WEBVTT 00:00:02.619 --> 00:00:06.019 Welcome to Season 3 of Love & Context. This season, 00:00:06.120 --> 00:00:08.640 we're exploring the life of Jesus, step -by -step, 00:00:08.779 --> 00:00:11.140 and uncovering what His story teaches us about 00:00:11.140 --> 00:00:13.919 loving God and others. Here on Love & Context, 00:00:13.960 --> 00:00:16.059 we're all about having real conversations about 00:00:16.059 --> 00:00:18.140 how to live out that love in practical, everyday 00:00:18.140 --> 00:00:20.199 ways, and understanding the Bible in its full 00:00:20.199 --> 00:00:22.820 context. We're so glad you're here. Let's dive 00:00:22.820 --> 00:00:29.050 into Season 3 of Love & Context. Welcome to season 00:00:29.050 --> 00:00:33.969 three. Three. I know. Of the Love and Context 00:00:33.969 --> 00:00:38.649 podcast. Pretty much, yeah. So we're going to 00:00:38.649 --> 00:00:41.310 be shifting gears this season, and we're actually 00:00:41.310 --> 00:00:43.390 just going to talk about football the whole time. 00:00:43.450 --> 00:00:45.049 We're going to be talking about football. Football 00:00:45.049 --> 00:00:49.329 the whole time. That's actually really strange, 00:00:49.469 --> 00:00:51.530 though, because most of this season is going 00:00:51.530 --> 00:00:53.229 to premiere when there's no football. Uh -huh. 00:00:53.369 --> 00:00:57.119 So. Uh -huh. Yeah. So it's just going to be what 00:00:57.119 --> 00:00:59.640 it is. And I'm joking. We're not going to be 00:00:59.640 --> 00:01:00.240 talking about football. Well, I was going to 00:01:00.240 --> 00:01:01.539 say, with an increase in the ratings, we might 00:01:01.539 --> 00:01:04.140 be able to garner some of that NFL money, right? 00:01:04.819 --> 00:01:07.239 Yeah, totally. Totally. I was actually just... 00:01:07.239 --> 00:01:11.560 Totally. We're actually going to be shifting 00:01:11.560 --> 00:01:13.420 gears, and we've spent a lot of time in the Old 00:01:13.420 --> 00:01:15.680 Testament the last couple seasons. Yep. And so 00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:18.439 we are going to be spending some time in... The 00:01:18.439 --> 00:01:20.480 four gospels. And what he's actually saying is 00:01:20.480 --> 00:01:22.420 we're finally going to talk about Jesus. This 00:01:22.420 --> 00:01:24.120 is the first time in three years we've talked 00:01:24.120 --> 00:01:26.459 about Jesus. That's not true. I mean, I've talked 00:01:26.459 --> 00:01:28.239 about Jesus with lots of people these last three 00:01:28.239 --> 00:01:30.180 years, but what have you been doing? I'm talking 00:01:30.180 --> 00:01:32.280 about on the podcast. Well, I still want to know 00:01:32.280 --> 00:01:33.579 why you haven't been talking to people about 00:01:33.579 --> 00:01:35.640 Jesus. I have been talking to people about Jesus. 00:01:36.040 --> 00:01:38.120 On the podcast, though, is what we're talking 00:01:38.120 --> 00:01:43.239 about. Ben's already like, oh, dear Lord, what 00:01:43.239 --> 00:01:48.040 got into Spencer? I have a suspicion, and it's 00:01:48.040 --> 00:01:50.819 C -O -F -F -E. That's what got into Spencer, 00:01:50.920 --> 00:01:55.000 and an absurd amount of it. This is what, my 00:01:55.000 --> 00:01:57.920 third cup today, I think? Yeah. So we were talking 00:01:57.920 --> 00:01:59.599 about one of the things we want to kind of do 00:01:59.599 --> 00:02:02.120 is we want to have a conversation about the life 00:02:02.120 --> 00:02:05.439 of Jesus. And we've kind of sketched out over 00:02:05.439 --> 00:02:10.800 the next 35 episodes, like, covering Jesus' life 00:02:10.800 --> 00:02:13.360 chronologically. Yeah. Which also means that 00:02:13.360 --> 00:02:15.520 we're going to harmonize the Gospels, meaning 00:02:15.520 --> 00:02:17.199 that we're going to take from different portions 00:02:17.199 --> 00:02:18.419 of the accounts, because they're not all going 00:02:18.419 --> 00:02:20.360 to focus on the exact same portions of his life. 00:02:20.539 --> 00:02:25.129 Yeah. And so... One of the reasons I think when 00:02:25.129 --> 00:02:27.129 we were talking about we should start out, we 00:02:27.129 --> 00:02:29.169 should actually talk about the focus of each 00:02:29.169 --> 00:02:31.229 gospel because we're going to be jumping in at 00:02:31.229 --> 00:02:34.509 random points throughout the story. And what 00:02:34.509 --> 00:02:36.349 is each gospel and how is it written and why 00:02:36.349 --> 00:02:39.050 is it written that way? Is it just four different 00:02:39.050 --> 00:02:40.650 accounts from four different dudes or is there 00:02:40.650 --> 00:02:43.629 a reason that it's written that way? Yeah. And 00:02:43.629 --> 00:02:45.710 the other thing is once we get through the life 00:02:45.710 --> 00:02:48.310 of Jesus, we may actually come back and zero 00:02:48.310 --> 00:02:51.030 in on like a few stories and then just have a 00:02:51.030 --> 00:02:53.990 deeper conversation about that before we close 00:02:53.990 --> 00:02:55.990 up the season. Yeah. Yeah. It's going to be good. 00:02:56.969 --> 00:02:59.169 So first thing we got to do is we got to talk 00:02:59.169 --> 00:03:02.169 about the four gospels, right? Gospel is a Greek 00:03:02.169 --> 00:03:07.509 word. Euangelion means good news. It is not a 00:03:07.509 --> 00:03:11.650 unique word to the Bible. Nope. We were actually 00:03:11.650 --> 00:03:14.370 just talking about, in the end of last season, 00:03:14.469 --> 00:03:16.430 we were talking about Caesar Augustus, right? 00:03:16.569 --> 00:03:19.770 And it was very common for both Greek and Roman 00:03:19.770 --> 00:03:22.189 conquerors. When they would come in, they would 00:03:22.189 --> 00:03:24.430 say, hey, there is the good news of the kingdom 00:03:24.430 --> 00:03:27.330 of Caesar Augustus. There is the good news of 00:03:27.330 --> 00:03:30.509 the kingdom of Alexander the Great, right? Yeah. 00:03:30.610 --> 00:03:33.930 And basically what it is is it's a pronouncement 00:03:33.930 --> 00:03:37.090 of a new kingdom. And it's always good news. 00:03:37.669 --> 00:03:39.189 especially if you're the conqueror. It's always 00:03:39.189 --> 00:03:42.169 good news for everybody. And in this case, it 00:03:42.169 --> 00:03:46.229 actually is really good news. So gospel, one 00:03:46.229 --> 00:03:47.770 of the reasons I like the way that they write 00:03:47.770 --> 00:03:50.389 it in the translations, they say, the gospel, 00:03:50.569 --> 00:03:53.430 the good news of Jesus Christ, according to Matthew. 00:03:53.870 --> 00:03:56.310 Yeah. Right? The good news of Jesus Christ according 00:03:56.310 --> 00:03:58.590 to Mark, the good news of Jesus Christ according 00:03:58.590 --> 00:04:00.370 to Luke, and the good news of Jesus Christ according 00:04:00.370 --> 00:04:03.629 to John. And the reason I think that's really 00:04:03.629 --> 00:04:06.409 important is they're all going to focus on, like, 00:04:06.430 --> 00:04:08.789 what is this pronouncement and what does it mean 00:04:08.789 --> 00:04:12.909 for a specific group of people? Yeah. And focusing 00:04:12.909 --> 00:04:17.069 on that. So, with that in mind, let's talk about 00:04:17.069 --> 00:04:21.500 Matthew. Mm -hmm. Some of you are named Matthew, 00:04:21.560 --> 00:04:23.860 and your ears just started burning. You're like, 00:04:23.959 --> 00:04:26.060 oh, man, they're going to talk about me. That's 00:04:26.060 --> 00:04:28.439 what we're here to do is just gossip about you. 00:04:29.420 --> 00:04:31.379 All the Matthews of the world. All the Matthews 00:04:31.379 --> 00:04:34.329 of the world. We know a few of them. Yeah. So 00:04:34.329 --> 00:04:38.149 the Gospel of Matthew is actually an interesting 00:04:38.149 --> 00:04:41.170 one because Matthew is predominantly writing 00:04:41.170 --> 00:04:43.670 to a Jewish audience. Correct. And this is going 00:04:43.670 --> 00:04:46.209 to be Matthew the tax collector. Yeah. So yes, 00:04:46.230 --> 00:04:48.870 a Jew, but on the outside of society. So he's 00:04:48.870 --> 00:04:51.009 writing to a Jewish audience. Yeah. So that's 00:04:51.009 --> 00:04:53.829 why you see things like a lineage at the beginning 00:04:53.829 --> 00:04:56.899 of it is because he's actually... And within 00:04:56.899 --> 00:04:58.819 that lineage, we could spend weeks talking on 00:04:58.819 --> 00:05:00.740 that because there's a lot of stuff there. But 00:05:00.740 --> 00:05:04.360 within that lineage, you'll actually see the 00:05:04.360 --> 00:05:08.600 life of Abraham all the way down to Jesus. And 00:05:08.600 --> 00:05:10.980 there's specific people that are listed, but 00:05:10.980 --> 00:05:12.819 what he's doing is he's painting this picture 00:05:12.819 --> 00:05:15.680 of saying, hey, all these people leading up to 00:05:15.680 --> 00:05:18.129 Jesus aren't perfect. Right. And he paints that 00:05:18.129 --> 00:05:20.810 picture in this lineage. And so you go throughout 00:05:20.810 --> 00:05:23.629 Matthew, and you can see in the way he writes 00:05:23.629 --> 00:05:25.670 and structures everything, it's written in a 00:05:25.670 --> 00:05:28.129 perspective that intentionally ties back to Torah. 00:05:28.370 --> 00:05:30.970 Yeah, there is a... I'm going to borrow a word 00:05:30.970 --> 00:05:32.870 from Marty Solomon when he was talking about 00:05:32.870 --> 00:05:34.829 this. He says that Matthew, he uses the word 00:05:34.829 --> 00:05:37.829 mumzer. It's this person who is kind of on the 00:05:37.829 --> 00:05:39.529 outside of fellowship, which would make sense 00:05:39.529 --> 00:05:42.009 with a tax collector, right? This person who's 00:05:42.009 --> 00:05:44.189 kind of like on the outside. And Jesus is... 00:05:45.590 --> 00:05:48.269 is about being brought in. Now, what's a very 00:05:48.269 --> 00:05:51.089 prominent story in Matthew 5? It's the Sermon 00:05:51.089 --> 00:05:54.149 on the Mount. And it starts with this pronouncement 00:05:54.149 --> 00:05:56.170 of all these people you think are on the outside 00:05:56.170 --> 00:05:59.610 are being welcomed in. Yep. Right? And you were 00:05:59.610 --> 00:06:01.430 talking about the lineage. Who shows up in the 00:06:01.430 --> 00:06:06.189 lineage? Oh, Bathsheba, Rahab, Tamar. Yep. Women. 00:06:06.670 --> 00:06:08.509 Women aren't supposed to show up in a genealogy, 00:06:08.529 --> 00:06:11.529 and yet they do in Matthew because it's these 00:06:11.529 --> 00:06:14.250 awkward, weird stories, not just with the women, 00:06:14.290 --> 00:06:15.790 but there's awkward, weird stories that show 00:06:15.790 --> 00:06:18.009 up in the genealogy of Jesus and Matthew that 00:06:18.009 --> 00:06:20.230 these people who are on the outside in the stories 00:06:20.230 --> 00:06:22.430 are actually the ones who are central to the 00:06:22.430 --> 00:06:26.250 messianic figure. Yeah. Right? So there's going 00:06:26.250 --> 00:06:29.970 to be a really heavy emphasis throughout Matthew 00:06:29.970 --> 00:06:32.889 on the Old Testament and Jesus stepping in and 00:06:32.889 --> 00:06:35.930 stepping into the role of Israel throughout the 00:06:35.930 --> 00:06:40.129 book, and also a lot of reliance on Jewish idioms, 00:06:40.129 --> 00:06:43.790 Jewish ideas. I think in Matthew, there's the 00:06:43.790 --> 00:06:45.730 eight great rabbinic debates, and they're all 00:06:45.730 --> 00:06:47.870 covered in the book of Matthew, which would make 00:06:47.870 --> 00:06:53.589 total sense, right? Jesus is, all throughout 00:06:53.589 --> 00:06:55.649 the book of Matthew, kind of portrayed as this 00:06:55.649 --> 00:07:00.850 second Moses, right? Strong emphasis on the kingdom 00:07:00.850 --> 00:07:04.250 of heaven, right? What does that actually look 00:07:04.250 --> 00:07:09.529 like? Some things that are unique to the Gospel 00:07:09.529 --> 00:07:13.370 of Matthew is the visit of the Magi, the massacre 00:07:13.370 --> 00:07:16.170 of the innocents. By the way, the massacre of 00:07:16.170 --> 00:07:17.350 the innocents, if he's doing the second Moses, 00:07:17.490 --> 00:07:20.740 is going to be a big one to include. And then 00:07:20.740 --> 00:07:24.439 Judas' suicide. Those are actually unique to 00:07:24.439 --> 00:07:28.420 the Gospel of Matthew. Yeah. Now, as far as dating, 00:07:28.639 --> 00:07:31.600 you should talk to your parents about it, unless 00:07:31.600 --> 00:07:33.019 you're an adult, and then you can date all you 00:07:33.019 --> 00:07:37.459 want. But as far as dating, there's a lot of 00:07:37.459 --> 00:07:40.279 conversation. And by the way, TikTok and Instagram, 00:07:40.459 --> 00:07:41.660 there's a lot of people going on there talking 00:07:41.660 --> 00:07:43.920 about how the Bible was written hundreds of years 00:07:43.920 --> 00:07:46.779 later. They've dated the book of Matthew between 00:07:46.779 --> 00:07:50.720 80 and 90 AD. and some scholars have suggested 00:07:50.720 --> 00:07:54.279 between 70 and 110. So Jesus dying in roughly 00:07:54.279 --> 00:07:56.740 30, 35, this means that the Gospel of Matthew 00:07:56.740 --> 00:07:59.279 is written down in its codified form within the 00:07:59.279 --> 00:08:03.160 next 40 years. Yeah. Like, pretty recently. As 00:08:03.160 --> 00:08:06.000 far as, I mean, as far as ancient history goes, 00:08:06.060 --> 00:08:08.560 it's pretty recently. Yeah. Well, and the big 00:08:08.560 --> 00:08:12.120 thing is that people who were there would still 00:08:12.120 --> 00:08:15.290 be alive. Yeah. if not Matthew himself, right? 00:08:15.509 --> 00:08:19.569 And so when we're talking about a story of authenticity, 00:08:20.029 --> 00:08:23.329 this is not hundreds of years removed after it's 00:08:23.329 --> 00:08:25.730 had time to shape in culture. This is really, 00:08:25.870 --> 00:08:28.610 really close to the actual date of the events. 00:08:30.610 --> 00:08:32.629 We talked about the Gentiles. We talked about 00:08:32.629 --> 00:08:35.919 the Magi. Some focuses in the book of Matthew 00:08:35.919 --> 00:08:37.519 is he's going to talk about a lot of ministry 00:08:37.519 --> 00:08:40.480 to the marginalized. Yep. Right? Talk about the 00:08:40.480 --> 00:08:43.200 outcasts, the sinners, the poor. Focus a lot 00:08:43.200 --> 00:08:45.879 on women. There's the one where he talks about, 00:08:45.899 --> 00:08:48.159 there's the praise of the Canaanite woman. Right? 00:08:48.279 --> 00:08:50.220 He praises her as a Gentile woman, which is just 00:08:50.220 --> 00:08:53.220 unheard of in Jewish books. Inclusion talking 00:08:53.220 --> 00:08:57.100 about how great her faith is. Yeah. There's also 00:08:57.100 --> 00:08:59.639 going to be this great commission that it's not 00:08:59.639 --> 00:09:02.120 about just hearing and receiving. It's about 00:09:02.120 --> 00:09:04.070 going. Yep. Right? This is going to be a part 00:09:04.070 --> 00:09:08.049 of the Matthews. And the other thing is, which 00:09:08.049 --> 00:09:11.230 I feel like is kind of pairing with this marginalized, 00:09:11.470 --> 00:09:14.409 is there going to be this almost rejection of 00:09:14.409 --> 00:09:17.149 the religious leaders. Yeah. Right? Of the insiders 00:09:17.149 --> 00:09:19.269 is what I'm going to call them. Parables like 00:09:19.269 --> 00:09:22.929 the wedding banquet. Yep. Right. And talking 00:09:22.929 --> 00:09:25.009 about Israel's rejection and the Gentiles actually 00:09:25.009 --> 00:09:27.389 being brought in and about how it's, yes, first 00:09:27.389 --> 00:09:28.789 to the Jew, but now the Gentiles are actually 00:09:28.789 --> 00:09:31.389 being brought into the story. And then we said 00:09:31.389 --> 00:09:34.409 like a lot of... um, a lot of, um, prophecy. 00:09:34.549 --> 00:09:40.289 Yeah. Right. Yeah. Um, it was last season. It 00:09:40.289 --> 00:09:41.769 may have been the season before we were talking 00:09:41.769 --> 00:09:44.070 about the gospel of Matthew and there's a conversation 00:09:44.070 --> 00:09:45.909 about whether or not it was originally written 00:09:45.909 --> 00:09:50.129 in Hebrew. There is. Uh, I mean like, so there 00:09:50.129 --> 00:09:52.409 is a conversation. Was it hit originally written 00:09:52.409 --> 00:09:54.919 in Hebrew or Greek? End of the day, it doesn't 00:09:54.919 --> 00:09:57.220 really matter too much. Yeah, it doesn't really 00:09:57.220 --> 00:09:59.460 matter too much. If you're a nerd like me and 00:09:59.460 --> 00:10:00.700 you like to nerd on these facts, I'm going to 00:10:00.700 --> 00:10:01.919 give you just a couple of things real quick because 00:10:01.919 --> 00:10:04.500 I just think they're fun. So the reason that 00:10:04.500 --> 00:10:07.320 comes from is it comes from a Greek person named 00:10:07.320 --> 00:10:11.419 Papias. in 100 to 130 AD, and he's quoted by 00:10:11.419 --> 00:10:15.340 Eusebius, who has a collection of writings in 00:10:15.340 --> 00:10:18.460 the early church. And the statement says, Matthew 00:10:18.460 --> 00:10:21.879 compiled the sayings of Jesus in a Hebrew dialect, 00:10:22.039 --> 00:10:24.320 and everyone translated them as he was able. 00:10:25.320 --> 00:10:28.139 Some people, church fathers such as Irenaeus, 00:10:28.139 --> 00:10:30.679 Origen, and Jerome have also suggested this afterwards. 00:10:31.899 --> 00:10:36.059 Linguistic people disagree with the current version 00:10:36.059 --> 00:10:39.870 of Matthew. because the Gospel of Matthew is 00:10:39.870 --> 00:10:42.870 written in really polished Greek. It doesn't 00:10:42.870 --> 00:10:45.509 seem to have been, there's idioms that are in 00:10:45.509 --> 00:10:47.889 Hebrew that have been well translated from Hebrew 00:10:47.889 --> 00:10:50.330 into Greek that it's not, it wouldn't just be 00:10:50.330 --> 00:10:52.230 a Hebrew word translated in or else it wouldn't 00:10:52.230 --> 00:10:55.350 sound right. I am not a linguist, so please do 00:10:55.350 --> 00:10:59.450 not take my word for it. And then also there's 00:10:59.450 --> 00:11:02.490 frequent use when he's quoting backwards to different 00:11:02.490 --> 00:11:05.669 Old Testament passages where he's using the Septuagint. 00:11:06.370 --> 00:11:08.269 I think it's more likely something along the 00:11:08.269 --> 00:11:10.830 lines of this is that originally as Matthew is 00:11:10.830 --> 00:11:12.289 writing down the sayings of Jesus, he's writing 00:11:12.289 --> 00:11:15.110 them down in Hebrew. And that as they go to actually 00:11:15.110 --> 00:11:17.070 codify and he actually goes to put out an entire 00:11:17.070 --> 00:11:20.149 good news, he writes it in Greek because he wants 00:11:20.149 --> 00:11:22.789 not just the Hebrews to be able to read it. And 00:11:22.789 --> 00:11:27.450 we probably won't know until we go ask him. Yeah. 00:11:27.509 --> 00:11:30.009 I wasn't there. Yep. And again, at the end of 00:11:30.009 --> 00:11:31.929 the day, it doesn't really matter too much. Yeah. 00:11:33.129 --> 00:11:35.750 It does matter. It does matter. To you. It matters 00:11:35.750 --> 00:11:39.429 to me. And someone said, it does matter. To you. 00:11:39.450 --> 00:11:42.450 It does matter to me. And then the last thing 00:11:42.450 --> 00:11:44.289 to remember is Matthew is most likely written 00:11:44.289 --> 00:11:46.610 to Jewish Christians after the destruction of 00:11:46.610 --> 00:11:51.330 the temple, right? In 80, 80, 90, grappling with 00:11:51.330 --> 00:11:53.289 their identity and now the separation from Judaism. 00:11:53.610 --> 00:11:56.490 Like, what are we going to do now that we don't 00:11:56.490 --> 00:11:58.730 have our temple? Yeah. Right? That brings us 00:11:58.730 --> 00:12:02.320 to the Gospel of Mark. Mark, Mark, Mark, Mark, 00:12:02.320 --> 00:12:06.019 Mark. Speculation on this being John Mark. Yep. 00:12:06.500 --> 00:12:10.159 So there actually is debate about authorship 00:12:10.159 --> 00:12:15.120 on this, whether it was John Mark. There's a 00:12:15.120 --> 00:12:17.100 couple other people who were named Mark that 00:12:17.100 --> 00:12:21.720 this has been attributed to. There's also the 00:12:21.720 --> 00:12:25.419 attribution that Peter wrote it and Mark just 00:12:25.419 --> 00:12:30.340 scribed it. Right. So there's a number of different 00:12:30.340 --> 00:12:34.080 debates on authorship here. With that said, it 00:12:34.080 --> 00:12:37.320 doesn't really matter too much. Yeah, and I think 00:12:37.320 --> 00:12:39.120 that we should probably, there's a good conversation 00:12:39.120 --> 00:12:42.139 about debating about authorship and authenticity 00:12:42.139 --> 00:12:44.860 are not the same thing. No. Because none of the 00:12:44.860 --> 00:12:46.480 other church debated whether or not Mark was 00:12:46.480 --> 00:12:48.820 a gospel penned by the apostles or is a story 00:12:48.820 --> 00:12:52.639 of an apostle writing about this. It's the conversation 00:12:52.639 --> 00:12:54.840 about, was it penned by John Mark? Was it penned 00:12:54.840 --> 00:12:58.240 by Peter? That's the conversation. Yeah. Yeah. 00:12:59.120 --> 00:13:03.779 Mark, from an English, from a translation perspective, 00:13:04.299 --> 00:13:07.340 I had a friend once describe it as the NASCAR 00:13:07.340 --> 00:13:12.059 gospel. Right. Because it... It has phrases like, 00:13:12.139 --> 00:13:14.559 and then, all of a sudden, and it just makes 00:13:14.559 --> 00:13:17.740 it feel like everything happened in 35 minutes. 00:13:18.019 --> 00:13:19.960 And then they. Right. And then they did this. 00:13:19.960 --> 00:13:22.460 And then they did this. Right. Really, those 00:13:22.460 --> 00:13:24.879 are pauses of time, if you look at it from a 00:13:24.879 --> 00:13:28.779 Greek authorship perspective. Yeah. So Mark does 00:13:28.779 --> 00:13:31.080 have this feel to where it's a lot more faster 00:13:31.080 --> 00:13:36.120 paced, a lot quicker. And with that said. it 00:13:36.120 --> 00:13:38.259 was also targeted to a very different audience. 00:13:38.559 --> 00:13:40.879 Yeah, there's conversation that's really being 00:13:40.879 --> 00:13:44.139 geared toward Christians in the Roman Church. 00:13:44.460 --> 00:13:47.879 This, by the way, is most likely the earliest 00:13:47.879 --> 00:13:51.139 of the Gospels. They place it around 65 to 70 00:13:51.139 --> 00:13:55.980 AD, under Emperor Nero likely receiving persecution. 00:13:56.539 --> 00:14:00.639 A lot of this is written in a very Roman style. 00:14:00.759 --> 00:14:02.960 So Roman would be like... this happened, then 00:14:02.960 --> 00:14:04.360 this happened, then this happened, then this 00:14:04.360 --> 00:14:06.179 happened. So it's following very similar. So 00:14:06.179 --> 00:14:08.419 now these Jews and these Gentiles that are followers 00:14:08.419 --> 00:14:10.159 of Jesus in the Roman culture and they're under 00:14:10.159 --> 00:14:12.299 persecution from Nero. In fact, if you actually 00:14:12.299 --> 00:14:15.720 go to the end of Mark, Mark 16, and you have 00:14:15.720 --> 00:14:17.779 this little footnote that says some of the earliest 00:14:17.779 --> 00:14:20.100 manuscripts didn't include this. If you actually 00:14:20.100 --> 00:14:22.889 take the first ending. it kind of leaves you 00:14:22.889 --> 00:14:26.289 in this really big piece of tension, right? Jesus 00:14:26.289 --> 00:14:28.169 has come back and he's revealed, and then they 00:14:28.169 --> 00:14:30.169 have to go away and decide if they're going to 00:14:30.169 --> 00:14:32.389 tell the story or not. Yeah. Which, if you're 00:14:32.389 --> 00:14:37.309 in a persecuted nation, is problematic. It is 00:14:37.309 --> 00:14:39.190 the revelation greater than the persecution, 00:14:39.330 --> 00:14:41.149 which is something that you struggle with when 00:14:41.149 --> 00:14:44.470 you're a persecuted church, right? Yeah. When 00:14:44.470 --> 00:14:48.039 you're underneath... I'm going to say persecution 00:14:48.039 --> 00:14:49.440 again because I can't think of another word for 00:14:49.440 --> 00:14:51.120 persecution. Where's my thesaurus when I need 00:14:51.120 --> 00:14:55.960 it? It's just something that's going to be encouraging, 00:14:56.139 --> 00:14:58.340 much like the book of Revelation is very encouraging 00:14:58.340 --> 00:15:06.399 to a church and trials. Mark also has a, you 00:15:06.399 --> 00:15:11.659 alluded to this, but it also has a bit of scrutiny 00:15:11.659 --> 00:15:15.250 about it. as far as which manuscripts are accurate. 00:15:16.210 --> 00:15:19.350 So as you alluded to in Mark 16, there's the 00:15:19.350 --> 00:15:20.889 first ending, then there's the second ending. 00:15:21.110 --> 00:15:23.289 And depending on what Bible you have, you might 00:15:23.289 --> 00:15:25.070 have the second ending in there. It might be 00:15:25.070 --> 00:15:28.769 excluded. It just depends on what manuscript 00:15:28.769 --> 00:15:32.389 they're using to translate it. And so there is 00:15:32.389 --> 00:15:36.169 actually debate among scholars on which manuscript 00:15:36.169 --> 00:15:39.870 came first. Correct. And reality is, we don't 00:15:39.870 --> 00:15:44.809 know. And that's okay. I believe that the entirety 00:15:44.809 --> 00:15:46.769 is... I think that you can take away two things. 00:15:46.850 --> 00:15:49.230 I think you can look at where it ends and understand 00:15:49.230 --> 00:15:51.549 how it communicates to a persecuted church, but 00:15:51.549 --> 00:15:54.289 then also understand that the other part of it 00:15:54.289 --> 00:15:56.250 very well may have been tacked on by Mark or 00:15:56.250 --> 00:15:59.429 the apostles around the same time because they're 00:15:59.429 --> 00:16:01.309 sending it to different places. So you might 00:16:01.309 --> 00:16:03.710 have had one gospel they sent to one place and 00:16:03.710 --> 00:16:06.169 then the other one that they had another ending 00:16:06.169 --> 00:16:10.600 to maybe 10 years later. Yeah. Right? For me, 00:16:10.620 --> 00:16:13.159 when I read these, they're all harmonious with 00:16:13.159 --> 00:16:15.120 the Word of God, and they all connect with the 00:16:15.120 --> 00:16:17.899 Old Testament and the structure of God. And I 00:16:17.899 --> 00:16:20.440 have no doubt in my mind or soul that every piece 00:16:20.440 --> 00:16:23.519 is God -breathed. Yeah. Right? So we're not doubting 00:16:23.519 --> 00:16:26.440 authenticity or God -breathed inspiration. We 00:16:26.440 --> 00:16:28.299 just don't know exactly how in history those 00:16:28.299 --> 00:16:33.720 are formed. Yeah. Right? Mm -hmm. So... One of 00:16:33.720 --> 00:16:35.200 the things that shows up frequently in Mark, 00:16:35.299 --> 00:16:36.519 which, by the way, if you grew up in the church, 00:16:36.559 --> 00:16:38.120 you're going to hear a lot of Mark quoted whenever 00:16:38.120 --> 00:16:40.320 you're talking about the suffering servant, because 00:16:40.320 --> 00:16:42.259 he really spends a lot of time connecting back 00:16:42.259 --> 00:16:49.019 to Isaiah. Yeah. And... And then also one of 00:16:49.019 --> 00:16:50.879 the things that's also going to show up often 00:16:50.879 --> 00:16:52.899 is the messianic secret. In other words, Jesus 00:16:52.899 --> 00:16:54.720 is going to say, don't tell them about me. Don't 00:16:54.720 --> 00:16:57.740 tell them about me. Nobody listens. They do it 00:16:57.740 --> 00:17:00.799 anyways. But it's going to happen very frequently 00:17:00.799 --> 00:17:03.700 through this and this revelation that's happening 00:17:03.700 --> 00:17:05.759 almost in secret as the kingdom continues to 00:17:05.759 --> 00:17:07.799 explore out there. By the way, if you're once 00:17:07.799 --> 00:17:11.240 again a persecuted nation, this might have some 00:17:11.240 --> 00:17:15.619 resonance for you. Yeah, so that's the Gospel 00:17:15.619 --> 00:17:19.099 of Mark. Now, the Gospel of Luke, you really 00:17:19.099 --> 00:17:20.920 need to connect with the book of Acts, because 00:17:20.920 --> 00:17:23.640 it's really two parts of the same book. In fact, 00:17:23.799 --> 00:17:25.900 and Luke, by the way, doesn't even hide that. 00:17:26.099 --> 00:17:29.140 He says that he goes to make an orderly account, 00:17:29.299 --> 00:17:30.619 and then the beginning of the book of Acts, he's 00:17:30.619 --> 00:17:33.740 like, in my former account, I wrote about this, 00:17:33.779 --> 00:17:35.019 and now I'm going to write about what the church 00:17:35.019 --> 00:17:37.599 did. Yeah. Right? So he's not making a secret 00:17:37.599 --> 00:17:43.259 of it. Luke is written, speculated between 80 00:17:43.259 --> 00:17:45.980 and 90 AD, maybe a little bit later, written 00:17:45.980 --> 00:17:49.579 to a predominantly Gentile audience in a Greco 00:17:49.579 --> 00:17:54.339 -Roman context. And it's a lot about getting 00:17:54.339 --> 00:17:56.660 an orderly account, but then Luke specifically 00:17:56.660 --> 00:17:58.720 is going to be dealing with eyewitness accounts, 00:17:58.819 --> 00:18:00.880 people who were alive in the time of Jesus and 00:18:00.880 --> 00:18:03.769 what they saw and heard. Yeah. One of the things 00:18:03.769 --> 00:18:05.970 that Luke does differently is Luke also has a 00:18:05.970 --> 00:18:07.990 genealogy which has tripped people up for years 00:18:07.990 --> 00:18:11.430 because he actually focuses on something different. 00:18:11.630 --> 00:18:14.630 So in Matthews, he focuses and goes through all 00:18:14.630 --> 00:18:17.329 the way back to Abraham. And Abraham, David, 00:18:17.549 --> 00:18:20.410 and Joseph are like real big focus points, right? 00:18:21.029 --> 00:18:25.430 In Luke's... we go all the way back to Adam, 00:18:25.529 --> 00:18:27.890 and it seems to be more inclusive of humanity 00:18:27.890 --> 00:18:31.210 overall, not just a specifically Jewish heritage. 00:18:31.890 --> 00:18:34.190 And next week, we're actually going to be talking 00:18:34.190 --> 00:18:35.430 about the genealogy, so I don't want to talk 00:18:35.430 --> 00:18:38.890 about too much. Yeah. But there's a lot of, like, 00:18:38.930 --> 00:18:40.970 when you start to understand what they're doing 00:18:40.970 --> 00:18:42.589 inside of those, there's a reason they're written 00:18:42.589 --> 00:18:45.710 that way, and it's totally appropriate for Eastern 00:18:45.710 --> 00:18:48.420 literature. Yeah. It's not how we write literature, 00:18:48.559 --> 00:18:51.579 but it is correct for how they do it. So he presents 00:18:51.579 --> 00:18:54.339 this well -researched orderly account. Actually, 00:18:54.400 --> 00:18:56.859 I'm going to read this. This is from Luke 1, 00:18:56.940 --> 00:19:00.779 1 -4. Since many have undertaken... Undertook, 00:19:00.779 --> 00:19:03.519 wow. I can speak English well. Well done, well 00:19:03.519 --> 00:19:05.900 done. Since many have undertaken to compile a 00:19:05.900 --> 00:19:07.940 narrative about the events that have been fulfilled 00:19:07.940 --> 00:19:10.400 among us, just as the original eyewitnesses and 00:19:10.400 --> 00:19:12.460 servants of the word handed them down to us, 00:19:12.539 --> 00:19:15.299 it also seemed good to me, since I have carefully 00:19:15.299 --> 00:19:17.319 investigated everything from the very first, 00:19:17.420 --> 00:19:20.220 to write to you in a orderly sequence, most honorable 00:19:20.220 --> 00:19:22.819 Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty 00:19:22.819 --> 00:19:25.680 of the things about which you have been instructed. 00:19:27.079 --> 00:19:31.079 And likely Theophilus is somebody of some renown 00:19:31.079 --> 00:19:36.319 that came to Jesus and commissions Luke. He says, 00:19:36.420 --> 00:19:38.740 hey, I want to make sure that what I'm placing 00:19:38.740 --> 00:19:42.079 my faith in actually happened. Yeah. And so he's 00:19:42.079 --> 00:19:43.720 like, okay, well, I'll just go eyewitness everybody 00:19:43.720 --> 00:19:45.480 and I'll write you an account of what they say. 00:19:46.440 --> 00:19:49.319 Right? And then, of course, in Acts, he says, 00:19:49.380 --> 00:19:50.839 in my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about 00:19:50.839 --> 00:19:53.079 all that Jesus said and did. And then he starts 00:19:53.079 --> 00:19:54.519 to write about what the church then does from 00:19:54.519 --> 00:19:57.880 that porch. So here's what ordered approach would 00:19:57.880 --> 00:20:00.420 mean in that, is that it's a carefully investigated 00:20:00.420 --> 00:20:04.599 account. So he emphasizes that he's researched 00:20:04.599 --> 00:20:07.119 thoroughly by compiling all the eyewitnesses 00:20:07.119 --> 00:20:09.039 and earlier accounts, so that you're going to 00:20:09.039 --> 00:20:11.180 have a lot of overlap with Matthew and Mark. 00:20:13.740 --> 00:20:15.200 Incidentally, that's why you're not also going 00:20:15.200 --> 00:20:16.799 to have a lot of overlap with John, because the 00:20:16.799 --> 00:20:17.960 Gospel of John is going to be written later. 00:20:18.680 --> 00:20:21.759 Yes. And then his Gospel then reflects a historian's 00:20:21.759 --> 00:20:23.940 attention to detail. There's going to be some 00:20:23.940 --> 00:20:27.559 chronological and thematic structure. Birth of 00:20:27.559 --> 00:20:30.380 John the Baptist, Jesus, then his ministry in 00:20:30.380 --> 00:20:32.619 Galilee, his journey to Jerusalem, and finally 00:20:32.619 --> 00:20:35.000 his death, burial, resurrection, right? And ascension. 00:20:35.140 --> 00:20:39.640 Yeah. He specifically says, I wrote this so that 00:20:39.640 --> 00:20:42.180 you could be certain that what you've placed 00:20:42.180 --> 00:20:45.519 your faith in... happen, right? So this is meant 00:20:45.519 --> 00:20:48.259 to try to get as much as it counts as possible 00:20:48.259 --> 00:20:51.079 to say, this is what they said happened. And 00:20:51.079 --> 00:20:53.099 so you're going to, I mean, there's at least, 00:20:53.220 --> 00:20:55.319 I mean, there's thousands of people who saw Jesus 00:20:55.319 --> 00:20:58.619 after he was resurrected, at least 500, because 00:20:58.619 --> 00:21:02.359 that's what one of the gospels tells us. But 00:21:02.359 --> 00:21:07.430 it's meant to... It's meant to give certainty 00:21:07.430 --> 00:21:11.210 and credence as a thoroughly, you know, Luke 00:21:11.210 --> 00:21:14.190 being a learned man, a doctor, he's going to 00:21:14.190 --> 00:21:17.089 be capable of doing thorough research. So one 00:21:17.089 --> 00:21:18.329 of the things that I have found particularly 00:21:18.329 --> 00:21:22.049 interesting, and it is a, I've hinted at this 00:21:22.049 --> 00:21:25.569 in the past, but in early synagogues, they do 00:21:25.569 --> 00:21:28.730 readings called the Parashah and the Haftarah. 00:21:29.429 --> 00:21:32.470 The parasha readings is the readings of Torah 00:21:32.470 --> 00:21:35.269 that they do every week. Yeah. And every year, 00:21:35.289 --> 00:21:37.009 they make it all the way through Torah, and then 00:21:37.009 --> 00:21:39.650 they repeat the next year. The haftarah is everything 00:21:39.650 --> 00:21:41.650 else, and they make it through it every three 00:21:41.650 --> 00:21:45.309 years. So the reading cycle syncs up every three 00:21:45.309 --> 00:21:49.130 years. Incidentally, when Jesus comes and it's 00:21:49.130 --> 00:21:51.970 his turn to read in Nazareth, and he reads from 00:21:51.970 --> 00:21:54.130 the scroll of Isaiah, it's the haftarah reading, 00:21:54.250 --> 00:21:56.829 right? That's part of their regular reading. 00:21:58.349 --> 00:22:02.509 One of the things that we talk about in the Gospel 00:22:02.509 --> 00:22:05.190 of Luke, and as a conversation piece, and some 00:22:05.190 --> 00:22:07.369 scholars are piecing together, and there's an 00:22:07.369 --> 00:22:09.910 interesting perspective on it, is whether or 00:22:09.910 --> 00:22:13.349 not Luke's ordered account, the way that it's 00:22:13.349 --> 00:22:16.630 split up, connects with a Parashon Haftarah reading 00:22:16.630 --> 00:22:19.450 for a Jewish synagogue with Christians that are 00:22:19.450 --> 00:22:22.460 now a part of it. Yeah. So that they're having 00:22:22.460 --> 00:22:25.539 the Old Testament, the Law and Prophets, or sorry, 00:22:25.640 --> 00:22:27.880 the Law, the Prophets is what I'm going to call 00:22:27.880 --> 00:22:30.440 them, and then the Gospel, right? And so they're 00:22:30.440 --> 00:22:33.019 actually pairing these three together. And one 00:22:33.019 --> 00:22:34.559 of the things that's really compelling is that 00:22:34.559 --> 00:22:36.359 I've seen one of these calendars, and they're 00:22:36.359 --> 00:22:41.140 really intricate. Yeah. But sometimes the Parsha 00:22:41.140 --> 00:22:43.799 reading, and then the Haftarah reading, and then 00:22:43.799 --> 00:22:46.220 the story from the Gospel of Luke, and you're 00:22:46.220 --> 00:22:50.789 like, wow, those line up so well. You almost 00:22:50.789 --> 00:22:54.250 think that has to be it. It doesn't quite work 00:22:54.250 --> 00:22:55.910 in our calendar because our calendar is slightly 00:22:55.910 --> 00:22:59.190 different. But it's really interesting about 00:22:59.190 --> 00:23:01.589 whether or not that is the case. That is just 00:23:01.589 --> 00:23:03.049 something for you guys to think about. There 00:23:03.049 --> 00:23:07.750 is no direct evidence of that, but there is compelling 00:23:07.750 --> 00:23:10.069 scholarship in it. So if you're a nerd like me, 00:23:10.250 --> 00:23:13.609 I know they're there. There's at least one person 00:23:13.609 --> 00:23:16.940 who listens who's a nerd like me. And you want 00:23:16.940 --> 00:23:21.079 to look into that. There is The Evangelist Calendar 00:23:21.079 --> 00:23:23.259 is a book. It's really difficult to get a hold 00:23:23.259 --> 00:23:25.500 of. And I'm not going to agree with about 45 00:23:25.500 --> 00:23:28.380 % of what the guy has his conclusions are. But 00:23:28.380 --> 00:23:30.859 he has some really interesting, like he's lined 00:23:30.859 --> 00:23:32.940 up some different dates. And it's really interesting 00:23:32.940 --> 00:23:35.119 if you're willing to do the work. Yeah. It's 00:23:35.119 --> 00:23:39.960 an old book. Yeah. Well, that brings us to the 00:23:39.960 --> 00:23:45.910 final. Most controversial. The Gospel of John. 00:23:46.150 --> 00:23:49.410 Now, the Gospel of John is very different from 00:23:49.410 --> 00:23:52.109 the other three Gospels. There's actually debate 00:23:52.109 --> 00:23:55.230 on whether John actually wrote events in order 00:23:55.230 --> 00:23:58.329 or not. Like, there's debate around that. John 00:23:58.329 --> 00:24:01.430 also, he doesn't include a genealogy. He just 00:24:01.430 --> 00:24:04.109 kind of jumps right into life of Jesus. There's 00:24:04.109 --> 00:24:06.829 no early childhood, no birth story, none of that. 00:24:08.329 --> 00:24:11.250 And John is really trying to do one thing. He's 00:24:11.250 --> 00:24:15.130 trying to show that Jesus is the Messiah. Yeah, 00:24:15.170 --> 00:24:18.650 in fact, he actually says that very, very plainly. 00:24:18.670 --> 00:24:21.750 Very plainly. Says, this gospel is written so 00:24:21.750 --> 00:24:25.329 that... You may know. You may know, right? And 00:24:25.329 --> 00:24:28.430 so John's not trying to hide that. That's what 00:24:28.430 --> 00:24:31.930 his gospel is written. Now, his gospel is really 00:24:31.930 --> 00:24:34.329 split into two parts. There's the first part, 00:24:34.470 --> 00:24:40.240 which is... all of jesus life except for one 00:24:40.240 --> 00:24:44.519 week and so that part seems a little rushed at 00:24:44.519 --> 00:24:47.119 times like it seems like oh story story story 00:24:47.119 --> 00:24:51.900 story and then you get to john chapter 12 and 00:24:51.900 --> 00:24:55.619 it turns into the second part which is the last 00:24:55.619 --> 00:24:58.079 week yeah and there's like it ends up being like 00:24:58.079 --> 00:25:01.819 20 12 chapters that cover one week yeah and it's 00:25:01.819 --> 00:25:05.160 very strange and and you go from you go from 00:25:05.160 --> 00:25:08.210 these just these accounts of these stories, these 00:25:08.210 --> 00:25:13.190 miracles, to where you get to John 13 through 00:25:13.190 --> 00:25:16.029 17, and it's like one conversation. Correct. 00:25:16.089 --> 00:25:18.650 So you have two separate paces that are happening 00:25:18.650 --> 00:25:23.009 in this gospel. And I think a lot of times people 00:25:23.009 --> 00:25:26.710 miss that in the gospel of John, where the other 00:25:26.710 --> 00:25:28.589 gospels have a little bit more of a fluid pace. 00:25:29.549 --> 00:25:32.799 John's gospel is like... Here's a really rushed 00:25:32.799 --> 00:25:34.480 story, and oh, by the way, we're going to pause 00:25:34.480 --> 00:25:36.900 for this one conversation, which, by the way, 00:25:37.000 --> 00:25:39.660 should make you be like, I should pause for this 00:25:39.660 --> 00:25:42.599 one conversation, too. Correct. Yeah. There is 00:25:42.599 --> 00:25:44.400 a couple of themes that are going on throughout 00:25:44.400 --> 00:25:46.920 the Gospel of John. One is light and dark. Yep. 00:25:47.339 --> 00:25:49.099 Another one is you're going to see the seven 00:25:49.099 --> 00:25:53.299 I am statements of Jesus. John is going to focus 00:25:53.299 --> 00:25:58.519 heavily on Jesus' divinity. Yep. And so one of 00:25:58.519 --> 00:26:01.240 the things, the criticisms of the Gospel of John 00:26:01.240 --> 00:26:03.960 is that it comes much later. It doesn't actually 00:26:03.960 --> 00:26:05.420 come that much later. It comes like 15 years 00:26:05.420 --> 00:26:10.079 later, right? Early on, they couldn't find ones 00:26:10.079 --> 00:26:13.160 that weren't like from AD 160. But after they 00:26:13.160 --> 00:26:14.759 found Scrolls of Qumran, they found them that 00:26:14.759 --> 00:26:21.390 were much earlier, right? John is writing specifically, 00:26:21.630 --> 00:26:23.930 because it seems to be that he didn't see the 00:26:23.930 --> 00:26:25.529 particular need to write a gospel, because they 00:26:25.529 --> 00:26:27.589 had three accounts that were really good. Yeah. 00:26:27.910 --> 00:26:30.589 And then there rose this thing called Gnosticism, 00:26:30.690 --> 00:26:33.430 spelled with a G. So if you're looking it up 00:26:33.430 --> 00:26:36.750 and Googling it, it's GN. So Gnosticism. And 00:26:36.750 --> 00:26:40.730 one of the things about the Gnostic... is whether 00:26:40.730 --> 00:26:43.210 or not Jesus was really divine. Was he really 00:26:43.210 --> 00:26:48.029 fully man, fully God? Was he spirit? There's 00:26:48.029 --> 00:26:51.250 a lot of these conversations that they get further 00:26:51.250 --> 00:26:54.150 from his death. There's people rising up and 00:26:54.150 --> 00:26:56.470 saying, well, Jesus never actually occupied a 00:26:56.470 --> 00:27:00.809 physical body. And John's like, all right, we 00:27:00.809 --> 00:27:02.470 got to address this. Because Matthew, Mark, and 00:27:02.470 --> 00:27:05.829 Luke do address it, but they address it in very 00:27:05.829 --> 00:27:08.660 Jewish ways. Yeah. And John is like, no, I need 00:27:08.660 --> 00:27:10.920 to make sure that we're very clear. Like, I was 00:27:10.920 --> 00:27:14.279 there. I felt the nail holes in his arms, right? 00:27:14.460 --> 00:27:17.859 I felt the spear hole in his side, right? Like, 00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:21.039 Jesus was very much a physical person. Yeah. 00:27:22.079 --> 00:27:26.440 And he was also very much definitely God. And 00:27:26.440 --> 00:27:29.460 we didn't understand that at the time, but it 00:27:29.460 --> 00:27:32.869 was happening all along. The Gospel of John, 00:27:33.089 --> 00:27:35.750 this probably is not in your notes, but the Gospel 00:27:35.750 --> 00:27:37.910 of John also has a bit more of a sense of humor 00:27:37.910 --> 00:27:43.069 to it. Oh, yeah. And so you see this when they're 00:27:43.069 --> 00:27:45.730 running to Jesus' tomb, where John's like, yeah, 00:27:45.750 --> 00:27:48.809 Peter was running, but the other disciple, referring 00:27:48.809 --> 00:27:51.990 to himself, he's like, outran him and got there 00:27:51.990 --> 00:27:56.130 first. Right, so John has a little bit more of 00:27:56.130 --> 00:27:59.210 this edge to it, which fits John's personality 00:27:59.210 --> 00:28:03.390 because John is also the apostle. He's also one 00:28:03.390 --> 00:28:06.069 of the apostles that when Jesus and the disciples 00:28:06.069 --> 00:28:08.849 got kicked out of a town, John's like, so we're 00:28:08.849 --> 00:28:10.789 calling hellfire and brimstone down on them? 00:28:11.049 --> 00:28:13.849 This is Sodom and Gomorrah, right? This is what's 00:28:13.849 --> 00:28:17.970 happening? No. And Jesus is like, no. My favorite 00:28:17.970 --> 00:28:20.170 part about that story is he's like, let's burn 00:28:20.170 --> 00:28:23.170 them down, and Jesus goes, no. Go preach the 00:28:23.170 --> 00:28:24.890 good news to the lost sheep of Israel. Uh -huh. 00:28:24.950 --> 00:28:28.190 That's definitely, that's a strategy for pastors. 00:28:28.410 --> 00:28:33.630 Uh -huh. You know? Yeah. Yeah. So John, he's 00:28:33.630 --> 00:28:36.990 the only gospel writer that's published here 00:28:36.990 --> 00:28:40.730 that actually had one of the more fiery personalities. 00:28:41.410 --> 00:28:45.109 The other writers, Matthew, Matthew was much 00:28:45.109 --> 00:28:49.410 more calculated. Luke was very calculated. Mark. 00:28:50.110 --> 00:28:52.009 And there's some debate on authorship there. 00:28:52.089 --> 00:28:55.890 But John, he was kind of the fiery disciple who's 00:28:55.890 --> 00:28:57.930 like, I'm going to write a gospel. And this is 00:28:57.930 --> 00:28:59.470 what I'm going to. Him and his brother James. 00:28:59.630 --> 00:29:02.250 Oh, yeah. They're literally called the Sons of 00:29:02.250 --> 00:29:04.269 Thunder. Can you imagine being so disruptive 00:29:04.269 --> 00:29:06.150 that they call you the Sons of Thunder? Uh -huh. 00:29:06.390 --> 00:29:09.309 Right? Uh -huh. Like, I mean, we assume it's 00:29:09.309 --> 00:29:11.910 probably like a playful moniker. Yeah. Right? 00:29:11.990 --> 00:29:15.240 But it's, yeah. I wanted to just talk about, 00:29:15.359 --> 00:29:17.640 because we kind of danced around it, but key 00:29:17.640 --> 00:29:19.700 ways that John tells you what his gospel is about, 00:29:19.819 --> 00:29:22.819 right? There's an explicit purpose statement, 00:29:22.900 --> 00:29:25.920 which is John 20, 31, where he says, this is 00:29:25.920 --> 00:29:28.119 why I wrote it. Okay, it doesn't get much more 00:29:28.119 --> 00:29:31.869 explicit than that. Yeah. Then his focus on Jesus' 00:29:31.970 --> 00:29:34.769 identity, his divinity as eternal word, Logos, 00:29:34.769 --> 00:29:37.950 who is with God and is God. His I am statements 00:29:37.950 --> 00:29:42.109 connecting him to Yeshua, or to Yahweh, I am 00:29:42.109 --> 00:29:44.450 that I am, which gets him in trouble, by the 00:29:44.450 --> 00:29:45.910 way, when he makes that statement multiple times. 00:29:47.679 --> 00:29:50.160 It's going to be his signs and wonders specifically 00:29:50.160 --> 00:29:53.720 are pointing towards his divinity as well. Yeah. 00:29:53.799 --> 00:29:57.200 Right? The prologue, how it opens, in the beginning 00:29:57.200 --> 00:29:58.680 was the word, the word was with God, the word 00:29:58.680 --> 00:30:01.160 was God, should absolutely evoke feelings of 00:30:01.160 --> 00:30:04.619 Genesis 1. Yep. In other words, he is God that 00:30:04.619 --> 00:30:07.400 was spoken word in the beginning. Yep. Which 00:30:07.400 --> 00:30:09.500 is what he'll actually say in the prologue. Yep. 00:30:09.759 --> 00:30:13.460 And it's really important to hear those things. 00:30:15.359 --> 00:30:17.519 There's going to be themes of like, if you believe, 00:30:17.640 --> 00:30:19.420 you will have eternal life. If you follow after 00:30:19.420 --> 00:30:21.259 me, you'll have eternal life. As qualitative 00:30:21.259 --> 00:30:25.160 life comes from life with Jesus. And then his 00:30:25.160 --> 00:30:27.839 discourses in general are going to exclude extensive 00:30:27.839 --> 00:30:30.500 teachings where he's explaining his mission to 00:30:30.500 --> 00:30:32.759 people. So think about John 3 where he talks 00:30:32.759 --> 00:30:36.119 with Nicodemus and he's like, I came so that 00:30:36.119 --> 00:30:38.839 everybody would be saved. And then in the next 00:30:38.839 --> 00:30:41.559 chapter, he meets a woman at a well. So religious 00:30:41.559 --> 00:30:45.400 figure, woman at a well. And he says, I am the 00:30:45.400 --> 00:30:47.240 Messiah that's come so that you can actually 00:30:47.240 --> 00:30:50.180 worship in spirit and truth. Yeah. Right? And 00:30:50.180 --> 00:30:52.640 so he's actually explaining to people exactly 00:30:52.640 --> 00:30:55.500 why he's there. Yeah. Now, they don't get it. 00:30:55.980 --> 00:30:58.880 Yeah. Right? They still think Messiah differently, 00:30:59.160 --> 00:31:01.539 but he's absolutely explaining in these stories 00:31:01.539 --> 00:31:05.079 exactly who Jesus is. Yeah. One of the other 00:31:05.079 --> 00:31:07.140 cool things that you can, the Gospel of John, 00:31:07.380 --> 00:31:10.200 the first time you read it, you're like, man, 00:31:10.240 --> 00:31:12.019 that's really cool. And you're like, then the 00:31:12.019 --> 00:31:13.279 second time you read it, you're like, oh, there's 00:31:13.279 --> 00:31:15.799 a theme I didn't track. Then you read it a third 00:31:15.799 --> 00:31:17.000 time, and you're like, oh, there's another theme 00:31:17.000 --> 00:31:19.539 I didn't track. Then the 28th time you read it, 00:31:19.579 --> 00:31:21.160 they're like, that's another theme I didn't track. 00:31:21.460 --> 00:31:23.299 And then you're color -coding these things all 00:31:23.299 --> 00:31:24.299 the way through, and then you read something 00:31:24.299 --> 00:31:28.019 about history and religions that were really 00:31:28.019 --> 00:31:29.720 coming up and popular during that time, and you're 00:31:29.720 --> 00:31:32.440 like, oh, my goodness. Now he's doing a play 00:31:32.440 --> 00:31:35.640 on words with that religion and Jesus and really 00:31:35.640 --> 00:31:38.359 usurping everything that they're being told and 00:31:38.359 --> 00:31:41.740 also using the Jewish Torah at the same time, 00:31:41.759 --> 00:31:44.640 and you're like... this is crazy, John. Yeah. 00:31:44.740 --> 00:31:48.019 Like, it's crazy. It's almost like he had help. 00:31:48.240 --> 00:31:51.140 Yeah, right. Right? And it's one of those books 00:31:51.140 --> 00:31:53.200 that the more time you spend in it, the more 00:31:53.200 --> 00:31:58.180 it is, it's just incredible. Yeah. Like, it's 00:31:58.180 --> 00:32:01.539 so incredible. Yeah. The biggest thing that you 00:32:01.539 --> 00:32:03.859 can do to do a disservice to John is not spend 00:32:03.859 --> 00:32:05.779 a whole lot of time really unpacking all these 00:32:05.779 --> 00:32:08.440 layers of things he has in it. Yep. I've spent 00:32:08.440 --> 00:32:10.559 years in it, and every time I read it, I find 00:32:10.559 --> 00:32:13.690 something different. And that God's just cool 00:32:13.690 --> 00:32:17.730 that way. Yep. So all of these Gospels come together 00:32:17.730 --> 00:32:21.049 to tell the story of Jesus. They all talk about 00:32:21.049 --> 00:32:23.829 Jesus in different ways, either addressing other 00:32:23.829 --> 00:32:26.130 things that are arising of the way people think 00:32:26.130 --> 00:32:29.410 about Jesus. John is redirecting them. Mark talking 00:32:29.410 --> 00:32:31.950 to a persecuted church. Matthew talking to the 00:32:31.950 --> 00:32:33.369 people who are on the outside or they're being 00:32:33.369 --> 00:32:35.670 brought in. Luke giving an ordered account so 00:32:35.670 --> 00:32:38.630 you would actually know from testimonies. Yeah. 00:32:38.710 --> 00:32:41.660 You know? And all these are working together 00:32:41.660 --> 00:32:43.519 to really tell this story of Jesus. And some 00:32:43.519 --> 00:32:44.619 of them are going to tell it different ways. 00:32:44.680 --> 00:32:46.420 Just like if you and I were in a room and we 00:32:46.420 --> 00:32:48.920 experienced the same story, we probably remember 00:32:48.920 --> 00:32:51.859 different things from it. Yep. But all of them 00:32:51.859 --> 00:32:57.279 together help us understand who is Jesus? Who 00:32:57.279 --> 00:32:59.799 was he on earth? What was his ministry? So that 00:32:59.799 --> 00:33:01.720 as we trust in his death, burial, resurrection, 00:33:02.160 --> 00:33:05.420 we have new life in his teachings. Yeah. And 00:33:05.420 --> 00:33:08.160 in the commission he gives us to live out. Yep. 00:33:08.910 --> 00:33:12.269 So as we explore the life of Jesus, we're going 00:33:12.269 --> 00:33:14.930 to be referencing all four of these Gospels, 00:33:14.950 --> 00:33:17.069 because as much as they're telling a different 00:33:17.069 --> 00:33:19.670 story, they are talking about the same Jesus. 00:33:19.890 --> 00:33:22.130 Correct. They're not trying to say there was 00:33:22.130 --> 00:33:24.829 four different Jesus. All right? They're saying 00:33:24.829 --> 00:33:28.769 there's one Jesus, one Messiah, one Savior, and 00:33:28.769 --> 00:33:30.490 they're all telling the story from a different 00:33:30.490 --> 00:33:33.799 perspective. Right? And so as we explore this, 00:33:33.900 --> 00:33:36.339 just know that we'll be doing some cross -referencing 00:33:36.339 --> 00:33:37.859 and there might be some things that you're like, 00:33:37.900 --> 00:33:39.519 huh, that's interesting. I never thought of it 00:33:39.519 --> 00:33:42.339 that way. Just go with it. It's going to be good. 00:33:42.400 --> 00:33:45.539 We're excited. Yeah. It's going to be fun. Welcome 00:33:45.539 --> 00:33:50.950 to season three. Let's dive in. And that's a 00:33:50.950 --> 00:33:53.369 wrap for today's episode of Love and Context. 00:33:53.430 --> 00:33:55.589 We hope this conversation encouraged you and 00:33:55.589 --> 00:33:57.890 gave you fresh insights into how we can better 00:33:57.890 --> 00:34:00.049 love God and others through the powerful truths 00:34:00.049 --> 00:34:02.690 of the Bible. We'd love to hear from you. Send 00:34:02.690 --> 00:34:05.890 your questions, thoughts, or suggestions to loveandcontext 00:34:05.890 --> 00:34:08.650 at gmail .com. Your feedback means the world 00:34:08.650 --> 00:34:11.550 to us and helps shape future episodes. Stay connected 00:34:11.550 --> 00:34:13.909 with us on social media for updates, behind -the 00:34:13.909 --> 00:34:16.150 -scenes content, and additional resources. 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