559 --> 00:30:27.680 We see that Jesus is uh completely holy and unstained from the world. 00:30:28.480 --> 00:30:33.920 But he's not holy because he uh is able to perfectly uphold these customs. 00:30:34.160 --> 00:30:37.279 He reaches out and he touches the unclean. 00:30:37.599 --> 00:30:41.440 But when he touches the unclean, he makes them clean. 00:30:42.079 --> 00:30:47.839 See, there's no category that we can just pre-existently place Jesus into. 00:30:48.240 --> 00:30:49.839 He destroys them all. 00:30:50.400 --> 00:30:52.960 This is the point of conversion. 00:30:53.359 --> 00:30:55.759 So the point of being born again. 00:30:56.079 --> 00:30:59.519 Jesus becomes the new center of our lives. 00:31:01.279 --> 00:31:06.000 So the question is, is he immoral because he doesn't fast? 00:31:06.319 --> 00:31:10.400 Is he anti-Torah because he eats with tax collectors? 00:31:10.640 --> 00:31:14.720 Well, that all depends upon what you think he came to do. 00:31:15.680 --> 00:31:18.640 It all depends on who you're seeing Jesus to be. 00:31:18.720 --> 00:31:35.279 If you're pushing him through your normal grid of what makes someone moral or what makes someone immoral, and then you're deciding on whether or not Jesus fits one of those categories based on your grid, you're not going to understand Jesus. 00:31:35.839 --> 00:31:38.640 He can't be incorporated. 00:31:39.920 --> 00:31:44.640 Instead, you have to be transformed based around him. 00:31:46.160 --> 00:31:54.799 Now, oftentimes we refuse to engage with Jesus because we're trying to incorporate him. 00:31:55.920 --> 00:32:02.799 And the way that this sounds in normal conversation right now is I this is the way that I that I hear it most. 00:32:03.920 --> 00:32:08.079 I just can't believe in a God that blank. 00:32:10.240 --> 00:32:15.519 Whatever that blank is, that's your current grid. 00:32:16.000 --> 00:32:17.920 That's your current value structure. 00:32:18.160 --> 00:32:19.200 I don't know what it's based on. 00:32:19.279 --> 00:32:21.279 It's based on something for you. 00:32:21.759 --> 00:32:26.640 But I just can't believe in a God that, and we can run through a couple, we'll see if these sound familiar. 00:32:26.720 --> 00:32:31.599 I want to go with them in uh I thought of the most controversial ones I could think of. 00:32:32.480 --> 00:32:36.559 I just can't believe in a God that calls homosexuality a sin. 00:32:37.759 --> 00:32:40.400 You see, you've got your moral grid. 00:32:41.759 --> 00:32:52.559 And it when you're pushing God through that moral grid, you're saying, maybe I could understand God and I could incorporate him into this morality that I understand and have developed. 00:32:52.880 --> 00:33:00.880 Perhaps it's a morality based primarily on human self-expression, the value of individual self-expression, perhaps. 00:33:02.079 --> 00:33:06.960 And you try and incorporate Jesus into that value, you realize I can't have both. 00:33:07.200 --> 00:33:10.559 If I try and incorporate Jesus into that, he's gonna destroy it. 00:33:11.279 --> 00:33:17.759 Or I can't believe in a God who calls husbands to lead their wives. 00:33:18.000 --> 00:33:22.400 I just can't believe in a God who would structure a marriage relationship hierarchically. 00:33:23.839 --> 00:33:26.960 And we see there's a structure there. 00:33:27.680 --> 00:33:38.400 There's a gauge of an egalitarian worldview that says if it doesn't fit into this structure, then I can't believe in that Jesus. 00:33:38.480 --> 00:33:40.720 And you see that it's destroyed. 00:33:41.359 --> 00:33:46.720 Or I can't believe in a God that allows so much pain and suffering in the world. 00:33:46.960 --> 00:33:50.319 You've got a test for what would make God good. 00:33:51.119 --> 00:33:54.480 You look around the world and you see pain and suffering that he allows. 00:33:55.119 --> 00:33:59.440 Or I can't believe in a God that I can't prove exists. 00:34:00.160 --> 00:34:10.000 You've got a structure which says uh provability uh based on sense data is the way that I know things. 00:34:10.079 --> 00:34:15.840 And if he doesn't fit into that, then I I won't incorporate him. 00:34:16.480 --> 00:34:20.559 Or I can't believe in a God who sends people to hell for eternity. 00:34:22.800 --> 00:34:26.719 We've got this concept of what justice would mean. 00:34:27.199 --> 00:34:31.280 And we see that Jesus can't be incorporated into that. 00:34:31.920 --> 00:34:41.599 In order to understand him, we need a complete reframing of our minds with him as the center, him as the bridegroom. 00:34:41.679 --> 00:35:10.239 And I'll tell you what, when we look at Jesus, these very same structures get broken down because we realize that Jesus is God, and that means that we relate to him not as someone who we push our grid, push through our moral grid in order to determine his existence or his viability, but that we stand before him, being judged by his standards. 00:35:10.639 --> 00:35:19.280 And if we stand as creatures before Creator, being judged by his standards, then it doesn't matter what our assessment is of him. 00:35:20.239 --> 00:35:28.239 We need to convert our way of living in the world so that he is God and we live in submission to what he calls good. 00:35:30.159 --> 00:35:32.079 He is the bridegroom. 00:35:33.840 --> 00:35:35.760 But it's crazier than that. 00:35:36.480 --> 00:35:44.880 It's crazier than just Jesus being the bridegroom because he's the bridegroom who is taken away. 00:35:47.119 --> 00:35:48.960 Why is Jesus taken away? 00:35:49.119 --> 00:35:50.559 What does he mean? 00:35:51.440 --> 00:36:35.119 The bridegroom, God, that all is centered around, is taken away so that he might go to the cross, so that when we stand in judgment under him, he would take the very punishment that we deserved onto himself, so that we might be free to be in his presence by grace alone, so that those of us who are undeserving, because we live counter to the goodness of the bridegroom, the bridegroom himself is taken away so that we can come into the bridegroom's presence with feasting, with joy, with gratitude for having been there. 00:36:35.280 --> 00:36:40.239 Do you see how he breaks down the categories that we just moved through? 00:36:40.400 --> 00:36:44.079 I can't believe in a God who calls homosexuality a sin. 00:36:44.239 --> 00:36:49.039 Well, could you believe in a God who gave his life to save sinners? 00:36:49.440 --> 00:36:56.480 I can't believe in a God who calls husbands to leave to lead their wives and creates a hierarchy in that relationship. 00:36:56.639 --> 00:37:02.480 Well, could you believe in a God who died to rescue his bride? 00:37:02.719 --> 00:37:06.960 I can't believe in a God who allows so much pain and suffering in the world. 00:37:07.119 --> 00:37:16.079 Could you believe in the God who allowed that much pain and suffering in the world and then allowed it to fall upon his son so that we might be rescued? 00:37:16.239 --> 00:37:19.920 I can't believe in a God who has a church full of such mean people. 00:37:20.159 --> 00:37:24.880 Could you believe in a God who died to save people like us? 00:37:25.519 --> 00:37:29.199 I can't believe in a God that I can't prove exists. 00:37:29.360 --> 00:37:32.880 Would you believe in a God who made himself a baby? 00:37:33.119 --> 00:37:38.159 That way he might manifest himself in complete revelation to us. 00:37:38.320 --> 00:37:42.000 I can't believe in a God who sends people to hell for eternity. 00:37:42.239 --> 00:37:51.360 Could you believe in the bridegroom who is taken away and utters, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me, so that sinners might be brought in? 00:37:52.719 --> 00:37:58.480 Do you see how he transforms whatever view you might have had? 00:37:58.960 --> 00:38:02.480 There is no category that you can plug Jesus into. 00:38:02.880 --> 00:38:06.320 You must be converted. 00:38:06.960 --> 00:38:09.199 You must be born again. 00:38:10.320 --> 00:38:14.239 Jesus is the bridegroom of God. 00:38:15.440 --> 00:38:18.719 And he's the bridegroom who is taken away. 00:38:20.320 --> 00:38:24.800 So the question is would you like to join the feast? 00:38:26.159 --> 00:38:28.400 Could you come to him and join the feast? 00:38:28.480 --> 00:38:30.000 Now here's the difficulty. 00:38:31.519 --> 00:38:35.599 You're in the feast just by his grace alone. 00:38:37.519 --> 00:38:42.239 You join the feast not because of your goodness, but because of his goodness. 00:38:43.599 --> 00:38:46.079 That's why you can be completely secure in it. 00:38:47.039 --> 00:38:51.280 Completely and utterly secure in the feast that he calls you to. 00:38:52.559 --> 00:38:54.800 That's the message of the bridegroom. 00:38:56.400 --> 00:38:57.039 All right. 00:39:00.480 --> 00:39:00.960 Great. 00:39:01.360 --> 00:39:03.440 Then let's move into our feast. 00:39:04.480 --> 00:39:20.559 This time of communion is a picture of our feast with Jesus, the one that we are all headed towards at the end of creation, when uh we are we participate in the wedding feast of the Lamb at the new heavens and the new earth. 00:39:20.800 --> 00:39:28.320 A little slice of that wedding feast has stretched back from the future to right now. 00:39:29.440 --> 00:39:41.360