Bible in A Year: Episode 31

Intro • 00:00
Welcome to Read the Bible in a Year with Matt and Hannah, a weekly podcast from Fairfax Bible Church where we explore scripture together, uncovering its themes and design patterns. We’re glad you’re here. Now, here are your hosts, Matt and Hannah.

Matt • 00:15
And we’re back. Episode number 31. This is Read the Bible in a Year with Matt and Hannah. I’m Matt, and she is Hannah. Hannah, how are you?

Hannah • 00:25
I’m good. How are you?

Matt • 00:27
Uh so I know I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking Matt must have a fun fact or connection to the number 31

Hannah • 00:36
I I would imagine that you do.

Matt • 00:39
I do not, sadly.

Hannah • 00:40
That’s shocking.

Matt • 00:42
I can’t think of any uh athlete. I can’t think of like any like fun record. I can’t think of anything fun about the number 31. So maybe this is it. Maybe the way that people will get excited about the number one, the number 31 in generations to come will be because episode 31 of the podcast was that good.

Hannah • 01:05
That is a bold statement.

Matt • 01:08
Uh it’s it’s a wish, it’s a hope, it’s a dream. Of course, of course. I don’t know.

Hannah • 01:14
31 remind the only thing that comes to mind is Baskin Robbins.

Matt • 01:19
Isn’t that 32? Oh, no. Is it

Hannah • 01:22
It’s 31.

Matt • 01:24
Is that okay well I might how many flavors is Baskin Robbins? I’m looking this up. Flavors is Baskin Robins.

Hannah • 01:35
It has to be, I think.

Matt • 01:36
I’m looking it up. 31, there it is! Yes, you are correct. Hannah Hannah Flavor.

Hannah • 01:40
It’s in the name like the 31 is in the name. It’s hidden in there.

Matt • 01:44
Oh, this is so good. Yes, according to uh Google AI results, Baskin Robbins has created over 1,400 total flavors in its history. But Oh. Only 31 are available in the shop on any given day.

Hannah • 02:00
Oh. Huh.

Matt • 02:02
I love it. Okay, then I will I resend my earlier statement. And this is the Baskin Robbins episode.

Hannah • 02:09
Huh. I knew that it was thirty-one flavors, but I didn’t know that that actually meant that they only ever carried thirty-one flavors at once.

Matt • 02:16
That’s what it means. I think that’s their thing. Yeah. And I love that for them. Now I was confused because there’s a uh I think there’s a song there’s a song called 32 Flavors. Oh Yeah, I knew it by the singer called Alana Davis, but it turns out it was originally written and sung by a singer called Ani DeFranco. This like goes back to the 90s. And so I think I thought the Baskin Robbins was 32 flavors.

Hannah • 02:39
Uh-huh.

Matt • 02:40
So I was ready for the next episode to drop a little 32 flavors, but then you dropped some knowledge on me, and it’s 31 flavors, and that makes it better.

Hannah • 02:50
Great.

Matt • 02:51
So next week it can just be uh Alana Davis, it can be that episode.

Hannah • 02:55
Okay. Yeah.

Matt • 02:56
All right. Welcome to Ice Cream Talk with Matt McCann.

Hannah • 03:01
Formerly known as Coffee Talk with We’ve graduated.

Matt • 03:06
No more coffee, just ice cream. No, I’m kidding. No, we don’t talk about well, we do talk about coffee. We don’t talk about ice cream that much.

Hannah • 03:13
No.

Matt • 03:14
But we do talk about the Bible, so we should do that.

Hannah • 03:18
Good idea.

Matt • 03:19
Yeah. All right. So uh where have we been since last we discussed? We had to take a little week off there because uh you had some family commitments and I had some stuff too, but we’re back for today. So uh what has happened since last we talked?

Hannah • 03:33
Well, we are gonna cover Matthew twenty-one through the end of the book, which is just a few chapters. What’s that like left?

Matt • 03:40
Seven chapters.

Hannah • 03:41
Uh what are there? Twenty Eight, twenty-nine?

Matt • 03:44
I mean in the gospels, a lot happens, even in just one chapter.

Hannah • 03:47
Yeah. Yeah.

Matt • 03:49
All right, it is a lot. Yeah, we can do it though.

Hannah • 03:51
But yeah, the uh chapter 21 starts with Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. So we see that final scene of his um you know last days and being on trial. and crucified and resurrected. And then we basically restart the story again with Mark, but from a different perspective. And so we’ll go through the whole book of Mark today as well. Okay In our reading, we technically read a few chapters of John, but we’ll save that for next week, just to make a nice clean transition.

Matt • 04:26
Yes, I I approve of that plan. Plus John’s very different than the other gospels. So it’s very it’s Very different conversation that we’ll have. Yeah.

Hannah • 04:36
And you’ll notice that John usually in in our Protestant Bibles is after Luke. This is the only one change up that the reading plan for the New Testament makes for order. And the purpose is to keep Luke and Acts next to each other because they have the same author. So his two works are meant to be read together, you know, as a two part uh you know series or whatever.

Matt • 05:03
Godfather part one and Godfather part two. Yeah. Of course. I’m tracking.

Hannah • 05:09
Yep.

Matt • 05:10
Yeah.

Hannah • 05:11
So we’ll we’ll skip to John first.

Matt • 05:13
I’ve never seen part three. As far as I know, it doesn’t exist, but never mind.

Hannah • 05:18
I I wouldn’t have known anyway.

Matt • 05:20
All right. So last we were in Matthew, we talked a lot about the Sermon on the Mount, um some of the some of the teachings, uh a lot of the sort of moral teaching. That Jesus does. Love your neighbor as yourself, turn the other cheek, Lord’s Prayer, all of those things. Somebody did bring up, I think it was Casey Maddox, a gold star to our friend Casey Maddox, that there were there was a parable. that he was wrestling with a little bit. And I think the one that he had in mind was the parable The Talents, which is in Matthew chapter twenty-five. Um so I think we want to go through that uh a little bit and sort of draw out some themes, but I think first uh I think you have a good word for us on How to how to read parables, what parables are actually doing for us, and kind of the right way to get our head in the space of reading parables.

Hannah • 06:09
Yeah Yeah, so parables are not primarily moral teachings. They’re commentary on what Jesus is actually doing in the narrative to bring the kingdom of God. And I think, you know, parables can as a secondary purpose give us some moral or ethical teaching, but that’s not what they’re primarily intended to do.

Matt • 06:31
Right.

Hannah • 06:31
And so a lot of times Uh just in our, I don’t know, modern Western perspective, we tend to pull these out of the context and we want just a nice little nugget of some moral or ethical teaching that we can take away as application. And so we’re pulling these stories out of their intended context.

Matt • 06:56
So before you get into that, so I grew up reading, probably you did too, things like Aesops Fables, um, yeah, so some of those old stories, and they would often end with, and the moral of the story is Yeah. you know, p pick up your socks or or whatever it is. And so I feel like maybe what you’re telling me is Aesop would not have uh jived with the parables as their sort of Designed in scripture.

Hannah • 07:22
Well that might be why we tend to want to pull a moral teaching out of these parables, because that’s the background that we come with is like Oh, the the tortoise and the hare. What’s the moral of the story? Slow and steady wins the race, you know.

Matt • 07:37
Go go, tortoise, go.

Hannah • 07:40
Um, and so if you grow up with those types of stories that teach a moral lesson. That’s what we maybe expect these parables to do.

Matt • 07:50
So, okay, so if they’re not doing that, tell me more about what they are doing.

Hannah • 07:54
Yeah, so they’re providing commentary on what Jesus is actually doing in the narrative. And they specifically are a form of indirect communication. Um they often are subversively challenging the reality of the listeners in the the narrative. So they’re designed to both conceal and reveal. So they’re concealing truths from the people that don’t have ears to hear or that um before Jesus is ready. before it’s his time to go to the cross, he conceals what he’s trying to say from people who are trying to, you know, hunt him down or whatever or or find a critique for him to put him on trial.

Matt • 08:42
Yeah. Now I do find myself thinking, why would why wouldn’t Jesus want to be understood?

Hannah • 08:50
Well, he does for those who have ears to hear. That’s the the reveal part of the conceal and reveal.

Matt • 08:57
And how do I know if I have ears to hear?

Hannah • 09:00
Well Are you seeking to put Jesus on trial?

Matt • 09:05
Well no.

Hannah • 09:05
If so, you probably don’t have ears to hear. Okay.

Matt • 09:09
Okay, I can receive this.

Hannah • 09:10
But if you’re if you are intrigued by these weird stories that Jesus is telling and you’re uh, you know, I’m I’m putting myself in the shoes of one of the original audience of of his parables, trying to seek out what he’s trying to say. It it pulls me in. And indirect communication is a way of sneaking in through the back window. You know. If you barge through the front door, you’re gonna put your guard up. Um and so uh What Jesus does a lot is flip upside down all of our expectations. And when you do that aggressively and directly, people will block. that they’ll they’ll put up walls. Yeah. So uh parables are a really strategic form of communication to sneak around those walls that people put up uh when you’re trying to flip upside down their expectations.

Matt • 10:09
Yeah, so I I run the risk of uh uh put putting somebody out here a little bit, but my wife Christy If she were here, she’d be like, the parables, they’re a little much for me sometimes. Why can’t he just say what he means? Like, tell me what I’m supposed to do. Tell me what I’m supposed to know. Um and I and most of the time I’m like, yeah, yeah, come on. It’s a parable. It’s cool. It’s fun. It’s this, it’s that. And she’s like, uh, it’s too hard. And I gotta say, sometimes I’m sympathetic to her because sometimes I’m I mean, there’s still parables in there. I’m like, I I don’t really understand what’s happening here.

Hannah • 10:40
Yeah. Yeah. So I think that there was maybe a video about parables this past week or uh recently. And um Bible Project highlights a few main themes that parables are usually focused on. The first is the surprising arrival of the kingdom. Like what is surprising about the way that the kingdom is arriving. The second is the upside-down value system of the kingdom, like how social and economic status are uh kind of flipped upside down compared to what the world views status as and Jesus’ invitation to outsiders um in that upside down kingdom. And then the third are what are called crisis parables, where These um stories are about the crisis moment, the the moment of decision or reckoning for Israel specifically in the story. And so if and that’s what the parable of the talents, it’s one of those crisis of decision parables. And if we try to turn those stories into some theological teaching I think that’s where we get kind of confused because Casey’s comment was about how the third uh servant who just held on to the talent and didn’t multiply it. Um he didn’t like just throw it away or uh, you know, spend it recklessly. Um, so why does he get punished so severely? And that because that would be us reading it as a moral teaching of like What if I was in his shoes? Um, but that is taking the story, I think, out of the narrative context.

Matt • 12:28
Okay, tell me more.

Hannah • 12:30
So the narrative context of that parable, in at least in Matthew, Jesus has just entered Jerusalem and he’s been confronting Israel’s religious leaders. So chapter twenty uh twenty-three has the seven woes to the scribes and the Pharisees.

Matt • 12:46
He laments those are scary. Those scare me to death, yes.

Hannah • 12:50
Well Yeah.

Matt • 12:52
Why does that scare you? Uh I mean we’re a little parenthetical here. Um but s as somebody who’s really good at going to church, uh I’m I’m I that’s a skill set for me. I’ve done that since I was and as somebody who has a leadership role in a church I do get frightened that sometimes the effort is to make people good at going to church and instead of really knowing and understanding Jesus as Messiah and King. And Jesus’ point of view on that on performative religion and adding to um the simple elements of following him Uh, he is very severe about that. And so as as somebody who’s trusted with some responsibility in that area, I just go I just go yikes every time I read through those and my my very humble prayer is Lord I I I don’t want to just shepherd people into being good at going to church. I really do want to shepherd and lean people into following you more closely and fully. And uh so yeah, so I boof I get the shudders every time I read Matthew 23.

Hannah • 13:52
Yeah. Yeah, uh Jesus definitely recognizes the um the corruption of the temple system, of the religious leaders, and he is very aggressively directing these woes and judgment, predictions of judgment. And and all of these parables, right, concentrated right in this section, are for the most part directed at the religious leaders. And I think including this um parable of the talents. Yeah. So the The idea is that um Jesus being Israel’s returning king, um coming returning to Jerusalem. His arrival in Jerusalem exposes whether those entrusted with God’s purposes have been faithful, specifically the temple leaders that have been entrusted with caring for Israel, caring for the Torah, caring for the temple. And Jesus in the narrative has just accused them repeatedly of failing to produce fruit. And so Matthew is presenting this parable along with a few others in the immediate context of Jesus coming back, expecting those who have a lot of responsibility and wait for caring for Israel, the leaders of Israel. not producing fruit, not upholding the responsibility that they’ve been given by God. So I think there is something we can Take away from these parables, but not without first understanding who Jesus was directing these parables to or speaking about in the narrative context. and the crisis of decision that is being presented before Israel specifically in the narrative and even more particularly Israel’s religious leaders.

Matt • 16:00
Yeah. Yeah, you know, this this parable is often presented as, you know, if you have a lot of talent, if you are a good singer or a good artist or a good business person. You should be using those talents in the church to serve Jesus and that type of thing. And I mean, those things are probably true, but that’s not really what Jesus is talking about in the in the parable. So yeah, and it’s one of those things where Uh I think because we’re used to an Aesop’s Fable kind of thing, we we want everything to have a moral. We we tend to be moralistic uh media consumers. Um, so I think that’s a little bit of a handicap. And also just some of the context, the political, socioeconomic context there. We have to dig for it. And so since it’s not right there on the surface for us, we may not capture some of that meeting or some of that meaning in a casual reading. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Alright, but yeah, it’s a it’s a good word. Now uh I still think there’s a strong Even with some of those layers that some of us may miss, I do think that the main point here is like, okay, Lord, you’ve trusted me. Even if I only have a little bit of what you’ve shared with me, I do wanna be faithful to that. I wanna be I wanna invest that. I wanna trust. I wanna be I I don’t want you to hear, hey, what happened? I want to hear, well done, good and faithful servant. And so to be pursuing that in whatever context I live in in the here and now. I still think is a call that we should be keen to answer. So I still yeah, even with all that, I think there’s a word for us here. Um and so I think it we do well to think about what’s my talent? What does God trust me with and how can I give that back to him and be faithful with it.

Hannah • 17:38
Yeah, and and maybe s I would s maybe not I don’t know, talents I guess you could say you’re using your gifts or your talents. for the kingdom, for the mission of Jesus. But I I would broaden it specifically to are you engaging, actively participating? in what Jesus’ mission is and what the kingdom is, a little more than just like, are you using your talents to the best of your abilities? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Matt • 18:08
And I think it We should say talent in the text here doesn’t mean talent or skill. Talent is a financial term. Money, yeah. Yeah, okay. Yeah.

Hannah • 18:15
So Yeah.

Matt • 18:17
All right, parable the talents. Uh cool. Why don’t we keep going? I think there’s a one other idea that we want to pull out of Matthew before we turn the page here, and that is his ride into Jerusalem. Which is I think we have to go back a chapter right. That is before oh it’s in chapter twenty-one. Uh okay, so there’s a story of the triumphal entry in I think all of the gospels, but Matthew’s got a couple interesting notes on this one. So Tell us what we’re looking at here.

Hannah • 18:45
Yeah, so it’s really interesting that Jesus rides into the city on a donkey. Um so Israel’s King is how Jesus is being presented here. He’s arriving into the city, but he is being presented as not the kind of king that Jerusalem expects. So this idea of a king riding into a city, it was common in the Greco-Roman worlds, like a victorious ruler or a general would often be ceremonially welcomed into a city. with crowds meeting him at the city gates and celebrating their victory. And so with Jesus’ entry, the crowds line his route, spread out, you know, leaves and and clothing. down in front of him. They uh acclaim him publicly, but Matthew is subverting this expected image. by having Jesus ride in on a donkey. And explicitly we are seeing um a quote from Zechariah 9. Um Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your king is coming to you, righteous, and having salvation is he. humble and mounted on a donkey, on a coat colt, the foal of a donkey. And then the next verse, verse 10 in Zechariah 9, is also relevant. because it says, I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem. The battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace to the nations. So that verse is, I think, referring to the unexpected, humble uh nature that’s not uh a military victory when that verse says I will cut off the chariot And the war horse. You know, that’s um and and speaking peace is definitely uh relates to Jesus’ humble non-military victory um as the Messiah.

Matt • 21:01
Yeah There’s like a little kind of note here. Matthew’s being a little bit um subversive, I guess. Yeah. Where he’s like, you he’s not what you expected, but you should have expected this. You should have expected. Zachariah told you how this was going to be, and you just blew past it. Or it didn’t say what you wanted it to say, and so you just ignored it. Or you you weren’t even listening to Zachariah. But Zachariah told you how this was gonna be And uh yeah, so it’s a nice little subversive note there. I dig it.

Hannah • 21:30
Yeah. I also uh noticed that this might be recalling Solomon’s coronation.

Matt • 21:37
Okay.

Hannah • 21:38
Which makes it uh gives uh more of a connection uh of Jesus as David’s true heir. So when Solomon is publicly installed as David’s successor in 1 Kings chapter 1, David commands that Solomon be placed on the king’s mule.

Matt • 21:58
Ooh, oh. I’ve never noticed that before.

Hannah • 22:01
Yeah. First Kings 1, 32 to 40.

Matt • 22:05
Is a mule different than a donkey?

Hannah • 22:07
Um I guess maybe, but it’s not a war horse.

Matt • 22:12
Yeah. I’m not up on my animal husbandry, so I don’t know how all the terms work here.

Hannah • 22:17
Me either. But I think it’s uh a a humble animal uh in the same category as a turkey.

Matt • 22:25
Okay All right, uh that I’m gonna make a little mental note, I’m gonna explore that. I think you might be onto something. Great. I love that. Um so the rest of the book is Jesus uh his final week uh and more arguments with the religious leaders, his uh arrest, uh well the last supper, and then his arrest, his crucifixion, uh trial and And then the resurrection. We’re going to come back to that story in future gospels, but why don’t we go ahead and turn the page to Mark? Mark is Mark’s interesting. Uh l in some ways Mark is very similar to Matthew. It’s some of the same stories and some narrative, but in some ways it’s very different. Mark has a different writing tempo. Um there’s a lot I think this came up in the uh comments. There’s a lot of and immediately there’s a lot of action words in Mark, so he’s moving at a little bit different pace. And Mark has a different sort of um argument that he’s going for. If Matthew wants to s if Matthew wants you to see that Jesus is the king Mark certainly wants to exalt the person of Jesus, but in a s in a slightly different way. Do I have the read of this correctly? Or correct? Yeah. Okay. So Mark opens the book by saying, This is Jesus, the Son of God, or this is the good news about Jesus, the Son of God. And then everything is to show that Jesus is the Son of God, that he’s. um that he he’s human, but he has divine authority and power. And so there’s there’s a lot of stories about him having authority, about him saying things to demons and the weather and uh things and and there’s a response to that. So yeah, it’s it’s a very different it’s very different than Matthew in some ways, even if it’s a lot of the same stories and uh examples that we saw.

Hannah • 24:13
Yeah. Yeah. And even a lot of the same stories are organized a little bit differently, um, because maybe Mark is trying to emphasize different things by putting two different stories next to each other. Just like Matthew’s kind of doing the same thing with his design. Yeah.

Matt • 24:29
Yeah, it’s sort of like you’re looking at the same picture, whereas Matthew says, Hey, look at the things over in this corner. And Mark is like, oh, look at the things over in this area over here. Or Matthew wants you to notice all the reds and the greens. And Mark is like, let’s take a look at the blues. Like it’s he’s directing your eye to different places in some subtle ways.

Hannah • 24:49
Yeah. Yeah.

Matt • 24:50
Now one of the things that you noticed is um sort of uh this kind of inverse of the pattern that we saw in Leviticus about the the sort of boundary line between clean and unclean. That’s marked very brightly in the Old Testament. I think we talked about that when we talked about Leviticus, and Jesus is making that boundary a little bit fuzzy. Or he has a very different fuzzy. So uh help help us understand what’s happening here.

Hannah • 25:22
Yeah, in Leviticus we read all of these ritual purity laws where proximity to death and disease uh defiles a person, makes you unclean. And uh Jesus is doing really the total opposite. He uh enters into unclean sp uh spaces, he touches unclean people, he restores them, and instead of impurity spreading to Jesus by him touching these things, his Jesus’ holiness and life spread outward to others Which is really cool and and a total reversal. It’s not even just a fuzzing of the lines, right? So in chapter one, uh we see the leper coming to him. asking to make him clean and Jesus stretches out his hand and touches him and immediately, Mark’s favorite word, immediately the leprosy left him and he was made clean.

Matt • 26:20
I love that story. I love that story. I and I love how the leper is like, if you will, you can make me clean. And Jesus says, I will be clean. Oh, I love that. Jesus’ heart is to make us clean. Oh, he’s willing to make us clean. Oh, I love that. It’s so encouraging to me.

Hannah • 26:37
Yeah. Yeah, and then chapter five has a couple stories. The first one is um the the lesion

Matt • 26:49
Yeah. Yeah.

Hannah • 26:52
Yeah, yeah. But just to to key in on all the unclean aspects of that story. The like Mark mentions I think three times that the man lives in the tombs, which is a very unclean Place ritually impure.

Matt • 27:11
Yeah, lot of death happening.

Hannah • 27:14
Yeah. Yeah. And then sp like uh demons are unclean.

Matt • 27:19
Yep, for sure.

Hannah • 27:20
And then um at the end of the story, the the lesion is cast into the pigs, which are very unclean per Jewish uh consideration. So That whole story too, uh Mark is making uh a very obvious point that Jesus does not avoid the unclean things, the broken things, the broken people. He enters and heals those people. And yeah, that’s a really cool Reversal. Maybe not. That one wasn’t quite as obvious to me, but I think the devotional section pointed that one out as being uh unclean versus holiness, Jesus’s holiness spreading and healing.

Matt • 28:03
Yeah, yeah. We had a question from Kim Nelson, which basically what’s the deal with the pigs? And it’s a great question. I think you’ve helped us see one of the key things with that is it’s kind of loaded with markers of clean versus unclean. Um and so uh so there’s that so it’s that’s in the tombs. They’re in Gentile territory, thus the herd of pigs, if they were in sort of classic Israel, there would not have been that. So Jesus is out among the Gentiles. That would be a signal to us. Um, yes, the demons uh and the demons talk to Jesus and acknowledge him as the Son of God. So there’s a lot there. uh so that markers. Uh there’s also this interesting thing, um you know, Mark uh Matt this story is also in Matthew Um but Mark has a little bit different detail because Mark tells us how many pigs there are. Oh yeah, so Mark says that there’s a when he after uh the the le the demon says that there were legion were many, legion is a thousand. I think I have that right. Oh, okay. And then it goes and it fills up all the pigs. So the conjecture, I read an article by John Piper about this so I could understand a little bit better. So John Piper is speculating here. It’s probably it’s it’s a full herd of pigs that’s probably about a thousand pigs, which is amazing to think about. About so that’s a lot of pigs. And then uh, and and so of course we know we’re in Gentile territory, and so when the demons ask him, Hey, uh, don’t destroy us. You can. You have the right to destroy us, but please don’t destroy us. So can you send us into the pigs? And Jesus is like, sure. Go into the pigs. And then the pigs run right off into the sea. So, and the the sea is this classic hyperlink to chaotic waters and the abyss. So the demons don’t want to be destroyed yet. And yet when Jesus casts them into the pigs, they run off into the sea where they are destroyed. So Piper had sort of pointed out that so they think they’re getting away with something by going into a sort of lesser creature, so to speak, and a dirty, unclean creature. But even then Jesus is able to uh see that they get the condemnation that they deserve. And it’s also interesting that then we see that the human is is restored. He’s in his right mind. He’s He’s clear-minded. He’s he’s at Piper likes to project that he actually got married and had kids. He Piper admits, yeah, he’s Piper’s a funny guy in some ways. He’s like, I know this is just speculation, but I like to think that he blah blah blah. So it’s funny And then Piper really has this interesting note, sort of going back to one of our favorite themes, and that is the choice. So now that these townspeople can see and get a sense of who Jesus is, what’s their response? Do they embrace him? Do they say, oh, hey, thank you for doing this great thing. Thank you for healing this man that’s been so scary and terrorizing to us. Thank you for making this situation right. No. They say, uh, could you leave now? And they reject him and they ask him to go away because he’s a threat to their order or prosperity or something. And so Piper even says, like, hey, even in a moment like this, we face a choice. And what are you gonna do? Are you gonna choose Your idea of good order, your idea of prosperity, or are you going to listen to and follow Jesus? They made their choice. And Mark, he wants us to see that Mark hopes we make a different choice and that we embrace Jesus as the Son of God. So Yeah. So it’s a r yeah, really interesting question, Kim. I’m so glad you brought it up.

Hannah • 31:28
Hmm. That’s a interesting observation. about like yeah, why do the towns people ask him to leave? I guess he uh they might not know what happened. They just know that he caused a thousand pigs to run into the ocean. And he’s shaking up their town and mi creating chaos. That’s maybe from their perspective, they don’t see what’s really happening.

Matt • 31:54
Maybe. I mean they would have seen the person that used to be crazy who’s now sitting there in his right mind. And I think they would have I would think that they’d be happy about that.

Hannah • 32:03
Yeah. Yeah. More b a lot of people are more comfortable with what’s familiar, even if it’s not as Good.

Matt • 32:11
Maybe. I’m also kinda wondering if they’d rather have a thousand pigs and one crazy person than one healthy restored person in zero pigs.

Hannah • 32:20
Yeah.

Matt • 32:21
And maybe Jesus is showing us what the economy of God looks like. Yeah, right. Yeah. Interesting question. And another example where and then and this isn’t a parable, but I think we still use some of the parable thinking, because there’s some there’s some context there um that the reader, original reader, would have understood that’s a little bit distant for us. I don’t raise pigs in my backyard. You know, I it’s that’s not a important part of my economy. Uh other than I like ham and bacon and those things. But I just go to the store and buy them, right? I don’t have a herd of pigs in my backyard. So yeah. Yeah. Cool. Now another speaking of uh understanding Jesus. So the demons in our story understood Jesus, but Mark likes to point out that some of the people that you might think understand who Jesus is and get it. Struggle to get it.

Hannah • 33:12
Yeah. Yeah. Mark especially emphasizes the difficulty that Jesus’ 12 closest followers have with trying to understand him and his mission. Um I I took note of at least uh let’s see three, four, five, six, six different times that it like explicitly says or or implies that the disciples were confused.

Matt • 33:37
I mean if I had been there, it would be seven, eight, nine.

Hannah • 33:41
Oh, I’d be confused too. I probably didn’t even write all of them down. Those are just the ones that I that I wrote. So in um chapter six, uh towards uh uh the end I assume at least it’s uh verses fifty to fifty two. So I assume that’s what’s end of the chapter.

Matt • 33:57
By the way, it’d be amazing if the number was actually twelve.

Hannah • 34:01
What?

Matt • 34:02
Uh the number of times people are confused by him. It’d be amazing if the number was seven or twelve.

Hannah • 34:08
Yeah, it probably is. I just didn’t fully count. But

Matt • 34:12
I feel like we could ask Keris to check the math. Keris.

Hannah • 34:14
Yeah, she’ll she’ll run the math for us. Um so in this story, this is uh when Jesus is walking on the water. Uh right after they fed the either 5,000 or 4,000. I don’t remember which story comes before this. Who can count? But when the disciples saw him, they were terrified. And so Jesus says, it is I, take heart. And so when he gets into the boat, the wind ceases. And then it says, and they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves. But their hearts were hardened. So I think what this is saying is they didn’t understand that this miracle about the however many loaves to feed the four or five thousand. Um It’s five. The five thousand. So how many loaves is that? Five loaves?

Matt • 35:09
Uh five loaves, two fish.

Hannah • 35:11
And then the four thousand is seven loaves.

Matt • 35:13
Yes. And then he finishes with twelve basketfuls.

Hannah • 35:17
for one of them and he finishes with seven for the other. Correct. Okay. Yeah. And I think this one it’s twelve. Okay. All right. So we have all the numbers and the places there’s a lot of things. Yeah, so they didn’t understand that Jesus did a miracle with the loaves and how that revealed his power and authority and so that’s why they’re afraid. that he’s walking on the water or they don’t understand that he has the power to do that. I thought that was interesting. I hadn’t noticed that detail before. So that’s one example of them not understanding at least the extent of his power and authority at that point in the story. And then next chapter, chapter seven. Um let’s see, verses fourteen through eighteen. So and he called the people Um so and then the disciples ask him about this and he’s like, are you also without understanding? Could you imagine?

Matt • 36:34
I mean I having uh in the bathroom of my house being like, it’s another parable and I don’t understand.

Hannah • 36:44
Uh just the way that it’s asked is like, oh man. I wonder how Jesus was feeling. There was like a face palm involved in that.

Matt • 36:56
He is remarkably patient and we know this it’s one of the character But he does like get a little frustrated and exasperated sometimes. So

Hannah • 37:05
Okay, then another example, chapter eight, verses fifteen to twenty-one, so he tells the the parable of the leaven. um of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod. And then the disciples start discussing the fact that they have no bread. You know, oh Jesus, what you’re talking about that we don’t have bread. with this leaven and Jesus aware of this said, why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? So now this one I have to confusing parables.

Matt • 37:36
This one I’m squarely with Jesus. I mean I’m with Jesus anyway, but like this one I’m squarely with Jesus because he’s like, okay. Uh how many times do I have to show you guys, right? There’s gonna be bread. There’s gonna uh A loaf, a fish, a this, uh that, there’s gonna be bread.

Hannah • 37:53
Like, well he wasn’t actually talking about bread, he’s talking about uh he was telling this parable using leaven to explain how you know a little thing becomes much. Um yeah. So then even uh in verse 21 again he’s like, do you not yet understand?

Matt • 38:14
Yeah. Now in the meantime, there are people who clearly understand, or at least we get an indication that they do understand who Jesus is. We already mentioned the demons. um from chapter five. I think there’s a couple other examples of of demons. They understand who Jesus is. And then the first person uh in in the text to clearly say who Jesus is is the centurion who watches him die.

Hannah • 38:40
The first person?

Matt • 38:41
I think so. That’s what they say in the Bible project video. It’s consistent with my own reading of the son to say he’s a son of God.

Hannah • 38:50
Because like Peter says he’s the Messiah.

Matt • 38:53
True. Yes, excellent point. Yeah. But in terms of using the phrase that Mark uses at the very beginning of the book, the good news about Jesus, the Son of God. The first person to say that about him is the Centurion who’s standing there when he dies.

Hannah • 39:07
Yeah. Yeah. They’re uh and Matthew does a very similar thing, but Mark Is emphasizing these unexpected people, outsiders, non-Israelites who recognize Jesus as having authority, being the Son of God. Yeah.

Matt • 39:25
Yeah. And Mark does such a beautiful job of playing with that insider outsider theme with all the things about the Gentiles and the clean and the unclean and and all of these things. So it’s a really beautiful picture. Kind of going back to the original call of Abraham is, you know, I’m gonna make you a great nation and then I’m gonna show you use you and your family to show the rest of the world how great I am. And you can see that that plan is starting to really come into its fullness in the person of Jesus. So because yes, he’s there for the people of Israel, but it’s his appeal and the response from the non-Israelite people to him is so interesting. So

Hannah • 40:02
Yeah.

Matt • 40:03
Yeah. Uh I think one more example from Mark. Well a couple more, but there’s one more in particular we want to pull out. Uh the fig tree.

Hannah • 40:13
Yeah.

Matt • 40:14
We love a good fig tree reference.

Hannah • 40:16
Oh, okay.

Matt • 40:18
I do.

Hannah • 40:19
There are a lot of references to fig trees, aren’t there?

Matt • 40:22
Oh yeah.

Hannah • 40:23
Yeah.

Matt • 40:23
Yeah, so uh this is another question from Kim Nelson. So Kim, thank you so much for all your great questions. Uh we’re looking at chapter 11, uh verse 12. And then verse 20, and then there’s a little part of the narrative. So Mark has this interesting thing where he makes like little sandwiches. So he’ll give you a thing. And then there’s sort of a story or a bit of narrative, and then he comes back to that thing with another story or example. And this is a good one. So in chapter 11, verse 12, Jesus goes up to a tree. Uh let me read this just so I get it right here. It says, On the following day when they came from Bethany, he was hungry, and seeing in the distance a fig tree and leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs, and he said to it, May no one ever eat fruit from you again. And his disciples heard it And then there’s one of the stories where he goes and cleanses the temple. So he goes and does that, and then comes back. And then as they passed by, I’m picking up on verse 20, as they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. And Peter remembered and said to him, Rabbi, look, the fig tree that you cursed has withered. And Jesus answered them, Have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be taken up and thrown into the sea, and does not doubt in its heart But believes that what he has what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. So neat little sandwich, fig tree, clean out the temple, back to the fig tree. So

Hannah • 41:54
So I I think that that design is intentional and I think Mark is setting those two stories next to each other. um to help us understand what the story of the fig tree means.

Matt • 42:08
Yeah, totally agree.

Hannah • 42:10
Yeah.

Matt • 42:10
Yeah. So I we should say a little note here. Now fig trees are fairly common in this part of the world, at least at that time. So You’re walking around, a little hungry, grab it off a fig tree. But fig trees are also a s uh connected with Eden uh sort of a little Eden moment, sort of a a little Eden design pattern is when you see vine and fig tree uh put together. A little more in the Old Testament than in the New Testament, but when we see a fig tree We’re we’re thinking about Eden and that new creation moment here. So Jesus goes up to the tree and it’s leafy, but it’s not fruitful. So it looks good. It looks like it should have something. It’s beautiful to look at, but it’s not serving its intended purpose. It doesn’t have fruit. The point of a fruit Fruit tree of a fig tree is to bear fruit so that we can eat it. Now we are told that it’s not in season so Hard to know exactly what to make of that, but I think that thing where it looks good, it’s leafy. There should be something here. It’s nice to look at. But it doesn’t actually serve me any purpose because there’s no fruit. So I think that’s really interesting. And then the next thing that we see is he goes and he goes into the temple. And it looks good, but this is not bearing fruit. What’s the fruit that’s being born here? It’s like it’s vendors and commercial lenders and people are being ripped off. And people are being prevented from going into the temple to pray and make their sacrifice by these money changers and vendors. And the religious leaders are looking at this and not doing anything about it. So Jesus cleans it up and it’s a big brew, ha ha. And then when he goes back out, then they notice they’re like, oh hey, that fig tree. So it’s kind of pointing back. It’s like, oh hey, yeah, when something’s not fruitful, we get rid of it. Yeah. And so it’s it’s a really interesting little design sort of sandwich there.

Hannah • 44:03
Yeah. Yeah, and this imagery of the fig tree was rooted in the Old Testament prophets as well. So the prophets uh f a number of times portray God coming to Israel looking for fruit but finding none. Yeah. Uh and and the fig tree is mentioned explicitly. So Jeremiah 8. 13 has a very similar image, Micah 7, 1 through 2. and Hosea nine ten are all some examples where Israel um is symbolized as a fig Um or God comes looking for fruit, but the there is no fruit on on the fig tree or the fruit tree mentioned in those those verses. Yeah.

Matt • 44:49
Yeah. And when he comes back to it, picking up in verse twenty, where Jesus says the type of fruit he is looking for, he’s looking for faith, he is looking for trust, and he specifically mentions the idea of forgiving others. that there’s this graciousness and extension of mercy and not holding grudges. This is the fruit that he is looking for, and he’s not finding it when he goes to the Jewish people when he goes into the temple. So um so yeah, it’s a sobering story. It’s a shocking story. And I think we’re supposed to be shocked. And we’re even supposed to be a little bit, poor free, poor tree, what did the tree do wrong? But Jesus is using it that to show that hey, if you’re not gonna bear fruit, you’re of no use to me.

Hannah • 45:29
Yeah, right. Yeah. Yeah, I think this is another like reckoning moment. What, you know, we talked about those parables, this like a crisis of reckoning. Yeah. Uh all related to this theme of decision. And at this point You know, Jesus has arrived, you’re not bearing fruit. This is the the time of reckoning, of judgment. Yeah.

Matt • 45:50
And I think the idea that it’s leafy but not fruitful tells us something. You can look good. Sure. You can look like you’re a happenin’ tree. Um you can look religious. You can wear the right clothes, sing the right songs, have the right bumper stickers, like all the things. You can be leafy. but not fruitful and God’sn’t he’s not into leafy. He wants fruitful. Yeah.

Hannah • 46:14
Yeah.

Matt • 46:15
Yeah. So excellent question, Kim. Thank you so much. Uh I think one more gold star. Can I pack can I give out one more gold star? Sure. My friend Casey Maddox, uh a really salient point about how Mark concludes his gospel. very different uh than we see in the other gospels, very different than you would expect if you were sort of a casual reader. Uh for one thing, and I know you want to uh dig into this a little bit more, in the original uh account of this the ending is very abrupt. The women go into the tomb, it’s empty. Story stops right there. And later we in in our versions we have a sort of a a addendum there. So we see there’s a little bit more of the story. And there’s probably a note in your text that says that this was added in um that you know that narrative was added in futures. But as best we understand, Mark’s original one, the one that would have circulated first, has that cut-off ending. But also, uh, there are no men mentioned as witnesses to the resurrection in Mark’s account. It is just that group of women. That’s really interesting. That would have been um like if you’re trying to persuade a first century group of people that this amazing thing had happened. You would not have used a group of women as your prime witnesses.

Hannah • 47:28
Yeah. Yeah. Women couldn’t be uh eyewitness, they couldn’t give eyewitness testimonies like from a legal perspective.

Matt • 47:35
Yeah.

Hannah • 47:36
Yeah.

Matt • 47:37
Yeah, so it’s very counterintuitive. Uh l Mark’s definitely doing something intentional because he’s he’s using very unlikely people. to be sort of the s the star witnesses to this really, really significant account.

Hannah • 47:51
Yeah. Right.

Matt • 47:53
Yeah

Hannah • 47:54
Yeah, and I think that Mark’s ending is also very strategic. Like it the original, uh the oldest evidence that we have is that uh Mark chapter sixteen ends after verse eight. Um and if that is what Mark originally ended it with. this like huge cliffhanger. I think that is um a strategy that aligns with this decision theme. Yeah right like now you the reader What are you gonna decide? Will you recognize Jesus? Are you going to tremble in fear? Or what are you gonna do next? Yeah. Even when, you know, this story seems to end here, this is this is just the beginning of the story and and we’re, you know, carrying it on and we have to make a decision as well. So I think that’s uh an intentional strategy that Mark makes to end at this cliffhanger.

Matt • 48:50
Yeah. Yeah, it’s it’s really compelling storytelling.

Hannah • 48:54
Yeah.

Matt • 48:55
Yeah. Right. Good job, Mark. Yeah. Awesome. Well that’s Marco. I mean, I feel like we ran we rushed through. No, Mark is a shorter book. Um we hit the highlights here. So we’ll sink our teeth into John next episode, which will be really interesting.

Hannah • 49:08
Yeah. And then we’ll have Luke as well to finish off any of the like synoptic stuff we haven’t gotten to talk about yet.

Matt • 49:16
Yeah, Dr. Luke. Yeah, cool. Uh anything else you want to circle back to on Mark?

Hannah • 49:21
No, I think we covered all the high points that I that stood out to me this time around.

Matt • 49:26
Yeah, fascinating read. Good job. Well let me pray first and then we’ll we’ll dismiss. Uh Heavenly Father, your word is so rich and so full of details and nuance and things that even after many, many readings, we don’t always understand. But Lord, we know that your heart is for us to know you, to understand you, to seek after you, to trust you. Uh and so Lord, thank you for showing us in your word that we can trust you, even when there are pieces that are hard for us to understand or respond to, or not quite sure. uh what to do with that we can trust you Lord you love to make the unclean clean you love to bring the lonely into families you love to Heal the sick and fix the broken. And Lord, we are all of those things. So thank you so much for your mercy and your kindness toward us. Lord Jesus, we celebrate you as a river. of life, bringing out your healing for the nations, including us. And so Lord, you are worthy of praise for this. Thank you for showing us these examples in Mark. And even though there are pieces of this that maybe a little bit challenging for us to really understand as people who live in the 21st century in a part of the world that Mark would not have even been able to imagine. Lord, there’s still truth in this for us that can cause us to worship you. and trust you and give our devotion to you and we would do that. Um so we pray for our friends as they are digging through Mark and and through John, Lord, that you would make all of us people with eyes to see and ears to hear. Lord, we don’t want you to hide the truth from us. We want to know it. So that we can give you the worship and praise and devotion that you deserve. Thank you so much. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Hannah • 51:06
Amen.

Matt • 51:06
Amen. Thanks, Anna.

Hannah • 51:08
Thanks, Matt.