The Early Days of Christ's Ministry
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Welcome to Halting Toward Zion, the podcast where we limp like Jacob to the Promised Land and talk about life, the universe, and everything along the way. I’m Emily Maxson here with Greg Uttinger and Rachel Voytek.
I think we said last time we would begin with the harmonization of the gospels. We talked about some of the underlying principles of the project last week, keeping in mind that not necessarily are any of the four gospels trying to tell the story in the order of events that happened, but they’re all emphasizing slightly different things and that doesn’t make any of them less true or less inspired.
Let us move to those very gospels. If all of us recollect correctly, we did cover the baptism of Jesus last time, so we will pick up with his temptation in the wilderness, so here we go.
Here we go. After coming up out of the waters and hearing the voice from heaven, “Thou art my beloved son,” or “This is my beloved son,” depending on whose account you’re looking at, “in whom I am well pleased,” Jesus is led up of the Spirit or driven of the Spirit – again a difference of emphasis but both true – into the wilderness where he fasts for 40 days and 40 nights.
Mark says he was tempted the whole time, but Matthew and Luke emphasize the temptations that came at the end, the ones we’re most familiar with. Luke gives them in the order that Eve faced temptation in the garden – lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, the pride of life. Matthew adopts a different order for his purposes.
I guess this is the point where we say that we’re not going to do expositional preaching or exegesis of the whole gospels because we’d be here forever. We’re just going to hit some high points here and there that probably appeal to us personally for whatever reason and hope it’s a blessing to those who are listening.
It’s important to see that Jesus is not being thrown out there like a sacrificial goat to see what might happen. Sometimes with the temptation we kind of get, “Well, can he hold up?” No, he’s going to assault the devil and show that the devil is not a problem here, and he puts himself in the worst physical condition. You can survive 40 days without eating, and you’re about to die at that point, so he has pushed his humanity to its limits.
Satan has been at him the whole time but now appears in physical form and offers three temptations – first, lust of the flesh. “You’re about to die and that would be really bad for your plan and your Father’s plan, wouldn’t it? So if you are the Son of God like that voice just said, then you should do some magic and turn the stones into bread.” Jesus refuses, citing Deuteronomy.
All of his refutations are from Deuteronomy, because he’s reliving Israel’s wilderness adventure in miniature. They were tempted. They were given manna that they might learn that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, from Deuteronomy. So that was lust of the flesh.
Then lust of the eyes. He shows him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory thereof. This is the kingly temptation – see, want, take, to borrow a line from Buffy. “It’s sparkly and pretty and good. I must have it now.” That’s that, and he says, “You only have to bow down and worship me and acknowledge that I’m right.”
I think people have misunderstood this temptation. “Well, the devil didn’t have anything to offer.” Yes and no. Look at the persecutions of the Roman Empire. Satan’s got some bargaining chips here. What he’s saying is that, “I’ll lay down all my resistance, all my attacks on your people, they will never have to go to the lions, will never be nailed to crosses, will never be stoned. I’ll just get out of the way. You do love your people, right? They’ll never have to suffer anything.”
There’s the passage in Revelation 13 where we’re told that the beast is given the kingdoms of the world by the dragon, so Satan has something here. It’s not legitimate, and of course you can always say he’s a liar, why would you trust him, a good point. But there is an appeal here in all of these.
The first one was if you don’t produce the bread, your mission fails. If you love your people, just bow down and worship me and we’ll bypass all of that.
Then finally the priestly temptation which takes place in the temple. “Cast yourself down and everyone will see and you’ll remove the need for faith, spectacle, miracle.”
You can think here of Dostoevsky’s Brothers Karamazov, the Grand Inquisitor scene. The Grand Inquisitor says, speaking to the man he assumes is Jesus, “You were given all these chances and you didn’t make it easy. You could give men bread. You could give them instantaneous victory over all their problems. You could have removed the need for faith, and you refused to do any of that.”
“Yes, because it’s all satanic. It’s cutting the way to the cross, and that’s not the way home.”
Paul says also that we wrestle against principalities and powers. I don’t think he’s simply talking about demonic power in that context. It seems pretty clear that he’s also talking about earthly governments.
Yes. So Jesus rebukes the devil repeatedly with scripture and the devil leaves him for a season, and angels come and minister. Mark says he was with the wild beasts, so for a moment paradise is restored as he’s there among the wild animals with heaven coming down and ministering.
In his humanity he hadn’t been told how the Father had this figured out. He really did have to trust the Father that somehow something would happen, but he was not allowed to go off-script. He had a job from his Father and he was to do that job, and the devil could not lure him away from it at any price, not even in the name of loving his people and making their way easier.
He had to pursue the Father’s will, so there was this real death to self after a fashion, not that he was ever moved to sin but the emotional tug would be a real thing and he simply had to say, “No, my Father says this and I’m going to do my Father’s will.” Out of that he comes back into the world, and then Rachel how do we begin to divide up the ministry that follows?
You get sort of a prelude of his main ministry where it seems that he goes to Bethany beyond Jordan, which is where John the Baptist is, and meets the first of his disciples there, although he’s not going to call them right away.
Basically the first week of Jesus’ ministry is what the apostle John focuses on in his book after his beginning portion. We get more of a day-by-day account, including the account of him coming to John the Baptist not for his baptism but at a different point when the religious leaders are there and John is able to say, “Behold, the Lamb of God” to Jesus. John has that additional opportunity to herald Christ as he comes back in the beginning of his ministry.
He then goes from there back over to the area of Galilee and that’s where we get his first miracle at the wedding at Cana up in Galilee. I believe he’ll actually do two miracles in Cana. Later he’ll do one where a centurion comes and asks for him to heal.
Yes. It’s interesting that certain cities will show up multiple times, and they’re cities that we don’t necessarily know from before this time but now they become famous cities.
Some we know, like Jerusalem. In Capernaum we have the archeological records so we’re in space-time. These are real stories. This is not Camelot. This is not Mt Olympus. These are real places that in most cases we still have access to and archeologists are still doing the work. Since this is a history program we need to keep pointing that out.
As you say, Jesus goes to John, John points Jesus out as the Lamb of God, and as you said he begins to collect disciples, and here’s something that’s important for someone reading the New Testament and even for people who’ve been Christians for a long time. There’s a difference between a disciple and an apostle.
A disciple is someone who has received Jesus as his master and will be taught by him, corrected by him, admonished by him, led by him, but may not necessarily be with him all the time, or may. An apostle refers to a group of 12 men that Jesus will appoint later on in the history who are going to be the patriarchs of his new Israel.
Yes. So at this point we’ve got Peter and Andrew, James and John, Philip and Nathaneal (who seems to be the same as Bartholomew), so we’re getting a nucleus but he hasn’t called them to be with him all the time. They come and check him out and spend some time with him, and to some extent are around him, because when he goes to the marriage feast in Cana of Galilee we’re told his disciples were invited. Again they’re not apostles yet, and we don’t know how many were there or if they were all men who would eventually become apostles, or if there were some women in the mix at this point.
A passing note on the miracle at Cana. First, every traditional wedding ceremony references it because as Jesus was the one who solemnized marriage at the beginning of the world, he also honored marriage by his attendance at the wedding in Cana of Galilee and by performing his first miracle there.
Can I note a sidebar? There’s a great show called Water Into Wine by James Cary. It’s halfway between a Bible study and stand-up comedy. He does sort of a quick introduction to the gospel of John, specifically the seven miracles that John highlights. If you’re new to the church it’s a great introduction. If you’ve been in the church all your life it’s still a great introduction and a lot of fun. It is a little bit of ‘inside baseball’ for British culture because he’s a British man performing this show in Britain.
One of the funny things he notes about the wedding at Cana is that we don’t even know the couple’s names. We don’t know who they are. Also Jesus was the +1. Mary was invited and Jesus was also there. He ties it all together, and I don’t want to give spoilers, but it’s very good. It’s a preemptive recommendation.
I appreciate that you mentioned, as my wife did earlier today, the seven miracles that mark off the gospel of John. That’s another way to track the progress of that particular gospel. John gives seven particular signs. The other gospels are just full of miracles left and right – “And he healed everybody who came to him” – but John focuses very deliberately and maybe we can remember to mention those as we go along.
The prophets had spoken of Messiah’s kingdom in terms of drinking wine on the lees, and the mountains melting with wine, and all that. Language is partly figurative and yet here he is producing lots of wine.
A lot of wine. James Cary does the math in the show and it’s a lot of wine.
I heard somebody talking about it where there are different sizes of jars and these were the jars that you could fit a person in, that sort of size.
Because they used a lot of water in their purification ceremonies because they were kind of superstitious, and Jesus took this superstitious practice and turned it into something wonderful. He can do that. Isn’t that amazing?
So from there it’s sort of a precursor to his main ministry that he’s going to have in Galilee, so that miracle will start to produce a little bit of fame for him up there. But being a good son of the law he is going to be going to Jerusalem next for the Passover season, and it is there where we get his first cleansing of the temple. That is one of the ways that he shows his authority at the beginning of his ministry, and also gets the attention of the leaders.
The Sadducees. The temple, as we said before, was a multi-million-dollar-making scheme and the Sadducees didn’t want anyone disturbing it, like someone else stepping in and claiming authority over it.
These are the descendants of Zadok, correct? The name comes from Zadok, meaning this is the priestly line.
This is the priestly line. Back in the day of Antiochus Epiphanes the line got a little bit twisted and I never bothered to find out how pure it is at this point, but that’s where the name comes from.
They had a wonderful monopoly here. “You want to come and worship? It’s too far for you to bring your animals so we’ll sell you animals at a highly inflated price. But you want to pay for them with your filthy Gentile money that has images of Caesar on it? No, no, no. We will change that filthy Gentile money into holy temple money (and take our cut) and then you can buy the animals at highly inflated prices and sacrifice them the Lord our God.”
Jesus was not impressed with any of this. He drove the animals out and overturned the moneychangers’ tables and interfered with – you can hardly call it free enterprise, as it was a monopoly in the name of God.
Yes, an unfree market. The Sadducees asked him, “By what authority? Give us a sign that you have the right to do this.” At this point they weren’t completely clear on his connection to John the Baptist. The next time this happens he will refer to John the Baptist, who was a priest and who purified him for the priesthood before he was anointed by the Spirit. At this point he goes to prophecy. “Destroy this temple and I’ll raise it in three days.”
The amazing thing is that his enemies remembered this and bring it up at his trial, whereas his disciples were like, “What? Did he say something? What does that mean? I don’t get that,” and they didn’t. No matter how many times he told them that he was going to die and rise in three days they didn’t get it, but his enemies took notes. They figured he was bluffing, but he spoke of the temple of his body. He’s talking about his resurrection.
One other thing at least of note before he goes back to Galilee and that’s one of the most famous sections in the New Testament. He’s in Jerusalem, presumably hasn’t left yet, and at night one of the local rabbis comes, a very important man. He has a seat on the Sanhedrin. We run into him later there. His name is Nicodemus.
He comes and tells Jesus, “We know you are a teacher sent from God because no man can do these things except God be with him,” and Jesus’ response is interesting. “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
A lot of people have been confused by the answer, and I was too for a very long time. Then I realized what he’s responding to. “We know…”
“Do you really? You know? Your friends out there know that I’m from God? Do you know what’s going to happen in three years? They’re going to say I’m from Satan. No man can know the kingdom of God unless he’s born again.”
He is tackling Nicodemus directly, and it’s in this context we get his sermon on the new birth and the necessity for spiritual transformation, leading into “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” It’s probably the most famous verse in the Bible, except maybe Genesis 1:1.
It shows the love of God not just for Israel but for the world. Birth as a Jew is not enough. You’re part of Israel? God loved Israel and gave them this serpent on a pole, but God loved the world and gave them his Son, but you have to believe. The love of God is wrapped up in Jesus.
We’re left with Nicodemus struggling with that and we don’t hear of him again until the end when Jesus has died and Nicodemus comes to help bury him.
Jesus then sets out for Samaria and we come to another familiar story. He comes to a well, and there’s some debate over whether John uses a Roman clock or a Jewish clock but whatever it is it’s consistent throughout and we’ll just move on. He comes at a time when no one is around except this one woman who comes to get water.
Jesus asks her for a drink and crosses cultural boundaries, ethnic boundaries, gender boundaries, class boundaries, all in one fell swoop, which she points out. “You’re a Jew. I’m a woman. Why are you asking me for a drink? I’m a Samaritan. We don’t do this. Why am I talking to you? Why are you talking to me?”
“If you knew the gift of God…” and that’s a phrase that Jesus uses for the Holy Spirit, “…and who I am and what I’m offering you, you’d ask for living water.”
Living water can simply be water running in a brook as opposed to well water or still water or stale water, but that’s not what he means, but she takes him literally. “Sir, the well is deep and you have nothing to draw with. Where do you have this living water?”
He says, “Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”
He’s going to say this same thing later on at the feast of tabernacles toward the end of his ministry. It’s a theme he comes back to. He’s promising the Holy Spirit as Someone who will be within us and spring up spilling out into eternal life for other people.
She still apparently doesn’t get it. “Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. I hate coming out here by myself. It’s a long way. You got some kind of indoor plumbing system? Sign me up.”
Jesus, realizing as he does, “That one is as far as it’s going to go. I’ve set the background. Now it’s time to prick the conscience,” says, “Go call your husband. It’s appropriate that your husband should be here.”
“You are so right. You were honest about that. You’ve had five husbands, and the guy you’ve got now isn’t your husband. Boy, you were so honest.”
I think people have been confused about her response as well. “Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.” That meant something totally different to her. It would be like a Jehovah’s Witness at our door telling us everything we had ever done. “That’s not possible. You can’t be a prophet, you’re a Jehovah’s Witness.”
The Samaritans claimed to worship Jehovah, but they claimed that they had a better purer version of Jehovah worship and that Israel was a cult, that the Jewish religion was just cultic and superstitious and not to be trusted.
The moment that she realizes that Jesus has a sort of omniscience and knows all about her, her world just crashed. Yes, she’s a fornicator and multiple divorcee and we’re never really told it was her fault, but it may have been. She certainly has bad taste in men, if nothing else. But she’s grown up Samaritan and she knows what the Samaritans believe. It’s what she believes, more or less, and here’s a Jew who has a prophetic gift. The Samaritans didn’t receive Jewish prophets.
“This is not possible. This can’t happen. But but but…” and the worldviews come into conflict. “You say we ought to worship in Jerusalem. My fathers say we ought to worship here. If you’re really a prophet you can untie the knot.”
Jesus says, “Woman, believe me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Just for the record, you worship you don’t know what. You’re wrong, we’re right, but that’s irrelevant now.”
I love this moment. There’s such a lesson for us in how Jesus responds to this because there’s a right answer and he says what it is, but he’s like, “But look ahead. There’s going to be a time when it doesn’t matter.”
And not only is there going to be a time, but “The hour cometh and now is when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship him.” The only thing God has ever said to seek from us is worship, or the only kind of people – worshippers. “God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”
She runs off to find the men of the village, because the women probably aren’t on talking terms with her, and says, “Is not this the Messiah? Could this be the Messiah? Come and hear. He told me everything I ever did.” Well, a couple things that you did, but it counts.
So they all run back and some believe on her testimony and some believe when they hear him. They say, “Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”
He’s not a local cultic Savior who saves a few people in some small corner of the world and has no concern for the rest. They recognize in this Messiah the one they’ve been looking for, but they’ve been misunderstanding the whole time, but then so was Israel. He’s the Savior of the world.
At that point then he stays with them for a little while. This is John 4:43 –
Now after two days he departed thence and went into Galilee. For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet hath no honour in his own country.
That’s kind of strange and I know I struggled with it for years until a couple years ago. I don’t remember where I came across the answer but part of it had to do with seeing how Jesus manipulates events during Passion Week. We know it’s God who controls everything, but even in his humanity he’s sneaky and he’s clever and he moves things around so that things will happen the way he wants them to. He’s never out of control.
He could stay in Judea because at this point the Judeans were receiving him. He had done miracles in Jerusalem, because Nicodemus made reference to them. His next big miracle in Galilee was the healing of the nobleman’s son that you mentioned earlier, but if that keeps going it’s going to bring him into confrontation with the Sadducees and the Jerusalem Pharisees. It’s not time for that yet so he deliberately goes into Galilee and Nazareth, which is his own country and his own people, knowing they’re going to be not quite as on fire. You remember when he goes to Nazareth they say, “Where does this man get all this stuff? Physician, heal yourself,” and all that stuff.
We can think too of Paul going to the synagogues first to preach the gospel. There’s an obligation to those close to home.
But those close to home may be the very ones who will not hear. So Rachel, we’re now in Galilee and what do you have to tell us about this larger Galilean ministry?
There are different parts to his Galilean ministry. This is what we often call the public Galilean ministry of Jesus. It’s where he is more visible and is preaching in multiple different places. There’s going to be a transition point and we see this in the gospels, where he’s going to start telling people, “Be quiet. Don’t tell people.”
He’s trying to stay more away from the crowds, partly because his fame does start to build in Galilee as well, but people are following him as a miracle monger or just somebody that tickles their ears. So there’s a point where he shifts into parables and he’s working more with his particular disciples and trying to prepare them for his coming Passion Week, death, and resurrection.
This first part is where he’s speaking more broadly and he’s more out in the open. The base that he chooses in Galilee is not his hometown. He goes to his hometown first and that rejection there then leads him to go set himself up in Capernaum as sort of his home for this time. He’ll come back to Capernaum frequently, which is right there on the coast of the Sea of Galilee. A lot of the towns that we see him going to are very close to the Sea of Galilee. If you start to look at some of the maps, they’re kind of circling around that top area.
It’s interesting because we know that not only is he choosing the timeline but he’s also choosing every prophecy he’s going to fulfill. He’s choosing those prophecies where he will be rejected in Nazareth, or he’ll also be able to stand up and say, “This prophecy has just been fulfilled in your midst.”
Also by going back to Galilee he’s fulfilling the prophecy from Isaiah of the light coming to the people sitting in darkness in the land of Zebulun and Naphtali, and Galilee is the land that made up those two tribes’ allotments, so he’s doing most of his work in those two tribes’ area. That’s interesting to think about because we kind of forget about those two tribes. When you think of the Old Testament it’s like, “What are these names? We’ve never heard of them. Zebulun and Naphtali? What?”
You know the one time they show up? That’s the battle against the Canaanites when Barak and Deborah take on Sisera, and Barak’s name does mean “lightning flash,” and Isaiah picks up on that for that prophecy.
It’s important to realize when you go back to the Old Testament the prominence that these two tribes and lands are going to have in the New Testament, although they’re not called that in the New Testament. We speak of it as Galilee instead.
As he is up there in Galilee, he’s also among people who are in some ways a little more removed from the whole Jerusalem scene, which is where you periodically will see religious leaders showing up at different times. You’ll still see the Pharisees and such but there’s not as many as when he’s down in Jerusalem, so in some cases he’s able to move more freely and teach more freely, and thus more people are able to hear his message and he has more time to work those who will become his particular disciples and then apostles.
It’s at this point, at least in Matthew’s gospel, where he formally calls James and John and Andrew and Peter away from their fishing nets to be with him – not yet apostles, but with him on a more permanent basis to being their training that will lead to apostleship.
And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.
And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic [notice there was a distinction between insanity and demon possession] and those that had the palsy; and he healed them. And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan.
The ”keep it quiet” thing at this point is beginning to fail and he is doing miracles on a massive scale. That’s chapter 4 of Matthew and it leads into the Sermon on the Mount.
This would seem to be a good place to at least mention that, but there was a phrase that Matthew just used – the gospel of the kingdom. When John the Baptist began his ministry, the message was “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” that’s Matthew’s version, or “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand,” Mark and Luke’s version.
This is a reference back to Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and Daniel’s interpretation. They saw this humanoid image made of four different metals representing the four great kingdoms that were to come, and they see a stone cut out without hands from a mountain that comes and smites the image and smites the feet, destroys it and grinds it to powder and becomes a mountain and fills the whole earth.
Daniel says, “In the last days,” that is the days of Messiah, “the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed.” If it’s the kingdom of the God of heaven then you can call it the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven. It’s that kingdom.
I will give you this definition. It’s not inspired and there are others that are also good, but looking on it in terms of our Lord himself, the kingdom of heaven is the mediatorial reign of Jesus Christ from heaven over earth in history, with the goal of blessing all nations and discipling all nations and fulfilling the covenant and the promises he made with Abraham. It will culminate with his second coming and the resurrection and judgment. It’s something along those lines.
It's a redemptive kingdom. It’s a historical kingdom. Our king is in heaven. We’re not waiting for him to return and sit on a throne in Jerusalem. He already has all power in heaven and earth. It doesn’t get better than that. He’s already at work spreading his gospel and saving his people and blessing the nations, and he’s told us to take this gospel to the ends of the earth – same gospel, same good news that the kingdom of God has come and it’s come in the form of the suffering servant, the Lamb of God, the high priest who gives his life for sinners. That’s at the heart of it – not power, not political authority, not angels and trumpets and banners and armies – but the cross and an empty tomb. That’s the kingdom of God.
As Jesus sits down on the mountain to declare the law for this kingdom, it doesn’t sound exactly like Moses’ law. There’s perfect harmony but the emphasis is different. He begins not with “Thou shalt not,” but “Blessed are these kind of people.” The word blessed means more than happy. It means to have God’s active favor in one’s life now and on into eternity. God is on your side. God is going to do great things for you. God has done great things for you.
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
It doesn’t sound like the kind of kingdom that most people want to sign on for. “Persecution? Meekness? Mourning? What’s going on here?” The world of sin is being turned upside down in favor of righteousness, humility, and joy. It’s a different kind of kingdom.
I’m just noticing that there are nine Beatitudes. Why are there nine? It’s just such an awkward number. It seems like there should be ten.
That’s interesting because most people say there should be eight and try to reduce it to eight. I think they try to combine two of them.
With the 10 commandments you have to do some clarification of the counting to get 10 as well.
Depending on which way you go, yes. If God had not said that he gave you two tables, the 10 commandments, we might still be arguing over that one.
Anyway, you have a good question and my answer is I don’t know. I know the question exists and there’s a temptation to say, “Shouldn’t there be seven?” I’ve actually never heard 10 before but that makes sense too, especially in light of this is counterbalancing the commandments that say don’t. This is “You are already blessed in that you have these things.” But he’s talking to his disciples. He’s not talking to the world. To the world he says, “no other gods.” To us he says, “You are blessed and here’s what blessedness looks like.”
Of course, most people are familiar with bits and pieces of this so-called Sermon on the Mount. “You are the light of the world. You are the salt of the earth.” The commandments that he makes clear speak to the heart. Adultery is not physical adultery but it’s lust. Murder is not just killing somebody, it’s hating them in your heart, being angry without a cause and so on. Love your neighbor, actually love your enemy here.
Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you, that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven.
“Judge not that you not be judged.” Every sinner knows that one, right? I used to have a kid in my class ages ago and his line was, “Don’t judge me, man. You’re judging me, man. Don’t judge me.” He usually needed to be judged.
The Lord’s Prayer in its fuller form is here. “Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth,” and “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,” all of these very familiar things. “Ask and it shall be given you. Seek and ye shall find. Knock and the door shall be opened.”
And of course it ends with “The wise man built his house upon the rock,” which every school child knows.
Because we sit there and we do the motions with his hands while he sits on our lap, and he smiles and enjoys that.
He loves anything you do with his hands and his legs. He gets excited, so if you have things with hand motions that you can actually do with his hands he’s very happy. Sorry, I interrupted the Sermon on the Mount.
Eventually in chapter 10 of Matthew after a night of prayer Jesus does finally ordain 12 men. We’re told –
And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.
Then we’re given the names, and if you’ve ever been in Sunday School you no doubt have learned some song that teaches you the names of the apostles, which I will not sing. There were 12 apostles to match the 12 patriarchs of Israel – new patriarchs for a new Israel.
In terms of thinking historically, as I was growing up as a small child I went to Sunday School rather than catechism class. Later that came along but originally it was Sunday School and I heard the stories and they were told – you know my general complaint – in no particular order. So the impression I got about the disciples was they were always stupid, they never had any special charge to do anything, and they always screwed up, because I was read the stories out of order.
There is a progression here. Jesus does select a few, then he selects more, and now he formally invests them with authority. This is important later when they aren’t able, so they say, to cast out a demon because look what’s here. He gave unto them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out. They should have been able.
There’s a progression. They’re maturing. They’ve kind of been with him as hangers-on. They hung out at his Bible studies and things like that, and now they’re ready for formal seminary. They’re going to hang out with him and get more intensive teaching and be there and serve. Actually, right here he’s going to start sending them out to actually preach, so they better learning something.
He's giving them power to heal diseases and even to raise the dead, when it’s God’s pleasure, so we should expect more growth. It comes, but if you don’t read the story in order it can get lost very easily and you can easily think, “They’re always saying these dumb things.” Well, the challenges are getting harder. It’s demanding more faith, and sometimes they’re not there, just as we would not be there had we stood in their shoes.
As you mentioned, he’s kind of winnowing. He’s making it more difficult for them as they go.
It’s like the struggle of the student. If I could be given the work that was so hard for me last week then I’d be fine, but I’m always having to struggle. Why is that?
Yes, shouldn’t it be getting easier? Well, the material gets harder all the time. He prepares them for their immediate preaching circuit round-about Israel but also looks beyond that. “Right now it’s only to go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, but there will be a day when you will stand before magistrates and kings, and when your own family will betray you to the authorities.” He begins to warn them. “This is not an easy thing you’ve embarked on,” and so they go.
Very shortly he begins to turn to parables. To this point he had not done a whole lot in the way of parables. Parables are often misunderstood. “He told them stories so that they could understand things better.” No, actually it was mostly the opposite.
When the disciples asked him, “Why are you doing parables all the sudden?” he says this.
And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted and I should heal them.
But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.
So he sets forth in Matthew 13 a series of agricultural parables. The gospel is like to seeds sown in different sorts of soils. The gospel is like seed that’s cast into a field, then an enemy comes along and sows weeds afterwards. The kingdom of God is like leaven which begins in a loaf of bread until it affects the whole, or like a mustard seed which is the smallest of the seeds that are sown but grows to be a great tree, and a few others – the pearl of great price and some other things.
The people apparently go away saying, “Wasn’t that a quaint story? I really like that story. I know so much more about farming now,” and the disciples have to say, “We’re not sure we got that either. Would you please explain that one?” and he does because the parables are a dividing line. People are allowed to hear, but if there’s no faith they’re not going to understand.
The disciples get the Cliff Notes from Jesus himself. “This is this, and that is that, and you should learn, learn, learn. Learn the basic principles or you’re going to miss a whole lot in all of this.”
I was going to add that in the timeline it’s also important to note right before he turns to parables is when you have the Pharisees saying that Jesus is doing all of these things by Beelzebub, and they’re demanding a sign and things like that of him. He then turns and begins giving them a sign. He speaks of the sign of Jonah but also the parables themselves are a sign to them of their unbelief.
So there’s more and more division that’s going to come into Jesus’ ministry at this point, or surrounding Jesus’ ministry, as more people don’t like what he has to say or are not hearing in the true sense. So he’s working with his disciples more particularly and preparing them for what is coming.
And backing up a chapter from there, in Matthew 11 before the “You do miracles by Beelzebub” –
Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not: Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.
He’s done the mighty works. They’ve heard them and they’ve not repented. They’ve flocked to hear him and to see him and to be amazed. We use the word miracle-mongers. But have they repented of their sins? No, they have not.
So we begin this, “I’m going to talk to my own now and the rest of you can listen, and if God wills maybe you’ll hear something. Well, if God wills you will hear something, but my focus is changing here.”
Again as we move through the gospels there is real change going on. It’s not a static “every scene is like the one before.” There are things developing, and one of the things that develops is that John the Baptist is executed. He had been admonishing Herod the Tetrarch, son of the original Herod, for marrying his brother’s wife, basically saying, “This is adultery. This is incest. This is all kinds of weirdness. This is wrong.”
Whereas Herod was inclined to listen to the holy religious men because he thought such people were interesting, Herodias, the woman in question, was not amused and got her daughter Salome to do a little inciting and seductive dance for Herod that led him to make the really stupid promise that he would give her whatever she asked, and at her mother’s behest she asked for John the Baptist’s head on a plate and got it, because Herod was embarrassed to back down from his promise.
Word of this reaches Jesus and his disciples, and some of these men had been disciples of John or at least close friends or within that circle, and it hit them hard. And no doubt it hit Jesus in his humanity hard. This was his messenger, his forerunner, his herald, his cousin. So Jesus pulls his disciples away with the intention of giving them some downtime to deal with this emotionally and to recover and to think.
But as is the way of things, the crowd got wind of, “Oh, he’s going off into the wilderness. Let’s go after him!” Jesus sees them coming and he can’t just leave them. They are sheep having no shepherd and he goes out to preach to them. This is going to lead us into the bread of life sermon, which appears in John 6?
I think this is where we were going to stop, although the only thing I was going to add in that happened at that same point after the whole “You do these by Beelzebub,” and “I’m speaking in parables,” is that he then also goes across the sea. This is where he goes to the region of the Gadarenes and we have the Gadarene demoniac. That is a small beginning in some ways of his ministry among the Gentiles there, because that former demoniac will then be in the Decapolis area across the sea of Galilee telling people about Jesus. Whenever Jesus is rejected by a group, there always seems to be another group or individual that receives him, so there’s this constant back and forth.
It’s one of those first moments where we see him going outside of the main land of Israel for just this one person, because after he heals this man he goes back, so it’s the only reason he came across the sea. That’s one more thing that’s adding to the changes in his ministry as we move forward to the next phase.
For those of you who don’t recognize Rachel’s allusion, what you might recognize is the name Legion, “for we are many” – he’s a really scary guy.
With the demons being cast into the pigs. In the Sunday Schools where I grew up that was all the boys’ favorite story. I don’t think we covered Judges well enough for them to know as much about Eglon and Ehud, but we knew about the pigs for sure.
And just as a side note – and maybe everybody knows this, but I didn’t – pigs can swim.
You can look it up. Apparently there are videos of pigs swimming, so they chose to drown.
Let’s wrap up with some recommendations. You got mine for free before – the Water into Wine show. I’m going to do another one, the Scarlet Pimpernel movie. I’ve only read the first book. I understand it’s a series but I’ve only read the first one, but I’ve seen the movie with Ian McKellen and Jane Seymour, and I forget the guy who plays the actual Scarlet Pimpernel, but he does a fantastic job.
Recommendation: Water Into WineI always remember Jane Seymour first and she’s not even the best part of this movie. The leading man does an incredible job with the character. It’s an adventure story. Some would argue it’s the first superhero novel/story. He’s basically Batman.
Except – and sorry, I’m going to say things you will disagree with about Batman…
You can say anything and I won’t disagree because it’s no doubt true of some version of him.
I’m not a fan of his ‘not killing people’ rule. I think some people needed to be killed.
I saw a little clip from a Wonder Woman comic and she said, “Do you wonder why I don’t have a rogue’s gallery like Batman and Superman? When I deal with them, I deal with them.”
Right, that’s what I’m saying, and I think the Lego Batman movie actually has it right on the money with this one, so that is the Batman movie that I adhere to is the Lego Batman movie. But we need more recommendations. Your turn, Rachel.
I am going to recommend the book that I’m basing a lot of my understanding of the harmonization on, which is a recommendation from my husband David. That is called The Satellite Bible Atlas: Historical Geography of the Bible by William Schlegel. It’s a wonderful study with lots and lots of maps that show all the topography and explain exactly how the Bible connects in with the geography, throughout the entire Bible, not just the New Testament but throughout.
Recommendation: The Satellite Bible Atlas: Historical Geography of the BibleIt allows you to ground a lot more of your thinking in history and in the physical world. It also brings the stories to life more as you realize why people are doing what they’re doing, because it does make sense when you start to understand more of the geography and the landscape and everything. So get your Satellite Bible Atlas.
This is not a recommendation, it’s simply an account of dinner conversation tonight. One of my daughters was telling how she was sitting down with her employer discussing movies. The thing was, “What’s your favorite movie scene? Not your favorite movie.”
So here is good dinnertime conversation or a game you can play with your friends. You have to not only name the movie, but particularly you have to name the scene that really sticks out and why it’s so good. So you see this coming, ladies. Pick a movie scene that sticks out in your mind.
I got stuck with it. “Uh, Death Star blowing up? Princess Bride, the sword fight?”
The first thing that came to my mind was Anne of Green Gables when she’s floating down the river and her boat has sunk, and Gilbert Blythe conveniently comes to rescue her and says, “What in heck are you doing?” and she says, “Fishing for lake trout.” It just gets me every time. I’m not going to say it’s the most cinematic choice, but golly it gets me.
One of my favorite movies is Return to Me. I could pick so many of the scenes. There are a lot of them that I love, but my favorite scene – I guess there’s actually multiple versions of this in the movie – is when the four older men are sitting around playing their card games together, and then they all want to run and put on the best music for the young couple, and they’re all trying to fit through the doorway and they’re all going, “Oh no, this is the best!” “No, this is the best!”
It's just sweet to see the friendship and their love for old music and things like that. And also their concern for this young couple to get together and trying to help them along.
I feel like a lot of the scenes from Shop Around the Corner would also be contenders for me, but we could play this game all day.
We will say goodnight. Thank you so much for this conversation. It has been a delight. Thanks also to David, our producer and my lawfully-wedded husband.
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