[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hey, thanks so much for listening to this message. My name is Jason and I'm one of the ministers here at the Madison Church of Christ. It's our hope and prayer that the teaching you hear today will bless your life and draw you closer to God. If you're ever in the Madison area, we'd love for you to stop by and study the Bible with us on Sundays at 05:00 p.m. or Wednesdays at 07:00 p.m. if you have questions about the Bible or want to know more about the Madison church, you can find us
[email protected] dot. Be sure to subscribe to this podcast as well as our Sermons podcast Madison Church of Christ Sermons. Thanks again for stopping by. I hope this study is a blessing to you.
[00:00:38] Speaker B: So I want to thank. I don't see. Oh, there's Larry. I want to thank Ed and Larry for teaching last week. Did go back and watch the class and it was wonderful class. Thank you guys for stepping in. So Robert is not here this week. I asked Brother Bartley, I think I.
[00:00:59] Speaker C: Should explain how I got here.
[00:01:00] Speaker B: You should. Okay, go ahead.
[00:01:02] Speaker C: So David sends me a text last night just before seven, and I'm going into another class that I won't get out of till 930 and ask if I would teach.
And I said, well, there's not a lot of time to prepare, David. And he said exactly with an exclamation point.
And then later I tell this story to Julie after I get home. And he said exactly with an exclamation point. And she just broke out loud.
Horse laughing horse.
[00:01:31] Speaker B: Well, I asked you because I knew Roger Beck would say no. How about that? Okay, so nicely done.
So I wanted to start tonight. I do want to do a little bit of review and there's a subject Bart and I had been going back and forth on and I wanted to bring it back up again. And I'm actually going to apply it to what we're talking about tonight. I think we could do a whole lesson on this one thing, but I'm not going to. But it's because it's got a lot of layers. So a few weeks ago, right here in front of everybody and in front of the cameras went out to, you know, potentially millions of people on the Internet.
I called, are we going to rehash it? We're going to rehash it. Yeah. I called Bart Graham a mama's boy.
Okay. I did. I did. I called him my mama's boy.
And here's where I'm going with this. So, Bart sitting there, he had a couple of choices when I called him a mama's boy on how to react to that, and he could have, you know, gotten his feelings hurt, and he could have lashed back out at me. Right. I know he was deeply hurt. He could have done that. But he didn't do that. He actually said, I know David Dicus. I've known him for probably a couple of decades now. I know he's an emotionally small man who gets joy by making fun of others, and that is correct.
And so he decided being honest with yourself, being first step is his first step. And he decided that the message was a joke. Right. From the context, he decided the message was a joke, and he reacted appropriately. Okay. And like I said, there's a lot of lessons here, but I've been thinking about this a lot, and the first.
[00:03:25] Speaker C: Lesson, more than I have.
[00:03:26] Speaker B: Yeah.
The first lesson, I would say is, and this is not really applicable to tonight, is. I think that's a great life lesson, because in that moment, he had that choice to be hurt or to take it another way. And even if I had intended to hurt him with that, which I didn't, but if I had intended to hurt him with that by choosing to believe it was a joke, Bart was always better off. And I think that's. That's a life lesson.
[00:03:53] Speaker C: Well, you know, I really had no other choice since I called you a giant strawberry.
[00:03:58] Speaker B: That's true. That's true. We were not gonna get into that.
[00:04:01] Speaker C: Okay? But that's.
[00:04:01] Speaker B: That's the point. That's the point was that he had a choice. And I just want to encourage all of us. Okay? And I'm not saying I do this, but I want to encourage all of us when we are in those situation, and we have a choice to take something in a way that's hurtful or in a way that we can give somebody the benefit of the doubt. Let's give people the benefit of the doubt. Now, where that comes into tonight in our study of Matthew, and I've hit this topic a lot, when we study the scripture, we always have to take context into account.
So, again, I've been making a joke of it. But Barth, knowing me, knowing what kind of sense of humor I had, I make a statement that, on its face, is an insult, that if I just read that statement, if somebody just watched that part of the video, I called Bart a mama's boy.
But when taken in context, it has a completely different meaning. Okay? And that's. Again, I think I've hit that several times in this class. And I want to hit that again tonight as we study the scripture. We have to do that. Okay? I think a lot of times, personally, I want to get down and I want to really, really focus in. And sometimes when we do that, I think we get the wrong idea and make some of the wrong conclusions. And I think we're going to see that as we get into Matthew 23. Tonight, we're going to see the Pharisees were doing some of the same things.
Now I want to do a quick review. And then I've got one question I want to ask you guys. And I don't know how long it's going to take to get through it. And then we're going to move into. In chapter 23, there's a section. It's either seven or eight. Is it seven or eight?
[00:05:46] Speaker C: Eight. Woes.
[00:05:47] Speaker B: The woes.
[00:05:47] Speaker C: The woes.
[00:05:48] Speaker B: We're going to get into the eight woes. But before we get into that real quick review, because I do think it's necessary. Chapter 21, we had triumphal entry into Jerusalem.
And then what does Jesus do? He cleanses the temple. Remember we talked a couple of weeks ago about how I said, that's probably not how we normally would expect Jesus to act. Right. It was a violent act of him cleansing the temple. A harsh act. Then there was the story of the barren fig tree. Then Jesus authority was challenged. And then he told a couple of parables. And those parables bleed over into chapter 22. And I watched the class from last week, and Ed and Larry did a really great job in chapter 22. Almost the whole chapter is, what. What are they trying to do?
Anybody remember? They're trying to trap Jesus.
And I love the points that were brought out that when they came to trap him, that first group that came to trap him, they brought the Pharisees and the Herodians. So whichever way he answered, one group was going to be mad at him. And he, you know, once again, without giving a direct answer, he gives them a response, completely disarms them.
Then the Sadducees come and they ask him a question.
I can't remember if you guys hit on it last week, but I did think one of the things that's interesting about the Sadducees question.
What was strange about the question that they. They asked him? I think it even says it there in the text. They don't believe in the resurrection. They don't believe in the resurrection. And so they ask him this complex question about something they don't believe in. Okay. And so he gives them an answer. And then I want to hit real quickly on chapter 22, verse 46. Okay? In chapter 22, verse 46, I'll read. It says this.
No one was able to offer him a word in answer, nor did anyone dare from that day on, to ask him any more questions. Okay? So again, he's had his triumphal entry. They've been trying to trap him. He's completely defeated them. And then we get into chapter 23.
Now I'm going to read down. I'll read this part down to verse twelve. And then I'm going to ask you guys a question.
It says, then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, saying, the scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses. Therefore, whatever they tell you, do and comply with it all, but do not do as they do, for they say things and do not do them. And they tie up heavy burdens and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as their finger.
And they do all their deeds to be noticed by other people. For they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments. And they love the place of honor at banquets and the seats of honor in the synagogues, and personal greetings in the marketplaces, and being called rabbi by the people. But as for you, do not be called rabbi, for only one is your teacher. And you are all brothers and sisters. And do not call anyone on earth your father, for only one is your father, he who is in heaven. And do not be called leaders. Only one is your leader.
That is Christ. But the greatest of you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled. And whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.
Ok, so I've actually got two questions for you.
I don't know that I put the proper emotion into that.
How do you think Jesus said that? What was the emotion behind that? A little agitated. A little agitated. You know, that's my point. Chapter 21. He was clearly agitated.
Then they come in and they're coming at him, and then they leave him alone, and then he goes back at them. It's pretty aggressive.
And again, even as I read this in preparation for tonight, I immediately was like, this does not feel like when I think about Jesus, when I think about, especially, again, a contemporary view of Jesus.
This doesn't seem like Jesus, right? This is very aggressive. And spoiler alert, it's going to get worse in this chapter. Okay? It's going to get worse. He says, some very harsh things to these scribes and these Pharisees. And so, again, I want to make sure that as we, you know, as we study and as we read some of these verses and we see the things that Jesus is doing, let's make sure that we keep in mind what his mindset was, how he said those, how he potentially said those things. And I think we can make some. We can make some inferences there that, as Julie said, he was probably agitated.
Now, I've got a question, and we'll probably spend a couple minutes here.
What is a hypocrite? I've got a couple of definitions I'll read to you all in a minute. But what's a hypocrite?
You said two faced.
Two faced. Okay, can you expand on that, Annie?
[00:11:53] Speaker D: Because you put a face on a stick, you pretend to be something that you're not, that did not have computer graphics.
[00:12:03] Speaker B: Okay. So you pretend to be something you're not. Okay, I like that.
Anybody else got one?
[00:12:10] Speaker E: Yeah, maybe holding someone to a standard you don't hold yourself to.
[00:12:13] Speaker B: Yeah, I think that's a very good one. He said, holding others to a standard, you don't hold yourself to say one thing and do another. Say one thing and do another. Okay, now that's a good one. And I want to put a pin in that, and I want to come back to that. So I'm going to read real quickly the two definitions I got.
Hypocrite. A person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etcetera. That they do not actually possess. Especially a person whose actions belie stated beliefs. Second definition, a person who feigns some desirable or publicly approved attitude, especially whose private life, opinions or statements belie their public statements. Okay, so I think we've hit on the definition, and here's what I think the tough question is.
Are we hypocrites when we sin, or does sin make us hypocrites?
And I'm gonna tell you, I don't have an answer. I wanted us to discuss this. I'm just curious what people think.
[00:13:26] Speaker C: Not necessarily. But if we sin and then try to convince others that we don't, because that would be wrong. I think you can. Hypocritical. But just sinning itself is not a good one.
[00:13:43] Speaker B: Okay, I'm repeating for the people online, she said, not necessarily. Sin itself does not make you a hypocrite. You're a hypocrite when you sin. And how did you say it again?
And try to present that you're not a sinner.
I like that. I agree. Any others?
[00:14:04] Speaker C: I tend to think it has to do with the state of your heart while life goes on around you. You can sin without being a sinful person, if that makes sense. You know, that's not the way you live your life.
But we mess up, but it's not what we strive for, what we're trying to achieve going forward.
[00:14:30] Speaker F: I think the woman that was found in adultery, when they're trying to stun her is a good example of this. You know, he says, you who is, and without square, stunning. You know, you can be a hypocrite and throw the stone at her because she's done this, but you've done the same or worse. So what are you going to do about it? Right.
[00:14:47] Speaker B: Right.
Any other thoughts there?
[00:14:50] Speaker G: I think kind of scented this is.
Jesus had more compassion for sinners than he did hypocrites.
[00:15:02] Speaker B: That's a fantastic answer.
That's a fantastic.
[00:15:06] Speaker G: Worse than just sinning, that is, denying it and pretending that you're something that you're not.
And it's hard to be.
[00:15:14] Speaker C: It was hard for Jesus to be compassionate.
[00:15:17] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm moving out because I want them to hear.
[00:15:20] Speaker D: Did you look at the root meaning?
[00:15:22] Speaker B: No, I didn't.
[00:15:24] Speaker D: It was used from an actor that was trying to pretend something and would put up a stick with a face.
[00:15:31] Speaker C: Sand.
[00:15:32] Speaker D: That's why I said two faced. That is the origin. You pretended to be something that you were not. They didn't have computer graphics to do whatever, so they used a stick with a face.
[00:15:44] Speaker B: Right.
[00:15:44] Speaker D: That's the you to be a good character or whatever.
[00:15:48] Speaker C: Character.
[00:15:49] Speaker D: Because you are not what you pretended to be on the stage.
[00:15:55] Speaker B: Okay. Any other, any other thoughts there?
[00:15:58] Speaker C: Well, I'm not sure where to interject this, but in this whole series, and Jesus goes out of his way to do this, in many cases, to go after the sadducees, the pharisees, the scribes, the leaders. And I don't know when I, if I'm not careful, I will think of it like it's colleagues we're berating. Colleagues. No, no. These are the rich, the powerful, the leaders that can ruin your life.
It's like going after congressman or the mayor and his staff. I mean, these are not just everyday folks that he is just trashing and goes out of his way. And a lot of, a lot of passages to do contrary to what they believe he should.
[00:16:46] Speaker B: Absolutely. I think all those are great answers. Any other thoughts there? Very, very, very good, Norm. Well, you know, up until this point, you know, we see, Jesus kind of when he's confronted, he kind of disarms them, you know, with. With simple things. But here he's shedding the light directly on them, and he's taking them to task. Right, right.
I use the word aggressive. I like what you're saying. I think it's almost an attack. He's gone on the offensive. Right. In chapter 22, they're testing him and he's deflecting. And then in chapter 23, to your point, he's now saying, okay, here you go. You know. Yeah, you had a point.
[00:17:35] Speaker G: I was just going to say that, at least for this passage, it seems like the focus was not on the sin itself, but it was mostly on people's intentions around them. And I think a lot of times when people sin, you know, like, we all sin, but it's our intentions behind them. Do we intend on fixing it or getting better or following Jesus, you know, or do we just intend on covering it up and pretending things? And that seems to be the focus.
[00:18:00] Speaker B: Right. Again, I think everybody, very good thoughts there on what it is. And like I said, yeah, this may.
[00:18:08] Speaker E: Be off base, I'm not sure, but it's almost like the hypocrisy would be saying, we didn't need Christ, we didn't need the savior, because sin is the transgression of the law. And the whole reason for him coming was because we couldn't keep the law. We will transgress it. And so the hypocrisy would say, we don't need you.
[00:18:32] Speaker B: Yeah, I think you're right. I think as we get into those woes, we're going to see that immediately here in just a verse or two, when he's talking about how they're tithing their mint and their deal and their cummin. Right. I definitely think. And really, outside of Matthew, when you take all the scripture, the gospels in particular, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, were doing exactly what you. They're basically saying, I'm following so tight, God has to do this for me. You know? So I think all good points. And like I said, I don't know that I really had an answer. I was just curious there. That was the first thing that jumped in my mind. And I know, you know, some things I'm not saying. I hear this a lot, but I've heard it in my life where people say, I don't want to go to that church. It's full of hypocrites, right. Cause they're doing the. And I thought about that. I thought about that a lot, you know, does sin make us a hypocrite? And I think you guys have hit the nail on the head. I think the answer is no. I think sin makes us human. When it becomes hypocritical is when we're doing exactly sick. I lost your name for a second there. Exactly what Siegfried was saying where we put that mask on. And we purposely try to be something we're not. And I think that's what Jesus was getting at here as he was going after the Pharisees. So that was one of the things I wanted to talk about. Now Barth is going to jump in, and we're going to start talking about some of the woes here.
[00:20:09] Speaker C: Do you want to talk about the end or you want to save that until after the woes?
[00:20:13] Speaker B: Let's save that till if we get to it, let's save it till after the woes.
[00:20:17] Speaker C: So I'm a big believer that if a certain phrase is repeated three times or seven times or eight times or whatever it is, it means something, right? So we have eight woes, and woe means, like, great sorrow. So I do have a question for you because of the way it's phrased here.
Woe to you. Woe to you. Does that mean Christ is saying, I want great sorrow upon you, or is he saying, I feel sorry for you? I feel sorry for you because the sorrow that you may not. You don't even know the sorrow that you have right now or will have soon.
Which one of those you think it is?
[00:21:05] Speaker F: Sorry for him.
[00:21:07] Speaker C: Pardon.
[00:21:08] Speaker F: Sorry for him.
[00:21:10] Speaker C: You think he's feeling sorry for him?
I am conflicted on that one because, you know, we just went through where he's. He's trashing them and they're about to get trashed some more, and then at the end it gets really rough.
So I don't know. I don't know what the answer is.
[00:21:28] Speaker F: I think you feel sorry for them because they should know better. And he's just kind of. He's trashing them because he's like, you should know better, but you and I feel sorry for you because you're this dumb that you can figure out who I am.
[00:21:40] Speaker C: Let's make sure that gets on. You feel sorry for them because they're that dumb.
[00:21:46] Speaker B: I think one of the things that you can go with that jumped out to me at that beginning part, and it doesn't explicitly say this, but one of the things I take away from the very beginning, when he says, do what they say, do what they say. But not what they do.
[00:22:04] Speaker C: And how telling that Christ said, be obedient.
[00:22:07] Speaker B: Yes, it's terrible what they're doing, but be obedient. That's exactly right. And I think it hits on. And I may be off base here, okay. I think it hits on what we were saying.
I think some of the Pharisees, they were following the law. They were following the law to the letter, but their heart wasn't in it.
And I think that's part of why he's saying they're hypocrites. Okay, again, that's one of the things I take away.
[00:22:40] Speaker C: Says you do what the law says, but you neglect the better things that you ought to also be doing.
[00:22:47] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:22:49] Speaker C: So I don't think we're gonna have time to read through all of the woes. But to me, the first five are about what they're doing that's wrong. So let me see if I can skip through. It's woe to you, scribes and pharisees, hypocrites. Because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from the people. You're not going in, and you won't let anybody else in. Woe to you because you devour widows houses. And for a pretense make long prayers. Woe to you because you travel around on sea and make cross the lights, convert people. And then you make it harder for them. You just load them up with weights. And what does Christ say?
[00:23:32] Speaker B: So I think this is one of the lines that we were talking about before. One of the verses here. What does he say about those that have gone and made proselytes, what have they done to him?
Somebody say it out loud.
What made them children of hell? Yeah, it says. He says.
Yeah, he says you made them twice as much a son of hell.
[00:23:57] Speaker C: Whoo.
[00:23:59] Speaker B: As yourself. That's not real positive language, is it?
[00:24:05] Speaker C: Woe to you blind gods who say, whoever swears by the temple, that's nothing. But if you swear by the gold, well, then you have to, you know, do whatever it is you promise to do. Or if you swearing by the altar, well, that doesn't mean anything. But if you swear by the sacrifice that's on the altar, well, you have to fulfill your obligation. And obviously those things, you know, Christ corrects them. Well, what's more important, what's on the altar or the person that dwells in the house of God? What's the most important thing here? You guys are just missing it.
Let's see. And one more.
The fifth one.
Woe to you.
For you tithe and neglect the weightier provisions of the law, justice, mercy and faithfulness. So you tithe, that's great. But you neglect mercy to me is a.
I would like to have studied that some more, because Christ is telling the pharisees, the leaders, the rulers, the people who watch over the law, and you think of them as the enforcers. Have mercy. Have mercy. So those are kind of the five things that they were doing. And then there's three more that talk about that to me. He's setting it up. He's saying, this is what you're doing. And I'm going to tell you what kind of awful people you are, because that's what you've been doing. So you clean the outside of the cup so it looks good, but the inside is terrible.
Let's see. You're like whitewashed tombs full of dead men's bones. Man, that's rough. You build tombs to the prophets and decorate monuments. But you're the same people that kill the prophets. So there's this psychiatrist that I like to listen to, Jordan Peterson, some of you may know, watch some of his YouTube stuff and things like that. And one of the. He studied people. He made like 20 years of studying people who are just, you know, they're in prison. They do terrible things.
He has a word for it. I don't want to say malcontent. That's not the right word, but they just are not good people and study those people. And one of the things that stuck with me that he said is, if you don't think you would have been a guard at Auschwitz, you don't understand the evil that can be in every person's heart. And he spent a lot of time studying people. And we all think we'd be Schindler's list. Right? We would have snuck the jews out and done all that. No, no.
[00:26:45] Speaker B: There's a. I want to interject there. There's a really interesting experiment that is now banned. I. Okay. They cannot do this experiment ever again, legally. And it was done by these psychologists. It was in like the fifties or sixties. You can go and see it on YouTube. And the experiment is they put a person in a room with a list of questions and a dial that is marked in voltage. And it's green, yellow and red. Yeah, the Milgram study.
And the idea is, I'm going to.
[00:27:20] Speaker C: Have to google it.
[00:27:21] Speaker B: They ask the person in the other room a question. Now, here's what they don't know. There's nobody in the room. There's an actor in the other room. They are not actually shocking someone in the next room. And there's a proctor in the back of the room. And the proctor is allowed to say only one phrase. And that one phrase is, the experiment must continue.
And the dial is marked lethal. Okay, lethal. And so they ask the question, the person misses the question. They shock them, no noise. Then they ask the next question and they've got a time or two. They ask the next question and it goes on. And then they ask a question, the guy misses it. They push the button and they hear, no, hey, hey. Okay, that one hurt. And then the person in the back says, you know, they'll turn around usually and be like, ooh, I should stop. And they'll say, the experiment must continue. And they will crank all the way to lethal. They will administer the lethal dose and then continue administering lethal doses.
As the person is not answering, what's the percentage of people, just like all of us, that will do that? What do you think it is?
You may know. Do you know the actual percentage?
I was going to say it was north of 80.
And I think it's. I agree with everything Barth was saying and I love even here. And I think it's applicable to us now.
Where it says, let's see, verse 30, it says, if we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have shed that blood. And what does Jesus tell them? Yeah, you would.
And what about all of us?
If we had been there in Jerusalem, we probably would have been yelling, kill him.
Right.
We like to think that we wouldn't, but statistically we probably would have.
[00:29:23] Speaker C: Peter denied him three times.
[00:29:25] Speaker B: Yeah.
He didn't even get of the twelve. He didn't even get one.
He didn't even get one of his twelve best friends who had seen all.
[00:29:35] Speaker C: Sorts of miraculous things.
[00:29:36] Speaker B: Exactly, exactly. I think we've taken a tangent there. Let's get back to the woes.
[00:29:42] Speaker C: Well, so now I'm going to present the question. So there's eight.
Seven is typically the number for use a lot in scripture for spiritual completeness. Right. So let's see. Well, name some sevens. Name some sevens.
Seven days. Sure.
And I'm going to seven plus one is eight. So seven.
Seven trips around led by seven priests with seven horns.
[00:30:17] Speaker B: Seven ims.
[00:30:18] Speaker C: Seven ims. Yeah. One of my favorites. Thank you. Seven ims.
Surely I wrote down some more sevens. Or maybe I just figured, wow, I'll remember that.
Well, there's a seven. Yeah, that's right.
Thanks to David.
[00:30:34] Speaker B: Yeah.
She insulted me without even saying that.
[00:30:38] Speaker C: Now I know.
[00:30:39] Speaker B: That was beautiful.
[00:30:41] Speaker C: How many promises to Abraham.
I hope there's seven. I think there's seven. Could be eight, but I think there's seven.
And promises to the people?
I think there's seven. So what.
I'm sorry, did somebody have a seven? Seven churches of Asia and revelation. Yeah, yeah.
And I think there's several. Seven horns, kinds of things. Seven crowns and things like that. So what about one?
One? Well, first book of the Bible is Genesis, first verse in Genesis in the beginning.
And there are several other examples of just one. So we've got spiritual completeness plus the beginning. So now we got eight.
How many people were on Noah's ark?
[00:31:37] Speaker B: Eight.
[00:31:37] Speaker C: Eight.
One. Peter, 320 says in all, eight persons were saved. Circumcision was on the 8th day. Priests began their work on the 8th day after consecration.
If a leper was going to be cleansed, it was on the 8th day that he showed himself to the priest. So with that in mind, with the spiritual completeness and a new beginning, and I'm hoping somebody will come up with something profound here.
How should we interpret the eight woe to you?
How do we put that in harmony with the other eights that we see in scripture?
Wade's busting to answer.
[00:32:28] Speaker B: I'm just curious because some of the.
[00:32:31] Speaker C: I'm going to get a little closer to you.
Seven woese.
Well, my Bible even says the eight woes.
Well, I'll tell you what. We'll phone a friend and say, even if the number is seven, how do you put the woes in harmony with that? Spiritual completeness, or if you like it, spiritual completeness plus a new beginning.
[00:33:04] Speaker B: A thorough spiritual ribbing.
[00:33:08] Speaker C: A complete drubbing. A complete drubbing.
[00:33:11] Speaker H: Robert, I'm going to say the seven being completeness, he has completely condemned the most.
[00:33:18] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:33:21] Speaker H: He'S gone through this whole thing. He's entered the city. So we have the king riding in, and he's been doing.
He went out there for the mission, he got it done, and now it's a time. And he's already said it's time. He's there, and now it's in your face. You're all condemned. You're all wrong. And he's telling a lot of people, so they know these people are not leading you in the right way, and they know what he did. A lot of them, yeah, they might all be finishing something later, but they also, a lot of them be finished.
[00:33:51] Speaker B: And I want to jump in here. He finishes again. And this was, we talked about this, I think the most aggressive statement in the whole. The whole chapter here, that last woe. How does he end that? Verse 33. And again, I'm not going to read it, I'm sure, with the proper emotion. But I want you to imagine the emotion. He said this with you snakes, you offspring of vipers. How will you escape the sentence of hell?
That's pretty rough.
[00:34:20] Speaker C: Well, I'm not sure how to back up from that. I was going to give my interpretation of the eight. But, you know, we've gone all the way to the punchline. So I.
Well, gosh, the image that came to my mind was, you guys know, Miracle. You know, the 1980 Olympic hockey team. You remember the speech that was given to them about the Russians, the russian hockey team. Their time is overdeveloped. You know, in his best Wisconsin accent. They're done, they're through. And that's the way I see it. Is that the completeness of you as scribes and Pharisees, your time is over. And now there's a new beginning. That's the way I see it. Now you could bash it one more time.
[00:35:04] Speaker B: No, that's all right. I think you're absolutely right. I wanted to real quickly finished with verses 37 through the end of the chapter. 37 to me is.
It's been a very aggressive chapter.
But I want to make sure we don't go past verse 37. Because what does he say in verse 37? I'll read it. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones. Those who have been sent to her. And this is the part to me that it's actually kind of sad. Well, it's not actually kind of sad. It is sad. He says, how often I wanted to gather you. Excuse me? To gather your children together. The way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. And you were unwilling.
Do you get where I'm going there. The emotion there. What's he saying?
What's it.
I tried.
I mean, to me it's almost like he's saying, I didn't want to say those things to you.
You needed to hear him.
But I've tried. I've done all I can. I feel like that's what he's saying there.
[00:36:21] Speaker C: No, I agree. And I like the next line. Your house is being left desolate.
I mean, what. What does that mean?
This is the house, the church, call it that. That we have entrusted you with. And you've left it desolate. Right.
[00:36:39] Speaker B: These people should have been the ones that recognized him first. Yes. That betrayal, I think, is coming out in the rough. How harsh it is today. And I think that's where I'm trying to go tonight where I started, where I'm wanting to go. We all know these scriptures, okay? There was not, I mean, as we're talking about it, not a person in this room that doesn't know these scriptures.
But think about the journey these last few days, this emotional journey that Jesus was going on. And let's not forget, he was every bit God and every bit man. So he experienced emotions. He experienced life the way we experience it. And what has he done?
He's gone from, I've had this triumphal entry, I've cleared my father's house. Then they're coming at him. And it's, to me, this is an emotional outburst here. He's telling them. It's what we've all been saying.
I agree with you. You should have been the ones that knew. You knew the law better than everybody. You knew the prophets better than everybody. And this is what you're doing. And to Keith's point, I tried. I tried. That's what I feel like this is. And I think you know what I'm trying to get across tonight? I think I'm getting it across. I don't know.
Don't just take this chapter as a collection of verses. Think about what Jesus the man is going through, and what does he know is about to happen. What's he just a couple of days from?
Exactly. Exactly.
[00:38:14] Speaker C: Yeah, Ed, some people actually connect this verse to the destruction of Jerusalem years in the future.
To destroy the temple. Still parts of the temple still in rumble around Jerusalem, to destruction of Jerusalem, destruction of the whole rabbinic thing and all that kind of stuff just shattered it. A lot of people connect that to.
[00:38:42] Speaker B: This script as a prophecy. You mean. Okay, so people online will know, Ed Mobley brought up, that some people take this section of scripture to be a prophecy about the destruction of Jerusalem. That was the second bell. Thank you all for being here tonight, and thank you for your participation.
