Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Speaker A: Welcome to the YA Podcast. Lean in as we dive into the practicals of life with Jesus as spirit filled young adults.
[00:00:27] Speaker B: Well, welcome back, young adults, to the YA Podcast. We are so excited to have you back for another episode in this season talking about the Gospel of Matthew. And we are joined here today by David. Why don't you introduce yourself?
[00:00:39] Speaker A: Hey, good to see you. Jess. Yes, I'm David. Been a NUMA about two years now.
I'm an accountant. But I tell people, don't hold it against me because if there's one thing people get frustrated by, its accountants. But yeah, I'm looking forward to talking about the Bible today with you. It's. It's an awesome section that we're discussing.
[00:01:00] Speaker B: So, yeah, yeah, I think you guys will really appreciate his own experiences and his revelation of the Word. It's been awesome just even talking about this, just hearing what the Lord's speaking to you. So we are really excited to get into this. Today's episode is a little bit of an interesting one because we have a lot of, a lot of scripture to cover. Um, so if you've been following along, you would know that by now. We are up to chapter 14, and over this episode, we're gonna cover 14 through to chapter 20. So it's a lot of chapters. We would definitely encourage you, if you haven't already read them before listening to this, maybe pause this episode and then go and give it a read. Listen to an audiobook, whatever it looks like, and then come back and join us as we follow along. But we're gonna get straight into it.
Basically. There's a lot of topics that are covered and there's a lot of themes in these scriptures, but our focus is really who is the king, who is Jesus, and what is the revelation of him as king?
And before we go through passage by passage, I just kind of want to cover, I guess, the theme that from chapters 14 up to what you've heard us talk a lot about on previous episodes, which is to chapter 16, the revelation that Peter has of Jesus. So everything leading up to that point and then the response after that, and I guess revealing the identity of Jesus, but then also what does it look like to live in community with him? So this whole thing is revealing, I guess, the authority of Jesus, but also coming to that point of him being the Messiah. But with that in mind, let's go straight from the very beginning, chapter 14. Very interesting story we have here.
[00:02:44] Speaker A: Good one to start with.
[00:02:45] Speaker B: Great place to start. It's so interesting because John the Baptist is a Character that pops up a couple of times in our previous episode. He was also the start of our episode in chapter 11.
Do you want to give us. Tell us a little bit about what's happening in chapter 14 here?
[00:02:59] Speaker A: Yeah. So up to this point, Jesus has been doing a lot of miracles. And Herod starts hearing about Jesus and thinks that this has to do with John the Baptist having come from. Back from the dead. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so then it. It actually tells us why he mentions that. Because John the Baptist. He killed John the Baptist. Yeah. And so in this. In this paragraph, it tells the story of how Herod was. Was having a party at his house and this woman danced. And then he said to her, what do you want? I'll give you anything. And she talks to her mom and she says, give me the head of John the Baptist. And so he then has John beheaded and brought to a platter on a platter to the girl, which is. Must have been pretty quite disgusting, actually.
[00:03:46] Speaker B: Yeah.
Such a strange story. And it feels a bit random, doesn't it? Like, I mean, obviously it's giving us context of, like, why John died. Why do you, like, what do you think that we have even that passage in that story there? Tell us a little bit about that.
[00:04:03] Speaker A: That is a. That is a great question.
What do you think?
[00:04:09] Speaker B: Well, no, I was actually. I was thinking about it this morning a little bit, actually.
There's a passage in. In chapter 17 that says after the transfiguration, we'll get to that. But the disciples are like, they say something about, why do people say Elijah is going to come first?
[00:04:27] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:04:28] Speaker B: And then Jesus alludes to John the Baptist being Elijah. Now, there might not be something to this, but I was thinking about how the fact that John confronted, I guess, a spirit of lust, and there's a similarity with Elijah and Jezebel and even how, like, he was. He was a very sort of forceful. Took the forceful approach.
[00:04:50] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:04:50] Speaker B: Which is the opposite of what Jesus is doing, but just interesting how that is there, but that is preparing the way for Jesus to come in. It's like, okay, we'll deal with that stuff so that we can actually get to y I. If that makes any sense.
[00:05:02] Speaker A: Yeah, no, that makes sense. That definitely makes sense.
[00:05:04] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:05:05] Speaker B: That I got out of that. Anything else?
[00:05:07] Speaker A: Yeah, I think. I think you nailed it on the head.
[00:05:10] Speaker C: It.
[00:05:10] Speaker A: It's a foreshadow of also what's to come for Jesus, that he's also going to die.
But yeah, I think you described it really well.
[00:05:19] Speaker B: It's a good Point it's like John the Baptist death is like showing that persecutions are going to come. And then like if you want to be all in for this kingdom, you're gonna have to die for it.
[00:05:29] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:05:30] Speaker B: Just so interesting then seeing, thinking about chapter 11 when John was like, are you really Jesus? And then, you know, he had to come sort of come to his own revelation, but then post that how he had to die.
[00:05:40] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah.
[00:05:41] Speaker B: And that's an interesting sort of teaser to the story of Jesus.
[00:05:47] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:05:48] Speaker B: And like where we go to from there, so interesting place to start.
[00:05:50] Speaker A: It is.
[00:05:51] Speaker B: And then we look at the feeding of the 5,000.
[00:05:54] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:05:55] Speaker A: Yeah, I, I often think about this, this passage just because I find it so convicting in so many ways. I mean it's a, it's a great story there out there with the crowds and, and Jesus after hearing what happened to John, needs some time to himself, time to spend time with God. But he, he sees this, this group on the crowd in verse 14 and says he has compassion on them and healed their sick. And so even though he needed rest, he was just so moved by compassion, which just shows his character. And. Yeah, I often, you know, feel like I might be tired, I just want to go home. But you kind of feel that pull from God to reach out to someone, to be there for someone, and then that kind of leads into the feeding then of the 5,000.
[00:06:43] Speaker B: Yeah. So it's almost like we need to overcome. If we're going into an application out of that straight away, it could be a bit premature. But if we go. When we come to God in our weakness and we come to him in that place of like, ah, I, like I could do the selfish thing or I could do the thing that is necessary in this moment. We come to him and he. We allow him to move our heart. That is a space for a miracle to breaker.
[00:07:06] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's good.
[00:07:08] Speaker B: Yeah. Do you have a story about that you wanted to share?
[00:07:12] Speaker A: Not yet, no.
I'm sure there's been times, but nothing comes to mind.
[00:07:17] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's awesome.
[00:07:19] Speaker A: Does something come to mind for you where you, you felt that pull in a, in a, in a moment of weakness or sort of tiredness.
[00:07:26] Speaker B: I think that, you know, the interesting thing about this is that so often we can have that wow, that moment of like, okay, I'm going to go away and be with Jesus. And then something comes up and we go, oh, well that's a distraction from that instead of going, okay, Lord, what are you going to do in this Moment. Like, is this a distraction or is this an opportunity for me to get your heart?
[00:07:46] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:07:47] Speaker B: And to be honest, I've actually really struggled with having compassion for people in these moments, but to actually go, okay, God, is there.
Is this an opportunity for me, in my weakness, for you to move? I don't think that I have a good example of that, but it's a good reminder. And this is really cool because there was something you said earlier about what this revealed about. About Jesus being king. Not just the compassion, but also that it reveals him as the provider.
[00:08:16] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:08:17] Speaker A: This, this. Because then after this, He. He provides for the 5,000, and he. He. He comes as king over need. So the need for the people to get sick, the need for the people that needed food.
And it's such an interesting story how Jesus provides that need the first time through him healing the sick, the second time through the hands of the disciples. So it wasn't like Jesus snapped his fingers and suddenly all this food was there. But he empowered the disciples and the provision came through them. And it says they all ate and were satisfied and they had even food left over. And so this God of abundance who doesn't just care for our need, but even. Even beyond that, so good. And it reminded me of a time where. Where I experienced that I was overseas. I'd just gone to. To Bethel for the second year.
[00:09:09] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:09:10] Speaker A: And, you know, you save up money for. For the year, and you. You pray that that's enough to get you through. And then there was someone who came up and said, I feel like the Holy Spirit is saying, what do you need to give up? And straight away, in my heart, I felt money was the word I had. And I thought, I'll take it figuratively. You know, it's like the idea of money, like I'm holding onto my money.
[00:09:31] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:09:32] Speaker A: But it didn't. It just didn't. Didn't leave me. And so I wrestled with it for, like, one or two weeks, but I really felt like God was encouraging me to give what I'd saved away. And long story short, I gave everything away except I had $200 in cash.
[00:09:48] Speaker C: We showed you.
[00:09:49] Speaker A: I had. I had trusted God, but there was a little bit that I was still holding on to, but it still wasn't enough to last another eight months. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then someone who I didn't know it was my friend's mum, who had never met before, saw that I'd. I'd posted once on Facebook about Bethel, and she. She gave more money than I Had even given away myself.
[00:10:11] Speaker B: That's crazy.
[00:10:12] Speaker A: And it was just crazy how. How God really comes through when. When we need him and also when we obey him and follow what. What he's asking us to do.
Yeah.
[00:10:24] Speaker B: That's such a good story. Wow. God is so good. And just even like that, that is a testament to, like, your obedience of going, okay, when God says to do it, that he would go. Which is interesting because even the next. The very next story that we read, Jesus walking on water is like, scary moment.
[00:10:42] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:10:43] Speaker B: And then Peter's like, Simon at this point is like, ah, if that's you, Lord, like, should I come out? Come and so come and walk on water with you? Like, I mean, who's. Who's thinking, let's go walk on water.
[00:10:56] Speaker A: So red.
[00:10:57] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:10:58] Speaker B: But that he was obedient with the word and the Lord just said, come.
[00:11:01] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:11:03] Speaker A: I love how he kind of almost tested the waters in a way, saying, if it is you, you know, tell me to come out. He was almost like he wanted to believe. It wasn't quite 100 there. And then Jesus said, it is I.
I am. Do not be afraid. And then Peter does it. Simon Peter does it. He goes on the water and. But then we see that moment where he looks away and he's filled with doubts. And yet still Jesus meets him, even though he's afraid, even though he gave in to the fear, Jesus didn't just leave him hanging there, which I think is also so profound.
[00:11:39] Speaker B: That's so good. It's cool because it's like we're watching the disciples go on this journey and, like, get called to higher account as they go along. There's like the grace of God to be like, hey, I just love that you stepped out. But also, don't doubt. Yeah, yeah, come on, you can do better than that. Yeah, yeah, it's cool.
Okay, cool. And then as I keep going through chapter 15, I mean, even just the end of chapter 14, so cool. Like, people getting healed, just touching, touching Jesus just touching the hem of his garment. Like, we know that story about the woman that reached out and touched the hem of Jesus garment and got fully healed, but it's actually more than once. You might not know this, but there's a few times that people just reach and touch him and it just shows that he's. He's the healer, he's the king.
[00:12:23] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:12:23] Speaker B: Over all sorts of sickness and diseases. I love how there's. It can very easily be missed, these little stories, because it's not like, highlighted one person, but it shows how much Jesus did for the people.
Yeah. And then chapter 15 is an interesting one. You want to talk about that?
[00:12:41] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. For me, I was sort of thinking about, about this section, how this reveals who, who Jesus is as king. And to me, this, this section, one of the things it tells us is how he's. He's king over tradition, he's king over scripture, because in this section, the Pharisees and the scribes that come to him and they ask him, why aren't you, why aren't your disciples washing their hands when they eat? And that's actually something that wasn't in the Old Testament law. It was something that, that they had added that was something to do to help them obey the law. But it was, it was an addition, essentially. And, and Jesus goes into this to, to talk about how they actually, one of the things that they've been doing, the scribes and the Pharisees, is to try to find loopholes in the law rather than adhering to the spirit of the law, which he goes into, into the next section. So he's, He's. He's correcting their interpretation of Scripture to be in line with, with what the truth really is.
[00:13:38] Speaker B: Yeah. And it's very convicting line. Even the start there, it says in verse three, why do you, in the nkv, why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? It's like they had put a higher value on their own belief system than actually on God's words. Yeah, that's their own way of doing it. Yeah, that's. I think we can go. We can very easily sit here and go, oh, well, like, I'm also immediately going, oh, when do I do this?
[00:14:09] Speaker A: Yeah, that's so true.
[00:14:10] Speaker B: When do I prioritize my routine or my tradition or my comfort or even how I expect God to move in. We've talked about this a lot in, in this podcast, but even how I expect God to move in a service or in my life and disobey him, maybe without realizing it, disobey him because I've made my own rules.
[00:14:28] Speaker C: Yeah. Yep.
[00:14:28] Speaker A: That's so true.
[00:14:30] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:14:30] Speaker A: I read in, in someone say, he said in this section, Jesus is saying their traditions were undercutting the plain message of God. Wow, that's such a good point. It's, it's. It's the plain message of God that we sometimes try to work our way around or, or like you said, get stuck in these routines or thinking, thinking things have to be a certain way, but it's actually so much simpler than. Than we often make it. Like they were making it complicated. You have to wash your hands or you're going to be unclean or whatever else. When it's. It's much simpler than that.
[00:15:00] Speaker B: Yeah. I think that's our tendency to overcomplicate things. When the gospel is actually simple. There's that simplicity, and we make it hard for ourselves by complicating it.
[00:15:12] Speaker C: Yeah, Yeah.
[00:15:13] Speaker B: I like how. I mean, he's talking them in this whole passage, but a bit further down it says they are blind. Leaders of the blind. He's kind of like, if they won't come to an understanding, a revelation of it, then don't. Don't try and argue with them, like, let them be. And don't. Don't follow them. Because if you blindly follow without actually having a revelation yourself, you're gonna. You're gonna end up in a ditch. Yeah. They're gonna go anywhere. But I think that's interesting because I see that. That sort of theme of blindness throughout as we keep going through. But I wanted to make. Point that part out.
Then we're met with a interesting story.
The Syrophoenician woman, or entire. And Sidon.
[00:15:56] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:15:59] Speaker B: Yeah. Do you want to talk about this story where she's like. Even the children eat bread given to the dogs.
[00:16:05] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:16:05] Speaker A: This is one that's kind of. Can be a bit.
Throw you. Throw you. What's. What's the. What's the way? It can just be. Seem a bit out there, a bit strange or like. Almost like. That doesn't sound right. Yeah, but. But essentially a bit of background is that Jesus said he first came for the Jew and then the Gentile. And we see that pattern throughout the Bible that, that he came for the people of God, but also to make a way for those that were not people of God. Through. Through.
Through blood, through. Through the region, through.
How would you put that? Maybe phrase it a bit better.
[00:16:39] Speaker B: No, I think you said it okay. Yeah. The Gentiles, the ones who weren't. Weren't part of the original, like, family.
[00:16:45] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:16:46] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:16:46] Speaker B: Children of Israel. Yeah.
[00:16:47] Speaker A: That weren't direct descendants, so to speak. But. But through what Jesus did on the cross, which is going to come later, he made a way for all of us. And so he. He meets this woman. So she's a Canaanite woman, which meant that she was part of. Who were considered one of Israel's greatest enemies. Actually in the Old Testament, like the promised land was the land of Canaan. So she comes from this region. And so she's a full on outsider. And she, she comes to Jesus in verse 22, she says, have mercy on me, son of David. My daughter's severely oppressed by a demon. And at first Jesus just doesn't answer her. And the disciples start trying to push her away. And then he says to her, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel because it was first to the Jew, then to the, to the Greek.
[00:17:31] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:17:32] Speaker A: But she, she comes and says, lord, help me. And he says, this is the, probably the verse you were alluding to. He says, it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs, which is healing. She's asking for healing. And he's saying, healing is not for the dogs. It's only for the, for the children. And then she says, amazingly, yes, Lord, even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table. And then Jesus says, your faith is great. And he heals her. And it's this interesting moment where she, she knew that healing, she somehow knew that healing actually was going to be part of God's kingdom. And even though she wasn't technically part of it yet, because she wasn't part of the people of Israel, her faith and, and her knowing what God's true nature was, Jesus recognizes that and heals her anyway.
[00:18:23] Speaker B: I find that so interesting. Jesus often asks these questions at a very, like, it seems like he's not expecting their answer. Like, as in you ask a question and it seems like an obvious answer, but then they answer like the opposite. And then he's happy with their response. I'm like, what? Yeah, like even.
Yeah. How she agrees with him. He's, he's saying no, and she agrees with him. She's like, yeah, you're right. But like, here I am, I'm pursuing it. Like even. It's just that sort of resilience that she had to go, no, I believe who you say you are.
[00:18:56] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:18:57] Speaker B: And I will fight for it.
[00:18:58] Speaker C: Yep, yep, yeah.
[00:19:00] Speaker A: And it. In the Old Testament, there's this story of this Shunamite woman and her, her son dies and she, she's similar to this lady in that she, from my understanding, she wasn't a Jew, but she, she came to Elijah and refused. Or Elisha, I forget now, but she refused to take no for an answer. Just like this woman, she, she heard a no and she said, but I know this is who you are. And she still, she still pressed in and still pursued him. Yeah, pursued healing for her daughter.
[00:19:27] Speaker B: Yeah, that's so true. Is there something in that, to, like, pushing past the. The resistance? I think we've become a little bit accustomed to, like, oh, if there's a no. Or if it's, like, not. Things aren't the way we expect them to be them and. Okay, yeah, just give up. Yeah. No, no. This is actually an opportunity. Like, Jesus is literally giving you an opportunity to push past that.
[00:19:51] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:19:51] Speaker B: And to be like, hey, no, this is. This is what. This is who you say you are. This is what I know to be true. This is what I've seen you do for other people. Why can't he do it for me?
[00:19:59] Speaker C: Yep. Yeah.
[00:20:00] Speaker A: Yeah. It's so important that we do exactly what we're doing now and really understand God's nature and what the Word says about him, so that when things in our life don't look like that, we don't just go with how our circumstances look, but we look at who God is, what he has said, like you just said, and we pursue that.
[00:20:19] Speaker B: That's so good. I love that.
Let's keep going along. I think maybe we'll jump to the start of chapter 16. This is a really interesting passage here. It talks about seeking a sign. So we've just come out of. Again, there's a. There's another account of the multiplication of food, the feeding of the 4000. And some people say that this is a feeding of a gentile crowd, which is interesting because we've just seen Jesus and. Yeah, provide for a gentile woman.
And then we go into the Pharisees and Sadducees seeking a sign, and they are coming and they're trying to test him.
I just think it's interesting that they. He says, like, you can read the. You can read the sky. You know how to descend the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. I just think that this is.
This is a. What's the word? This is a. Just an example of what's happening as a whole. It's like, you. You're discerning some things, but you're missing other things. And you're missing Jesus when he's standing right in front of you. And I think, again, this has been a whole theme the whole way through, but it's like the way that Jesus revealed himself was not what they expected.
So if they've misread a season, then you're missing, like, if you're, like, literally caring for crops and you misread the season and you're planting when you should Be harves and like everything's back to front. Nothing is going to bear fruit.
[00:21:53] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:21:53] Speaker B: And so the, the Pharisees and the Sadducees are attesting Jesus to get something from him, but they're not actually having a heart that's surrendered to receive who he is and a revelation first. And they're saying, you know, give us a sign. And Jesus is saying, well, you. How, like why are you not ready to receive it? So I'm just going to give you an Old Testament sign because that's where your head is at. And actually let me reveal what I'm doing now. I thought that was important to touch on because I think. Yeah, there's a theme throughout that.
[00:22:26] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:22:28] Speaker B: And then we'll. Yeah. He talks about sort of. He warns the disciples to be careful about the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. And then.
Yeah. Kind of like don't get stuck in their ways of thinking, I guess. Don't, don't let that sort of. Because you think about leaven being like yeast in dough. It's there and you can't see it. But then it impacts everything.
[00:22:51] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:22:51] Speaker B: So we talked about that in the kingdom of heaven. Like Jesus uses the same example to refer to what the kingdom is like. It sort of grows on its own. But if you have this, this mindset or this thought about God that is not rooted in truth, but it's kept there, then it can grow and impact everything else. Jesus is sort of quickly confronting that.
[00:23:10] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:23:11] Speaker B: And saying, don't, don't follow them. Like they're the blindly in the blind. Don't follow them. And then he brings them to this all important passage. He brings them to the region of Caesarea Philippi, which is literally the gates of hell, what that was called. It was a place of pagan worship. And they're standing in this place and this is where Jesus asks the all important question. Who do you say that I am?
[00:23:38] Speaker C: Yep. Yeah.
[00:23:40] Speaker A: This is the, the central truth that we know now, obviously.
[00:23:46] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:23:47] Speaker A: Reading it later. But Simon Peter, in that moment, he, he says, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. It seems like he was the first out of the disciples to really understand who Jesus was. And, and Jesus says this, this wasn't revealed to you through flesh and blood, but through my Father who's in heaven. So he had this, he was open enough to, you know, going back to that passage before with the Pharisees and Sadducees asking for a sign. It was like they were looking for who Jesus was, but couldn't see it. But then Peter, he. He had eyes to see because he wanted to know who Jesus is, who God is, and he had the right heart in that moment. Yeah. And he had that revelation of who Jesus is.
[00:24:30] Speaker B: Yeah. It's so good. I love when Jesus says, flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father. And that is. He's almost saying, if you just depend on your human senses, you are not going to be able to have a revelation because your human senses are expecting something different.
[00:24:46] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:24:47] Speaker B: And if we're looking for Jesus as king and Messiah, as a ruler, in the sense of how we usually think of a ruler, we're going to miss him. So you can't look through your fleshly eyes anymore. Like, you. You understand this because the Father revealed it to you. And then we. It comes to this place. It's like, here it is, that revelation upon this rock. I'm going to build my church. And if. If you can come to a place where your heart has a revelation of who Jesus is, then no matter what comes against you, like, it will be unshakable.
[00:25:19] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:25:19] Speaker B: And I think that's important for us as believers as a whole, that we have that everything in our lives is built on the foundation of our revelation of Jesus.
[00:25:27] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:25:28] Speaker B: And that from that place we would actually be able to walk with him and partner with him.
[00:25:34] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:25:35] Speaker B: And in any season of life, we'll be able to weather that storm.
[00:25:39] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:25:40] Speaker B: I think for many of us, we, we know God and we go to church, we have this Christian life, but then, you know, a hard time comes, a challenge comes, and, and if it's based on a fleshly experience, and it will come and go like the wind, like there's no root to it. But if we.
And there's so many parables about this and so many other examples about this, but if we, if our revelation is built on the truth of who Jesus is and actually having a personal encounter with him, then whatever happens through life, we can, you know, hold on to that.
[00:26:13] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:26:14] Speaker A: It's almost like it's not through. Through logic or through.
Through seeing, through natural eyes that we can really see God and know him as king, but only through, as you say, through. Through seeing him through spiritual eyes, through experiencing who he really is as a person.
That is that foundation.
[00:26:34] Speaker B: That's so good.
[00:26:35] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:26:36] Speaker B: I find it so interesting because it's like everything's leading up to this point, and then a couple of verses later, verse 21 onwards, it's like, it seems like Peter has a fleshly reaction who's like, oh, I had this like, holy, holy revelation. And then Jesus is like, okay, cool. So now you know that I'm the king. Let me tell you what kind of king I'm going to be. The whole point up to chapter 16, this is, this is what it means for me to be king. But now, like, just because, you know, I'm king, it doesn't mean, you know, how I'm going to rule and how I'm going to actually live as king. And he reveals himself as what we call the suffering servant, which is a lot of prophecy about the suffering Messiah. And Peter's like, no, that's not true.
Um, there's a really interesting little, little story there where he gets called Satan. He went from like the foundation that the church is going to be built on to Satan.
[00:27:27] Speaker A: Yeah, that's what happens.
[00:27:29] Speaker B: Like we, I guess we all kind of do that, right? We have a revelation of Jesus and then we try and go back and figure it out in our flesh.
[00:27:35] Speaker A: Yep, definitely. I also heard someone say that, that Peter offered Jesus the same temptation as Satan, which was the kingdom without the cross. I never made that connection to when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness.
But none of us want to be the one to tempt God to do anything.
But you know, Jesus gives us the, the key to not living that way. He says, you're setting your mind on the things of God, not the things that you're setting your mind on, the things.
[00:28:05] Speaker C: No.
[00:28:05] Speaker A: He says, get behind me, Satan. You're a hindrance to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but the things of man. So when we, when we set our mind on God instead of our flesh, then, then we won't say those kinds of things.
[00:28:19] Speaker B: Just so funny. It's like a direct contradiction to flesh and blood is not revealed this year, but the Father. And then he's like, no, you're thinking in flesh and blood.
[00:28:27] Speaker A: Yeah, very humbling.
[00:28:30] Speaker B: And then Jesus tells us immediately afterwards how to deal with it, how we can not be that.
[00:28:34] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:28:35] Speaker B: Take up your cross, deny yourself and follow me.
[00:28:37] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:28:38] Speaker B: And it's like if you, if you want to actually walk in this walk, this walk with Jesus, it's going to require laying down your life.
[00:28:46] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:28:46] Speaker B: He's like, I'm going to show you first. Like, I'm going to lay my life down.
[00:28:49] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:28:49] Speaker B: But you're going to have to lay your life down too, if you want to follow after me.
[00:28:53] Speaker A: Yeah, it's such an upside down way of Thinking like, instead of we are forced to be ruled over by the king. It's like if you want to live, if you want the king to have his influence and authority over your life, you actually have to give your whole life to him willingly. Just like how Jesus laid down his life for us in return, we. We lay down our life to receive him.
[00:29:17] Speaker B: Then becomes a response to his authority rather than a.
Like something I have to do. So I see who he is first and then I choose to respond. And I think that's the whole gospel. Right. It's not about getting our lives sorted first, but it's about after having a revelation of Jesus that then I submit my life willingly to that. And that's exactly what Jesus did. Like he saw the brokenness of humanity and willing. Gave up his position in heaven to come down to earth. And that humility and it's. It just shows a requirement of humility to that to. Yeah, to walk this walk with Jesus. And then we go into the transfiguration on the mount. And this is interesting because it's like the ebbs and flows. It feels like we're on this roller coaster. I was like, we're having it up. We're having a revelation of Jesus. Down we are again and then we're back up again because we have this cool moment where Jesus is met with a voice from heaven which reminds us of. Of even his baptism, where the Father spoke from heaven.
[00:30:15] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:30:16] Speaker B: Which is a really cool part there. But then he goes into. Yeah, straight into talking about his death again straight after that.
The ups and the downs.
[00:30:27] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:30:28] Speaker B: Did you have anything to say about that before we go to 18?
[00:30:30] Speaker A: Yeah, it's kind of like just thinking about what that must have looked like. I think Peter. Peter starts to say things. He doesn't know what he's saying because he just sees the glory of God. And that must have been very, very incredible experience.
But it was a necessary part of the story that. That God would show his glory on Jesus in that way.
And yet Jesus is so humble, like he's not then coming back down and like, I'm the biggest deal in the world or anything like that. He's. He's still so humble even though he knows he has all power, all authority, being the Son of God. And I think that kind of contrast as well really stands out to me.
[00:31:17] Speaker B: Yeah, that's such a cool. It's such a powerful moment. And then the inverse sciences tell no one. I tell the vision to know when until the Son of Man has risen from the dead. And he's like, alluding to, then coming back to that point when he dies, rises again. And then it's like, I'm going to send you out to be the witness. So it's kind of like this, like another installation of hope.
[00:31:38] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:31:38] Speaker B: It's like, okay, I've told you them about to summer, but don't worry. Like I'm showing you, I'm reminding you again that I am the son of God and that there is hope and that there's going to be a time where you're going to be able to speak about this plainly.
[00:31:51] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:31:51] Speaker B: And I will rise from that. So it's cool how he. He puts all these little hints along the way.
[00:31:56] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:31:57] Speaker B: I love chapter 18 because it's so the convicting one. We like to pull it out when we have conflicts with people.
But I think one of the things that's coming out of this is Jesus is saying, like, if you want to live in. In my community, this is what life has. This is what life looks like.
[00:32:13] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:32:13] Speaker B: And 18 and 19, really, we'll look at them both together, but really bringing it. There's two sort of key passages in here where Jesus talks about childlikeness.
[00:32:25] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:32:25] Speaker B: And if you want to be part of the kingdom, you have to become like a little child again. A reminder of the humility it takes to walk with Jesus.
Any of those other stories you want to talk about, the fence offenses or parables.
[00:32:43] Speaker A: Yeah, I think where it's my head. The heading in my Bible from verse 4:15 is if your brother sins against you. And it's. It's amazing how simple a lot of the teachings are of Jesus that are so right but also so difficult. Like, it's. It's simple, but it's. And it's the right thing to do. But it's often hard for us to actually, it feels like it's really hard to put into practice. You know, if you, if your brother sins against you, go tell him his fault between you and him alone. While often we want to gossip or tell someone else. And I've been guilty of this many times where I want someone else to validate me or I make assumptions, but, but just, just going to the person. Sometimes it's just a misunderstanding or whatever else. And I feel like that's a lot in this, in this whole chapter, how there are simple things that, that, that God teaches us to do, that if we just followed them, our life would be so much easier.
[00:33:39] Speaker B: Yeah. It would just be a lot better. Well, I mean, I think it's Kind of like what you were saying before about the over complication. Right. When the Pharisees are trying to overcomplicate the law about washing hands and that kind of thing. But Jesus is like, no, just simply deal with things. Become childlike.
Try not to offend people.
[00:33:55] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:33:56] Speaker B: And, yeah. And when you. When you have a fault between you and your brother, deal with it.
[00:34:01] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:34:01] Speaker B: And you're so right. Like, we love a good gossip. We love a good validation. I shouldn't say we love. I'm saying we tend to do these things without realizing that we probably shouldn't be doing them, but getting the validation from someone else and actually prolonging the pain instead of dealing with it quickly, keeping a short account on someone and just going, hey, actually, what you said really offended me.
[00:34:23] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:34:23] Speaker B: But I want to deal with that because I value the relationship that we have as brothers more than I value being validated in myself.
[00:34:31] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:34:32] Speaker B: Comes back to, okay, Jesus is saying, humility. How do you live in that humility? How do you practice that humility?
[00:34:38] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:34:38] Speaker B: If you're a subject in my kingdom. A subject, sorry. If you're ruler, if you're a king under my kingship, then you have the authority to bring reconciliation.
[00:34:49] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:34:49] Speaker B: So don't act like you don't have it. Deal with it in the way that you can. And then if for some reason you can't have the person who's unwilling to receive it, then you can bring in a third party. But it's, like, very practical. I love. You know, Jesus has gone from being very elusive to them being really practical in this one. And then, yeah, even the next parable is. Is very practical about forgiving as we've been forgiven.
And then even the.
The stories about, like, marriage and divorce and.
[00:35:19] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:35:20] Speaker B: And yeah. I mean, I love. I love the rich young ruler. I love that story.
[00:35:26] Speaker C: Yeah. Yep.
[00:35:27] Speaker A: That is such a convicting story. I think, as well, just the fact that we often think of ourselves as not being rich, but in comparison to most people on Earth, we are so wealthy. Not even just materially, but in so many ways. If you're listening to this podcast, you have a phone, you know, you're able to even just have access to that. That is. That is incredible.
[00:35:53] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:35:54] Speaker A: And then Jesus says to this rich young ruler, after he tries to kind of justify himself, that he's. He's been doing all the right things. Jesus says, you know, don't murder, don't commit adultery, don't steal. And he. He says, I've done all these things. What am I. What am I still lacking? And Jesus says to him, if you will, if you will, if you would be perfect, go sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. And I think that's not a message for all of us to give everything away. But in his life, in that moment, his. His treasure was his literal treasure, the things that he possessed. And it wasn't until he'd let that go and really, like we were talking earlier, embraced the kingdom completely with his whole life. That's the question. He was in the wrong kingdom.
[00:36:38] Speaker B: Yeah, it's. Yeah. It shows that what is necessary is a full embracing of the kingdom.
[00:36:44] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:36:44] Speaker B: Yeah. What does that reveal about, like, Jesus being king?
[00:36:48] Speaker A: I think to me, the thought I had was that his. His kingdom requires all. Like, he's such a gracious and wonderful, beautiful king, but he requires our whole life. I heard someone say recently in a sermon, he was saying, you can't get the quote unquote benefits of one kingdom, but live in another kingdom. Not to say that if you're a Christian, everything will be perfect, but it's not like you can expect to receive God's mercy and grace, but be running away from him, like, it just doesn't. It just doesn't make sense. Yeah. So to me, it just. It shows him as a kind and wonderful king. But it's still a king that requires everything.
[00:37:31] Speaker B: Yeah. And I think all of this is still taken through the lens of the tensions of the kingdom. It's like it's going to require everything, but the. Everything might not be the kind of everything that you expect for this guy with his finances, for us. Something else.
[00:37:43] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:37:44] Speaker B: But also going, God is gracious enough to pursue the person who is running away from him. And he doesn't necessarily. Like, it's not by works that we earn his grace and his mercy, but that we can choose to position ourselves not based on our works, but based on our heart. And that's the whole thing that flows through everything that Jesus is doing is the posture of your heart. Where is that at?
[00:38:08] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:38:09] Speaker B: And if there is a blockage to that, then you need to deal with that, with the thing that is the cause of that blockage. So for this guy, it was his finances in Chapter 18 earlier, it says, like, if your eye causes you to sin, pull it out. Like, even these things. Like, what is the blockage to your heart? Being able to follow Jesus.
[00:38:31] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:38:31] Speaker B: Being able to see him for who he is. And then it's cool because he goes on to say that all things are possible with God. Even if it. Even if it's hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, even if it's hard for us to give up everything, everything is impossible with Him. And so that is to say that we cannot enter this revelation by ourselves. We cannot receive salvation, and we cannot walk the journey with Jesus as Christians without Him.
[00:39:02] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:39:02] Speaker B: Because the cost is too great for us to do on our own.
[00:39:05] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:39:05] Speaker B: It comes back to, we need Him. We need him to serve him, which sounds funny, but it's like we need to depend on Jesus so that we can become like him, so that we can live the sacrificial life that he lived and follow in his footsteps of giving everything to Him.
[00:39:22] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:39:23] Speaker A: There's definitely been many times in my life where I've. I've noticed some kind of blockage like this young man had, where I had this feeling like there's something that I need to give up, but I can't seem to do it. But I found if you just ask God, if you pray and ask for his grace, he will help you. I think that's one of the great things, is that how. How gracious and kind he is. That even if you just acknowledge that you want to, but you. What You. You. You don't know how or you want to, but you don't want to, that he makes a way through his grace if we just ask Him.
[00:39:56] Speaker B: That's so good.
[00:39:57] Speaker A: Maybe not straight away, but if you keep persisting and keep asking him and. And making space for him to work on your heart, he will do it.
[00:40:07] Speaker B: That's so good. And just as we bring this to a close, with that in mind, just even looking at the end of chapter 20, I don't want to miss out on the. On this part, but Jesus just brings it back to that, whoever desires to become great, let him become your servant. That's chapter 20, verse 26. That again, coming back to that place of serving others and serving God. And then he concludes this passage. Matthew concludes all of this teaching and all of these stories with a healing of two blind men receiving their sight. And again, Jesus has compassion to heal them. And then they receive their sight and followed Him. But I read that and I go all of this starting with the blind, like Jesus calling the Pharisees blind in chapter 15, he's saying, I want to come and heal your blindness. Yeah, I want to come and meet you where you're at and not to be condemning of like, oh, I've misunderstood God. I've had a wrong Revelation. I haven't been able to give everything. I've tried to do this on my own. We're not coming at you trying to condemn you, but to actually go, no, Jesus is coming to heal the blindness or even the blurriness of where we are trying to see, but we can't see the whole picture. And Jesus comes and he says, here, I have compassion on you in your lack of revelation, in your lack of understanding, in your misconceptions, preconceived ideas, unwillingness to follow me. I have compassion on you and I want to meet you and bring healing to you in that moment.
[00:41:37] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:41:38] Speaker B: Yeah. So as we finish on that, actually, would you be willing, David, to just pray over those listening maybe that have heard this and then gone? Oh, I feel really convicted because I relate with some of those people that have been called out in these passages and just, yeah, pray with them. We would have the right revelation of Jesus.
[00:41:55] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure. Thank you, Lord Jesus, thank you for everything that we read just now, for your word and for how, how rich it is, for all the wonderful things that you have done and are doing, Lord, and for the examples that you left us to read. And Father, I pray for every person that's listening, that's feeling convicted by something we said, whether it's a person they need to share their grievance with or there's something in their heart that they feel like they haven't given to you, or they feel like they've given up on something, but they want to keep persisting with faith and keep praying, Lord, I pray for them to have such peace right now, Lord, to sense your presence and your grace, that, that you are kind, you are gracious, and you are patient. I pray that you help them, Lord, for whatever that thing is that they're feeling convicted about, that you help them to, to give it to you, Lord, not to set their mind on that thing, but to set their mind on you, Jesus. Now pray that all of us would, would walk away from this seeking you more, Lord, seeing you for who you really are and sharing that with others as well. In Jesus name, amen.
[00:43:04] Speaker B: Amen. Thank you so much for being on this episode with us.
[00:43:07] Speaker A: Thanks for having me.
[00:43:08] Speaker B: Of course. And thank you guys for listening. We hope to see you in the next episode. I always say see you and they're not going to see us, but we'll see you in the next episode.
