Setting The Scene In Luke

SPEAKER_03 0:05

Hey Lifehouse family, this is Nate. Wanted to take a moment, and we're so thankful that you take the time out of your day to listen to the Life Talk Podcast. Just wanted to give you a heads up. In the month of March, we had a few audio issues, so we do apologize. The quality is not quite where we want it to be, but the content is still everything you expect from the podcast. So we hope you bear with us. Please forgive the issues this month. We are working on it and we will have it worked out shortly. So again, thanks for listening and hope you enjoy the episode. What's up, Lifehouse family? Welcome back to the Life Talk Podcast. Man, every episode truly we enjoy doing this. We hope you're enjoying listening and getting a lot out of it. And well, we talked about the bad news bearers last time, unfortunately, and have bad news, or Jason said good news. We are this is the March crew, so you're stuck with us for the month of March. But I've got Jason Kreidler back with us. Jason, how's it going? Yeah, things are going well. So glad you're able to break away from school. Everybody knows your school teacher, man. Just the commitment to the month. We appreciate you. So Jarvis Brennan, Jarvis is like this is blast from the back. Jarvis in the back. It's awesome. Rico DeSilva. Now, this is what? Are we on seven, eight? So we're running the street here. This is good. This is good. That's uh happen to be here. But we do have a good crew, always looking to bring you guys great content, great discussion. And so we've been journeying through the book of Luke. And today we are going to be finishing chapter five, getting into chapter six, and the end of chapter five. And this is always, you know, we preach expositorily on Sunday. And uh here on the podcast, generally following through the book, we get to touch on some really interesting topics. And so at the end of chapter five, going into the start of chapter six, we're going to talk about fasting and the Sabbath. Man, talk to us a little bit. Fasting Sabbath, what did Jesus tell us about these? How should we look at these?

Why Aren’t Your Disciples Fasting?

Bridegroom Joy Over Ritual Mourning

SPEAKER_02 2:01

Yeah, I mean, I think these are both important topics that I think maybe we won't necessarily get into the nitty-britty of the bleach, uh, just based on kind of the text in front of us. But I think they both still kind of apply in a lot of ways into our lives today, and something tonight worth thinking about. But I think overall, what I think we'll see kind of we'll be in Matthew in Luke 5, 33 through 6, uh 11. So we'll cover a good bit of text. But I think ultimately what we see uh as we walk through both of these is not necessarily the emphasis on fasting on the Sabbath, but ultimately the fasting on who Jesus is. But it's his character study, ultimately, if you will, like of this, this is who Jesus is proclaiming to be, and he's he's showing us who he is by addressing by the way he addresses the Pharisees and by the way he renavigates these different topics, right? But we'll be all back uh in those ancient cultures. And so we're kind of just going to walk through this first chunk, 33 through 39, really verse by verse, and then we'll kind of take six through eleven, kind of a more broad overall approach together. And so uh, I'll read 33. Uh yeah, I'll read 33 first. He says, and they said to him, the disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink. And so this is coming right off the heels of um what we talked about in the first podcast, where Jesus calls Levi, and all of the Pharisees are uh not all of them, but a lot of them are with Levi and Jesus in the house and they're you know eating and he uh they're they're upset really that Jesus isn't eating with sinners, right? That he's the question, why are you doing this? Why would you ever do that? And so they then continue and they kind of ask another question, right? They're kind of probing another spot, another area of that conversation, Jesus, and they ask, you know, a question about fasting. Why aren't you fasting ultimately? Like the disciples of John fast and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, right? So the disciples of us. But why are you not? Right. And they're they're comparing then their practice with Jesus' practice, right? And they're saying, okay, well, based on what we're seeing, right? Why is this not lining up? Why is this not happening? And so you can think really in two different perspectives, I think, of kind of your approach to what the Pharisees might do, right, as you're thinking through the text, right? Because ultimately we're kind of asking questions, right? As we're looking in the scriptures, we're looking at kind of what are what's happening, what are they doing, who are they talking to, why are they saying what they're saying? Um, it's kind of two things that I thought about where really the Pharisees could one be really confused, right? Like they could be trying to figure out ultimately, like, why is this happening? Right? If John's disciple did this and the disciples of us did this, why uh aren't your disciples aren't you doing that? Maybe asking questions to understand better. Or second, which I think tends to be what it actually falls into, is the Pharisees questions they question everything Jesus did, right? Are they really doing that to try and find some fault? Do they know a lot about the Bible when you can consider them quote-unquote Bible guys? They believed the Bible, right? But they also loved the law and the rules of God, and so they were heavily influenced by them as well. And not just the law and rules of God, but also their own, right? They kind of took things and made them a little bit deeper and a little bit more uh intense than God maybe intended them to be. And so they had these kind of systems to live by, and so they they valued them well. And really they they knew the Bible, right? They weren't just trying to gain more knowledge, they weren't just trying to understand Jesus, but really they were challenging him because they were going, it was going, Jesus was going against their understanding. Hey, this is what we know, this is what we read, this is what we studied. Well, Jesus, why are you doing different than that? And so they didn't like that he was eating with sinners, and they also didn't like that he wasn't fasting, but they fasted. They wanted them to kind of conform and be real in that area. And so what we see them doing then is that they're replacing intimacy with God. Um, and then then they're replacing with roles and practices, right? It's not just you know, this, oh man, I'm fasting for my love, my desire for the Lord, but this fasting becomes a routine, it becomes a ritual, it becomes a system of man, God loves me more when I do this. And so that intimacy that we see we can have, and that you know, I think the disciples have in this moment, they're not having their. And really, we all get like this, right? Like, and I think without thought about application, I just was thinking about the aspect that I and I'll be transparent. I often seek to do in order to approve, to be approved, right? Like I we often base our status and our approval with God on based on what we do and how we quote unquote live for God, right? Am I reading my Bible enough? Am I you know praying enough? Am I fasting enough? Am I observing the Sabbath right like we see here today? And we think, man, if I don't read my my Bible today, you know, for whatever reason, like comes mad. And he doesn't want me to come there, he wants me to stay away. And he thinks I'm very enough, and he's gonna put the board all these things, which if you look to the lens of our world, I think there's this reality that it makes sense that we would think that way. If you look around the culture, what does culture say? If you perform, you get it. And if you don't perform, you don't, right? Like so we live in this performance-driven world, and success is a huge part of our life in our culture. And really, when we emphasize that, what's happening is we then take our joy in the Lord and we replace it with something that steals our joy, perform it, right? When we take it, what what could be giving us joy is now giving us more maybe hardship and sorrow because it's not what God intended. And when we do that, we we rob ourselves ultimately of the liconic price. And so I think as we just start, I kind of think that's a place that we're setting up, right? And and kind of what we're seeing, we've had this blend through as well, look through the rest. Jesus kind of approaches them with, he gives them this perspective of this and walks through this and why that's happening. But I think it's important we see through the lines of the Pharisees, right? We see what's happening in this moment uh and why they're questioning it. So I don't want to uh I told the guys on the podcast I have to give them talking too much. And so any thoughts there before we kind of continue in the 34?

SPEAKER_03 7:50

Yeah, I think you set the table well. And what I would say too, like what you're pointing out with what the Pharisees are asking, you know, say, hey, everybody else does it this way. Why do your disciples do it this way? And so Jesus saying is different. You know, there's just something different, like you say, the way to joy is not through all of the doing, but really being a disciple of Christ. And now that doesn't mean you know, we talk about that that we don't do things, but the doing is not where our joy is, our joy is found in Christ. And that's the difference of being a disciple of Jesus versus a disciple of the Pharisees, or even you know, John the Baptist, we taught several episodes, was a forerunner, so we don't diminish, but like he was just setting the table to be a disciple of Christ. So I think that difference, like you said, that's coming out of that question, is really important, which also the wineskins will show like there's a difference here.

SPEAKER_01 8:39

Yeah, that's right. Yeah. I I I believe that you you mentioned it right. Regardless of what Jesus did, they were gonna last wine. Yeah, we can see even in the previous uh episode we asked spoken that they challenged uh the Lord with with with the thoughts in their hearts, in knowing that they were wrong, and they still went ahead and do and say what they wanted to say. So very important here when they uh challenge the Lord with the question of what you do in this, but the answer as if we're carrying the answer to that, it's it's just it's so simplistic for us to be in that stage too. Let's put ourselves in that in those shoes. I'll tradition to do this. Am I doing enough to do that? Just like you mentioned, if I don't pray today, or what should I do to restore the game? Right. So I I think the the way it set up here is uh to put the man uh that is gonna simplify the whole issue in question. Kind of the the mix to try to up to this point, they're still getting involved.

New Wine And Old Wineskins Explained

SPEAKER_02 9:52

Yeah, I mean I we'll talk about it too, but I just think like uh we talked about we're gonna get married, but you know, and and that we talked about uh Cody a lot of Jason talked about kind of covenant and why that matters and how that then plays into marriage and all that. But Cody said something basically like if we don't rightly see the covenant of God and the covenants of God, then we won't rightly see God's love for us. And I think that's kind of what we're seeing here, right? If the Pharisees aren't rightly seeing the covenant of God to them, and they're seeing kind of their own adaptation of the covenant and what they think the covenant is supposed to look like. And so they're not seeing the reality of God's love for them in the same light that they should be. Um I think it's important for us to recognize as we continue. So continuing, I mean, verse 34 and 35, it says, and Jesus knows, right? Jesus knows that our joy is to become and that when we have our eyes on anything else, that what we're looking opposite in our job and thinking like the light won't be truly found. And so he says, he says, Can you make uh Jesus said to them, can you make wedding guests fast while a bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days. And so what Jesus does is he brings up a wedding, right, and kind of a ceremony, and you know, all of us are married here, and I think about my wedding, right? And my wedding, my ceremony was maybe 30 to 45 minutes, and then after that we had a reception, and we kind of spent, you know, just some time, and and you know, we'd had it was a small little day, and you know, you kind of did your thing, but weddings in ancient culture were not like they were like a week-long thing where they had this whole process, and there was this whole giant of really there was three phases to their wedding, right? And so kind of the three phases were the first was there was the contract of marriage, right? And so this would be the parents would agree that the their children were to be married and the the bride price would be paid uh for that bride, and then legally they were quote unquote married at the point. They hadn't necessarily consummated the marriage in any way other than the fact that it was paid, but that was kind of the first phase. The second phase was it was a period of time when the groom would prepare a place for him and the bride, right? They would walk through and he would go back to the father's house and prepare this place. And as they do, as he was doing that, the bride was waiting patiently, right? Waiting uh expectantly, sorry about it, knowing that the groom could come at any moment, right? That anytime he he was ready, like he was coming, and he was coming to have that marriage take place. And so everything had to be ready, and then the father then had to approve that it could happen, that it that it was time. And then the last phase is really the wedding celebration, right? And this was a week-long celebration, really similar to how we do receptions today, and eating and you know, celebrating, partying, whatever telling you you can insert there. And so, what Jesus then seems to in 34 and 35 refer to is this phase of celebration, right? That the bridegroom is here, and they now have a lens for celebrating, right? And when I got married, we like to party. I don't know, like you know, in the in the most Christian way possible, we like to party. And so our wedding reception, we we had a wedding here, we had a short reception in at the church, and then we had a have friends and family, world private reception where for the next five hours, like we just danced and had fun, and like we spent a long time at our reception just celebrating. You know, we were dancing, we were eating, we were celebrating kind of all those things. It wasn't just this somber time where we got together and you know, we didn't just like sit and sulk and go, oh, yeah, we're married, so fun. And you know, but it was a time of celebration, it was a time of joy and laughter and fellowship. And you know, I wouldn't have expected to just have my all my guests more breath and sit in for my wedding and going down and say, like, hey, you know, really love you guys, but we're actually gonna fast today. We're not gonna eat, we're just gonna spend time together and there's gonna be no food. You'll stay for the next five hours, but like no snap, no nothing like we'll hanging out. But really, food was a part of the celebration, right? It was something we gathered around. It was a part, it was a celebratory factor into our wedding reception. Um, and the reality is, right, that Jesus is the bridegroom, right? That he is the one that the Pharisees are waiting for. He's the one that, as the covenants have shown, and like the law has pointed to, Jesus is the one that they're waiting for, for the fulfillment of what God had promised. But the reality is that they're missing it, right? That it's right in front of them, that they're sitting with, eating among Jesus, and yet they can't see it. Right? They're blinded to the reality that like this is the Messiah in front of me, this is the bride that we're waiting for for this moment of celebration. Um, while on the other hand, the disciples, right, those who we see kind of in these moments, they get to experience, they get to live with Jesus, they get to celebrate with Jesus. And really, what that means then is Jesus being there, Jesus being in that moment is cost to rejoice. Like it's cause to celebrate, it's cost to be like, man, rent's live it up, like rent's body it up. This is a good thing. What that shows us too is also that it's a joy to be in a relationship with Jesus. It's not just this somber. Often there's kind of this, you know, idea that, man, when you come to Christ, you gotta just you gotta just suffer, right? It's like the suffering gospel where it's like I gotta have nothing, I gotta live in the rags, I gotta live in this just somber, like I gotta just be destroyed because I'm nothing from God. And the reality is, yes, like we are nothing, you know, compared to God, or I have no good apart from God. But the reality is that in relationship with Jesus, we have joy, right? We can live and experience those things. You know, it's not just striving to find acceptance and trying to figure it out and work for it, but it's joining in all this celebration and entering into eternal good with Jesus. Like that's what it is in being with Jesus. And so what we really see Jesus saying here is this ultimately, he's saying that it wouldn't make sense for them to mourn, right? Because in that kind of context, in that moment, they would fast for the day of atonement, not twice a week, but they would do it off often mourning in a lot of ways, whether that's morning sin and things like that. But um, Jesus is saying, like, it doesn't necessarily make sense to do that. If this isn't the time for fasting, why? Because I'm here. And if the the one who is is who you were waiting for is here. And so this doesn't, this isn't appropriate. And that's why my disciples aren't so good.

SPEAKER_03 15:55

Yeah, I think that's good too. Like you mentioned why you fast, you know, it's not a ritualistic thing. You're mentioning the times they would fast that were often frequently, you know, times of either mourning or you know, atonement, you know, which is really over your sin, you know, but that's not what you know, the disciples of John the Baptist and the Pharisees, it's more of a ritualistic thing. And so Jesus even says in the Beatitudes, like when you fast, so he's not telling you never fast, and he's saying, Hey, when I'm gone, there's reasons to fast. But that's this is not the reason to ritualistically thinking you're earning something or think you should be in mourning because you should be joy. Like you say, really, the Christian walk is a joyous walk, it should be something that we look forward to, that fellowship, and not need to view it that way. So I think he's really giving us some good stuff there.

From Legalism To Life In Christ

SPEAKER_02 16:44

Yeah, yeah, for sure. And I think that's important, like you said, mate, just think about like again, we do fast here. Like that's a good thing to do, it's a profitable thing to do. And I think Jesus kind of speaks of that, but as we continue, he says in verse 35, he says, There will come a time when the disciples will fast, when the bridegroom is like so he's he's saying, Okay, my disciples will fast. Just right now is not it. While I'm here, while I'm doing this, this is not the time to be there. Um, and in that moment, they might not have known when would it meant the bridegroom would be taken from them, right? They're not experiencing really the fullness of what we get to as we have the completed canon, right? Like they're not expecting the death, resurrection in the center of the beast moment. But really, we now, because we have the canon, can look forward and see, okay, this is what we're looking forward to, this is what we're waiting on. But Jesus knows, right, then while fasting isn't appropriate while it's here, it's appropriate while we're waiting for him to come again, right? Like he wants us to do that. Like you said in the Beatles, he says, And while you fast, and as we fast now, there's so many different ways, right? We talked about it in LYA, just the reality that fasting is such a profitable thing. He actually did a kind of ministry-wide fast where all of LIA fasted, you know, from dinner Wednesday night to till dinner Thursday night, and then we broke the fast together, and uh really what we did was we we prayed, right? And what fasting now has to us then is a reminder to pray and align our hearts with God's will, or align our hearts with with who God is and what he said, what he will do, not a you know, if I fast well and I fast two times a week or once a week or whatever, God will love me more, right? Like the Pharisees were running. But Jesus is knowing and saying, like, this is a good thing, but it's just not needed right now because you're here, right? How I have we right in so when we get to heaven, like I don't necessarily think there's gonna be fasting because we're with them, we know we're there, we're with him. We we we have nothing to fast for because we're with the Lord. And so it's this beautiful thing that like we get to do now. So I don't want I don't want anyone to hear it and say, like, well, we need to eat and we they shouldn't be fasting, you know, we shouldn't fast because then no, we shouldn't be fasting now. Like it's a valuable, profitable thing. Uh, they just have unique insight because Jesus is with them because of spending time with Jesus. And so as we think about Jesus saying, like, what would we cost them to fast? No, right? But they have a unique perspective, right? They have a unique gift that they get to have and work through themselves. I want to encourage you, definitely practice fasting, right? Do it. It's an important thing. If you don't do it, let's teach you how to do it, let's show you how to do it because it's super important. And then we move on, right? So we see Jesus kind of address them, kind of with a question and giving giving them something really to think about, right? Something because I think they would have been kind of familiar with the idea of the Bible, right? And kind of the in this correlation with who that would be to come. And so now the Pharisees, again, they're Bible people, like it's not just some random guy on the side of the road that has no knowledge of the scriptures. Like they know the Bible, and so they're probably thinking through their mind, okay, like similar to when we talked about him saying son of man, like the wondering case, he's calling he's calling himself the bride. Okay, like they're working through that. And so then verses 36 and 39, he gives them this parable. And we've talked about these wineskins, and it really, I'm gonna be honest, like it can be kind of confusing. This one's a little bit of a hard one, right? Like, it's probably kind of confusing because you're like wineskins, all blue, tear one off, put one on. Like, what do you mean? And so as I kind of have worked through it like into this interesting reality, really Jesus is then explaining the truth, right? He's explaining it in a way that they hopefully will understand, right? And not just him, but I think also, I think really the disciples that don't understand the word food. And so, and then we see again it's talking about wineskins. We don't use wineskins, rather, right? That's not something that we do here and today. And so I think that's a lot of the disconnects, but they really both of these parables seek to relay the same concept, right? They're the same kind of point, just in kind of different variations. Jesus is really what he's trying to do is he's trying to show them that the new covenant that Jesus is bringing is incompatible when it's forced into the old covenant, that it's not when it's it's not the same in the aspect of thing, but it's when it's forced into fitting into what God gave them in the old covenant. Like it's it's not the same, it's incompatible work that way. And really, what the Pharisees were doing is they were viewing fasting and this and what to do and the satellite with their approach to God, that was one based in the old covenant, right? They didn't necessarily have the new covenant in the same way we do because Jesus is now on the scene, right? He's enacting the new covenant as we kind of speak, and so they're viewing it through the lines of the old covenant. But what Jesus is doing is he's ushering in the new covenant that was offered and will be offered through the body and blood of Jesus, right? As he dies and as he ascends into, resurrects, and ascends into heaven. Like we see the new covenant being kind of actualized in this moment. But what he's doing is he's kind of starting that action now with the disciples and working through it. And what he's saying is you can't take a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Right? It's not some of the old covenant, it's some of the new. It's not, you know, most of the old and some of the new, or most of the dreadful, and some of the old. And what he relays this in Winstones again, kind of out of context in our minds, but he's saying adding a new cloth to the old skin, it wouldn't work. It's just something that couldn't work, it doesn't match. You have an old one that's kind of been worked into. To think of a leather, right? Like when you have an old leather couch, you're not going to put a new piece of leather because it's just not going to match. It doesn't work. It's not going to work in the same way. And the way of Christ then emphasizes whether Jesus isn't to be put into the old wine of the Mosaic law. It's not the same thing. It's different. It's not just like, oh, let me add Jesus into this. Or you think of other religions, maybe like Hinduism and things like that. They often will take a pantheon of gods and say, Let me add Jesus into this. Exactly. That's not what this is. It's not like, oh, let me fit him into my box. Let me fit him into my old wineskin, so to speak. It's not adding cross into Judaism, right? Like that's not adding that piece there. And really, the patching that we see the Pharisees had done, they can no longer do to really cover the worn out traditions. That's the reality, is they have these worn-out traditions, but they can't patch it with the newness of Jesus, right? The newness that he brings. And this is something that I think you see Paul explain a lot about, right? Like just as he writes kind of uh through the New Testament, really speaking of the people in the kind of Jewish camp. Really what they do is they put their own spin on the Bible, right? They I mean I can't think of the letter off the top of my head, but he often writes and talking about how circumcision is not needed in order for salvation. Right. And then he addresses all these lies and these heresies that sort of Jewish people are trying to come into the church and are trying to change then this perspective of what is needed in order to gain reconciliation with God, right, and redemption through Jesus. And what he's doing is saying you can't add right the new into the oak, right? And you can't put the old into the new. And what would happen then if you put in the new wine into an old wine screen is wine when it's not fermented, right? Jacob produced it and over time it ferments and it creates really this kind of expansion. And what would happen is the new wine can cause the old wineskin to burst because it's old, it's not built for that. Um, you think of maybe I think we kind of make might think, well, if you put like whiskey in an old whiskey, bro, you get kind of more age stuff, right? And you work through that, and like and then it kind of ages out at some point. But like it's similar in the aspect that when you put new into old, it doesn't necessarily work all that well. And so the Pharisees were trying to force the new reality that Jesus brought of the new covenant and the salvation that he will bring to his people into the wine old wine skin of the rigid legalism traditions. Like they were trying to fit it, make it work. Like, why aren't you doing what we're doing? Why aren't you figuring it out? Like we are. So Jesus then is showing this is freedom that I offer. This isn't tradition, this isn't legalism, this isn't working for what you have, but it's going beyond those things. But it's going beyond the aspect of just work and work and work into all that we'll see again in the death and burial resurrection is is great. Right? And then Jesus didn't seeking to just completely uh abolish the old, he's not changing the old. What he's doing is he's fulfilling the old.

SPEAKER_03 25:04

You know, when Paul tells us, you know, like the law had a purpose, there was a reason for us to understand our sin and God to point to Christ. But like you said, we're not trying to just bolt on anyone to just bolt on Christ with what they believe. Like, no, you have to completely come to this new understanding of who Jesus is. So I think that's a good thing. Even though at face value, this is a very difficult parable. Like you said, wineskins, like who does that?

SPEAKER_02 25:30

I mean, when I first read it, I was like, all right, I got this one. Like, you know, like it was stuff like that. But it's one of the things that you volunteered. I did, that's true. I did, I did, I didn't, but it it's it's it's an interesting thing to think through. Like, I mean, I think of salvation, like I think of just myself. Like when I got saved, it wasn't just okay, I got saved, and now my whole life has changed, and all my thoughts and practices and even traditions, even like none of those things necessarily changed in that instant, right? Like it was it was a changing of the heart. And I think that's really what we see in this, is like you can't add your old ways. You need a like we talked about already in in these kind of couple passages, like you need your front needs to change. There needs to be a new life in there. And so I'll I'll kind of give we'll continue in a little bit, but I'm gonna read Matthew 5.17, and then I'll kind of give just lens for any thoughts that you guys have. But Matthew 5.17 said, do not think that I've come as a speaking. Do not think that I've come to abolish the law of the prophets. I've not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. So Jesus is ultimately saying it's not, I'm not trying to just throw it all out. I've come right in fulfillment of it. So I just want to give you guys time for thoughts if you have to move before we continue.

SPEAKER_01 26:42

I think this big explanation that you use on the way that he set it up for the parable of the white skins. Knowing and go back to information, what does it do when you put something new into something oral and start to burns? When you understand that analogy, when you study it and see value for volume, you understand that it's not necessarily the parable to understand in the literary, meaning you must observe what is new, that is in the now, that is going to fulfill what is in the old. And it brings me back that for to 2 Corinthians 5.17, when you know they tell that we are the creation in quite the old aspect, so we are new. So that that is something that when Jesus explained this power, and it's the reason why he explained power, so nobody can understand, right? So it is eventually a new setting of teaching that is still confused the ones who already in their hearts are not able to understand what is happening. So your mind is already set up in the old, and tradition is already in the old, that you've not allowed for the new and the original what is already been prophesied to take over.

SPEAKER_02 28:03

Yeah, um that's actually kind of continuing, right? As we think about um kind of the ending, right? As we kind of wind down this 5, 32 to 39. Like I think what it ends with can kind of be again, this parable is not it's not easy, right? There's some things to think through, but I think it also can be kind of confusing what it ends with. It ends saying, but the new wine, this is verse 39, but the new wine must be put into fresh wine skins of 38, and verses 39 says, and no one after drinking old wine desires new, where he says the old is good. I mean, still like, okay, is is Jesus saying like the old is better than the new? Like, should I be drinking the old? Should I, you know, be not be having the new? Like, what should I be doing? But really, what Jesus is trying to communicate is reality that there are people who will be stuck in the old structure. There will be people who are struck with a preference and the practice of legalism and traditionalism, right? That we see in Judaism in the in that you know area in what the first people live in, and they're not gonna be willing to leave it, right? They're not gonna be willing to leave that, put that behind, and submit to and embrace really the way that Christ is speaking of. And so Jesus is saying, like the old, they're gonna say that the old is better, and they're gonna say the old is good because they haven't necessarily tasted, you know, they haven't experienced the new in the same way that they haven't, right? And which is why their desire is not for the new, but it's for the old. And so, as I kind of just thought about application, yeah. I think it's important to remember that we have to look fully to Christ, like for all of our needs, really putting off legalism and rule following for real joy and fulfillment in Christ. But we can't just add a little bit of Jesus to the old and we can't keep a little bit of old in our new, right? Like we have to fully give it all to Jesus and rely solely on Him and looking to Him and being all in with Him. Because really what the reality is our righteousness is not able to give salvation. Our righteousness is not able to give the joy that Christ offers. Right. And so when we think about what we'll talk about in a couple, I guess, next episodes is that being foreign spirit, mourning our sin, like all these things, we see the reality that we cannot be anything about. And so we can't, you know, fast enough, we can't have enough Bible knowledge, we can't not even sinners enough in order to uh have the joy that I think Jesus is is explaining in the aspect of in the Bible is here. Have the joy while it's here, right? Have a like experience mean while we're here, but our joy now that we can have is found in Christ. Who we know in this moment was there, but now like is in heaven interceding for us on our behalf. Like we get to have that joy that we can and should experience, not by our works, not by what we can do, but only in Christ. And that's what kind of Jesus is relaying to the Pharisees, really. Uh I think he is saying, but I think what it does is it communicates more to the disciples and than it does to the Pharisees in this moment of like, I'm here with you, John experience, experience me. Like have joy, cling to me. I mean, this is similar. He just called Levi, you know. And so, yeah, very good there. So, I mean, any thoughts before we move on to chapter six? Cool. All right.

SPEAKER_03 31:11

It was about the Sabbath, yeah. The Sabbath thing. Now we're talking about Sabbath. Yeah.

Lord Of The Sabbath Claim

SPEAKER_02 31:15

So the Sabbath is interesting, right? Just in the reality of we've talked about it here, like Osbert. We walked through because some spiritual discipline stuff. And the Sabbath was we see God establish this right in creation, right? He creates, and then on the seventh day he rests. And what we see kind of start in Luke 6, really verses 1, and I would say 1 through 11. We see them kind of entering this new narrative, right? It's not the same, it's not it's not a pick off where pick up where it left off, but it's a kind of this new narrative where Jesus and the disciples are walking through the grain field, plucking and eating some of the grain during the Sabbath. And the plucking, eating grain, this wasn't um a non-normal normal thing. Like this was a normal thing that they would do. And I can't remember exactly what it is in the Old Testament, but in one of the laws that was given that they would that people, as they grew crops, would leave a couple rows of the crops in order to feed the poor as they want to buy. And so this is something that we see as natural. But the thing that wasn't natural was the fact that they're eating it on the Sabbath, right? And that they're walking through the grain field on the Sabbath and then they're rubbing it in their hands to eat it. What that would have done for the Jews is really would have been work. It would have been against the Jewish Sabbath rule. And the Pharisees there were seeking to confront Jesus and the disciples, right? That's what they wanted to do, that's what they were plotting to do. They were really looking for any wrong that could be done. And the Sabbath, again, was commanded by God. So it was something that they held seriously, right? And I think it should be taken seriously in that regard, but they took it seriously to the point of death. We see in uh ancient Israel that it could have resulted in a death cut only to be working on the Sabbath. So that makes sense then, right? Why would they take it so seriously? If I could die for not taking the Sabbath and for working on the Sabbath, then I must figure out what is it that is work, right? Why do I need to work? And so they had what was called 39, it's called 39 cap categories, but it was called the 39 Melokap, right? And this is a list of 30 nuns and categories that funnel through what work is. And so just some of the categories are plowing, reaping, eating, weaving, instructing, sowing, sifting. There's so many other lighting of fire, you know, all these different areas. And so we see the disciples do some of those, right? They do some of those just in that moment. And the Pharisees then they see Jesus and then they see the disciples kind of breaking these laws, and they go to him, right? And they say, You're breaking the law, right? They're trying to accuse him, trying to catch me with something serious. But Jesus answers with something that I think is interesting, right? He doesn't just say, like, you know, no, I'm not. He's like, I'm not doing that. He answers them with a question that I think really calls them out, right? He says something that I think it would kind of hurt. I think if we were in this position, knowing that they're the Bible guys, he says, Have you not read?

unknown 33:59

Right?

David, The Bread, And True Need

SPEAKER_02 33:59

That I mean that's kind of a disrespectful thing. Yeah, yeah. Let me read Luke 6, 1 through 5 real quick. It says on the Sabbath, while he was going through the grain fields, his disciples plucked and ate some of the head grains, head of heads of grains, rubbing them in their hands. But some of the Pharisees said, Why are you doing what's not lawful to do on the Sabbath? And Jesus answered them, Have you not read what David did when he was hungry? He and those who were with him? How he entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of presents, which is not lawful for any but the priest to eat, and also gave it to those with him? And he said to them, The Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath. And so he he says that asked, Have you not read? Like they said, like that's pretty insulting, right? Like you think of someone maybe who has their PhD in Bible, and like you're like, bro, I've I've read it. I've studied it. Like I know, you know, like it's kind of this reality. That's what he's saying to the Pharisees, right? And so he knew that they they knew the Bible. He's doing that, I think, intentionally. But what he's saying comes out of uh Psalm, I'm sorry, sorry, 1 Samuel 21, six one through six, where we see, I won't read it for you, but we see David is on the run from King Saul who's trying to kill him, right? And so he's on the run with men, right, that came to him with uh came with him kind of in a military way, and David and his men become hungry, right? Like they're on the run, they have nothing to eat, and so the only really safe place that they could run to was the temple. And then the temple, there's this what's called the bread of presence, and it was kept there before God as a memorial. And the only one who was able to eat this bread at the time was the priest, right? They were the only one that God kind of gave the ability to do that. But David, in this time, in running, the priest with his with the priest's blessing, ate the bread. So he ate the bread that wasn't supposed to be mean, and he gave that to his men also. And so what Jesus is saying is okay, so this happened, but nowhere in scripture do you see him being rebuked for that. Like they don't say, oh, David near it in the law, right? David was a man that they would have looked up to. David is a man that the Pharisees would have sought, thought very highly of and would have held to them, you know, held to him as literally as sin. But he's saying, I don't see David regret them, right? And so really what David did would have in their mind been of more uh violation than the meeting on the Sabbath. So he's kind of giving this more and a lesser thing of like, okay, so David?

unknown 36:18

Right?

SPEAKER_02 36:18

Like, and I think we've all been there, right? Like, you're like, hold on, wait a second. What about this guy, right? What you call out some of the little things there. And David is what we also see then, too, David is really this type of Jesus in that moment, right? That he's the picture of the king to come. And if he wasn't criticized, how much more should Jesus then not be criticized at criticized as he himself is God? Right? And he he is God in the flesh. Uh so I think we see Jesus there in this moment free of guilt. He's like, if he knew ultimately who I was, there would be no need for guilt. Like there would be no need to come at me in this moment. And so then what Jesus is doing, uh, I guess that's let me stop there and let me open for any thoughts just in that moment. I think that's an important place to stop. So any thoughts there?

SPEAKER_01 37:00

Yeah, I think the the important thing in there, uh, we we've reached that last episode in where Jesus claimed the first time being the Son of Man. He was being the second time. And this is something that jumped as I was doing my study for this, that man, he even relate back to scripture. We're talking to the Pharisees, we're talking to the ones who know the scripture. And for Jesus to go ahead and repeat himself who he is again in Daniel 7, it alerts the Pharisees like you need to go back and read what is already proclaimed. If you want to see who I don't, you need to go back. I mean, you guys are the special, you guys are the ones where the Greeks in here, you guys are the claim to be the ones who know scripture more than everybody else. How have you not read? And I like that's very, very provoking. Have you not read, knowing that they already read it, but their heart and posture was not in the right place. So, what does that tell us? Now, regardless of what Jesus was gonna do, they still was gonna ask, they still was gonna be combatant, even though they knew the scripture, they knew that it was supposed to come. And I don't think, I mean, we're gonna see it in a different episode that we know for a fact that they didn't have a problem with what he did because everything that he did was good. They had a problem with food fitted and the way that he showed up in this world. And I think by the setup, by the foundation, how he came, that it was different than the vision that they thought they had, he already said everything negative on that individual. And then for the listeners, this is something that we can take not for granted. How many times we're trying to judge somebody before they even speak? There's a difference between knowledge and wisdom. And a lot of people are very smart, very knowledgeable about the wisdom of yourself and the Lord. So when we see something like this, in where you being in challenge to go back to what you already know, in your heart, not only are you gonna get more upset, but at the same time, you already setting, you don't have to prove yourself. I'm not trying to lose my time in your, this is who I was. I was proclaimed to be here. Go read it, come back, and again, for the second time, I am the son of man, that is certain.

Healing On Sabbath And Hard Hearts

SPEAKER_02 39:28

Yeah, and I think it's important to think, like, man, they would they would have found David and the role model and so like they're seeing this well, that's our dad. And then in contrast to Jesus, who they don't necessarily know, and they're not you know thinking of him in the same way that they should be, they're missing out on, like you said, the real benefit of like, yeah, David has the type, but Jesus has the fulfillment of the type, and how they're yeah, not getting the realness of that. But I think Jesus kind of gives them a little bit more straightforwardness. Right as he ends this kind of section, he declares himself as Lord of the Sabbath. But he says, He says, and he said to them, the Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath. And so we're seeing then this reality that he's declaring something big. Again, the Son of Man using that again, but then also to be Lord only Sabbath, ruler over the Sabbath, like he was sovereign only Sabbath, like that's a big deal. And I think would have been offensive in them in that moment, to say, like, who are you? Who are you to say that to me? Like, again, only God can say, only God can do these things, and yet here he is saying, I'm the Lord of the Sabbath, um, that he's the one over it, right? That he's the one with the authority to set the rules and to then in turn set them to the side, right? To not work uh in the same way along the side. And so Jesus gives us a profound statement that he is the Lord of the Sabbath, stating that he is the Lord uh of all, right? Not just the Sabbath, but of all. Uh I think that's an important thing for them to think about, but also for us as we uh kind of transition through things.

SPEAKER_00 41:00

I think we see Jesus multiple times now, kind of for lack of a better term, like bucking the system. But he's not rebellious just to be rebellious.

SPEAKER_04 41:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:11

In each case, he's very strategic. And in each case, he's he's trying to push back against a procedure or a ritual that has kind of fallen stale and is now missing the month, right? So we see fasting, something that has turned into something that was never meant to be. We see the Sabbath that has turned into something that was never meant to be, right? And we're gonna see him healing and even being rebuked for healing. And like at that point, he's becomes indignant. But like we see Jesus very strategically trying to reorient these things back to their godly origins as a reset. And he's teaching his disciples as much as he's trying to inform the the leaders of the time.

Mercy Over Ritual And Takeaways

SPEAKER_02 42:03

Yeah. And I think really we'll move into the the rest of the six to eleven. And and in that, I think we see a similar kind of structure. Like you said, Vason, um just this aspect that he's continuing the Luke is continuing with the Sabbath kind of thought. And he talks about, I'll read it for you, it said six to eleven, he says, on his almost Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was the withered. And the scribes and the Pharisees watched him to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath, so that they might find a reason to accuse him. But he knew their thoughts, and he said to the man with the withered hand, Come and stand to you. And he rose and stood there. And Jesus said to him, I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it? And after looking around at them, he said to all of them, Stretch out your hand. And he did so, and his hand was restored. But they were filled with fury and disgust with one another what they might do to Jesus. And so we see in the first kind of uh five verses of six that Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath. He's the one who has control and sovereign reign over it. But yet they still aren't getting it. There's still a disconnect, like there's still this just lapse in understanding where Jesus again kind of emphasizes, presses his thumb, I think, on kind of this spot to say, like, no, like let's feel like feel it. You know, this is what it is. And he heals the man, right? Something that again would have been not lawful, like it would have been you know not okay to do, but yet even him being the Lord of the status, he has all reign, he has all right to do those things. And I think it's a status of their heart. We're kind of just thinking about closing this time, it's a status of their heart to think about verse 11, right? Where it says, But they were filled with fury and disgust with one another, what they might do to do this. So they felt that he was you know, quote unquote, counter-cultural to what they were looking for. Right? We know that what they expected of the Messiah was not necessarily what Jesus had been in his arrival, but they were looking to do what they ultimately did, right, while seeing down the line. But they were they were angry. But I think their heart is the biggest show here that Jesus is plainly showing them this is who I am, right? This is what I've come to do, and this is what I'm here to continue to do, but yet they're they're in anger doing that. And I think of I think it's in John, I can't remember the exact reference, but I think it's in John where uh again this is a similar situation, and he says to them, like, which one of you would not go into and get your animal out of the ditch on the Sabbath, right? And which one of you would not do these things? And he's in a in the same way calling them out of like, don't be hypocritical. Like you would do the same thing, and you you would do good on the Sabbath in order for that person to be healed or your animal to be taken out of the ditch. And I think for us, the reality is, and I ask, maybe you know, like, where's your heart at? Or like, have you acknowledged who Jesus is, and have you seen through his grace and his mercy and his showing you who he is, but yet you still respond in opposition and still respond and confrontation with him. And if that is you, yeah, see who Jesus is and respond. But he's plainly quitted, I think, in really just these last three three weeks, but I think we'll see also in the next like Jesus is who he says he is, and we can look to him know that he is sovereign, that he is Lord, that he is the Son of Man, and that He is the one who will come. He has come the bridegroom, but he's the one who will come again to restore his people back to death.

SPEAKER_01 45:16

So one thing that I want to add in there, real quick, is again we see the the Pharisees posture of their heart. And this is not this is this is the message not only for us but for the listeners, that uh the Lord knows and hears and understands your thoughts, where they're coming from before they even speak. And by He knowing that, I believe that was the reason why he healed that individual to show him, show them that hey, I not just know your thoughts, but at the same time, I want to do this, and I'm going to say something that is gonna be so provocable to you that it's gonna be more enraged. So before we even got to 11, that their hearts was already their rage, they bypassed the healing. They saw that and was like, wow, this is incredible, but I don't care about that. So the posture of ourselves. And we look into the lenses, even through scripture, to pause and identify that the Lord knows the intention of our heart. And we truly committed to deny ourselves and say, you know what? Am I being the Pharisee? When somebody's in trouble or somebody needs me, or when I say I'm gonna pray for somebody, that I go say it and don't do anything, or do I just even stop praying for that person even before they even ask? Why do I say that? Because this is the second time in the podcast that we can see that Jesus confronting this man, not because they said something, but it was already in planning on the heart. That is so strong point for me.

SPEAKER_03 47:00

I think just to ping you back, it's just Jesus is just blatantly showing how upside down they are. That you would rather adhere to these rules than care about an individual human being. I think he's calling that out, you know. It can be in all of us too. Like we get so we can it can be legalistic or you know, it can go both ways, but Jesus is just showing like you'd rather keep your rules than help somebody. And that can be something that we fall into very.

SPEAKER_02 47:25

I mean, I think that's a good point. That's exactly I was actually gonna go there real quick. It reminds me, I mean, in this, he talks about the David and the bread of presence, right? And that's kind of the same thing that's happening in this moment, right? Like the the priest in that moment was really valuing mercy over the ceremonial law, like he was he was caring for the person more than he was following the law. And I think that's an interesting reality to think of then on this moment where it's like, what's more important, the Sabbath or this person? The Sabbath or the good in saving this person. And then, like you said, I think we can value you know production or the thing over the person. And it's like, yeah, we where's our light perspective? How do we write our perspective where it's wrong? And how do we not end up like the Pharisees, but end up loving the person well and also in the fact that very good.

Next Week’s Beatitudes And Closing

SPEAKER_03 48:11

Well, this is good, like I say, while we walk through scripture talking about, we're not saying not fasting and not having the Sabbath, those are important things, but keeping them in right perspective of how they should grow us in a relationship with God, not become the relationship. So Jarvis, thanks for leading us through. Good comments. Listeners, we hope this episode helped you as always. Just dig into God's word a whole lot deeper, get some perspective of what it says, and look forward to next week when Jason is going to take us through the Beatitudes. So make sure you tune in next week. See you guys next time. Thanks for tuning in to the Life Talk Podcast. If this episode encouraged you, please be sure to like, comment, subscribe, and leave a review so others can find this content as well. And we'll look forward to seeing you next Monday for another great episode.