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Aaron Nerds Out about John 18 · Red Couch Theology

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Hello, Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Red Couch
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Theology podcast. This week we're going into John
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chapter 18, and we're gonna get in the weeds because I promised
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you that we would when I preach John chapter 18.
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So Alex and I just wade our way through almost verse by verse
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and pull out a bunch of little Nuggets that we've noticed in
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this glorious book of John. And yeah, and hopefully that
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nerdiness is what you came to the show for.
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So let's dive right and we're live.
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Welcome to the Right Couch Theology podcast.
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We're live fish. Do you think it looks better?
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Yes. What do you think, man?
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We're the bright. We are no longer in the dark,
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just bright and clear and clean. I look a little washed out
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though. I'm usually like I think I need
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more sun. Clearly not been getting enough
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of a tan. Yeah, What's up with that?
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I'm more tan than you. I don't.
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Know if that's true? Maybe.
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Well, Oh yeah, yeah, look. At that about the.
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Same, let's say. Yeah.
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Anyway, pale. Yeah, we're live and I just
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basically all I did is I, I just redid the entire studio.
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And of course, did you notice that you're not watching on
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YouTube? And hopefully you can still hear
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as well because we we look good on audio.
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That's actually the medium I look best in, yeah.
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Same. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know.
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Like you. Do you notice anything about the
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studio we moved? Yeah, yeah.
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We moved up like 5 feet, 4 feet. Embarrassingly, I don't think
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I'd noticed till you asked the question, and I didn't think you
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did. But if I'd looked behind me, I
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guess I might have looked at the cavernous space there.
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I'm sure there's a reason for that.
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Yeah, we moved up a little bit closer to the camera so that we
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could get a quicker light fall off.
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Wait, couldn't we have moved the camera?
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No, because it's all about the lights, man.
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We wanted the light to fall off quicker before the backdrop so
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that it's not the lights aren't lighting the backdrop as much.
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And then I took off the grid so that they would throw light
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wider and we would have more flattering light on our faces
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and look way better. Alex just struck a pose of of
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glory or something. All right, so I am going to go
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just double check the exposure and then you can set up the show
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we're talking about. Jesus is not dead and he has not
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risen yet. Not yet.
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We're rewinding the clock. We're rewinding the clock.
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And So what I'll say is this is Aaron preached a wonderful
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sermon on John 18 and covered about 6% of the chapter.
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And so he he somewhat mistakenly promised that he would cover the
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other 94% today. And then because he promised it
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multiple times when we didn't do it last week, there was complete
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outrage from some loyal followers and are now fierce for
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his safety if he doesn't give a full summary of John chapter 18.
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And so without further ado, John chapter 18, verse one, why?
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Why don't you give us a summary of?
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I'm act that's exactly actually what I want to do.
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I just want to go verse by verse, man.
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Yeah, to some extent, just because, you know, it's not like
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this is kind of how I feel about every time we've been in John,
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which we've been in John like crazy.
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John is like so glorious and so wonderful and.
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And exhausting. And that's.
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The right word it's John is exhausting once you've lived
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with him. So because the Book of
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Revelation is all John and I was telling Alex, it feels so
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similar the like the Gospel of John feels so so similar to our
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Revelation series and so much so that hot take.
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You think it was written by the same person?
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I think it was written by the same person.
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That's not my hot take though. My hot take is could we define
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John as the apocalyptic gospel? I I think there have been people
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that have argued for that, yes, especially when you look at like
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John 17 and some of the language there like some of the the
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future now. Now I think that there are
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apocalyptic concepts in certainly in Luke and Matthew as
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well. Yes, but could you say that the
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genre? Yes.
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Of John is largely apocalyptic, yes, in genre.
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Yeah, Yeah, I think that would, I think that's a hot take.
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Yeah. I don't think it's original to
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us. No, I think it's, it's a, it's a
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take that most people would assume, like most people would
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say apocalyptic gospel. Historical Narrative.
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Different thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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Gospel is his historical narrative.
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And yeah, John tends to push it a little bit more into yeah,
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like I, I, I would say maybe I'd say this way.
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He takes the historical narrative work and he adds to it
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an apocalyptic worldview. Yeah, I'm because you you
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pointed out and I didn't. It is sort of relevant to John
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chapter 18, but you'd pointed out to me that John changes the
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timeline of the crucifixion. Yes, yes.
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I mean, this is how, yes. So I early on in the series you
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made this statement that you that you thought that maybe John
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was the most chronological. So so well well, so I think if
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you read Matthew, Mark and Luke, you'd get the the the picture
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that Jesus did ministry for about 3 months.
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Like there's one Passover festival, there's no other
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festivals included in any of their writings.
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There's nothing to give you a track of years.
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All you get is what feels like months.
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So John is the first one that introduces us to the idea that
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no Jesus ministry was an extended period of time, at
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least numbering some years, not some months.
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So so I think there's a like I would tend to go with the
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chronology of John there versus assuming he just added some
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years and that Matthew, Mark and Luke were correct in what seems
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like they're, you know, combined chronology.
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So that would be my take that. I guess, I guess my point is are
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when it comes to calling John the apocalyptic gospel and we'll
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eventually get to John chapter 18, here I am milking it for
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even longer, right? Keep going.
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But is John seems most comfortable to to fiddle with
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the details of things for a theological purpose as as
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compares to some of the other God.
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Now, mind you, our obsession with chronology and historicity
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and like those sorts of things in the West is, is really,
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really high compared to any of the scripture writers.
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But. Actually, compared to any writer
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anywhere in history. Yes.
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So that said, John seems the least concerned even out of that
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group. Or maybe, yeah, maybe nudge Mark
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there as well. Mark moves a lot of stories to
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sandwich them with other stories.
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And so he's got quite a loosey goosey.
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Kind of like, I'm going to use this to tell a story more than
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am I allowed to say loosey goosey on a podcast.
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I don't know where that came from.
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Yeah, man, it's like a very. Goosey on a look at.
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You. That's like such an American is.
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It. Idiom What?
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Is. Happened to me, is that English?
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It's probably English. I actually tend to think
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everything was English and that it was just poloined and.
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No, it's just if you like it, you think it's English.
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That might be true. I mean, Laura and my, my, my
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wife and kids have been learning Italian.
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And I said, you know, this is all English.
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Yeah. Took some English stuff and just
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made it. Yeah, all the Romantic languages
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stem from English. Yeah, yeah.
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Yeah, English comes like, if you go from the the origins of like
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English, it sounds much more like German and it's like very
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glottal and. Yeah, German, Latin.
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I mean, it's got that. Don't get me started on the fact
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that the magic of the English language is it has two distinct
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language roots. And so I don't want to get you
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started. So you always have two.
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You're going there anyways. You always have two choices.
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That's the magic. OK.
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Like do you want to say kingly or do you want to say Regal 1's
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Germanic and one's Latin based? Do you want to say brotherly or
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fraternal, one's Latin, one's Germanic spirit or ghost?
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Like you've got all these different choices you're making
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that are slightly different, but there's no other language in the
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world that does that. So that being said, assuming
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that most good things come from England, perhaps by way of
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America. I thought my hot take was hot.
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Mark has a very loosey goosey take on chronology.
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So he, he takes stories and he sandwiches, jams another story,
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jams another story into the middle of it, like, like, you
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know, And so he's trying to show us something there.
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So I I think, yeah, I'd put the two of them kind of hand in hand
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with chronological movements to demonstrate a point.
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But yes, it should be no surprise to us that the writer
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of the apocalypse is a big fan of apocalyptic literature.
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Yeah. And so like the, you know, I
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didn't say it this way when I preached John 18, but the
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previous chapter that I'd preach, which I, what was that,
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13? I'd use the illustration of the
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movie Inception. This is what it feels like to
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read John to me. And I, it was like, it's so much
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feels that way. I almost used the exact same
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illustration this week just 'cause it feels like that.
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Like you go, you're like layer one.
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OK, so we're inside of a dream. Cool.
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And then you're like, wait, we're in a dream inside a dream.
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No, wait, we're in like, we're like, this guy's inside of that
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guy's dream, who's inside of this other guy's dream?
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And you're like, which one's real?
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This is how the Book of John feels to me, because there's
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just layer upon layer upon layer of meaning.
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And I think he's just so saturated in the scriptures.
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He probably doesn't even necessarily consciously know
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that he's pulling these things forward all the time.
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But he just like he'll just casually use a specific turn of
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phrase which pulls this Old Testament context into his
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chapter. And it's like a time bomb for
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preachers trying to do exegesis and that so that then I have to
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chase this rabbit trail in the Old Testament.
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I'm poking around, is this relevant?
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And I'm like, no, it's not relevant to your main point.
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You just deposited this to waste 3 hours of my study time.
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Thank you, John. Well, I nearly, I nearly used a
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quote that Churchill made famous about about John.
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No, sorry. I nearly used a quote he made
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about Russian policy about John, which is it's a mystery wrapped
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inside a Riddle wrapped inside an enigma.
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It's like got so many layers to it and each of them are
12:25
confounding at times. And so you really are deciding
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how will it, how, how deep am I willing to dig before I decide
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that the thing people need to hear is the thing most close to
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the surface? Yeah.
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So like your, your goal as a preacher is to try to capture
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the main idea that the text is trying to communicate.
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And often times there's a couple options there because you could
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emphasize, because there might be some parallel streams or one
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layer, one layer 2 rather would be maybe a better and you could
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be preaching on layer 2 or layer 3, especially in the book of
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John. And, and so to decide between
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which layer you're going to emphasize is much more of a
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dialogue with the Holy Spirit Lord, what do you Holy Spirit,
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what do you have for South Fellowship Church on this state
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at this time, given this context?
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And then then the painful process, the rest of that's like
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what, 2 hours? And then the rest of the 30
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hours of preparation is like, how do I psychologically handle
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throwing a rest away? Totally.
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And then, and then an hour, an hour.
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Your last hour is like Oh my goodness, I should probably have
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some illustrations. Probably should, yeah.
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So. Yeah, yes, I think, I think it,
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it requires a lot of cutting, a lot of decision making, which is
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why this podcast existed in the first place.
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And, and so then there's this weird shift from 17 to 18 where
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I had like multiple weeks of pure dialogue and actually a
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monologue. Like there's some, some, some
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intentional dialogue that really plays off against Jesus to
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enable him to say his points over and over again.
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But it's, it's seems even if it's historical, it seems
14:20
designed to be able to do that. And and so suddenly we come out
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of 17 where there are no questions, no counter points,
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just pure. It's actually a prayer.
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And then suddenly we're back into full narrative again.
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Yes, see, and so there's so you know, by the way, we I heard
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from you when we didn't have a podcast last week, there was a
14:39
small outcry. You know, a few of you were very
14:42
loud that you were like you promised us a podcast, but that
14:46
was there there because I'd said in the sermon that I'm going to
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give you a bunch more details that I couldn't give here.
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Well, that was one of them. Like I feel like, and and maybe
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this is actually just a a shift question back to you as our
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primary communicator that's got God's called to this church
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community. There's sometimes when I'm in a
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preaching, especially in a series, especially in a book of
15:12
the Bible series, there's a desire to help people kind of by
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the end of a series, kind of have the book of John in their
15:22
sort of psyche and like kind of understand the flow.
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And that's really hard to do. And so like the reason I thought
15:34
of that is the comment you just made.
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There is a very big shift in vibe, for lack of a better term,
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from 16 to 17. And you just described it.
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There's this upper room discourse.
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He's just like pouring out his love, his concern for his
15:52
followers. He's praying.
15:54
He's doing a bunch of spiritual and and theological work with
15:58
them in this upper room discourse, which is those
16:02
preceding few chapters. And then chapter 18 is like the,
16:07
I mean, suddenly he starts almost sprinting towards the
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cross. There's like a pace.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then there's like the
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narrative picks up. It's much less theological, much
16:16
less dial or not feel less theological, but less dialogue
16:20
oriented. And so I wanted to teach that.
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I wanted to help people feel that shift.
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And I was like, I could waste 5 minutes describing the shift and
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why John's doing that in a larger book context.
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And then I had to just let that go.
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Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
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So for you as our primary communicator, like, is that part
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of your goal when you're doing a book study is that people would
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be able to kind of wrap their minds around the entire book's
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thesis? So, so I, I think it depends on
16:52
the book like, so I think with John, you really, you know, that
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they've got this, you know, hopefully from the early weeks,
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this understanding of what a gospel is.
17:05
So on some level it's a biography, but it's more than a
17:08
biography, right? Because it's directly linked not
17:10
to just who the person was, but the good news that they bought.
17:14
So the, the gospel idea, the good news idea is that this,
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this is a very intentional kind of story for me.
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I, I, I actually am more focused on with John, like what's
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something that when they go back and read it again, they can
17:29
watch out for that's going to help them encounter Jesus in the
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book. And so the thing that that I
17:35
picked that I, that I landed on for this was this idea of Jesus
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on one-on-one conversations. So that's why they've heard over
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and over again, you know, John has a way of filtering people.
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If you actually notice from the, the Easter text, the there's a
17:52
reference to Mary goes to the tomb.
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And then when Mary goes to the disciples, she says we don't
18:00
know where they have put him. They've taken the Lord, we don't
18:04
know where they've put him. So it's inclusive somewhere in
18:08
the language of the being multiple women as the other
18:10
gospels hold onto. But John doesn't want you to be
18:14
thinking about multiple women. He wants you to be thinking
18:17
about one woman. And.
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One person's conversation with Jesus.
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This the power of that, like Jesus ability to see her and
18:26
name her. And so John's agenda is like, if
18:30
I add other characters in the scene, it'll distract from the
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poignancy. Totally, Yeah, yeah.
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And so why is Thomas a a lot Thomas.
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Why does he have his own encounter?
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Well, well, it it separates him. It isolates him And so there's
18:43
there's there's there's one. Why does Peter jump into the
18:47
water in chapter 1 where isolates him?
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Like John is a brilliant storyteller.
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Yes. And we tend to have a somewhat
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reductive view of of people who wrote stories thousands of years
19:06
ago. We assume that they weren't very
19:07
good story writers, that they weren't able to write at the
19:10
level we write today. And yet John is a master of
19:16
telling Jesus stories. And almost all of them end in
19:21
the one thing that we hope people have in our community,
19:24
which is that somewhere the room gets really small and people get
19:28
to experience Jesus themselves. And so that that's the dream.
19:33
And I think you see that same isolation in some of the stories
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in John, John 18 today, like whether in this passage, like
19:41
whether it's Peter chopping off the air of the high priest
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again, highlights isolates Peter in this moment with Jesus, or or
19:49
whether it's him going through the experience of betrayal,
19:56
betraying Jesus. Or whether it's pilot like every
19:58
single one of them gets one-on-one time with Jesus in
20:02
which almost everyone else is is pushed into the background.
20:07
Yeah, Yeah, yeah. Well, yeah.
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So that was that was one of the observations I had was just this
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where and how did this shifts of tempo and and feeling happens
20:24
from the previous text to this text?
20:27
And why is that relevant to the interpretation?
20:30
Well, it's not, it's not like you can't get to the
20:33
interpretation, but I think when you've lived and meditated upon
20:42
scripture for a long period of time, you start to notice some
20:48
of the subtleties that almost like an artist or musician would
20:53
use to communicate things between the lines.
20:58
So I think that John wants you to feel this like slow pace
21:03
upper room discourse. And then in 18, the case I made
21:09
in the sermon was the, that Jesus kind of turns towards the
21:13
cross and he takes the cross like he, he marches as king of
21:19
kings and Lords and Lords, almost like he's taking his
21:22
throne, which just happens to be a cross.
21:25
And so that, that the, the tempo and the urgency and the
21:30
intention of marching towards the cross starts to feel that
21:34
way. And and and it's literally more
21:37
of a feeling as you read and. And.
21:41
If you only get if you've been saturating in the previous
21:44
several narratives and then you suddenly read 18 and you're
21:47
like, this feels different. And, and I think we've we've
21:52
actually like, that's not a one time thing.
21:55
We've actually felt that multiple times.
21:58
So we feel it when Jesus turns water into wine.
22:02
This conversation with his mother, my time hasn't has not
22:05
yet come. And she says, do whatever he
22:09
tells you to do. And he turns the water into
22:11
wine. And you get very much this
22:13
sense. Oh, the clock is now ticking.
22:15
Yeah. There's the moment where his
22:16
brothers say, are you going to go to Jerusalem for the
22:18
festival? And he's like, no, no, no, you
22:20
can go whenever you want. My time is not yet come.
22:22
And then he goes to Jerusalem. It feels like the clock is now
22:25
ticking. There's a moment where he comes
22:26
back to Judea and the, the Lazarus resurrection clock's
22:30
ticking. The moment, the entry into
22:31
Jerusalem. Like they're, they're like, like
22:34
I use the term in John chapter 12, like the, the, the with with
22:41
Julius Caesar, there's the phrase crossing the Rubicon.
22:45
Like it comes into Rome and it's like at that moment you can't
22:48
turn back. And, and it feels like Jesus has
22:52
had to make that decision over and over again.
22:54
In actual fact, now it feels like in John chapter 18, on a
22:59
human level, this is the final decision.
23:04
But even then we know from some of the other gospels that
23:06
there's like there's still a a decision that he can make the
23:12
OPS out. I think he's in Matthew, he says
23:15
to, to one of the disciples, don't you know that at this
23:17
point I can call a whole legion of angels?
23:23
So, so that's the the cost of power, isn't it?
23:27
Like for Jesus, he can always, always opt out when when the the
23:32
Pharisees say to him come down from the cross, that's not a
23:36
problem to him. He's like, huh, I could totally
23:39
do that. I.
23:39
Could do that, yeah, yeah. So him the choice is always I
23:43
have to keep choosing the pathway because he always has an
23:47
opt out whereas we as humans don't always have.
23:49
That which just makes it even more more beautiful.
23:51
Totally. Yeah, it's a constant decision.
23:54
Yeah, so anyway, that was one of the things.
23:57
And again, like this is the challenge as a communicator,
24:01
who, who gets who who gets assigned 40 minutes and then
24:04
only actually gets 35 minutes for various service related
24:09
reasons. You you can't always bring all
24:13
the data set to bear at a sermon.
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Now, that little vibe that I described did help confirm my
24:23
interpretation. I just chose I didn't have to to
24:27
I didn't have time to share that.
24:29
So some other things I'll just throw the text on here and we
24:33
could just walk through some of the other observations.
24:35
I wish I in one sense, I do wish we were doing this last Thursday
24:38
because this was all much more fresh.
24:40
It's amazing. How We're going to be fine.
24:41
Easily this stuff sort of slips out of my mind, but first one.
24:47
I can tell you last Thursday, I definitely didn't wish we were
24:49
doing it last Thursday. Oh, I did.
24:52
I was ready to go, man. When he'd finished praying,
24:57
Jesus left his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley.
25:00
Interesting detail. So what's up with the Kidron
25:02
Valley? So like when you're reading and
25:05
and studying a passage of scripture when a biblical author
25:09
mentions a detail? Because of the way especially
25:16
ancient writers worked. Parchments expensive, Inks
25:22
expensive like. You're trying to be brief.
25:23
You're trying to be brief, and so when you add a detail, it's
25:28
usually important, especially if it's describing the physical
25:33
appearance of a character in an Old Testament passage or giving
25:36
their name. A lot of those details are
25:39
designed to almost be like a little deposit of concentrate
25:42
that you add some imagination, you add some research to, and
25:46
the text expands. Whereas modern writing you know
25:49
papers cheap, digital's cheap, you can spend 5 pages describing
25:54
the physique of the character and all of the stuff you.
25:57
Can get it. You can get together and do a
25:59
podcast or anything like that's nothing.
26:02
Even the least talented of people can throw their ideas at
26:06
the world. So when you're studying a text
26:08
like this, learning the skill of asking questions of the text
26:16
every possible way and like, so I asked the question, why does
26:21
he say specifically the Kidron Valley?
26:23
And I didn't have time to chase this lead all the way.
26:28
But the other time that the Kidron Valley is mentioned is
26:30
Second Samuel 15. Absalom.
26:33
Yeah, and so there's this like this fleeing of the city and all
26:37
this stuff and the Kidron Valley.
26:39
So you have a king fleeing of a city.
26:43
What is Jesus not doing? He is not fleeing the city.
26:46
He's not crossing the Kidron Valley to get out of a city for
26:49
danger purposes. He's he's crossing the Kidron
26:52
Valley. Into the city.
26:55
Where danger is happening. And so, you know, John just
26:59
mentioned this in passing and layer 1, you could just be like,
27:03
cool, moving on on the other side and there was a garden and
27:09
or you can add that little extra question, go chase those leads.
27:14
And then as you're interpreting, like I didn't even I read that.
27:17
And I was like, I don't have any idea how these connect.
27:20
And then three or four days later in my study, I'm like, I
27:23
wonder, and I don't know if this is true.
27:25
Like I can't get fully into sight of John's head.
27:28
Is that exactly why he included the Kidron Valley?
27:32
But it's deeply suspicious, as if you see the larger
27:36
interpretation of the whole chapter of Jesus being in charge
27:39
of almost marching towards the cross.
27:43
It's kind of an interesting thing that the other story that
27:45
this valley was mentioned. Is someone almost I don't know
27:50
if you were there, were you gone when I taught John 17?
27:52
I think you were that's the week that maybe you were you were not
27:56
there, but I. Yeah, I think it.
27:58
Was there I told the story about a rabbi who has three students.
28:05
Oh, yeah, I see. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
28:06
I've heard you tell the story on this show.
28:08
A couple. Maybe I have.
28:09
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And and the whole point is like
28:11
his students think that having the least number of questions
28:15
about Scripture shows the most reverence for it.
28:17
Yeah. And the rebels like.
28:18
No, no, having the most questions shows the most
28:21
reverence for it. Yeah.
28:22
It's it's the willingness to press into the text.
28:26
And I remember I learned this my first year of Bible college, our
28:31
first assignment, and I don't even remember.
28:33
It's probably in the book of John.
28:35
They gave us like John chapter 3 verses one through 16 or
28:41
something like really well known passage.
28:44
And he's like, your assignment is to ask 35 questions of this
28:48
text. And I remember thinking I asked
28:50
like three, yeah. And then I was like 35.
28:54
I'm like, what kind of sandals was he wearing?
28:57
What time of day was it like just I I could not come up with
29:01
35 questions. By the end of the semester, I
29:04
could have come up with 135 questions.
29:09
It and I think that skill is one of the most important skills for
29:13
biblical interpretation. If you want to meditate on a
29:16
passage, is is to just let a text sit with you and then
29:23
ruminate, ruminate, ruminate. And some people that comes
29:26
naturally too. I can't remember what
29:29
organization it was that there was, there was an organization
29:31
when they were interviewing people gave them a house brick
29:34
and said, how many uses can you think of from this house brick?
29:38
And and like some people would come up with like building a
29:41
house and others would come up with all sorts of crazy ideas.
29:46
And they were actually looking for people that could look at it
29:48
from all sorts of different perspectives.
29:50
And I think there was a beautiful winter looking at
29:52
Scripture from all sorts of different perspectives.
29:54
Well, as we're illustrating for you, we're 30 minutes in the
29:58
podcast, we haven't even finished first one.
30:01
So yes, but I think it's an important thing.
30:03
So I, I just thought it'd be fun to, to just grab a few little
30:07
Nuggets that I noticed that I had to try and I think do
30:11
confirm the ultimate interpretation that I landed
30:14
with. But so we have this Kidron
30:16
Valley fun little nugget chase the rabbit trail and there's
30:20
some curiosity there. Again, I can't vet that fully.
30:23
I'd have to read other commentators and that sort of
30:25
thing to try and get. More well, I think, I think
30:27
verse two kind of backs up your take on it.
30:30
Well, there's another one in verse one.
30:32
The word garden here is a unique, he could have used a
30:35
couple different words for garden.
30:36
And sometimes some interpreters take this particular use as
30:43
almost a royal courtyard. So again, this chapter, I think
30:50
if I'm not mistaken, I had the number in my head before I think
30:53
I even said it, maybe from the pulpit.
30:55
If he used the word king 13 times and then it applies
30:59
kingship in these subtle ways another 5 or 6 times.
31:04
So you get this impression he's he's sort of approaching his
31:08
palace. He's in the he's in the
31:11
courtyard of the king like these, you know, this kind of
31:14
garden was a garden that was like manicured and only the
31:17
wealth he had this. Now he could have used a
31:20
different word for garden. He doesn't say Garden of
31:23
Gethsemane. Why?
31:24
Because he's trying to communicate this kingship.
31:27
You know, it is the Garden of Gethsemane most likely.
31:29
But he wants us to see this as a different kind of garden for
31:33
theological reasons. And what were you going to point
31:37
out in verse 2 now, Judas? Well, the Judas knows the the
31:40
place, so they've been there a lot.
31:42
So he's running intentionally to a place that Judas will be able
31:45
to find them. Yes.
31:47
It's not a hiding piece. It's a it's an intentional
31:52
meeting point. Yes, yeah.
31:55
So Judas, you know, Judas comes in.
31:59
We talked a bunch about Judas in Chapter 13.
32:02
So think, yeah, think about that from the perspective of what do
32:05
you do if you want to avoid someone he knows.
32:08
Judas is a betrayer. That's already been included.
32:10
You don't go to the place you. Don't go to the place you go to
32:12
all the time. Jesus always after dinner, every
32:14
time he goes to this garden. And sure enough, that's where I
32:18
found him, right? So, so we did drill into chapter
32:24
3 or in verse 3, we talked about this word spirion.
32:30
Yeah, I, I did have someone e-mail in and just said, you
32:33
know, some scholars have have seen this, that it's probably
32:37
not 600 soldiers. And we talked about that
32:39
probably somewhere between a century, centurions a.
32:43
A century. Yeah, A.
32:44
Century and A and a legion. A legion, yeah.
32:47
Yeah, which a Legion smallest would be 1000 and stuff now.
32:53
And I actually I, I was like, I think I said that in the pulpit.
32:56
So I did go back and check and I did mention in passing, I don't
33:00
think his point is to name a specific number.
33:04
What I so the the vernacular, my translation would be Judas came
33:09
to the garden with a whole batch of soldiers, a whole bunch of
33:13
soldiers is his point. And I think that that's why he
33:18
chose this word is he's not necessarily he didn't go out and
33:20
say, wait, wait, wait, let's take roll call real quick so I
33:23
can get my historical narrative accurate.
33:25
He wants us to envision a large group of soldiers bearing arms.
33:31
He wants that vibe for his narrative to function.
33:34
Totally. It's supposed to function.
33:36
Well, there's, there's, and there's a whole bunch of like
33:38
back and forth across the Gospels as whether Romans are
33:41
included here or is it just the Jewish gods?
33:45
Like is it, is it, is Rome complicit already?
33:51
Or is this just the the Jewish gods that guard the temple
33:55
ordinarily? And what's going on here is this
33:58
is eventually the whole weight of both the government and the
34:02
religious world will land on Jesus.
34:05
Yeah, and that's actually one of the differences between the
34:09
synoptic Gospels, Mark, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John is that John
34:14
places this as a Roman guard and again primarily, rather than a a
34:20
Roman soldier group mixed with guards from the temple.
34:26
And again, John has an agenda. He wants us to feel a the
34:32
theological nature of what Jesus is doing at a cosmic level in
34:35
this chapter, beyond the actual details of the narrative itself.
34:40
He's less concerned with the the very specific historicity 600
34:46
exactly at this place at this time.
34:51
He's more concerned with the theological cosmic space of a
34:54
King of kings, Lord of Lords, approaching his throne, which is
34:57
the throne of sacrifice itself. How do how do some of the other
35:01
people try? Because it's a detachment in the
35:04
NIV. What does it?
35:07
What are some of the other ways they describe it, that group of
35:10
soldiers, But they have like, I mean, I, I my guess is that the
35:14
King James version is going to have like crowd or something
35:18
like. That the ESV gives it a band of
35:23
soldiers. Yeah, band of men and a oh,
35:26
interestingly, Judas then having a received a band of men and
35:30
officials from the chief priests and the Pharisees.
35:33
So the King James Version cuts out any Roman illusion
35:37
whatsoever. In in the book of John.
35:39
In the book of John, yeah. In 18.
35:41
Yeah, that's fascinating. Yeah.
35:44
And I think This is why this particular word, Spiran is so
35:48
controversial from a interpretive perspective is it's
35:53
carrying the Roman. Totally.
35:55
It's a Roman word. It's.
35:56
Carrying the Roman soldier element to the interpretation
36:03
and some of these other translators is like, well, all
36:06
the Synoptics says it's this like group of of people from the
36:12
temple. So obviously it's not Rome.
36:15
And writers used loan words all the time.
36:17
So, like, you know, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
36:20
But it's, it's a yeah. Fascinating.
36:22
So it yeah, and I think so. The NASB says we're coming up to
36:26
him with the 4th C Oh wait, Judas and the Roman, which is
36:31
an. Italics, which is.
36:33
Doesn't exist in the text itself.
36:34
Cohort and officers now the reason so those are.
36:40
Is that the amplified version? No, that's the NASP.
36:42
So the ESV, like if you're if you're much more of a like all
36:47
the three main modern translations, but the ESV and
36:53
the NANESB are the most more wooden modern translations.
36:58
Still think that the word spirion deserves a mention of a
37:02
Roman vibe. To it, Living Bible has a squad
37:06
of soldiers. Yeah.
37:10
So, so interesting. Now, yeah.
37:12
And so the B DAG, which is probably one of the the leading
37:19
Greek lexicons literally just says 600 this this is normally
37:26
had 600 men in it, so. But again, to your point, no
37:29
one's counting. Yes, it's not the point, but
37:32
this is the kind of rabbit trail you do when you're sermon
37:35
prepping. You're like, whoa, what's going
37:37
on here? And then you have to say R is
37:39
the number important? Is the is the point just.
37:44
And I so I, I jumped to the illustration of shock and awe in
37:49
the sermon because I think that's the point.
37:51
It's a strong show of. Force.
37:56
That John wants us to sense this is the show of force that the
38:00
world has to offer. This is the show of force that
38:03
Jesus has to offer. Oh, and he tumbles them by
38:06
saying his name. Yeah.
38:08
You know, which is a a super fun little detail.
38:12
OK, I. Wonder is it?
38:12
Is it like do you think it's connected at all to you?
38:15
I'm trying to think of that. Let me see if I can find this
38:21
passage. Do you think it's connected to 2
38:23
Kings Chapter 6 at all? Like when the the Elijah has the
38:30
whole crowd of opposition come up against him and his servants
38:35
like, you know, like, Oh my goodness, we're outnumbered.
38:38
And Elijah says, like confidently, no, no, no.
38:41
Those that are with us are more than those that are against us.
38:45
Yes, so or I actually was really close to using the story of, of
38:53
the the whittling down of the soldiers.
38:56
To the 300. The Gideon story as an
38:59
illustration that later in the message I was going to use as an
39:05
illustration of this is the kind of warfare that God prefers.
39:09
It's the kind of warfare that eliminates the expected earthly
39:15
powers and instead wins wars with lanterns and pots and
39:20
paints like this is this is the kind of king.
39:23
Yeah. So in that in that Elijah
39:25
passage, the servant looks a second time and he sees all the
39:28
Chariots. And you feel in this passage
39:31
that the disciples are very much focused on.
39:33
We're outnumbered, we're cornered.
39:35
Like even the way Peter strikes up the servants here, it's like
39:39
a a cornered, cornered rat. Yep, biting at the heels of
39:43
United. Yeah.
39:44
And then yeah, Peter shows a couple different fight or flight
39:46
responses. Like he he does fight, fight,
39:49
freeze and hide all in the same chapter right?
39:52
But Jesus seems deeply aware you, you know, it's almost like
39:56
the lived out version of his comment in I think Matthew where
40:01
he says, you know, like, yeah, I can ask my father for total
40:05
angels. And a legion, of course,
40:08
outnumbers a. What's the term against?
40:11
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
40:14
So anyway, we have this, this band of soldiers, as in lanterns
40:19
and weapons. And like you're supposed to
40:22
picture this dark garden with this massive show of force.
40:25
It actually. Reminds me of, like, Gaston.
40:27
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Beast.
40:29
You should have sung that song. Yeah.
40:32
And we'll kill the beast. Kill the beast.
40:34
Yeah, and then verse four hits, Jesus knowing, knowing all that
40:39
was going to happen to him, went out and asked them.
40:41
So he approaches the crowd. Well, he doesn't hide in the
40:44
shadows. He doesn't flee across the
40:46
Kidron Valley. Instead he's like, who is it
40:50
that you want Jesus of Nazareth? They replied.
40:52
And Eggo a me, we talked about this in the sermons, so I won't
40:55
belabor it here, but he's been using that term all throughout
40:59
the book. It is a It is one of the iconic
41:02
phrases from the Book of John. Constant, yeah.
41:05
Where he really wants us to identify Jesus as the God of the
41:09
Old Testament in this ego a me. Yeah, I'm I'm going to skim over
41:17
the rest of those things. So verse 6, when Jesus says I
41:21
am, I am. They drew back and fell to the
41:23
ground. Yeah, just I love that he just
41:26
mentions this just so you know, your pathetic show of force.
41:32
I could if I wanted to blow you all out of the water just for
41:37
the word. And instead he, he just sort of
41:40
opts in for this arrest. Jesus of Nazareth, verse 8.
41:45
Jesus answered, I told you that I am he, if you are looking for
41:48
me then and let these men go. Yeah.
41:50
And then that phrase is a very strong command.
41:53
You know, he starts dishing out these commands.
41:55
I mentioned that in the message. This happened so that the word
41:58
spoken would be fulfilled. I have not lost one of these.
42:01
This is a fun rabbit trail. That's not in the Old Testament.
42:04
That's earlier in the book of John.
42:06
So he's quoting himself from his own.
42:10
It's like an internal quotation. And you can you can find that in
42:13
John chapter 6 where he basically promises this and then
42:19
he fulfills the promise all within the same book.
42:22
Fine. John 6 or John 8?
42:23
John 639 So if we want to jump over there, we can.
42:32
Yeah. So it's.
42:35
And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should should
42:39
lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the
42:43
last day, you know so. Oh, and then he just, he kind of
42:48
gets repeated in John A. That's right.
42:50
Yeah, yeah, yeah. When he says that, you know no
42:52
one can take them from my father's hand, my father who's
42:54
stronger than I am or stronger than anyone.
42:57
Yeah. So already movement one or a
43:01
scene one in the act or in the in the in the play that's
43:04
unfolding just positions Jesus as firmly in charge, right.
43:09
So all those lonely details, fun little stuff.
43:12
All right, so then Simon Peter, who had the sword drew and
43:16
struck the high priest, cutting off the right ear.
43:18
Fun little nugget here is the fact that he mentions it's the
43:23
right ear. There's actually some first
43:26
second temple Jewish law around maimed individuals and they're
43:31
they're they aren't allowed to serve in temple service.
43:35
So he's the high priest servant who's supposed to be serving in
43:39
the temple and he has to specifically he can, he can be
43:42
maimed on the other side a little bit, but he can't be
43:45
maimed on the right side. And so this, so this is an act
43:50
not only of violence, but it's an act of injustice according to
43:54
first second Temple Jewish law. And, and his name is Malchus,
43:59
which means Cain in, in, in Aramaic.
44:05
Just so you get this idea that Leon is just, you know, bread
44:13
crumbs. Like if you can't miss it, or if
44:15
you can't catch my point in layer one, I'll add it in layer
44:18
2 and layer three, layer 4. So you you have to see this
44:23
compare and contrast between the King of kings and the earthly
44:26
kings and powers at playing the story.
44:29
Well, and and then doing John like things by naming Peter very
44:33
specifically. Yeah, yeah, when all the others
44:35
are just like. Which you mentioned so, so
44:37
comical, you know. Everyone else is like one of us.
44:44
We won't name any names John's like I will.
44:46
I'll name some names. It's like it was Simon.
44:50
Just so you know, John, Peter, I am better than you.
44:53
God loves me better than you. Oh man, I love that they're so
44:57
human, like they are just very human people.
45:01
You know, so this is a this jumps out of this chapter a
45:05
little bit, but I I think of it less as an expression of pride
45:10
on the part of John, but the the impression I get especially
45:15
well, actually, you're going to talk talk about this chapter
45:18
this coming Sunday. But I guess you said you may or
45:21
may not actually address some of the second movements of
45:24
comparing contrast with Peter and John.
45:26
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I think that when John
45:32
refers to himself within his own narrative, he's making identity
45:38
statements about his personal relationship with Jesus.
45:42
I think it's almost like he needs he needs to continually
45:47
remind themselves that he is a son of the King, that he is
45:50
deeply loved and that all of these moments where he alludes
45:56
to himself in the chapter, he alludes to himself in that
46:01
really intimate friendship with Jesus.
46:05
And I think it's I think it's for his own discipleship that he
46:07
does. Well, and I and I, I think over
46:11
the years I've, I've heard people say one of the best
46:14
things you can do for your own formation is refer to yourself
46:18
as the one Jesus loves. Yes.
46:20
You know. And I think that's what he's up
46:21
to in this. Is it?
46:24
It's it's a way of him describing his emotion towards
46:28
the person of Jesus, very similar to the thesis you gave
46:31
for the whole book. It's his way of depositing his
46:37
one-on-one interaction with Jesus throughout the narrative
46:40
without also telling large quantities of story about his
46:44
personal interaction. Super fun.
46:48
Yeah, so the so the beautiful invite is actually we are all
46:50
the one Jesus loves, Yes. And John's unashamed at saying
46:56
it in his own narrative. I love it so all right moving on
47:00
move Act 2 They they they the attachments of soldiers take him
47:04
to the Jewish officials that arrested him.
47:06
They bound him again He he chooses to be bound right and
47:11
they brought him before Annis you could do some historical
47:16
study there. You know, he's not supposed to
47:19
necessarily be in charge because of the Roman situation, but he's
47:22
kind of in charge. It reminds me of when like
47:25
Vladimir Putin became Prime Minister of Russia.
47:28
Yes, after he couldn't be president anymore.
47:30
I'm not president. I'm just the one in charge, you
47:33
know? Yeah, exactly.
47:35
So it was the father of law of of Caiaphas, the high priest
47:38
that year. So the token high priest.
47:41
The token high priest who is one who, who would advise you.
47:45
OK, there's all these details. Every one of them are, are
47:48
rabbit trails you can chase. I, I don't even think we have
47:51
time for that in the podcast 'cause we're at 47 minutes
47:54
already and we're just starting to get into this.
47:56
So Act 2, this is the, the act that glossed over the most.
48:02
And it's super brilliant on the part of John because he sets up,
48:06
I mentioned in passing, but I didn't read any of the texts
48:10
that there's two trials taking place, one trial in the
48:15
courtroom, another trial at the campfire.
48:18
So he he compares Peter's trial, who he's failing miserably at
48:24
this at the trial stand and Jesus's trial, Peter's first
48:28
movement is starting in verse 15.
48:34
He can't get in and someone knows the the priest.
48:38
So they get Peter in and a servant get girl asks.
48:43
Well, it just says the other disciple, right, Which is
48:46
usually himself John. Yeah, You aren't one of the
48:50
men's disciples too, are you? And she says, and he says, OK
48:54
me, which is again, OK. Is that an interpretive
48:59
decision? Like is there some nugget of
49:01
theological truth we're supposed to take about it?
49:03
Or is this just really good storytelling?
49:05
And I don't know, like I could chase this, but why OK me?
49:09
Why is it the exact opposite of egg OA me, which is I am that I
49:13
am or an illusion to the to the sort of the name of God, And he
49:22
says I am not. Again, this compare of Jesus is
49:26
in the light in the courtroom under the the the the thing and
49:31
Peter's in the dark hiding in a corner saying I am not and I
49:36
please don't. And, and Jesus is stood in front
49:39
of people that theoretically have the power of life or death
49:41
over him. And Peter is, is not either, you
49:45
know, this is a servant girl, you know, like she could
49:48
theoretically go tell someone or something like that, but she
49:51
doesn't of herself have any power.
49:52
She's actually characterized as not only a servant, but female,
49:57
so in terms of the power structures of the day, she's the
50:00
lowest of the low. And in fairness, the
50:02
interrogators in Peter's courtroom at the campfire, each
50:08
one gets more and more threatening.
50:10
So it so it was cold and the servants officials stood around
50:15
and the fire and they made him warm.
50:18
Peter was also standing there warming himself.
50:20
Meanwhile, So John like tik toks back and forth between these two
50:25
scenes. Meanwhile, the high priest
50:27
questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.
50:30
I almost dug into this section in the sermon because it in
50:38
second temple Judaism, they one shouldn't have been having this
50:44
trial under at night. It needs to be a public trial
50:48
according to Jewish law, and witnesses need to be allowed to
50:52
be brought. So Peter, the one failure
50:55
failing miserably in the courtyard, should have been the
50:58
primary witness. Brought to the courtroom.
51:00
To defend his teaching because they asked him about his
51:04
teaching so meanwhile in the high priest questioned Jesus
51:07
about his teaching and what does Jesus say I've spoken openly to
51:11
the world so one you've already heard it Second, I've always
51:15
taught in the synagogue or the temple where all of the Jews
51:18
came together in other words, there's bring forth the
51:21
witnesses. I said nothing in secret.
51:23
Why question me ask those who heard me in other words, ask
51:26
Peter. Meanwhile Peter's in the thing
51:29
being asked and failing miserably.
51:33
So this is John's thing, like Peter should have been, could
51:37
have, should have, would have been the one brought to the
51:39
witness stand and said what was Jesus?
51:41
But. Then also then shouldn't John
51:43
have been as well? Yes, yes, absolutely the.
51:48
So does John fail the trial as well?
51:50
Or is John? Well, I think the the compared
51:54
contrast for the narrative is always pitted Jesus versus
51:57
Peter. But yes, absolutely.
51:59
And I think actually ultimately Movement 2 or Act 2, my point
52:05
was Jesus needs no defense. That was the point I gave to the
52:09
congregation. I think actually that's what's
52:12
taking place here. Jesus, he sounds kind of feisty
52:17
in that. Too.
52:18
With like he sounds so much so that they slap him in the face
52:21
because they think he's being disrespectful again.
52:25
Which also happens to Paul as well, doesn't it?
52:27
Yes, So this slap in the face, they think he's being
52:31
disrespectful, but all of his language is highlighting the
52:35
Jewish law that they are breaking by not giving him a
52:40
proper trial and then and then choosing not to.
52:45
I, I'm not playing your games. I refuse to play these games.
52:49
I don't need the defense you think I need.
52:52
And then you could rewind to the Isaiah passage that like a lamb
52:56
led to the slaughter. He didn't defend himself.
52:58
So he's mouthy here with them, but he's not mouthy in the sense
53:02
that no, I was just saying this or he's not defending himself in
53:07
any way, shape or form. He is highlighting the
53:10
brokenness of the system. He's saying your system is not
53:14
OK. Yeah, so.
53:15
So at the same time though, is he also trying to get himself to
53:20
the cross? Yes, I think so, At least in
53:23
John's narrative. You know we don't in John get
53:27
the dialogue with with his father in prayer.
53:29
Yeah. Because which I think obviously
53:32
happens in in the synoptics where he's agonizing, which is
53:37
equally a beautiful thing that highlights the humanity of
53:40
Christ, which is so important for the gospel, so important for
53:44
us to understand the incarnation and all of that for the gospel
53:47
to function proper, properly theologically.
53:50
But John's agenda is to position Jesus as king.
53:54
Yeah, yeah. As in charge of the.
53:55
And that's why, you know, we've talked about how he uses the
53:58
term glory. Yes, you know, the cross is
54:00
glory. And so when he says the time has
54:05
come, glorify your Son. He means die on the cross.
54:11
But so so it's the same conversation as your will be
54:16
done, but just in John Johanna in terms which in John Jesus is
54:22
more of a king than he is a man. Yes, in the Synoptics, like in
54:28
comparison to the Synoptics. Yeah, well, by the time John's
54:30
Gospel comes along, one, it's the latest of the Gospels, John
54:35
has had the longest amount of time to ruminate on the, on the
54:38
narrative of his friends Jesus and King and Lord.
54:43
And, and he's also trying to correct some, some
54:46
misconceptions about the person of, of Jesus in a, in a Gnostic
54:52
world and in a, you know, in some theological issues.
54:56
And so he's like, all right, I'm going to set the, the record
54:59
straight. He is, he is God.
55:01
Yeah. 1 He is glorious. He's King of kings, Lord of
55:05
Lords. And so all of his agenda is very
55:07
centered on that. And and and a cynic would say
55:09
he's waiting till Pete is dead so he can't push back on the
55:13
foot race. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
55:15
No one could contradict me anymore.
55:17
Totally. So, yeah, we're, we're still not
55:21
going to get through this whole thing, but we'll, we'll just
55:23
give a couple more Nuggets. When Jesus said this, they, they
55:26
slap him again. This is the way the world tries
55:29
to control people. And The funny thing about all of
55:32
this, it's I love how this even the psychology of this chapter
55:38
is, is, is accurate. There's fear like fight or
55:43
flight responses at play. Peter and his hiding in the
55:46
courtyard. It's all of this stuff, his
55:50
attacking of the the guy and cutting off his ear.
55:54
And what we get is a psychologically healthy,
55:58
regulated Jesus. Yeah.
56:01
Non anxious presence. And the reason he's able to do
56:03
that is because fear has no control over him.
56:06
And that's actually, I think part of why I concluded the
56:09
message with these practices around self regulation,
56:14
breathing breath practices, breath prayer, seeing
56:18
counselors, because I think that that's what this text is
56:21
inviting us into The way of Jesus demands that we figure out
56:25
how to exist in the face of danger, even the threat of
56:31
death, and be creatures that show up not from the animal
56:36
position of defend, fight, flight, but instead from the
56:41
deeply imago day image of God. Position of death has no control
56:48
over me, which is where Jesus I think wants us in this chapter.
56:52
And and the best of humanity seems to come out when we can
56:56
make those non animal like decisions.
56:59
Like I think it was CS Lewis that wrote years ago.
57:01
Like an animal can have herd instinct and feel like it should
57:06
save someone in its tribal plan family group, but only a human
57:12
can be scared and want to run away and feel like their job is
57:17
to overcome the instinct. To go against instinct and do
57:22
what do what looks like an image bearer of God would do.
57:27
Do you want to say anything about Jesus and Pilate before?
57:31
Yeah, so there's this final little exchange with Peter in
57:35
the courtyard. You find out that the last
57:38
person that accuses Peter is a relative of the person of
57:41
Malchus, whose. Name was cut off.
57:43
So so a person who could have brought him actually before the
57:47
courtroom court anyway. So then Jesus and Pilate starts
57:51
to take place in chapter or in chapter 18, verse 28, then
57:54
Jewish leaders, we already talked about this.
57:58
He's a Roman governor. There's a there's a bunch of
58:00
historical data that I think would have been fascinating if I
58:04
could have brought it out around some recent occurrences in
58:08
Israel and some neighboring equivalents of Israel where
58:12
there was another Roman official in the same position as as
58:16
pilot, where there was an uprising in another town and
58:20
this guy's in charge of it and the uprising.
58:22
And then the emperor kills him because he's like, I don't want
58:25
any uprisings. And Pilot has been operating
58:30
with this iron fistedness prior. He's stolen money from the
58:34
temple to build some roads in town, and there was an uprising.
58:39
And then he sees one of his buddies killed over here.
58:42
And so he's a little on edge around this whole thing.
58:46
The the city is swollen to almost three times the
58:49
population because of the festivals taking place in
58:52
Israel. And so think just imagine fight
58:55
or flight response for pilot. I got to play my cards right.
58:59
I got to try and appease these people.
59:02
Then he has this fascinating. There's like the philosophical
59:07
language like almost like a a Roman philosophers debate
59:11
between Jesus and Pilot in there around what is truth, who is
59:17
truth? And then so we'll jump down to
59:23
here. It's all fascinating that
59:25
interplay is it takes the shape of a lot of the ancient
59:30
philosophical writings from this time period.
59:33
Jesus said my Kingdom is not of this world and that language
59:36
there. I wish, part of me wished that
59:43
he said it slightly different because he disguises, I think
59:47
Jesus disguises his meeting a little bit more choosing this
59:50
language, but he's speaking like the philosopher rather than in
59:55
the vernacular in this context because he's speaking to Pilate
59:58
who seems semi interested in philosophy here.
1:00:01
So Jesus says my Kingdom is not of this world.
1:00:04
In other words, it's a little bit more.
1:00:07
It doesn't find its source energy.
1:00:10
It's it's roots are not deposited in this world and by
1:00:17
implication. Yours is.
1:00:20
Yeah, yeah, totally. There is a there is a stem of
1:00:23
power that finds it's energy deeply within the systems and
1:00:28
structures of this world. Not mine.
1:00:30
Yeah, yeah, mine finds it's energy and power elsewhere.
1:00:34
Well, then it gives this example about what that means, right?
1:00:38
So yeah, then they if. It were here's the energy you
1:00:42
have, pilot. I just want you to know you have
1:00:44
swords, weapons, you have spirions, right?
1:00:47
You have this, these weapons and torches and all this stuff.
1:00:51
If, if my servants were operating under that energy
1:00:55
source, they would be fighting on my behalf.
1:00:58
But they don't. Instead, my Kingdom is from
1:01:01
another place. So you are a king.
1:01:03
He's a little bit nervous, right?
1:01:05
Then Jesus answered. You say that I'm a king.
1:01:07
In fact, the reason I was born. I wish this this is the one I
1:01:10
wish he'd said it for to make it a little easier for us.
1:01:13
But it's disposited in some of the other Gospels, when he's
1:01:17
interrogated, he says yes or some of the other translations,
1:01:20
sorry. The NIV says, in fact, the
1:01:24
reason I was born and came into the world in this translation,
1:01:28
it doesn't say yes, I, that is why I was born, is to be a king.
1:01:32
In this translation, NIV, he says, in fact, the reason I was
1:01:37
born and came into the world is to testify to the truth.
1:01:41
And in this context, what he's getting at is that the the power
1:01:45
source that I have is truer than the power.
1:01:48
Source that you have. That's actually what he's trying
1:01:51
to communicate. And it it's a little convoluted
1:01:55
in the dialogue because we, we could think much more in the
1:01:59
philosophical space. What is truth?
1:02:01
Is there such thing as absolute truth?
1:02:03
And he's like, I will show you. I mean, let me demonstrate by
1:02:07
dying on the cross and seeing the the church unfold in human
1:02:12
history and show you that my power is truer than.
1:02:14
You and truth has been a bit of a thing all the way through.
1:02:18
Totally like grace and truth came through Jesus.
1:02:20
Yeah, so so he asked him what is truth, you know, and then he and
1:02:27
then the the final sort of like fun little nail in the coffin
1:02:31
moment or this nugget, which I did mention in the sermon is
1:02:34
that this verse 40, they he says, oh, do you want this guy
1:02:40
or this guy to be released? And they say we want Barabbas.
1:02:43
And then John just adds this little nugget.
1:02:46
Now Barabbas had taken part in uprising.
1:02:47
In other words, Barabbas was tapping into this earthly power,
1:02:52
this earthly energy source. And they don't want that.
1:02:56
They want, they want this or they want the earthly power.
1:03:01
They don't want this cosmic truth, which is a self giving,
1:03:05
self sacrificial love. There you go, there's some of
1:03:08
the Nuggets that I've had to cut.
1:03:10
Good job. And we're 2 minutes over.
1:03:14
Oh interesting, According to me we're 4 minutes over so.
1:03:17
Really 1203? 12/04 What is going on?
1:03:23
How is Apple giving two different times?
1:03:25
That's crazy. Well, thanks for tuning in,
1:03:27
hopefully that wasn't too much in the weeds for you.
1:03:30
But it's a fun, fun chapter, and John is the gift that keeps on
1:03:33
giving. He's indeed, and he's
1:03:34
infuriating at the same time. Thank you guys.
1:03:37
Bye, I've got to find the butt.