Bible in A Year: Episode 33

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 • 00:14
Okay, this is episode 33. Read the Bible in a year with Matt and Hannah. It is uh, well, as we’re recording this, it’s October. So I mean we started this journey way back in January. We’re now 33 episodes in. We are at the Kareem Abdul Jabbar episode for those of you who might like a jersey reference. Hannah has no idea what I’m talking about.

Hannah • 00:39
I don’t know who that is.

Matt • 00:40
Well, before your boy, Michael Jordan, he would have been in the conversation for the greatest basketball player of all time.

Hannah • 00:47
Okay.

Matt • 00:47
He’s not anymore.

Hannah • 00:50
Right.

Matt • 00:51
I assumed if he was before. Yeah, Mr. Jordan went to Chicago. No, he played in the Lakers back in the day. Your dad will know who Kareem Abdel Jabbar is.

Hannah • 00:59
My dad’s not a huge sports guy. Okay, he might know though.

Matt • 01:03
Your dad listens to the podcast. Uh Mr. Smearsnyder, if you would like to illuminate your daughter on who Karim Abdul Jabar is.

Hannah • 01:14
He he might not know. I you know.

Matt • 01:17
Oh, okay. Um other update before we get into Things about the Bible, because we’re here to talk about the Bible. I have a new coffee maker.

Hannah • 01:25
Oh yeah?

Matt • 01:26
Yeah. I have a mocha pot.

Hannah • 01:28
Okay.

Matt • 01:29
Are you familiar with these?

Hannah • 01:30
Yeah, I am familiar. I think I’ve had maybe one cup of coffee made in a mocha pot before.

Matt • 01:36
Okay. I have seen them before. Um, but it turns out this is my mom’s. My mom bought this when we lived in Italy, and I I guess I thought it had disappeared, but my dad just brought it over one day. He’s not gonna use it, so he brought it over, so now it’s mine.

Hannah • 01:50
Wow.

Matt • 01:50
Yeah.

Hannah • 01:51
Have have you tried it yet?

Matt • 01:52
No, I just got it today. Uh and I’m gonna have to go through several YouTube lessons uh to figure out how to do this.

Hannah • 02:00
Yeah.

Matt • 02:01
Uh because it’s kind of like an old percolator, that kind of method. And apparently you use it to sort of go for the espresso experience. Right.

Hannah • 02:08
Yeah.

Matt • 02:09
Which I don’t do as often.

Hannah • 02:11
No. Me.

Matt • 02:12
But uh but it’s a new toy to play with. That’ll be fun.

Hannah • 02:15
Cool.

Matt • 02:16
Yeah.

Hannah • 02:16
Let me know how it goes.

Matt • 02:18
I am. I’m very excited. I would say I think I’m doing some stuff this weekend, so I might not be able to practice with it. But oh, holiday next week though. All day to practice. with my coffee maker. Oh okay. Alright that’s enough coffee talk. Although the the coffee that Japan uh that uh teris brought us from Japan pretty strong.

Hannah • 02:37
Yeah Yeah, I got to try the other she brought two types back, so I finally got to try the other type that she gave to you that you Brought me a serving of.

Matt • 02:49
I did, yeah.

Hannah • 02:50
So I tried that yesterday and it was very good. Just like the other one.

Matt • 02:54
Yeah, you are very precise. ‘Cause I asked you about this and you gave me very precise measurements. So I weighted out exactly what you told me to.

Hannah • 03:02
Yeah, you asked me how much I needed for for a serving of coffee and I said eighteen grams.

Matt • 03:08
Yeah. I think it was technically 19, but.

Hannah • 03:11
I uh it was eighteen when I measured it.

Matt • 03:14
Nice. See, I got it right. So awesome. Well, hey, in our Read Through the Bible, as we been going through so not only have we turned over to the New Testament and we’re working our way through the gospels and now we are to Luke Which is part of a two-part series, so Luke and Axe. So I think probably next episode we’ll talk about axe, but today we’re gonna talk about Luke. And Luke is uh I don’t what’s your experience reading Luke? I sometimes go up and down with Luke. Sometimes I love reading it, and sometimes I find it to be a little bit more challenging. What are what’s kind of your overall take on Luke?

Hannah • 03:48
I really like Luke. I like his perspective of the I I don’t know, his gospel account. It’s um S there’s something unique about it. I think that he has the most unique parables and stories of the three synoptic gospels. Uh-huh. So there’s a lot of unique um content.

Matt • 04:14
Yes. I struggle with some of the parables.

Hannah • 04:18
Sure.

Matt • 04:18
I like the parables, but some of them are like, I don’t know what we’re really doing here. There’s one in particular we want to uh pull out here uh in the course of our conversation. So I’ll be interested in your take on that one.

Hannah • 04:28
Yeah.

Matt • 04:29
But it’s a lot of parables. Much more. I mean, John doesn’t really use any parables.

Hannah • 04:35
No.

Matt • 04:36
Mark does a few. Matthew does a little bit, but but John takes it to a whole different level.

Hannah • 04:41
Yeah. Yeah, Luke takes it.

Matt • 04:43
Or Luke. I’m sorry, Luke takes it to a whole different level. Right. Yeah. So maybe it’s because I’m less of the parable experiencer. But I find Luke to be I mean it’s I don’t hate it. I’m not saying Luke is dirt. But it’s It’s sometimes a challenging read for me. I’m enjoying it this time around.

Hannah • 05:04
Some of the most unique or most well-known parables are found in Luke. Like the Good Samaritan is only in Luke. Um the prodigal son only in Luke.

Matt • 05:14
Yeah.

Hannah • 05:15
So there’s some some big hitters.

Matt • 05:17
Yeah, some of the greatest hits.

Hannah • 05:19
Mm-hmm. You know, the other unique thing about Luke is he is the only non-Jewish author of the whole Bible

Matt • 05:26
For real?

Hannah • 05:26
Yeah.

Matt • 05:28
I’m mentally doing the mess. So obviously, everybody in the Old Testament, Hebrew scripture, they would be Jewish. And I’m thinking my way through okay, so yeah, because we got Paul, we got Peter, we got John And then who I think whoever wrote Hebrews, we s it’s pretty good evidence that that writer would be Jewish. Okay.

Hannah • 05:51
The author of Hebrews is very clearly Super familiar with the Hebrew scriptures. So that’s the assumption. Okay. But you know, Luke is very familiar with the Hebrew scriptures too Yeah. Based on his allusions back to the Hebrew scriptures in his gospel account and and in Acts.

Matt • 06:11
Yeah, so we should probably talk about Luke for a second, uh, the actual author. So Luke, he has a two-part series. Acts is the other book, as we mentioned, and Luke was a companion of the Apostle Paul. And we see from uh writings and acts and then other mentions that Luke is a pretty consistent partner on Paul’s journeys around the Roman world. Uh and we’re also told that Luke is a doctor at some point.

Hannah • 06:39
Yeah.

Matt • 06:39
Which uh you know, I don’t know what uh first century Near Eastern med school looked like, but you know, Luke would have done that, so So that I think that makes it so he’s an educated man. He’s yeah, and I I think I’ve been told you would know this better than I would have, but I’ve told that Luke is the most sort of sophisticated Greek. of any of the gospels? Like the the language is is sort of up a level from some of the other writings in the New Testament?

Hannah • 07:07
I don’t know that.

Matt • 07:08
Okay.

Hannah • 07:09
Yeah.

Matt • 07:10
I may have just heard that somewhere, but I don’t have enough I don’t speak enough Greek. Well I s I I say that as if I speak any Greek at all. I have no knowledge to base that with. So all right, people forget I said that. Um well why don’t we get into it though? So Luca opens. You know, there’s the pretty familiar chapters one, two, and I think three, pretty familiar. We we cover them at Christmas.

Hannah • 07:33
Yeah.

Matt • 07:33
Um Uh one interesting note, there are sort of more characters in sort of Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus that we might see. The only other real description of the birth of Jesus is in Matthew. Um but Luke has the story of John the Baptist, and so John the Baptist’s parents, Zachariah and Elizabeth, we get a more full description of Mary sort of receiving the news and bringing being brought into God’s plan here. We get a little more window into Joseph, Jesus’ dad, um in that. But that really s sort of sets us up for I think something you and I are really interested in. And that is start picking up in chapter four. where Jesus begins his ministry. And I remember talking about this when we were going into when we were going through Isaiah that we were going to see this thread pick up in the New Testament. And here’s where I think we see that the brightest. So chapter four in Luke, where Jesus is given a scroll to read in the synagogue, and he reads from Isaiah 61. So tell us a little bit about what’s happening there.

Hannah • 08:32
Yeah, this story is also unique to Luke. And uh Matthew and Mark both include some stories of Jesus’ rejection in his own hometown. But here Luke specifically gives some more details about what passage he’s reading from, and Luke is also putting this at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. Um which cut that placement at the beginning of his ministry is Luke kind of telling us to interpret everything that Jesus subsequently does as Flowing from that announcement that he makes in the synagogue, or maybe like a fulfillment of what he is reading. Because when he reads uh from Isaiah 61, which is um it talks about the year of the Lord’s favor, which is the Jubilee, which we talked about in when we uh got to that in the old testament. Um Jesus says Uh this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. Which is a pretty bold thing to say.

Matt • 09:40
Well yeah, and they knew exactly what he was saying because they’re ready to to stone him. Yeah. They understood him to be claiming to be God, which they would have heard as blasphemy, and the punishment for that was was cap it would capital punishment. So that that’s Their response tells us that they understood exactly what Jesus was saying in that moment.

Hannah • 10:02
Yeah. Um and the other interesting thing, so it uh verse 18 of chapter four says um when Jesus is reading From the scroll it says the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. Um The the word anointed in in Hebrew is the same word that we get the name Messiah from. It’s the anointed one.

Matt • 10:27
Okay.

Hannah • 10:27
I think we talked about that.

Matt • 10:28
Yeah.

Hannah • 10:28
We yeah, we might have.

Matt • 10:29
I think so.

Hannah • 10:30
So there’s a bit of a connection there too. Like is he claiming he’s the anointed one, the spirit-filled anointed one? Um and then he’s also saying this inauguration of the year of Jubilee, but not just the year of Jubilee, but the ultimate Jubilee, even, is Being enacted through my ministry. And so then as Jesus uh goes on, as Luke tells us, he is healing the blind and the sick. He’s freeing people from uh you know uh unclean spirits. He’s forgiving people of their sins. He’s welcoming social outsiders, um, you know, eating with tax collectors and sinners, and he’s restoring people into community and relationship. And so All of that is embodying what Jesus envisions as the ultimate Jubilee or the this kind of Sabbath rest, which If we recall the Jubilee year, was when all debts were forgiven, all slaves were released. And so um this is, you know, Jesus is uh his release and his um freedom is way bigger. It’s cosmic. It’s a release from sin our bondage to sin and death and evil, uh, and uh and a freedom from those things. So Yeah, it’s really interesting that Luke places this at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, and then everything Jesus does kind of flows from that. good news to the poor and liberty to the captives, the year of the Lord’s favor that he announces in the synagogue.

Matt • 12:19
Yeah, it sort of reminds me, like if you read a Shakespeare play or work. often in the epilogue or sort of the first scene, there’ll be like a the first character that you will see. They will often be like Here’s kind of what’s going on, and here are the things that you should look for as you experience this play. Here’s our main character over here. Here’s what he is struggling with or wrestling with, and sort of here’s what this play is going to be about. Or, you know, if we w in contemporaries if we’re watching a movie, there’ll be some sort of like opening scene and they’ll usually uh right pretty clearly established the conflict that we’re gonna see or something like that. So kind of Luke’s doing that by saying, like, here’s the agenda for this book. Here’s you’ve already met the main character and we’ve seen that We’ve hit all of these Isaiah notes about kind of who he is in terms of like his his role as the anointed one, a messiah. Now we’re gonna put the words in his mouth. that really drive the connections that we want you to see going forward. Yeah, so I I love that.

Hannah • 13:21
Yeah.

Matt • 13:22
Yeah, uh Lu maybe Shakespeare was really familiar with Luke’s gospel. Maybe that’s where he got the technique from.

Hannah • 13:29
Do you think?

Matt • 13:31
It’s possible. I’m projecting a little bit. I’ll go look it up. means something more than just people who don’t have as much money as other people. It’s a little bit broader category than we might normally use the word when we’re talking about like socioeconomic classes or something like that. Am I right?

Hannah • 13:59
Uh yes, but I do think a big part of it is s uh social status, even if it’s not money related, but it’s about the outsiders. Um You know, I don’t know. Matthew in Matthew’s Gospel, the Sermon on the Mount says, blessed are the poor in spirit. Mm-hmm. Um, which is interesting ’cause in Luke’s version it just says, blessed are the poor. Yeah. Um so yeah. Yeah. Yeah, the Bible Project videos talk about how that is more about being an outsider, um, separated from the normal accepted social circles.

Matt • 14:42
Yeah, and I I think we certainly see that because Jesus has interactions with uh Gentiles. He has interactions with tax collectors. He has interactions with lepers. And I remember reading in Leviticus all the you know descriptors about people who had skin diseases and leprosy. uh and prostitutes and you know low status people and they are just all over this book. I mean they show up in the other gospels too, like a lot, but Luke makes a special point. to say, like, here’s who Jesus is. Not just sort of s accidentally spending time with, but here’s who he’s intentionally working his way toward. Um, which is I I think really interesting.

Hannah • 15:22
Yeah. But like the tax collectors were not poor in monetary terms.

Matt • 15:28
Right, yeah. Quite the opposite. Yeah.

Hannah • 15:31
Yeah. But those are some of the outsiders that Jesus welcomes in and even, you know, the interactions with the centurion who shows demonstrates great faith or the centurion at the the end. Um is is there yeah there’s one in Luke too that says surely this man was innocent. Yeah. You know, so the recognition of the outsiders, especially those outside of Israel or yeah, outside of the expected religious circle.

Matt • 16:01
Yeah, you know, it’s interesting. I I I didn’t have this in my notes to talk about today, but there is that exchange. And I think it’s here in Luke. This is dangerous. I shouldn’t do this live. But that um that one Yeah, it’s in chapter seven where um the centurion comes and asks Jesus to come heal his servant. And Jesus is getting up and he’s ready to go. But the centurion is like, no no, you don’t have to come, mm-hmm, which is sort of a recognition of Jesus and his power to do that But you can also see, I I think it’s fair for us to project a little bit. The centurion knows that it’s gonna be a little bit controversial for a Jewish teacher to come into a Roman Gentile household. And he sort of spares Jesus that awkwardness, embarrassment, discomfort, and says, You know, I believe I believe that you can do this and and you don’t need to you know, sort of go into this space that’s gonna potentially create problems for you to provide for me what I need. So the the s even if Jesus is willing to go through that barrier for the person You know, the the Roman soldier, the centurion, is kind of aware of that and sort of lets Jesus out of that situation. So it’s r it’s pretty interesting, I think.

Hannah • 17:15
Yeah. And one one more thought about this, like um once Jesus reaches after he enters Jerusalem, he’s nearing the uh his crucifixion. Jesus is not only releasing other people from their suffering or oppression or, you know, inviting in the poor, but he uh through his crucifixion is death. is entering into the condition of the poor and the captive and the oppressed himself so that he can break the power of those things and and defeat death through his resurrection. Um so yeah. That’s really powerful.

Matt • 17:58
Yeah. So we have a strong Isaiah connection, and the Isaiah connection is sort of riffen on the Jubilee idea that comes out of the Torah. There’s another sort of strong hint that we should be thinking about the Torah when we get to chapter nine and we see the transfiguration. And I think we talked about the transfiguration in one of the other gospels.

Hannah • 18:24
Yeah, it does. Um Matthew and Mark both have the transfiguration as well, but Luke is the only one that tells us what Jesus and Moses and Elijah are talking about.

Matt • 18:35
Okay.

Hannah • 18:35
So in chapter 9, verses 30 and 31, it says, Behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah. who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. And the Greek word uh underneath departure is the word Exodus

Matt • 18:56
Okay.

Hannah • 18:57
Yeah.

Matt • 18:58
Okay. Yeah. So what what is the Greek word there?

Hannah • 19:02
Exodus.

Matt • 19:03
Well so if I were in Greek, I would literally be experiencing the word Exodus. It doesn’t seem like that.

Hannah • 19:07
Yeah, that’s a Greek word.

Matt • 19:09
That means departure.

Hannah • 19:10
Yeah, exodus is a Greek word.

Matt • 19:12
Yeah. This is Matt teaches or Matt learns Greek from him.

Hannah • 19:16
It’s come to be the name of one of the Hebrew books in the Old Testament based on the Greek translation of the Old Testament called the Septuagint.

Matt • 19:27
Okay. I know somebody would think that’s nerdy, but I am learning something right now and I I’m really interested in this. So the Exodus, that’s not a Hebrew word. No. That’s a Greek word. Okay. Okay. It’s clicking for me now. Okay, awesome.

Hannah • 19:39
Yeah.

Matt • 19:40
Okay. I’m in. I’m there

Hannah • 19:42
Yeah, so when Luke uses the word exodus uh in this verse, he’s explicitly connecting Jesus’ mission to the original Exodus. And then also is painting what Jesus is about to accomplish as a new exodus. So the original exodus, of course, was Israel’s liberation from slavery. through the Passover, deliverance through the waters of chaos, and uh you know, release from an oppressive power being Egypt. And so now uh Jesus is about to pass through death rather than the waters of the Red Sea. And then the redemption that he brings is way bigger than just an earthly oppressive nation, but it’s about freedom from sin and death and evil that has enslaved both Israel and all of humanity.

Matt • 20:38
I’m curious about one thing.

Hannah • 20:40
Okay.

Matt • 20:41
So Luke is the only account that tells us exactly what they talked about in the Transfiguration. But Luke wasn’t there. So how how does Luke have this knowledge in like the others didn’t? Like Mark’s a Mark’s account is based on Peter. Peter was there. But Peter uh in Mark’s account doesn’t mention I I’m just a little bit curious. I know. I’m I’m running the risk of putting putting you on the spot here. I’m sorry.

Hannah • 21:08
Luke chapter 1, verse 2 says, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us. It seemed good to me also that I would write an orderly account. So Luke tells us that he’s like interviewed all of these eyewitnesses. and people who were there that could minister what happened and and told Luke about them. And he’s writing them all down.

Matt • 21:41
Okay. Good enough for me. Thank you, Luke. We appreciate your hard work. Yeah. Um can we talk about chapter 15? Okay. Chapter 15, for sure one of the greatest that would be on the greatest hits. You got three absolute bangers. Back to back to back.

Hannah • 22:01
Yeah, three parables.

Matt • 22:02
Yeah. All about the something that is lost and then found. So you got the lost sheep. And then you got the lost penny. And then you have the lost son, or we often call it the prodigal son. I’ve started using a new icebreaker lately that I kind of like. You like to have time to think about these things. So you don’t have to have an answer. But if you do have an answer, you can do this. But the the the prompt is um say somebody hands you a box and they say This uh contains everything that you have ever lost. When you open it, you’ll be able to find it. What would be the first thing that you look for? Uh yeah. So okay, so imagine somebody hands you a box and they say inside this box is everything that you’ve ever lost.

Hannah • 22:51
Okay.

Matt • 22:51
You know, every article of clothing, you know, something where it’s like, oh, I just can’t find that thing anymore. I wish I could find it. It’s all in this box. When you open the box, what would be the first thing that you look for?

Hannah • 23:03
Like something that I am most eager to get back that I’ve lost.

Matt • 23:08
Something you lost along the way and and you’re like that I I’d really love to know what happened to that and if that’s a good idea. That’s in there. Uh do you want to hear mine?

Hannah • 23:14
Yeah.

Matt • 23:15
So when my uh so back in the it must have been early two two thousands, I was into long sleeve t-shirts in those days and I had a bright white one, it said Syracuse University on it and like a really cool font. Um I really love that shirt. I was wearing that shirt when Syracuse won the national championship in two thousand three. I was wearing that shirt when my first daughter was born Oh. Yeah, so it’s just a little sentimental for me. Like it’s uh it’s associated with like really special moments in my life, especially during that period. And I lost it somewhere along the way. Last time I couldn’t remember having it uh was a work trip I was on. I was in a hotel in Minneapolis, I think. And uh I think I left in that hotel. I’ve never seen it again. Um so if I open that box, that that would be one of the first things that I look for. Where’s that t shirt? I would love to have that T shirt again. Not just because it was a cool t-shirt, but the sentimental. I get this this is associated with a couple really cool moments in my life.

Hannah • 24:09
Yeah. I do not have an answer for you.

Matt • 24:17
This is on brand for you. Well you’re fairly minimalist anyway.

Hannah • 24:21
Yeah, yeah. I have definitely left a couple clothing items accidentally at hotels, but like none of them are as uh important or or sentimental as your t-shirt.

Matt • 24:34
So all of this is uh you can imagine, unless your name is Hannah, you can imagine You’ve lost something and it’s really important to you or it’s really precious to you, it’s really significant to you in some way, and the joy when you find it. And you can see the stories as Jesus tells them, they sort of escalate. So And the the first example is really about, you know, the shepherd has he’s got a hundred sheep, ninety-nine of them are cool, they’re the place they’re supposed to be, but he goes out of his way, loses his mind for the one sheep. And you’re like, well, you got the 99. What are you so worried about? He’s like, nope, there’s one out there. My my sheep, I don’t have all the sheep that I need, and I’m going after that one sheep. Um so I think that’s a really beautiful story about God’s heart. And then if that’s not enough for you, the lost penny, this is really important to this woman that she finds she turns the house over. You surely have had this experience, Hannah. Where there’s something you can’t find your card keys, you can’t find your phone, you can’t find something, you’re gonna be late to work or something like that un until you find this. And then you finally find it’s like, oh Great, because now I can go to that thing that I’m supposed to go to. This has surely happened. This has not happened to you?

Hannah • 25:52
Uh yeah, but maybe for like 30 seconds.

Matt • 25:55
You’ve never misplaced your car keys or lost your phone or anything like that?

Hannah • 25:59
Uh not for more than 30 seconds. Like if I set it somewhere in the house and I’m like, oh. And then I walk. Through the house and then there it is.

Matt • 26:12
The people know what I’m talking about. Everybody who’s listening to this is like, yes, Matt, I know exactly what you’re talking about. Yeah, and then of course the story that’s uh famous and I I don’t think I put it together until you said something up top that this is the only account that we have of Jesus telling this story. the prodigal son, um, which is just a beautiful story. I mean there’s been art made about this story. There have been been music and musicals made about this story, but Guy’s two sons. The older one is sort of the good boy, so to speak. The younger one is a train wreck, and the younger one insults his father, asks for the inheritance. Which is essentially telling his father that he might as well be dead, that he would love him more if he was dead, because then he could get all his money, uh, goes and squanders it all and decides, ugh. You know, it’s actually I was doing okay in my father’s house. I’m gonna go back and see if he’ll let me be a servant. And then when he comes back to the father’s house, he’s not just treated as a servant, but he’s received with the full privileges. of a son and the father is joyful and welcomes him back and it really hacks off the older brother. So um which is actually part of the point. Sometimes that’s a little coda that people live leave out, but that’s a really, really important part of the story because Jesus was telling that story to some older brothers. Yeah. Uh and they were supposed to see themselves in that story. Um, I see myself in that story sometimes. I see myself as an older brother. Um, you know, you and I have talked about this a little bit. We were Sunday school kids and youth group kids and um Yeah, you know, we we did the things uh in that way. So I I would certainly be like, Well, wait a minute, Jesus, why are you throwing a party for this person that’s wasted their whole life? When I’ve been a good boy this whole time and you know, you barely gave me anything that I needed. So uh but Jesus is like, hey, your brother was lost and now he’s dead, now he’s alive. He was lost and now he’s found.

Hannah • 28:06
So it’s a that story always hits me in the eyes when I read it. Hmm. Yeah. Yeah, definitely the older brother is um I don’t know, maybe even the the main point of that parable because the audience is the Pharisees.

Matt • 28:20
Yeah.

Hannah • 28:20
And the scribes who say, Why is this man receiving sinners and eating, sharing a meal with them? And that’s when Jesus tells those three parables. Yeah. So yeah, I I do really think that that the older brother maybe gets a little bit overlooked in the parable, but I think that’s maybe the main point. Yeah. Of the parable. I was reading um there’s a scholar called uh his name is Ben Witherington, and he describes that parable uh and says Jesus’ parables comfort the afflicted while afflicting the comfortable.

Matt • 28:57
That’s really good.

Hannah • 28:58
Yeah.

Matt • 28:59
Yeah. They comfort the afflicted while afflicting the comfortable. Am I getting that right?

Hannah • 29:04
Yeah, so like the younger the younger brother who’s the lot who squanders everything, runs away. But he’s so afflicted, like, oh, my life is so much worse now. He realizes he comes and repents and he’s comforted, he’s welcomed back in. And that’s comforting for people listening to the parable too, to know, oh, if I’m lost, if I’ve run away, I’m still welcomed in by the Father. Yeah. But it Then they also afflict the comfortable, those who are sitting there just like the older brother, like, I’ve been here all along, I’m the best, you know. Yeah. I deserve praise from my father.

Matt • 29:40
Yeah.

Hannah • 29:41
Uh Jesus’ parable here is like, no.

Matt • 29:45
Yeah. It it just doesn’t work like that.

Hannah • 29:48
Yeah.

Matt • 29:48
Yeah, it’s just that’s that’s not the way we operate around here. Yeah. Right. Yeah.

Hannah • 29:53
Yeah, everyone is generously given the invitation. um not just you because you’re, you know, sitting on your high horse or or whatever that you’ve you’ve been um Yeah, they like the Pharisees expected to receive blessing because of their position.

Matt • 30:11
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it’s really powerful. What a beautiful one. Um now it’s followed by maybe one of the weirdest parables. And this is one that I struggle a little bit. Um you think this one’s pretty funny though, so I’m I’m interested in your take on this. But chapter 16, we get into the parable of the shrewd manager

Hannah • 30:31
Yeah.

Matt • 30:32
Um and so uh I mean I’m sure we you you guys if you read if you’re listening to us, you’ve probably read this. But the basic idea is uh there’s a manager who is maybe not very good at his job. keeping the accounts for some wealthy man. And he gets word that the wealthy landowner or something is gonna fire him. And so what he does is And this is really funny. This would be like a good like Saturday Live skit or something like that. He goes to like the big sort of creditors or people that are in debt to his manager and says, so what what’s your bill? What do you owe? Let’s change it to fifty. Oh and then he goes to or it goes to the next one. So what do you owe? Oh 25. Okay. Scratch it out, make it 10. And then Jesus praises this guy who’s basically like defrauding his manager. out of what he rightfully owes them. Jesus is like, yeah, go be like that guy. So it’s like, what? I’m supposed to go defraud people? What is what’s happening here? This one’s a weird one, Hannah.

Hannah • 31:31
Yeah. I mean we we talked about how parables are not actually moral lessons.

Matt • 31:36
Right.

Hannah • 31:36
Like obviously Jesus is not saying that we should be dishonest. um with with things that are entrusted to us. In fact, he says the opposite in verse 10. Um it he says, one who is faithful and very little is also faithful and much, and one who is dishonest and very little is also dishonest in much. So he can’t be saying that this dishonest manager has good moral character because of his dishonesty.

Intro • 32:04
Mm-hmm.

Hannah • 32:05
I I think the main idea is To well, parables are supposed to kind of shake up our expectations and show the upside-down values of the kingdom. That’s one thing that the parables can do. Okay. And here we’re seeing that relationships are more important than money or wealth. And so like obviously I think what a a a right relationship with others looks like is not this type of dishonesty. But I think the parable is using kind of extreme shocking language to show uh the the the values of the kingdom of God that relationships are way more important than money.

Matt • 32:51
Yeah. Uh yeah. I do it’s yeah. It’s hard to get your brain around. At least I find it that way. Um ’cause I want the reward to be for being honest even when it’s uh when it’s painful. Right. So you courageously tell the truth even if that’s a cost to you. So it’s a little bit funny when Jesus kinda holds up this guy as not as an exemplar or a moral example, but when he’s like This guy’s got his finger on something.

Hannah • 33:17
Yeah.

Matt • 33:18
That’s and that is really interesting. Yeah.

Hannah • 33:20
Not on e not on everything.

Matt • 33:21
Like not the honesty thing.

Hannah • 33:23
But on the thing about the relationships.

Matt • 33:25
Yeah, where he’s sort of he’s yeah, well he ’cause he’s networking, right? He’s he’s using he’s kind of using schmoozing a little bit. He’s like, hey, I’m doing you a favor um at the cost of somebody else, but I’m doing you a favor So when I get thrown out on uh uh in the cold here, so I don’t have to beg and I’m I’m not strong enough to like build construction or something like that, you’ll find a nice job for me in your butcher shop or something like that.

Hannah • 33:51
So yeah. Mm-hmm.

Matt • 33:52
Yeah. Yeah, so here’s what you do, people. Find out who your boss is mad at and go schmooze them. Is that the takeaway, Hannah?

Hannah • 34:05
Uh no.

Matt • 34:08
No? Okay. No, I love well see I told you the parables they’re uh they I I go in and out with them. Sometimes I’m like, oh, I get it. Yes, love this, I can do this. And some of them are like, what is that about? That one’s a little harder for me to understand.

Hannah • 34:26
Yeah. Well they’re not moral lessons.

Matt • 34:29
They’re not. Well we’re not doing Grimm’s fairy tales or anything like that here, but yeah. Cool. Um there’s another one. Briefly there’s one because I uh yeah, we we realized that we were uh getting ready for this. We’ve this is the fourth gospel we’ve done. We have not yet talked about the crucifixion and resurrection in the other gospels, so we want to Do that. There’s one little moment I want to uh highlight before we get into the crucifixion. It’s in chapter 22. It’s when they’re doing what we would call the Last Supper. Um there’s just a little pattern that I I saw in verses 31 through 34. This is where Jesus is uh pointing out to Peter or foreshadowing that Peter’s gonna deny him three times. Peter, of course, says something. Puts his foot in his mouth. And Jesus opens this exchange by saying, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you that he might sift you like wheat. It’s kind of interesting to me that it goes back to Peter’s previous name. Yeah, we have a pattern in scripture where uh characters have multiple names or or God sort of gives somebody a new name based on a transition in their life or a new role. You know, Abram became Abraham. Jacob became Israel. So we have lots of examples of that. So Simon here becomes Peter. And when I was doing a little bit of uh digging about this, that word, so the name Simon means listen. Which uh is one of your favorite words. Yeah. So you can sort of see Jesus as like, okay, dummy, listen. Listen by using that first word. Here’s here’s the situation that you’re in. Satan wants to tempt you, but I’m praying for you. Um, and so, you know, you’re gonna uh you’re gonna go deny me three team teen times tonight. But when he says that, when he’s sort of s acknowledging the failure that Peter’s about to experience, that’s when he calls him Peter, which means rock. I just think it’s really interesting how Jesus uses both names for him, that he uses the older name or his birth name to sort of be like, hey, listen, he’s kind of, I don’t know if he’s humbling him a little bit or just getting his attention. But then when he’s saying, hey, you’re about to go experience this failure, but I’m already referring to you by your new name. In this, I see the man that I’m turning you into. And I I know that that’s where the story is going. So I’m gonna even acknowledge that by calling you by your new name, even in this moment where you’re gonna experience. I I just found myself moved by that this time. It made me think, well you know, when we get to Revelation and the um the seven letters to the churches, there’s one of them. I I I didn’t take time to look up the reference tonight, but there’s one of them where Jesus says, To him who overcomes, I will give a new name. Which I thought it’s what I thought of in this moment that, you know, for all of my failures and struggles and foibles and faults, you know, Jesus doesn’t see me that way. Even when I’m on the precipice of failing him in significant ways, he knows me by my new name, by the name that he has given me. So I find myself moved by that as I was reading through this time.

Hannah • 37:32
Yeah. Cool.

Matt • 37:34
Yeah. Alright, so as we said, that is the night that he is betrayed. And uh and then we move into the crucifixion and resurrection. And and Luke has a little bit uh more detailed account of the trial and crucifixion uh than we see in the others. And I think there’s a couple interesting patterns. There’s some interesting relationships with uh the criminal on the cross that he’s uh crucified with Uh and somebody I uh noted this in our reading uh plan. There’s an interesting, oh we have met Barabbas before, but we’re told a little bit more explicitly this time that Barabbas is a guilty party. And so Jesus, the innocent man, is punished and exchanged for Barabbas, who is the clearly guilty man. So an innocent man dies for the guilty one. uh and is traded for him. So that uh Luke makes that exchange or that that relationship very explicit in his account. I thought that was pretty interesting and I’m glad somebody pointed that out.

Hannah • 38:32
Yeah. Yeah, definitely. The exchange of the the innocent for the guilty.

Matt • 38:39
Yeah. So and I think it’s fair for us to say, well, we’re kind of all Barabbas. You know, Barabbas is sort of standing in there for all of us. You know, I am the guilty one. But Jesus dies in my place. Uh so I th I think Luke’s very intentional about putting that example there and we’re supposed to see it.

Hannah • 38:56
Yeah. Yeah, and even the amount of times that Luke emphasizes that Jesus was innocent is like Well Karis count how many times. Oh gold star Karis. No no I we always tell her to count how many times. Oh that’s right. Keris needs to count how many times Luke says that Jesus is innocent.

Matt • 39:16
Okay.

Hannah • 39:16
We got another job for you.

Matt • 39:18
There you go, Caris.

Hannah • 39:19
There’s probably a lot. And then even, yeah, what we mentioned already the centurion at the end even says, surely this man was innocent. Yeah. So that emphasis of his innocence and and being exchanged for the guilty one. Yeah. Putting ourselves in in those shoes as well.

Matt • 39:35
Yeah.

Hannah • 39:37
Yeah.

Matt • 39:39
And then yeah, ’cause that even comes out the criminal on the cross. Where uh they’re taunting him, or but then the one says, Don’t you why are you doing this? Don’t you you know, we’re experiencing this because we’re guilty and this is our punishment, but he hasn’t done anything wrong. So why are you mocking him? And this is the the prisoner that Jor the criminal that Jesus says, today you’ll be with me in paradise

Hannah • 40:03
Yeah. Yeah, that scene um stood out to me a lot this reading. Um yeah, just the fact that Jesus continues to pour out his mercy to this criminal that’s on the cross next to him and his like last moments. Jesus is like I’ve still got some work to do. I’ve got some more mercy to pour out. Even like uh just how it it wasn’t too late for this criminal next to him to to call out and and to um yeah, receive the invitation that Jesus was was handing out um and and still offers. to everyone that it’s never too late. And yet, uh, when he says, Today you will be with me in paradise Did you know that the Greek word uh it’s paradisos, which is where we get the word paradise, but that that Greek word means garden.

Matt • 41:11
I think I did hear this somewhere before, yeah.

Hannah • 41:14
Isn’t that crazy? Like I don’t the imagery. Yeah. You know, today you’ll be with me in the garden. I mean that has to be a callback, right? Oh. To the Eden being inner being this the place where God dwells with people and All of that imagery is tied into being in the presence of God. Um, yeah, and a restoration of Eden. So that’s really beautiful.

Matt • 41:44
Yeah, I love that.

Hannah • 41:45
Yeah.

Matt • 41:47
So he’s crucified, and then uh a couple days later, uh the group of women go to give the traditional uh uh burial treatment. They wouldn’t do it on the Sabbath, so they go the day after the Sabbath, and when they get there He’s not there. The the tomb is open. He’s not there. His clothes are there. And people are like, oh, what’s going on? And then the scene shifts, and there are these two people who are walking to Emmaus. which is a town some distance away, and as they’re walking along, just sort of talking about what happened, as as you would do, right? Um, they’re joined by somebody who seems uninformed about this whole thing. And they’re like, Where have you been? You’ve not been keeping up uh on your Facebook, I can see here, because there’s been a lot shaking out. And they tell him about the events of the last few days and he’s like, Oh, you guys don’t know what’s going on here. Let me educate you. And then they have what what I might call the greatest small group ever. As G as Jesus, they don’t know he’s Jesus in the moment, but he goes on to explain how all of the scriptures were about how the Messiah had to come and then suffer and then he would be raised on the third day. And I mean we spent the whole year trying to do that. Jesus does this in what? Two hours, so whatever the distance of that walk would was us. That must have been amazing.

Hannah • 43:08
Yeah. Yeah, this is like one of my uh I think this scene is hilarious because They’re walking on the road, Jesus draws near, and he’s like, What is this conversation that you’re having with each other? That’s that’s what verse 17 says. And then they’re like, Are you The only person who doesn’t know what’s going on here. Yeah. And then in verse 19, Jesus says, what things? Like what? He’s just like having fun like trolling them is what I’m imagining.

Matt • 43:44
Yeah.

Hannah • 43:45
It’s like, have you you haven’t heard of the things? Oh, what things? That’s maybe my favorite verse. I don’t know. Uh jury’s out. But yeah, I I think um this is really interesting because they’re talking about how they were expecting Jesus to be the Messiah, but they assume that it he must not have been because he was killed.

Matt • 44:11
Yeah.

Hannah • 44:12
Um and so Jesus is is trying to, you know, flip their expectations even after he’s been resurrected. He’s been trying to kind of do this even before his crucifixion with his disciples and they’re they they didn’t get it. But even after he’s here, they don’t recognize who he is. And yeah, the best Bible study ever, I couldn’t imagine um being walked through What all of uh verse 27 says, beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. And so that is um a reference to a couple of the main sections of we’ve we’ve talked about the the Tanakh. And then also down in verse 44, he then says the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms. That’s the three-part shape of the Torah. Neveim and Ketevim, the Psalms is the first book of the Ketevim. So those that three-part shape refers to the whole Hebrew scriptures. So Jesus is walking them through how they all all the scriptures point to him. Um yeah, uh it’s really interesting that they can’t uh recognize who Jesus is and Jesus and they they they can’t reconcile Jesus’ death with him also being the Messiah. Yeah. And then the uh also really interesting, once they get to Emmaus, they share a meal uh with Jesus and and only when he breaks the bread is when they realize who he is. Yeah. Which is super cool. Um and then I uh Got this from another scholar. Can’t take credit for realizing this connection, but um N. T. Wright shows how this is maybe a reversal of Genesis 3. Okay. Because in Genesis three the humans eat and their eyes are opened. But what what their eyes are open to is Shame and exile and death and sin. But here at Emmaus, when Jesus breaks the bread, their eyes are opened to the risen Lord and Savior. who is the Messiah. And the the phrase used here is very close to the Greek translation of Genesis. So I think Luke is showing how the risen Jesus begins to reverse humanity’s exile from Eden, which is super Yeah.

Matt • 46:45
Uh you know, certainly, you know, what you just told us a minute ago with the the you using the word garden there. So we’ve got the garden, we’ve got the Genesis three moment. Yeah, I think he’s definitely pointing us back saying like, hey, we’re we’re sort of going back to the way it should have been in the first place.

Hannah • 47:02
Yeah.

Matt • 47:02
It’s really beautiful. It’s really beautiful. Yeah. Well done, Luke.

Hannah • 47:07
Yeah.

Matt • 47:10
Yeah, and then so he brings the story to a conclusion here with Jesus ascending, which is probably a Daniel 7 reference. The Son of Man ascending on the clouds, right? So yet another hyperlink there. Again, for somebody who is not Jewish, right? He is all over the Hebrew scriptures on this. Yeah. So Uh and then he sort of leaves it sort of open and you’re like, what’s gonna happen next? And you gotta go read the book of Acts to to do that, which we will do in the next episode. So So there we go, Luke. And I told you I I I do struggle sometimes with Luke, but I got a lot of out of it this time. I thought it was really helpful. Yeah, so I love uh all the sort of links back, the hyperlinks back to the Old Testament. Um I love the connections to the poor and the upside-down kingdom, really trying to get my mind around that. And if I call myself a follower of Jesus. my life should have some of those things in there too. Uh and they don’t always in the way that I would want them to or the way that I think Jesus would want me to. So I’m always trying to, you know, Lord, open my eyes. How do I do that? How do I become a person who goes after lost people? the way that you do, um, that has joy for lost people and and has a heart uh for the lost the way that you do. So I I think there’s just so much in Luke. It’s a classic for a reason.

Hannah • 48:25
Mm-hmm. Yeah, definitely.

Matt • 48:27
Yeah. Um, any other notes you wanna call to our attention?

Hannah • 48:31
No, that that was all All of my notes.

Matt • 48:34
Alright, good times. Well let me pray for us and then we’ll we’ll get going. So uh Lord, what a blessing it is to read your word and especially to read the stories of your son who who came, who lowered himself. uh to be a human with us and stepped into our pain and frustration and showed us the way out and uh not only showed us the way out but offered himself as the way out uh who experienced uh death and uh condemnation on our behalf, even though that you even though you were innocent, you took our guilt on yourself, and yet you overcame all that uh by the power of the Holy Spirit by rising from the dead And Lord, just like uh our friends on the Emmaus Road, Lord, sometimes we need our eyes opened. Uh we need to have that bread breaking moment. And we can see clearly who you are. And when they do, they experience great joy. And they immediately go tell people, so Lord, we want to experience you like that. We want to have our eyes open to who you are. We want to see, we want to be back in the garden, back the way things are supposed to be, living with you in intimate fellowship. And we want to have the attitude that we we have to go tell people what we’ve experienced, because this is the best thing ever. Lord, thank you so much for um sharing uh your word with us so that we can learn about you and thank you for putting it in us Um, Lord, that you can remake us from the inside out and we can be the people that you want us to be because of what Jesus has done. So Lord, we thank you for that. Help us to live the truth of that out. And all the places that we go in uh all the where we go to work, where we go to school, in our neighborhoods and even the restaurants that we break bread in, Lord. So thank you so much for uh what we’re doing here. Thank you for our friends that are on this journey with us. Pray that they you would be blessing them as they read and internalize your word. So we ask all this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Hannah • 50:21
Amen.

Matt • 50:21
Amen. All right. Thank you, Hannah.

Hannah • 50:24
Thanks, Matt.