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 back
to the Love and Context podcast. You probably
thought we were gone forever, but we're not.
Some of you were rejoicing, and some of you were
like, crap, they're back. In which case, if you're
like, crap, they're back, you don't have to listen.
Yeah, it's true. I was going to say, if they're
rejoicing that we're not on there, they could
just always block us, too. I won't take that
terribly offensively. Spencer will cry himself
to sleep. No, we had a really good holiday season,
but then we got back, and I had zero voice. So
I always do this impersonation. person on a Sunday
morning, I sometimes will get there and tell
her she has to leave the singing and I'll be
like, my voice is just shot and I can't do anything.
Right. But then my voice actually sounded like
that. So we got to Sunday morning and I was talking
and she's like, ha ha ha ha. And I was like,
no, this is real. So, you know, hoisted on my
own petard on that one. Right. Right. But before
we left off, we were going through Jesus confronting
leadership and going through all the different
things that are going on there. And the next
portion in our story of the life of Jesus is
the Lord's. Supper. Yes. Supper or dinner. Yes.
This is a fantastic story on so many levels.
And I think you should preface this with we are
going to be mostly referencing Matthew, but read
John's account. Yeah. The back half, I think
we're going to emphasize John because he talks
about some different things. Yeah. And so they're
coming at the same thing from different points
of view. But also there's parts of the story
that we just skim over. And so. As we talk about
that, a few of you might be like, dear Lord,
what are they saying right now? Just stick with
us. Yeah, we'll get there. We'll get there. Okay.
Incidentally, if for whatever reason it looks
like there was a cut on the video and then it
goes back to Spencer and he looks like he's got
his mouth full of food, I see macaroni salad
over there. So there's always a possibility between
statements. He'll be like, nom, nom, nom, nom,
nom, nom. There's always a possibility. It's
like cookies and cheese, man. You do that all
the time. First thing I'm going to do, I'm just
going to read the account in Matthew. and then
we're going to reference some things, and then
we're going to talk about some things in John
at the end, but I'm just going to read the account.
It is important to note all four Gospels actually
reference the Lord's Supper, so something important
is happening here, right? In verse 17, in chapter
26 of Matthew, it says, Okay, I'm going to pause
here because I was actually thinking of something
funny. You know how you can tell Jesus is God
in this statement? Remember he tells Abraham,
he says, go to a land I will show you. Jesus
says, go to a certain man. Right? Very, very
consistent with their instructions. I need you
to go find a certain man. I need you to go to
wherever I tell you to go. That was a random
thing. Every time I read that, though, part of
me wonders, like, did Matthew just forget the
guy's name that he was supposed to go to? He's
like, I go to. Certain man. Let's see. That was
a joke. That was a joke, guys. No, it's so good.
Let's see here. So the disciples did as Jesus
had directed them to do and prepared the Passover.
When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the
table with the twelve, and while they were eating,
he said, Truly I tell you, one of you will betray
me. They were very sad and began to say to him,
one after another, Surely you don't mean me,
Lord. Jesus replied, The one who has dipped his
hand into the bowl with me will betray me. The
Son of Man will... Go just as it is written about
him, but woe to that man who betrays the Son
of Man. It would be better for him if he had
not been born. Then Judas, the one who would
betray him, said, Surely you don't mean me, Rabbi.
Jesus answered, You have said so. While they
were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had
given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his
disciples, saying, Take and eat. This is my body.
Which is just a mountain of olives. No, just
kidding. That is, it's a mountain where they
grow olives. Yes, yes. The Synoptic Gospels are
going to emphasize the Passover setting, the
meal, the bread, and the cup. The Gospel of John
is going to specifically emphasize foot -washing,
betrayal, and this long farewell discourse that
Jesus is going to give them. And this is a foundational
night. So a couple of things that we want to
make sure that everybody's clear on when they're
actually reading this. They are celebrating the
Passover dinner. This is from the Exodus. If
you remember our episode there when we talked
about that God institutes Passover, he institutes
Sabbath, and a few other things that are going
on there. This is a meal that they have every
year. So this is the context for which he's sitting
down. So the bread and the cup are part of that
meal. He just does something different with it
in the middle of it. He gives them the new covenant
in his blood. There's going to be this thing
about the servant leadership. It's going to be
about betrayal, denial, this kingdom table fellowship,
eating with Jesus before his suffering. But there's
going to be teachings on love, unity, and the
spirit, which, by the way, is probably going
to be a very long talking point for us because
that seems to be a place we struggle in the church.
So the Passover commemorates God rescuing them
from slavery. And if you remember, there is a
lamb without defect that's sacrificed. There's
blood on the doorposts, so the judgment would
pass over. There's unleavened bread because there's
no time for the dough to rise. They need to leave
really quickly. And there are these bitter herbs
because of the taste of slavery and suffering.
So this is all going on during this. And so when
Jewish readers read Matthew and they say it was
a time of the Passover, they're like, I know
exactly what's going on. This is a symbol that's
going on in the middle of this. It's about liberation.
It's about judgment and mercy, and it's about
covenant identity as God's people. In Jesus'
time, by that time, they kind of had this Passover
Seder ritual where there's like structured order.
There's blessings, questions, this retelling
of the Exodus. There's multiple cups of wine,
which, by the way, is a great teaching that Marty
Solomon has on this fifth cup. They sing psalms,
the Hallel, sometimes Psalms 113 through 118.
The host then explains the meaning of each element
as they're going through. Incidentally, there
is a lot of scholars who talk about the fact
that they went out and they sung a hymn. It's
probably one of the Hallels. They were probably
singing one of the psalms. Yeah. Right, because
it's pretty common. What Jesus ends up doing
here is he says, hey, you know how this story
is our story? Mm -hmm. It's also my story, and
there's something about to happen that's going
to be significant for you. This bread, this bread
that you ate in the desert, this bread that you
ate on the way out of Egypt, it's actually my
body. Yeah. This cup of deliverance, it's actually
my blood of a new covenant that's coming. And
you're like, they're sitting here in the middle
of this, and you got to think that this apple's
going, what? Right? It's kind of like when he
told them, he's like, unless you physically eat
my flesh and you physically drink my blood, they're
like, is Jesus wanting us to be cannibals? Right?
Not so much. Yeah. I'm going to ruffle feathers
with this one. Go for it. Prepare your feathers.
Yes. Prepare your gastid to be flabbered. I want
to preface what I'm going to say with it is not
to downplay the sacredness or the holiness of
this moment in time, right? This is mentioned
in all four Gospels, right? This is where we
get communion, the taking of the elements. This
is a beautiful piece of Scripture. Put yourself
in the disciples' shoes, though, where Jesus
is like, all right, one of you is going to betray
me. All right, now, by the way, this bread, It's
my body. Eat it. This cup is my blood. Drink
it. Right? Those concepts, we have the idea of
blood from Exodus on the doorpost, right? And
even in Exodus 24, Moses sprinkles them on the
covenant. He sprinkles blood on the people. Yes.
Right? Yeah. And then you have the idea of unleavened
bread, right? And now Jesus is saying, hey, I'm
the fulfillment of that. Yeah. Right? Right.
The people that are sitting around that table
are probably thinking this is a pretty weird
thing that's going on. Yeah, I mean, there's
clues, but they're probably not completely latched
onto it. Yeah. And so, for lack of a better term,
this is a little bit of an awkward family dinner
at this point. Sure. Right? Like, oh, by the
way, one of you is going to betray me. Oh, it's
not going to be me. He's like, you said it, all
right? Yeah. As you say, right? And then, by
the way, here are the elements. It's one of those
things where if you... they probably don't have
all the clues right there in front of them to
be like, what is going on? How is Jesus fulfilling
everything? It's really easy for us to look hindsight
and say, this is how Jesus fulfilled everything,
and this is how the representation of his body
and his blood. Well, and even Matthew is writing
this after the fact with hindsight, right? Yeah.
He's like writing the story, yes, as it happened,
but he's also like, I know what you were doing,
right? Right. There's also a piece where he says,
I won't drink this cup again with you until I
drink it with you in my father's household. If
he's evoking Exodus, Sinai, giving of the law,
like these different things that are being evoked,
they often view Sinai as a wedding ceremony between
God and his people. Jesus making this statement,
that's actually a statement you make to your
betrothed when you go to create a place for them.
Yeah. Right? He said, I'm not going to drink
this wine until I have it with you again in my...
father's house because what did they do in the
middle east they built onto their father's house
and that's where you bring your wife right and
so like there it's it's just laden with um it
is laden with um wedding imagery as well And
so, you know, this whole thing has been, he's
been laying wedding imagery on fairly thick throughout
the gospels with like the bridegroom, the people
with the oil waiting for the people to come for
the wedding ceremony. He's talked about the betrothed.
He's talked about the bridegroom. There's a reason
we're called the bride of Christ. It's an analogy.
I always love it in Ephesians when Paul goes
through and he talks about men and women working
together, submitting to each other. He's like,
this is a great analogy, but I'm actually talking
about Christ in the church, right? He's like,
this is a great analogy. It's actually about
Christ in the church, right? Yeah, because it's
one of the most intimate relationships we have
on earth. Now, the flip side of that is in the
Gospel of John, Before these type of things happened,
because I have one more thing I think is pretty
significant with Judas. Did you ruffle feathers
yet? A little bit with the awkward family dinner.
Do you have more? I can keep going. Okay. But
it more pertains to John's gospel. Okay. So one
of the first things that Jesus does is he does
this foot washing. We've talked about foot washing
a lot. But you and I, it was a couple years ago
we preached on this. We said Jesus is at the
height of his power. It says, Jesus, knowing
all things, are under his authority. Takes off
his outer coat, gets down on his knees, and starts
washing feet. Nasty, gross, disgusting feet.
This is not modern pedicure. Feet. Yeah. So we've
talked about this too. Yeah. The roads of which
they traveled on was the same roads of which
animals traveled on. Yep. And they wore sandals.
Yep. I'll let you guys put two and two together
there. Yeah. All right. These feet were not clean.
Poop. Yes. Poop. Lots of poop. Yeah. And so you
have Jesus washing feet. Yep. Important to note,
he's washing Judas' feet. Mm -hmm. And then the
other thing we kind of get backwards is the conversation
between Peter and Jesus. Because we look at that
and we're like, come on, Peter, see what Jesus
is doing. See what he's doing. Peter, in his
mind, is probably thinking, no, I'm in the right
in this conversation. my rabbi should not be
humiliating himself like this. Right. Right.
And so, and we often overlook that side of things
where Peter's like, no, where he's like, no,
Jesus, if you're going to do this, you need to
wash all of me. Yeah. Well, and there's, there's
two things. One is he immediately recognizes
that he shouldn't be the one washing his feet.
I actually was having a conversation with a good
friend of mine and it might've been you too.
Cause I think we've talked about this too, but.
One of the things that Moses... We've talked
about the Bible before. Yeah, we've talked a
couple times. You know, we've done it so many
times, your wife is like... Oh, they're talking
again, right? My wife purposely does not listen
to the podcast because she's like, I'll just
get the footnotes from you. But in the Torah,
Moses, who Jesus has positioned himself as the
second Moses, he actually washes the priest,
right? He actually washes the priest before they
go in to do the things that they're supposed
to do. And I think in some ways, Peter is looking
at that and he goes, well, if you're going to
wash my feet, wash my head, wash my hands, all
these things. But Jesus is like, no, no, this
is something different than what you're thinking.
He doesn't rebuke him. He's like, no, that's
not quite. You're going to get this later, but
your hands are already clean. Your head's already
clean. Something else is going on here. Yeah,
and it's one of those conversations where Peter's
saying, no, no, this is not how it should be.
I know what the Old Testament says. He's referencing
that. And Jesus is, and Jesus is going, all right,
you missed the point. Right. Just trust me. Right.
And so, but a lot of times we fall at Peter and
be like, oh, Peter, come on. Why don't you see
what Jesus is doing? This would be the same as
us listening to a sermon, a sermon someone preached,
and they're preaching on one thing. And you say,
oh, yeah, but the Old Testament says this, and
there's this, this, and it also lines up here.
But you're thinking of something completely different
than what they're preaching on. Yeah. Right.
As someone who's preached from the pulpit before,
there's been a couple times where I've gotten
emails from people or text messages or phone
calls where after a sermon and they're like,
I can't believe you said that. And then they're
like, this is all the things that you got wrong
in your sermon. And I was like, that wasn't even
what the sermon was about. That wasn't even what
I was talking about. And we can do that. I think
about one of the things that I find interesting
in... Jesus washing feet, is he has all the authority.
He has all the power. But authority for Jesus
doesn't mean he sits on a throne for people to
serve him. It actually frees him to kneel with
a towel. Yeah. And it's one of those things about
this upside -down kingdom of God is that the
more authority, the more... I'm going to go say
that you're given. Like the idea is that the
more powerful you are, the more you serve, the
more wealth you have, the more you share, the
more love you have, you, you pour out, right.
The more like you just like part of having authority,
part of having. uh, being built up, being strong
is about helping those underneath you intentionally
lowering yourself to lift people up. Yeah. Right.
And, uh, and I was like, and if you don't think
that's true, Jesus Christ did it. And I guarantee
you, he was way cooler than you. Right. Yeah.
I guarantee you. Cause I know him. I know a guy.
Yeah. Right. Uh, and he says, you know, I'm going
to use my authority to serve, not to be served.
Right. Um, and, and I mean, truthfully, Peter's
reaction, and probably the other disciples, just
Peter opens his mouth about it, they're all kind
of embarrassed about it, right? Like, somebody
you highly respect, and you're like, what are
you doing down in the gutter? Well, I think with
the dynamics with the disciples, too, we often
paint Peter as someone who's running his mouth,
but Peter was also the elder of the disciples,
right? At least 21? He was at least five years
older. Yeah. Right? Estimates would say he's
at least five years older. Yeah. He's the only
one we can firmly place. Well, not firmly. We
know he's older than 21 because you had to be
21 to pay the sacrifice that he paid or the temple
tax that he paid. But some of the disciples were
hanging out with their dad, so they weren't even
like 13, 14 yet. Yeah. The reason I bring this
up is we can often paint Peter saying like, oh
man, he ran his mouth. I was like, did he run
his mouth? Or was he the one that the other disciples
went to? And he was the one that was actually
like, felt like he was able to speak to Jesus
about stuff. And I'm not saying that's biblically
true. I'm not saying, I'm just saying that is
another theory that's out there. Yeah. I mean,
it's not a bad observation of a human. Yeah.
Tendency to, yeah. The oldest tends to be the
one who actually speak up. They're like, nudge,
nudge. Hey, you gonna say something? Yeah. You
know? Um, yeah. A couple of things that I think
are really going on is, are interesting that
are going on here is Jesus kind of alludes to
the fact that they're already clean. Yeah. Like
there's something about being in relationship
with Jesus that you're already clean, but there
is also a need for relational cleaning. In other
words, like your feet get dirty sometimes and
you're going to have to serve each other. Relationally,
things are going to get messed up and you need
to be able to serve each other too. You need
to be able to wash your feet, literally and figuratively.
Because he's like, you're going to get this later.
Feet are going to get nasty. He doesn't say metaphorically,
but it really feels implied that it's going to
get metaphorically gross too. And if you've been
in a relationship with anybody for any period
of time, it happens. Sometimes you need to clean
each other's feet. it's an example of how you're
actually supposed to treat each other, which,
you know, then goes into, uh, the, what is, what
does that servant leadership look like? What
does it, what does it look like on how we treat
each other? Um, it's not soft leadership. It's
cross shaped leadership, right? It's washing
the feet leadership. It's. dying to yourself
leadership i was having a conversation with a
friend of mine today and i said um there's a
there's a book we both read and it was it was
a guy who was a missionary or a convert in china
and he was leading a ton of people to christ
and like there was a division in the churches
and he was right right he was right the people
who were causing division were wrong but they
were about to split the church over a disagreement.
And he got down on his knees crying and pleading
with them to not break unity over the fact that
they disagree. And just beg them to come back
and we'll figure it out. And I said, what is
it like when people who trust in Jesus live this
way? When you're so committed to finding unity
that you're literally on your knees begging and
pleading to find a way to work through it. Right.
And what happens when it's not just one person,
but it's two people. Right. They're like, I refuse
to be broken fellowship from you. We are going
to figure it out. Yeah. Right. I think it's crazy.
Also, the foot washing, like you pointed out
that Judas participates in the foot washing.
Jesus washes Judas's feet. You know what else
he does? in the book of Matthew, you'll see that
he told him that he's going to be the one to
betray him. And then he takes the bread and breaks
it and blesses it and gives it to all of them,
including Judas. And he takes the cup and he
blesses it and he gives it to all of them, including
Judas. That's crazy. Yeah. Right? Like, he knows
exactly what's going to happen and he's like,
You are still welcome to the table anyways. Yeah.
Yeah. Right? Mm -hmm. I think it's interesting.
And by the way, everybody has different traditions,
so I'm by no means talking about your denominational
tradition. But it's interesting how we created
a barrier to the table. Yeah. Right? Yeah. And
Jesus is like, going to betray me? Send me off
to get murdered? Mm -hmm. Come on in. Here you
go. I'm going to wash your feet. Mm -hmm. I'm
going to break my bread for you. Mm -hmm. I want
to give you some of the wine. Right? Yeah. Yeah.
I mean, it's a message for us to be like, okay,
how do we welcome people to the table and not
worry about the outcomes? Yeah. Right? A pastor
that I grew up with, he used to always say, our
job is to proclaim the gospel and do what the
Lord says and not worry about the outcome. Right.
He's like, if the Lord's prompting you to give
$100 to a homeless person, you give $100 to that
homeless person, you don't worry about what they're
going to do with it. Yeah. That's between them
and God. Yeah. Right? And we often overlook that
because we will get... The flip side of this
is we'll be like, okay, well, we want to be good
stewards of what we have. Absolutely, right?
Okay, but are you being a good steward if you're
ignoring what the Lord's telling you to do? I'm
going to go with no. Yeah, right? And I've had
people make that argument. I'm like, well, you
don't want to give money to the homeless because
they're just going to go spend it on drugs and
booze. I was like, maybe, but if the Lord's telling
me to give them the money, am I being a good
steward with his money that he's told me to give
to them by saying, no, I'm going to keep it?
Yeah. I mean, no, but I'm agreeing with you.
Yeah. There's actually a story in scripture about
three different guys that were given some money
to do good with. And actually go and invest in
doing something. Yeah. Yeah. Invest in the kingdom.
Yeah. There's one guy who didn't. It doesn't
work well. He buries it in the dirt, keeps it
for himself. Yeah. When I run into that situation,
because I say, God, I don't want to be hard -hearted.
In this situation, I don't want to be this person.
So if I have cash or whatever is available to
help people out, I was like, I'm going to give
it to them unless you tell me not to. Yeah. Right?
And I was like, and if I'm taken advantage of,
I'll be taken advantage of. But I want to be
taken advantage of because I love people well.
And I'll trust you to tell me when I shouldn't
give them money. Yeah. Exactly. Right. And then
the other portion of that is, is like, also sometimes
I don't have like cash. I was like, but I have,
I've had people where they're like, man, I'm
really hungry. I was like, dude, let's go to
the grocery store. We'll get you some food. Right.
Yeah. Let's go. And you get to know them that
way. Get to hear their life story. It's great.
You can ask them, like, I'm able to ask questions
like, you know, where are you staying? Yeah.
Like, are you out in the rain? Do you, are you
too cold? Do you have socks? Like those kinds
of things. Like I can ask those things, you know?
And, And the reality is that most people who
are just looking for cash to go and do those
things won't even go with you to the store. But
your heart is in the right place doing the right
thing, right? This idea of servant leadership,
I want to come back here because I made a couple
of notes here. Servant leadership, what does
that actually look like? It's not soft leadership,
but it's cross -shaped leadership. So it's not
I have authority, I just have to be nice, right?
It's I do have authority and influence, but I
use it to lift people up. Take the lower place.
Do the unglamorous work. Yeah. Seek others good,
not my own comfort. I have the authority, so
I'm going to go do the low tasks. Yeah. Right?
Some of the ways that you can check to see if
like, hey, how does my servant leadership actually
look? Whose comfort comes first in your home?
Marriage, ministry, workplace, right? When you
actually have your role, do you serve people
or are you using it to be served? Right? It's
rough. Yeah. And what are the lowest tasks? Because
that's a conversation thing. It has to be tasks
that nobody wants, right? Well, and why are you
doing them, right? Yeah. Right. And part of servant
leadership is building other people into areas
of leadership, right? So like our church, our
church does this pretty well where a lot of churches
will be like you have the one pastor who preaches
40. eight Sundays out of the year. And then the
youth pastor, the other four. And then every
time the youth pastor gets up there, the senior
pastor's like, we're going to wait another quarter
before you come back. We're like, alright, we've
got to debrief that one a little bit. But like
our church, we have a whole preaching team. And
that's because the pastor before... and the pastor
now are big into, okay, we're going to build
people up to lead, to preach, to proclaim the
gospel, right? Like we're doing this as a community.
And I think that's a great example of servant
leadership, right? Yeah. Of like, how can we
build people up into a place that often other
people see as high and esteemed and take ourselves
slowly out of those places, right? Yeah. Yeah.
A couple of things I said it isn't, not letting
people abuse you. Yeah. Right. Because I think
sometimes people take this too far and they're
like, I'll just take the abuse. No, you need
to have clear boundaries. Right. People don't
need to treat you like garbage. Pastor, I clogged
my toilet. Can you come over and plunge it for
me? Right. Exactly. Like I said, it's not having
no boundaries and it's not enabling people to
sin or be dysfunctional. Yeah. Right. When you're
serving people, we meet people where they're
sinful. We don't leave them there. Yeah. Most
specifically, Jesus doesn't leave them there.
We're going to meet people where they're at and
allow Christ to work through them, but we're
not going to enable them where they're at. It's
not about pretending you're powerless. It's about
asking, whatever power or influence I have, how
can it look like Jesus with a towel? I had a
couple of notes here, which we've talked about
a couple of them. I call them a few Easter eggs.
I don't know why I put that in there. Apparently
I was just feeling it. I might have been playing
video games at the time. So the phrase in John
13, it says, having loved his own, he loved them
to the end. Right? That's including the fact
that Judas is going to betray him. Peter's going
to deny him. Everybody else is going to run away.
Yeah. Right. He still sits down and shares a
meal, washes their feet and calls them his friends.
Right. Yeah. In the middle of this, he like he
just gives them this new command, this new covenant.
This is the cup of the new covenant in my blood.
And John, he's going to say, love one another
as I have loved you. Yeah. If you do this, everybody's
going to know that you're following me. Yeah.
They're going to know who you belong to by the
way that you're able to get along. And you can
imagine them sitting here and John's thinking,
man, but Judas is a zealot, right? He's just
all about take down the man. And Peter, he's
impertinent and he's old. And as like, not to
mention like James and John, like those guys
are just fishermen. They're all having those
conversations about each other. Like so -and
-so has that Essene theology. That person is
basically not a Jew. Matthew, he's a tax collector.
What does that guy know about the kingdom of
God? You're telling me that out of everything
that we could do, we're going to be known that
we follow you because... The weirdest group of
people that could talk together are getting along.
People who can't get along about anything are
now suddenly finding a way to get along. It's
almost like in America, if you had a church where
Democrats and Republicans loved each other deeply,
you'd be like, what the heck is going on here?
Libertarians. Right. I'm trying to think of other
political parties. Those are the only two I can
think of. Green Party. Green Party. Yeah, there
we go. I'm sure there's others. So if you're
part of one of those parties, I apologize. I
can only think of the main ones, you know, where
people who are pro this and anti this find ways
to come together and fellowship and love each
other, even though they disagree. Yeah. When
people who, you know, like. pick the topic. Pick
the thing that people argue and fight and are
certain about. Where rich people and poor people
get together and love each other in the name
of Jesus. Where slave and free get together and
love each other in the name of Jesus. Where men
and women get together and love each other in
the name of Jesus. Where Jew and Gentile come
together and love each other in the name of Jesus.
It's almost like Paul's saying there's neither
Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, Greek nor Hebrew,
right? He's going through and it's like, When
you love each other, despite your differences,
you put a different kind of story on display
and people go, wow, that's really cool. Yeah.
I want that. When you set the little things aside
and say yes to the big things, right? I had this
conversation with a friend when we were down
in Washington and he likes to talk politics.
He started bringing some stuff up, and I was
like, hey, man, I love talking this stuff, right?
If you want to talk about this, I'd love to talk
about this. While we're talking about it, can
we just make sure we keep Jesus in the forefront?
And no, we're probably going to have some things
we disagree on, and that's okay. And when we
do disagree, can we just bring it back around
to Jesus and what Jesus is doing in our lives,
in our community, in our churches? And he was
like, oh, yeah, and we had an awesome conversation,
right? And I think the problem is that sometimes
we think we have to find a way to agree on everything,
and that's not true. No. Like, you and I will
never agree on some things, right? But I love
you more than the things we disagree about. Right?
Right? Yeah. Like, and so the fact that we disagree
just isn't a problem. Mm -hmm. Like... We avoid
talking about it. We avoid doing this. Whatever
it is, right? But, I mean, it's the same thing
like, well, coming back to marriage because it's
a great example. Like your wife or spouse will
do things that frustrate you. You love them more
than the things that frustrate you. So, yes,
you can work together and some things like, you
know, through relationship get settled. Like
men remember to put their clothes into the laundry
hamper. Not a specific example from somebody.
But definitely, definitely my example. I'm just
saying my clothes magically move from the floor
to the laundry room. I don't know how it happens.
You have the magic table? Yeah. It just happens.
And then they come out of the laundry room clean
somehow. It's awesome. I come home. I open the
oven. There's a food already cooked in there.
Nobody prepared it. Yeah. Right? Yeah. Like my
house is amazing, right? Joking, Lindsay, you're
awesome. She doesn't listen to this, so you'll
have to tell her that specifically. You need
to go tell her because somebody who listens will
tell her what you said. But in these relationships,
we all have things that we don't let frustrate
us about. And some of those are worked out in
relationship because we have conversations and
say, hey, you do this, but I prefer if you do
that. And then we have that conversation and
we're like, oh, well, that's super easy to fix.
I just do that. Right? Because that's relationship.
Yeah. Other things, we just disagree about the
way those things should be. Mm -hmm. And we love
each other more than the disagreement. Mm -hmm.
The problem tends to come from the fact that
we struggle loving each other more than the disagreement.
Yeah. There is around the, I'm trying to remember
when it really became popular. Let's say 2000s.
Yeah. Reality TV. Yeah. The drama. Mm -hmm. Right?
Like. What are people going to do? What is the
drama? What's the tea? Spill the tea, right?
That's one of the things that people still talk
about. They build it up with the dramatic music
and then the big gasps and everything and then
goes to commercial break. Then it comes back
and you're like, that's it. People are hungry
for drama. They're hungry for intrigue. They're
hungry for conflict. It's interesting that we're
hungry for this. We are hungry for these things.
But at the same time, they're not anything that
actually satisfies us. The more drama you feed
into, the more you're hungry for drama. And so
now, like, even when we watch the news, news
is dramatized. And campaigns are dramatized.
And, you know, things that in life shouldn't
be dramatized are finding drama. And, like, the
reality is you actually need to come to a place
of settled. Yeah. Example of this, look at the
soap opera nature of politics now. Right? Like,
you know. republicans will say one thing and
then democrats will be like how dare you you're
of the devil right and then republicans will
snap back and be like how stupid can you be and
you know go back and forth and it's like it's
like okay i was like early 2000 soap drama That's
what it feels like we're watching sometimes.
It's problematic because when you're sitting
here desiring drama, you're not actually thinking
about the other person. Here at the Last Supper,
Jesus could have put some drama in there. He
also could have been like when Judas said, is
it me? He could have been like, oh buddy, it
is you. But instead he says, you said it. In
other words, I know exactly what's going to happen
and you're still welcome here. I know exactly
what you're going to do. Peter, I know exactly
what you're going to say about me. And I also
know how bad you're going to feel about it. Judas,
I know exactly what you're going to do. And I
also know what you're going to do after you find
out what that costs. And I really wish you wouldn't.
Right? Jesus was like, I know you're going to
betray. I know you're going to wrong me. but
I love you more than the wrong, and you're still
welcome at my table. Sounds like it's a message
that's meant for us as well, right? Yeah. And
I want to strongly make sure this is clear. We're
not saying condone sin. We're not saying compromise
your principles. We're not saying you have to
agree with somebody else. We're saying do you
love them more than you love being right? That
and as you continue to follow Jesus, he's going
to challenge you in ways that are going to cause
you to maybe feel like you're falling away. Yeah.
Right? Like the things that the Lord asks of
us, they're not simple a lot of times. You'd
be like, oh, just give this up. And it's like,
that could be a big task. Yeah. Right? The alcoholic
who starts following Jesus. Oh, just give up
booze. Yeah. you might be miraculously healed
and you might have to walk it out every day of
the rest of your life. Yeah. Right. And so what
we can do is we can often say like, well, this
is how the story should play out. But Jesus didn't
do that at the last supper. Well, he did say
this is how the story is going to play out. Right.
And he said, but I know you're all going to hurt
me, but I'm still here. Yeah. You're still here.
Let's enjoy this meal. Yeah. The crazy thing
is that Jesus is already looking to what they
will do, and he's already forgiven them. And
one of the things, and we're going to talk about
this, is probably towards the end of this season,
because we've got about another 15 episodes to
go. But when Jesus comes to Peter and he reinstates
him, he's really helping Peter figure out that
Jesus is already welcoming him back. He's helping
Peter figure out what Jesus has already offered
in this moment. He's like, I know what you're
going to do. I know exactly what you're going
to do, and you're still going to be welcome back.
If we can love each other in a similar way, even
in a fraction of a similar way, I think what
you'll find is that you cannot keep people out
of your church. You cannot keep people out of
your relationship with God because they're going
to flock to that because they're going to be
like, man, this is something else. What do you
mean the drama doesn't matter? You love me anyways.
Don't you know what I did to you? Yeah? Mm -hmm.
Know exactly what you did. Yep. You're still
welcome here. Yep. If you want to be here, come
on in. Mm -hmm. It's a good story. It is. Yeah.
It's a good point. It's good life. It's good.
I think I come back to the Lord's Supper. There's
a good reason that we come back to the Lord's
Supper because there's a lot going on there.
Yeah, there is. And we didn't even get into the
fact that Jesus prays for his disciples. He prays
for the disciples yet to come. He prays for the
whole world. Uh -huh. Right? There's so much
going on in there. Yeah, there's, is it four
chapters in John? Yeah. Or three chapters in
John after the Lord's Supper, where it's just
Jesus praying. Yeah. And conversing. And, you
know, they're going out, they're singing their
songs, and he's out at the Mount of Olives, and
he's giving them these things like, I am the
vine, you are the branches. If you remain in
me and I remain in you, you're going to bear
much fruit. If you don't remain in me, you're
going to get lifted up. Just come near me. Like,
if you try to get here, and you don't think you
can get here, my father will do the heavy lifting.
Yeah. The only problem is if you ever just try
to get away, if you disconnect. So good. If you
come here, I got you. Yeah. All right, we're
going to stop there today, and we're going to
continue next week. Well, we'll see if it's next
week. Our busy schedules are what they are. It'll
probably be next week, but we'll see. This week,
go love people well. Figure out a way to servant
leader. Have good boundaries, but love people
well. Value them more than the things that you
think you're right about. Until next time. 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.
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