Welcome to Season 3 of Love & Context. This season,
we're exploring the life of Jesus, step -by -step,
and uncovering what His story teaches us about
loving God and others. Here on Love & Context,
we're all about having real conversations about
how to live out that love in practical, everyday
ways, and understanding the Bible in its full
context. We're so glad you're here. Let's dive
into Season 3 of Love & Context. Welcome to season
three. Three. I know. Of the Love and Context
podcast. Pretty much, yeah. So we're going to
be shifting gears this season, and we're actually
just going to talk about football the whole time.
We're going to be talking about football. Football
the whole time. That's actually really strange,
though, because most of this season is going
to premiere when there's no football. Uh -huh.
So. Uh -huh. Yeah. So it's just going to be what
it is. And I'm joking. We're not going to be
talking about football. Well, I was going to
say, with an increase in the ratings, we might
be able to garner some of that NFL money, right?
Yeah, totally. Totally. I was actually just...
Totally. We're actually going to be shifting
gears, and we've spent a lot of time in the Old
Testament the last couple seasons. Yep. And so
we are going to be spending some time in... The
four gospels. And what he's actually saying is
we're finally going to talk about Jesus. This
is the first time in three years we've talked
about Jesus. That's not true. I mean, I've talked
about Jesus with lots of people these last three
years, but what have you been doing? I'm talking
about on the podcast. Well, I still want to know
why you haven't been talking to people about
Jesus. I have been talking to people about Jesus.
On the podcast, though, is what we're talking
about. Ben's already like, oh, dear Lord, what
got into Spencer? I have a suspicion, and it's
C -O -F -F -E. That's what got into Spencer,
and an absurd amount of it. This is what, my
third cup today, I think? Yeah. So we were talking
about one of the things we want to kind of do
is we want to have a conversation about the life
of Jesus. And we've kind of sketched out over
the next 35 episodes, like, covering Jesus' life
chronologically. Yeah. Which also means that
we're going to harmonize the Gospels, meaning
that we're going to take from different portions
of the accounts, because they're not all going
to focus on the exact same portions of his life.
Yeah. And so... One of the reasons I think when
we were talking about we should start out, we
should actually talk about the focus of each
gospel because we're going to be jumping in at
random points throughout the story. And what
is each gospel and how is it written and why
is it written that way? Is it just four different
accounts from four different dudes or is there
a reason that it's written that way? Yeah. And
the other thing is once we get through the life
of Jesus, we may actually come back and zero
in on like a few stories and then just have a
deeper conversation about that before we close
up the season. Yeah. Yeah. It's going to be good.
So first thing we got to do is we got to talk
about the four gospels, right? Gospel is a Greek
word. Euangelion means good news. It is not a
unique word to the Bible. Nope. We were actually
just talking about, in the end of last season,
we were talking about Caesar Augustus, right?
And it was very common for both Greek and Roman
conquerors. When they would come in, they would
say, hey, there is the good news of the kingdom
of Caesar Augustus. There is the good news of
the kingdom of Alexander the Great, right? Yeah.
And basically what it is is it's a pronouncement
of a new kingdom. And it's always good news.
especially if you're the conqueror. It's always
good news for everybody. And in this case, it
actually is really good news. So gospel, one
of the reasons I like the way that they write
it in the translations, they say, the gospel,
the good news of Jesus Christ, according to Matthew.
Yeah. Right? The good news of Jesus Christ according
to Mark, the good news of Jesus Christ according
to Luke, and the good news of Jesus Christ according
to John. And the reason I think that's really
important is they're all going to focus on, like,
what is this pronouncement and what does it mean
for a specific group of people? Yeah. And focusing
on that. So, with that in mind, let's talk about
Matthew. Mm -hmm. Some of you are named Matthew,
and your ears just started burning. You're like,
oh, man, they're going to talk about me. That's
what we're here to do is just gossip about you.
All the Matthews of the world. All the Matthews
of the world. We know a few of them. Yeah. So
the Gospel of Matthew is actually an interesting
one because Matthew is predominantly writing
to a Jewish audience. Correct. And this is going
to be Matthew the tax collector. Yeah. So yes,
a Jew, but on the outside of society. So he's
writing to a Jewish audience. Yeah. So that's
why you see things like a lineage at the beginning
of it is because he's actually... And within
that lineage, we could spend weeks talking on
that because there's a lot of stuff there. But
within that lineage, you'll actually see the
life of Abraham all the way down to Jesus. And
there's specific people that are listed, but
what he's doing is he's painting this picture
of saying, hey, all these people leading up to
Jesus aren't perfect. Right. And he paints that
picture in this lineage. And so you go throughout
Matthew, and you can see in the way he writes
and structures everything, it's written in a
perspective that intentionally ties back to Torah.
Yeah, there is a... I'm going to borrow a word
from Marty Solomon when he was talking about
this. He says that Matthew, he uses the word
mumzer. It's this person who is kind of on the
outside of fellowship, which would make sense
with a tax collector, right? This person who's
kind of like on the outside. And Jesus is...
is about being brought in. Now, what's a very
prominent story in Matthew 5? It's the Sermon
on the Mount. And it starts with this pronouncement
of all these people you think are on the outside
are being welcomed in. Yep. Right? And you were
talking about the lineage. Who shows up in the
lineage? Oh, Bathsheba, Rahab, Tamar. Yep. Women.
Women aren't supposed to show up in a genealogy,
and yet they do in Matthew because it's these
awkward, weird stories, not just with the women,
but there's awkward, weird stories that show
up in the genealogy of Jesus and Matthew that
these people who are on the outside in the stories
are actually the ones who are central to the
messianic figure. Yeah. Right? So there's going
to be a really heavy emphasis throughout Matthew
on the Old Testament and Jesus stepping in and
stepping into the role of Israel throughout the
book, and also a lot of reliance on Jewish idioms,
Jewish ideas. I think in Matthew, there's the
eight great rabbinic debates, and they're all
covered in the book of Matthew, which would make
total sense, right? Jesus is, all throughout
the book of Matthew, kind of portrayed as this
second Moses, right? Strong emphasis on the kingdom
of heaven, right? What does that actually look
like? Some things that are unique to the Gospel
of Matthew is the visit of the Magi, the massacre
of the innocents. By the way, the massacre of
the innocents, if he's doing the second Moses,
is going to be a big one to include. And then
Judas' suicide. Those are actually unique to
the Gospel of Matthew. Yeah. Now, as far as dating,
you should talk to your parents about it, unless
you're an adult, and then you can date all you
want. But as far as dating, there's a lot of
conversation. And by the way, TikTok and Instagram,
there's a lot of people going on there talking
about how the Bible was written hundreds of years
later. They've dated the book of Matthew between
80 and 90 AD. and some scholars have suggested
between 70 and 110. So Jesus dying in roughly
30, 35, this means that the Gospel of Matthew
is written down in its codified form within the
next 40 years. Yeah. Like, pretty recently. As
far as, I mean, as far as ancient history goes,
it's pretty recently. Yeah. Well, and the big
thing is that people who were there would still
be alive. Yeah. if not Matthew himself, right?
And so when we're talking about a story of authenticity,
this is not hundreds of years removed after it's
had time to shape in culture. This is really,
really close to the actual date of the events.
We talked about the Gentiles. We talked about
the Magi. Some focuses in the book of Matthew
is he's going to talk about a lot of ministry
to the marginalized. Yep. Right? Talk about the
outcasts, the sinners, the poor. Focus a lot
on women. There's the one where he talks about,
there's the praise of the Canaanite woman. Right?
He praises her as a Gentile woman, which is just
unheard of in Jewish books. Inclusion talking
about how great her faith is. Yeah. There's also
going to be this great commission that it's not
about just hearing and receiving. It's about
going. Yep. Right? This is going to be a part
of the Matthews. And the other thing is, which
I feel like is kind of pairing with this marginalized,
is there going to be this almost rejection of
the religious leaders. Yeah. Right? Of the insiders
is what I'm going to call them. Parables like
the wedding banquet. Yep. Right. And talking
about Israel's rejection and the Gentiles actually
being brought in and about how it's, yes, first
to the Jew, but now the Gentiles are actually
being brought into the story. And then we said
like a lot of... um, a lot of, um, prophecy.
Yeah. Right. Yeah. Um, it was last season. It
may have been the season before we were talking
about the gospel of Matthew and there's a conversation
about whether or not it was originally written
in Hebrew. There is. Uh, I mean like, so there
is a conversation. Was it hit originally written
in Hebrew or Greek? End of the day, it doesn't
really matter too much. Yeah, it doesn't really
matter too much. If you're a nerd like me and
you like to nerd on these facts, I'm going to
give you just a couple of things real quick because
I just think they're fun. So the reason that
comes from is it comes from a Greek person named
Papias. in 100 to 130 AD, and he's quoted by
Eusebius, who has a collection of writings in
the early church. And the statement says, Matthew
compiled the sayings of Jesus in a Hebrew dialect,
and everyone translated them as he was able.
Some people, church fathers such as Irenaeus,
Origen, and Jerome have also suggested this afterwards.
Linguistic people disagree with the current version
of Matthew. because the Gospel of Matthew is
written in really polished Greek. It doesn't
seem to have been, there's idioms that are in
Hebrew that have been well translated from Hebrew
into Greek that it's not, it wouldn't just be
a Hebrew word translated in or else it wouldn't
sound right. I am not a linguist, so please do
not take my word for it. And then also there's
frequent use when he's quoting backwards to different
Old Testament passages where he's using the Septuagint.
I think it's more likely something along the
lines of this is that originally as Matthew is
writing down the sayings of Jesus, he's writing
them down in Hebrew. And that as they go to actually
codify and he actually goes to put out an entire
good news, he writes it in Greek because he wants
not just the Hebrews to be able to read it. And
we probably won't know until we go ask him. Yeah.
I wasn't there. Yep. And again, at the end of
the day, it doesn't really matter too much. Yeah.
It does matter. It does matter. To you. It matters
to me. And someone said, it does matter. To you.
It does matter to me. And then the last thing
to remember is Matthew is most likely written
to Jewish Christians after the destruction of
the temple, right? In 80, 80, 90, grappling with
their identity and now the separation from Judaism.
Like, what are we going to do now that we don't
have our temple? Yeah. Right? That brings us
to the Gospel of Mark. Mark, Mark, Mark, Mark,
Mark. Speculation on this being John Mark. Yep.
So there actually is debate about authorship
on this, whether it was John Mark. There's a
couple other people who were named Mark that
this has been attributed to. There's also the
attribution that Peter wrote it and Mark just
scribed it. Right. So there's a number of different
debates on authorship here. With that said, it
doesn't really matter too much. Yeah, and I think
that we should probably, there's a good conversation
about debating about authorship and authenticity
are not the same thing. No. Because none of the
other church debated whether or not Mark was
a gospel penned by the apostles or is a story
of an apostle writing about this. It's the conversation
about, was it penned by John Mark? Was it penned
by Peter? That's the conversation. Yeah. Yeah.
Mark, from an English, from a translation perspective,
I had a friend once describe it as the NASCAR
gospel. Right. Because it... It has phrases like,
and then, all of a sudden, and it just makes
it feel like everything happened in 35 minutes.
And then they. Right. And then they did this.
And then they did this. Right. Really, those
are pauses of time, if you look at it from a
Greek authorship perspective. Yeah. So Mark does
have this feel to where it's a lot more faster
paced, a lot quicker. And with that said. it
was also targeted to a very different audience.
Yeah, there's conversation that's really being
geared toward Christians in the Roman Church.
This, by the way, is most likely the earliest
of the Gospels. They place it around 65 to 70
AD, under Emperor Nero likely receiving persecution.
A lot of this is written in a very Roman style.
So Roman would be like... this happened, then
this happened, then this happened, then this
happened. So it's following very similar. So
now these Jews and these Gentiles that are followers
of Jesus in the Roman culture and they're under
persecution from Nero. In fact, if you actually
go to the end of Mark, Mark 16, and you have
this little footnote that says some of the earliest
manuscripts didn't include this. If you actually
take the first ending. it kind of leaves you
in this really big piece of tension, right? Jesus
has come back and he's revealed, and then they
have to go away and decide if they're going to
tell the story or not. Yeah. Which, if you're
in a persecuted nation, is problematic. It is
the revelation greater than the persecution,
which is something that you struggle with when
you're a persecuted church, right? Yeah. When
you're underneath... I'm going to say persecution
again because I can't think of another word for
persecution. Where's my thesaurus when I need
it? It's just something that's going to be encouraging,
much like the book of Revelation is very encouraging
to a church and trials. Mark also has a, you
alluded to this, but it also has a bit of scrutiny
about it. as far as which manuscripts are accurate.
So as you alluded to in Mark 16, there's the
first ending, then there's the second ending.
And depending on what Bible you have, you might
have the second ending in there. It might be
excluded. It just depends on what manuscript
they're using to translate it. And so there is
actually debate among scholars on which manuscript
came first. Correct. And reality is, we don't
know. And that's okay. I believe that the entirety
is... I think that you can take away two things.
I think you can look at where it ends and understand
how it communicates to a persecuted church, but
then also understand that the other part of it
very well may have been tacked on by Mark or
the apostles around the same time because they're
sending it to different places. So you might
have had one gospel they sent to one place and
then the other one that they had another ending
to maybe 10 years later. Yeah. Right? For me,
when I read these, they're all harmonious with
the Word of God, and they all connect with the
Old Testament and the structure of God. And I
have no doubt in my mind or soul that every piece
is God -breathed. Yeah. Right? So we're not doubting
authenticity or God -breathed inspiration. We
just don't know exactly how in history those
are formed. Yeah. Right? Mm -hmm. So... One of
the things that shows up frequently in Mark,
which, by the way, if you grew up in the church,
you're going to hear a lot of Mark quoted whenever
you're talking about the suffering servant, because
he really spends a lot of time connecting back
to Isaiah. Yeah. And... And then also one of
the things that's also going to show up often
is the messianic secret. In other words, Jesus
is going to say, don't tell them about me. Don't
tell them about me. Nobody listens. They do it
anyways. But it's going to happen very frequently
through this and this revelation that's happening
almost in secret as the kingdom continues to
explore out there. By the way, if you're once
again a persecuted nation, this might have some
resonance for you. Yeah, so that's the Gospel
of Mark. Now, the Gospel of Luke, you really
need to connect with the book of Acts, because
it's really two parts of the same book. In fact,
and Luke, by the way, doesn't even hide that.
He says that he goes to make an orderly account,
and then the beginning of the book of Acts, he's
like, in my former account, I wrote about this,
and now I'm going to write about what the church
did. Yeah. Right? So he's not making a secret
of it. Luke is written, speculated between 80
and 90 AD, maybe a little bit later, written
to a predominantly Gentile audience in a Greco
-Roman context. And it's a lot about getting
an orderly account, but then Luke specifically
is going to be dealing with eyewitness accounts,
people who were alive in the time of Jesus and
what they saw and heard. Yeah. One of the things
that Luke does differently is Luke also has a
genealogy which has tripped people up for years
because he actually focuses on something different.
So in Matthews, he focuses and goes through all
the way back to Abraham. And Abraham, David,
and Joseph are like real big focus points, right?
In Luke's... we go all the way back to Adam,
and it seems to be more inclusive of humanity
overall, not just a specifically Jewish heritage.
And next week, we're actually going to be talking
about the genealogy, so I don't want to talk
about too much. Yeah. But there's a lot of, like,
when you start to understand what they're doing
inside of those, there's a reason they're written
that way, and it's totally appropriate for Eastern
literature. Yeah. It's not how we write literature,
but it is correct for how they do it. So he presents
this well -researched orderly account. Actually,
I'm going to read this. This is from Luke 1,
1 -4. Since many have undertaken... Undertook,
wow. I can speak English well. Well done, well
done. Since many have undertaken to compile a
narrative about the events that have been fulfilled
among us, just as the original eyewitnesses and
servants of the word handed them down to us,
it also seemed good to me, since I have carefully
investigated everything from the very first,
to write to you in a orderly sequence, most honorable
Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty
of the things about which you have been instructed.
And likely Theophilus is somebody of some renown
that came to Jesus and commissions Luke. He says,
hey, I want to make sure that what I'm placing
my faith in actually happened. Yeah. And so he's
like, okay, well, I'll just go eyewitness everybody
and I'll write you an account of what they say.
Right? And then, of course, in Acts, he says,
in my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about
all that Jesus said and did. And then he starts
to write about what the church then does from
that porch. So here's what ordered approach would
mean in that, is that it's a carefully investigated
account. So he emphasizes that he's researched
thoroughly by compiling all the eyewitnesses
and earlier accounts, so that you're going to
have a lot of overlap with Matthew and Mark.
Incidentally, that's why you're not also going
to have a lot of overlap with John, because the
Gospel of John is going to be written later.
Yes. And then his Gospel then reflects a historian's
attention to detail. There's going to be some
chronological and thematic structure. Birth of
John the Baptist, Jesus, then his ministry in
Galilee, his journey to Jerusalem, and finally
his death, burial, resurrection, right? And ascension.
Yeah. He specifically says, I wrote this so that
you could be certain that what you've placed
your faith in... happen, right? So this is meant
to try to get as much as it counts as possible
to say, this is what they said happened. And
so you're going to, I mean, there's at least,
I mean, there's thousands of people who saw Jesus
after he was resurrected, at least 500, because
that's what one of the gospels tells us. But
it's meant to... It's meant to give certainty
and credence as a thoroughly, you know, Luke
being a learned man, a doctor, he's going to
be capable of doing thorough research. So one
of the things that I have found particularly
interesting, and it is a, I've hinted at this
in the past, but in early synagogues, they do
readings called the Parashah and the Haftarah.
The parasha readings is the readings of Torah
that they do every week. Yeah. And every year,
they make it all the way through Torah, and then
they repeat the next year. The haftarah is everything
else, and they make it through it every three
years. So the reading cycle syncs up every three
years. Incidentally, when Jesus comes and it's
his turn to read in Nazareth, and he reads from
the scroll of Isaiah, it's the haftarah reading,
right? That's part of their regular reading.
One of the things that we talk about in the Gospel
of Luke, and as a conversation piece, and some
scholars are piecing together, and there's an
interesting perspective on it, is whether or
not Luke's ordered account, the way that it's
split up, connects with a Parashon Haftarah reading
for a Jewish synagogue with Christians that are
now a part of it. Yeah. So that they're having
the Old Testament, the Law and Prophets, or sorry,
the Law, the Prophets is what I'm going to call
them, and then the Gospel, right? And so they're
actually pairing these three together. And one
of the things that's really compelling is that
I've seen one of these calendars, and they're
really intricate. Yeah. But sometimes the Parsha
reading, and then the Haftarah reading, and then
the story from the Gospel of Luke, and you're
like, wow, those line up so well. You almost
think that has to be it. It doesn't quite work
in our calendar because our calendar is slightly
different. But it's really interesting about
whether or not that is the case. That is just
something for you guys to think about. There
is no direct evidence of that, but there is compelling
scholarship in it. So if you're a nerd like me,
I know they're there. There's at least one person
who listens who's a nerd like me. And you want
to look into that. There is The Evangelist Calendar
is a book. It's really difficult to get a hold
of. And I'm not going to agree with about 45
% of what the guy has his conclusions are. But
he has some really interesting, like he's lined
up some different dates. And it's really interesting
if you're willing to do the work. Yeah. It's
an old book. Yeah. Well, that brings us to the
final. Most controversial. The Gospel of John.
Now, the Gospel of John is very different from
the other three Gospels. There's actually debate
on whether John actually wrote events in order
or not. Like, there's debate around that. John
also, he doesn't include a genealogy. He just
kind of jumps right into life of Jesus. There's
no early childhood, no birth story, none of that.
And John is really trying to do one thing. He's
trying to show that Jesus is the Messiah. Yeah,
in fact, he actually says that very, very plainly.
Very plainly. Says, this gospel is written so
that... You may know. You may know, right? And
so John's not trying to hide that. That's what
his gospel is written. Now, his gospel is really
split into two parts. There's the first part,
which is... all of jesus life except for one
week and so that part seems a little rushed at
times like it seems like oh story story story
story and then you get to john chapter 12 and
it turns into the second part which is the last
week yeah and there's like it ends up being like
20 12 chapters that cover one week yeah and it's
very strange and and you go from you go from
these just these accounts of these stories, these
miracles, to where you get to John 13 through
17, and it's like one conversation. Correct.
So you have two separate paces that are happening
in this gospel. And I think a lot of times people
miss that in the gospel of John, where the other
gospels have a little bit more of a fluid pace.
John's gospel is like... Here's a really rushed
story, and oh, by the way, we're going to pause
for this one conversation, which, by the way,
should make you be like, I should pause for this
one conversation, too. Correct. Yeah. There is
a couple of themes that are going on throughout
the Gospel of John. One is light and dark. Yep.
Another one is you're going to see the seven
I am statements of Jesus. John is going to focus
heavily on Jesus' divinity. Yep. And so one of
the things, the criticisms of the Gospel of John
is that it comes much later. It doesn't actually
come that much later. It comes like 15 years
later, right? Early on, they couldn't find ones
that weren't like from AD 160. But after they
found Scrolls of Qumran, they found them that
were much earlier, right? John is writing specifically,
because it seems to be that he didn't see the
particular need to write a gospel, because they
had three accounts that were really good. Yeah.
And then there rose this thing called Gnosticism,
spelled with a G. So if you're looking it up
and Googling it, it's GN. So Gnosticism. And
one of the things about the Gnostic... is whether
or not Jesus was really divine. Was he really
fully man, fully God? Was he spirit? There's
a lot of these conversations that they get further
from his death. There's people rising up and
saying, well, Jesus never actually occupied a
physical body. And John's like, all right, we
got to address this. Because Matthew, Mark, and
Luke do address it, but they address it in very
Jewish ways. Yeah. And John is like, no, I need
to make sure that we're very clear. Like, I was
there. I felt the nail holes in his arms, right?
I felt the spear hole in his side, right? Like,
Jesus was very much a physical person. Yeah.
And he was also very much definitely God. And
we didn't understand that at the time, but it
was happening all along. The Gospel of John,
this probably is not in your notes, but the Gospel
of John also has a bit more of a sense of humor
to it. Oh, yeah. And so you see this when they're
running to Jesus' tomb, where John's like, yeah,
Peter was running, but the other disciple, referring
to himself, he's like, outran him and got there
first. Right, so John has a little bit more of
this edge to it, which fits John's personality
because John is also the apostle. He's also one
of the apostles that when Jesus and the disciples
got kicked out of a town, John's like, so we're
calling hellfire and brimstone down on them?
This is Sodom and Gomorrah, right? This is what's
happening? No. And Jesus is like, no. My favorite
part about that story is he's like, let's burn
them down, and Jesus goes, no. Go preach the
good news to the lost sheep of Israel. Uh -huh.
That's definitely, that's a strategy for pastors.
Uh -huh. You know? Yeah. Yeah. So John, he's
the only gospel writer that's published here
that actually had one of the more fiery personalities.
The other writers, Matthew, Matthew was much
more calculated. Luke was very calculated. Mark.
And there's some debate on authorship there.
But John, he was kind of the fiery disciple who's
like, I'm going to write a gospel. And this is
what I'm going to. Him and his brother James.
Oh, yeah. They're literally called the Sons of
Thunder. Can you imagine being so disruptive
that they call you the Sons of Thunder? Uh -huh.
Right? Uh -huh. Like, I mean, we assume it's
probably like a playful moniker. Yeah. Right?
But it's, yeah. I wanted to just talk about,
because we kind of danced around it, but key
ways that John tells you what his gospel is about,
right? There's an explicit purpose statement,
which is John 20, 31, where he says, this is
why I wrote it. Okay, it doesn't get much more
explicit than that. Yeah. Then his focus on Jesus'
identity, his divinity as eternal word, Logos,
who is with God and is God. His I am statements
connecting him to Yeshua, or to Yahweh, I am
that I am, which gets him in trouble, by the
way, when he makes that statement multiple times.
It's going to be his signs and wonders specifically
are pointing towards his divinity as well. Yeah.
Right? The prologue, how it opens, in the beginning
was the word, the word was with God, the word
was God, should absolutely evoke feelings of
Genesis 1. Yep. In other words, he is God that
was spoken word in the beginning. Yep. Which
is what he'll actually say in the prologue. Yep.
And it's really important to hear those things.
There's going to be themes of like, if you believe,
you will have eternal life. If you follow after
me, you'll have eternal life. As qualitative
life comes from life with Jesus. And then his
discourses in general are going to exclude extensive
teachings where he's explaining his mission to
people. So think about John 3 where he talks
with Nicodemus and he's like, I came so that
everybody would be saved. And then in the next
chapter, he meets a woman at a well. So religious
figure, woman at a well. And he says, I am the
Messiah that's come so that you can actually
worship in spirit and truth. Yeah. Right? And
so he's actually explaining to people exactly
why he's there. Yeah. Now, they don't get it.
Yeah. Right? They still think Messiah differently,
but he's absolutely explaining in these stories
exactly who Jesus is. Yeah. One of the other
cool things that you can, the Gospel of John,
the first time you read it, you're like, man,
that's really cool. And you're like, then the
second time you read it, you're like, oh, there's
a theme I didn't track. Then you read it a third
time, and you're like, oh, there's another theme
I didn't track. Then the 28th time you read it,
they're like, that's another theme I didn't track.
And then you're color -coding these things all
the way through, and then you read something
about history and religions that were really
coming up and popular during that time, and you're
like, oh, my goodness. Now he's doing a play
on words with that religion and Jesus and really
usurping everything that they're being told and
also using the Jewish Torah at the same time,
and you're like... this is crazy, John. Yeah.
Like, it's crazy. It's almost like he had help.
Yeah, right. Right? And it's one of those books
that the more time you spend in it, the more
it is, it's just incredible. Yeah. Like, it's
so incredible. Yeah. The biggest thing that you
can do to do a disservice to John is not spend
a whole lot of time really unpacking all these
layers of things he has in it. Yep. I've spent
years in it, and every time I read it, I find
something different. And that God's just cool
that way. Yep. So all of these Gospels come together
to tell the story of Jesus. They all talk about
Jesus in different ways, either addressing other
things that are arising of the way people think
about Jesus. John is redirecting them. Mark talking
to a persecuted church. Matthew talking to the
people who are on the outside or they're being
brought in. Luke giving an ordered account so
you would actually know from testimonies. Yeah.
You know? And all these are working together
to really tell this story of Jesus. And some
of them are going to tell it different ways.
Just like if you and I were in a room and we
experienced the same story, we probably remember
different things from it. Yep. But all of them
together help us understand who is Jesus? Who
was he on earth? What was his ministry? So that
as we trust in his death, burial, resurrection,
we have new life in his teachings. Yeah. And
in the commission he gives us to live out. Yep.
So as we explore the life of Jesus, we're going
to be referencing all four of these Gospels,
because as much as they're telling a different
story, they are talking about the same Jesus.
Correct. They're not trying to say there was
four different Jesus. All right? They're saying
there's one Jesus, one Messiah, one Savior, and
they're all telling the story from a different
perspective. Right? And so as we explore this,
just know that we'll be doing some cross -referencing
and there might be some things that you're like,
huh, that's interesting. I never thought of it
that way. Just go with it. It's going to be good.
We're excited. Yeah. It's going to be fun. Welcome
to season three. Let's dive in. And that's a
wrap for today's episode of Love and Context.
We hope this conversation encouraged you and
gave you fresh insights into how we can better
love God and others through the powerful truths
of the Bible. We'd love to hear from you. Send
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