0:00

Join me Chad Bird in reading through the

0:02

Bible in one year in 2025. It doesn't

0:04

matter if it's your first time or your

0:06

hundredth time through the Bible There's always more

0:08

to learn about our Lord the reading

0:10

schedule. We will follow is called

0:12

the blended plan It has daily

0:15

chapters from the Old Testament and

0:17

New Testament and I will post

0:19

a short video every day that

0:21

unpacks one of the chapters for

0:23

that day So for the reading

0:25

plan, for a link to daily

0:27

videos and for additional resources, go

0:30

to 1517.org/one year. May the Lord

0:32

bless your daily study of his

0:34

word in 2025. Hi podcast listeners,

0:36

this is Amy Montreavati, 1517

0:39

contributor, an author of the

0:41

new historical fiction, Broken Bonds,

0:44

a novel of the Reformation.

0:46

The year is 1524. With the church

0:48

fracturing and revolution brewing, the lives

0:50

of Martin Luther, Desiderius, Erasmus, and

0:53

Philip Melanthan are woven together as

0:55

events spiral out of their collective

0:58

control. Erasmus is pressured to take

1:00

a public stand against Luther. Melanthan

1:02

is caught in the middle and forced

1:04

to choose between the two men he venerates.

1:06

Journey with them is they discover the things

1:08

that terrify in the hope that ultimately

1:11

leads to strength. You can purchase

1:13

your copy at 1517.org/ shop. or

1:15

head to the show notes for more

1:18

information. Happy reading!

1:36

Welcome to another episode of 30 minutes

1:38

in the New Testament. 30 minutes in the

1:40

New Testament is a 1517 podcast, network podcast.

1:42

You can go to 1517.org/podcasts and check it

1:44

all. The other podcasts are living over there

1:47

and while you're over there, make sure you

1:49

check out everything else that 1517 is doing

1:51

so much stuff to check out to spend

1:53

your afternoon, checking it all out, you know,

1:55

articles, read them, videos, watch them, academies, sign

1:57

up for them, and donate link, click it.

2:00

and then you know maybe that one-time

2:02

gift giver or that reoccurring gift

2:04

giver either one we're happy to

2:06

have you on board and thank

2:09

you so much to those of

2:11

you who do that keep everything

2:13

going guys we are in

2:15

Matthew chapter 20 Jesus has

2:17

gotten done talking about some

2:20

laborers in the vineyard and

2:22

Some first will be last and last

2:24

will be first talk and so the

2:26

whole the whole point of this as

2:28

we get into this next section is

2:30

that this comes on the heels of

2:33

the rich young ruler who didn't want

2:35

to give up everything he had and

2:37

follow Jesus. The disciples said, hey, we've

2:39

given up everything we've had to follow

2:41

Jesus. Jesus says, yeah, I'm going to

2:44

reward that. Also, let me tell you

2:46

a story about how this works, though.

2:48

I sort of reward everyone the same

2:50

way. Everyone gets the same thing, right?

2:52

So whether you get hired early in the

2:55

day, that is you baptized into the faith

2:57

that eight days old and you never to,

2:59

or... You're on your deathbed and you

3:01

cry out to Jesus to save you

3:03

and he does. Guess what? Eternal life

3:06

for everyone. Everyone's getting the same thing

3:08

when they have their faith in Jesus.

3:10

And Jesus is going to move on

3:12

from that and just give you a

3:15

little glimpse again how this is

3:17

accomplished, right? Like how is he going

3:19

to make this happen for all these

3:21

people who believe in him? Well, he's

3:23

going to tell you what he personally

3:25

is going to have to do to

3:27

make this a reality. Yeah, we're entering

3:29

into a section again where once

3:31

again, you're going to see a

3:34

contrast between the disciples being blind

3:36

to who Jesus is and what he's going

3:38

to do. Well, a literally blind person,

3:40

or in this case, two people, are

3:43

going to very clearly see what Jesus

3:45

is all about. So, with that said,

3:47

by way of introduction, we picked it

3:49

up at verse 17. It says, and

3:51

as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem,

3:53

he took the 12 disciples aside. And

3:56

on the way he said to them, See we are

3:58

going up to Jerusalem and the

4:00

son of man will be delivered

4:02

over to the chief priests and

4:04

scribes and they will condemn

4:06

him to death and deliver him

4:09

over to the Gentiles to be

4:11

mocked and flogged and crucified and

4:13

he will be raised on the

4:15

third day. So as probably many

4:17

of your translations have above

4:19

this passage, this is the

4:21

third time in Matthew's Gospel

4:23

that Jesus tells his disciples

4:26

precisely what he's ultimately

4:28

here to do. that this isn't going

4:30

to be an accident, that this

4:32

isn't something that he's not expecting,

4:35

that his plan is to continually

4:37

head to Jerusalem. I mean, he

4:39

is leading the ship. See, we are going

4:41

up to Jerusalem. Boys, this is why. So I

4:43

can be delivered over to the chief

4:45

priests and scribes, I can be condemned

4:47

to death, and then delivered over to

4:49

the Gentiles and be mocked, flogged and

4:52

crucified. And then, at the end of

4:54

the day, be raised on the third

4:56

day. And this time we don't

4:58

have his disciples rebuking him.

5:00

We don't have any response from

5:02

his disciples initially. This time

5:04

he also gives you more details too.

5:06

I mean, he's not hiding anything at

5:09

this point. And he's saying, all right,

5:11

this is how it's going to go

5:13

down. I'm going to be delivered over

5:15

the chief priests and scribes. I'm going

5:18

to be condemned. I'm going to deliver

5:20

the Gentiles, mocked, flawed, crucified, raised from

5:22

the dead. I mean, you have like

5:24

all the things here, right? So he

5:26

tells them exactly what this is going

5:28

to look like. And I'm sure they're like,

5:30

so why are we going to, like, okay,

5:33

then let's not go to Jerusalem. And this

5:35

is the thing is that, no, Jesus is

5:37

like, no, this is the whole point of

5:39

me going to Jerusalem. It's not that we're

5:41

going to Jerusalem and this is going to

5:43

happen while I'm there, while I'm there, bummer.

5:45

Metaphors attached. There's no analogies

5:48

attached anymore. He's not saying Sign

5:50

and Jonah. He's not saying you

5:52

know like this temple be torn

5:55

down. He's not none of that.

5:57

He's just giving him the straight

5:59

scoop This is, you need to

6:01

not be surprised when this happens because

6:03

I'm going to tell you not only

6:06

what is it going to happen, but

6:08

the order in which it is going

6:10

to happen. And this is him saying,

6:13

the first, me, is going to become

6:15

the last in order to make you

6:17

who are the last, the first in

6:19

my kingdom. That's precisely what he's doing

6:22

here. But not everybody understands that, not

6:24

everybody gets this. Because it's a very

6:26

understandable, if not a good passage, but

6:28

I can see my mom doing this.

6:31

You can say any mom doing this.

6:33

I know they're all, you know, but

6:35

really. You feel like there's no chance

6:38

that she heard what he just said.

6:40

Like this is something like, like, if

6:42

someone tells you something like that, I

6:44

feel like you just walk in silence

6:47

for a little bit, right? You're just

6:49

like, man. So I don't know, like

6:51

this timing is wild. That's what happened.

6:53

Like everybody was being silent. Finally nobody's

6:56

talking, she's like the perfect time. This

6:58

is my shot. Get his attention. Boys,

7:00

let your mother take care of this.

7:03

I got you. I got it guys.

7:05

So this is verse 20 then. The

7:07

mother of the sons of Zebedee came

7:09

up to him with her sons and

7:12

kneeling before him, she asked him for

7:14

something. Now, what do you think the

7:16

chances are that her sons? weren't even

7:19

sure what she was going to do

7:21

here. Like she literally is like dragging

7:23

them to Jesus here. No, I don't

7:25

know. They've asked this question themselves. All

7:28

right. I know. It's hard to know.

7:30

Yeah. I'm also always surprised that like

7:32

you get these little clues as to

7:34

how large they gaggle that followed Jesus

7:37

around everywhere actually was. Because in your

7:39

head it can just be like Jesus

7:41

and the 12, right? But man, people

7:44

are dragging their moms around. Yeah. Who

7:46

knows what's what's going on here? And

7:48

he said to her, what do you

7:50

want? She said to him, say that

7:53

these two sons of mine are to

7:55

sit, one at your right hand and

7:57

one at your left in your kingdom.

8:00

Jesus answered, you do not know what

8:02

you are asking. Are you able to

8:04

drink the cup that I am to

8:06

drink? They said to him, we are

8:09

able. You know what this reminds me

8:11

of? This reminds me of when Moses

8:13

gives the law and he lays down

8:15

all the things that will happen if

8:17

they're disobedient. And then he asked them

8:19

at the end, like, will you do

8:21

everything written in the law? And unanimously,

8:23

they're like, We will do it. We

8:25

got it. We'll do all the things.

8:27

You ever asked your kid, remember when

8:29

your kids were little? Like in, like

8:31

maybe you and your wife, the first

8:33

time going out or something like that,

8:35

and one of them, I don't, how

8:38

old is it, you're able to do

8:40

that legally these days? I mean, 13,

8:42

14, I don't know, probably 21 these

8:44

days. But, um. You know, and you

8:46

look at them all and be like,

8:48

okay, we're going to go, we're going

8:50

to be right down the street, like

8:52

two blocks away, we're walking, we'll be

8:54

back in 45 minutes, just going to

8:56

go get some appetizers and a drink.

8:58

I'm telling from life experience here. And

9:00

this is what I need from you

9:02

guys. You guys know all the house

9:05

rules, right? Yeah, we know them all,

9:07

right? Now you're going to follow all

9:09

of them while we're gone, right? We

9:11

will do it. We will do it.

9:13

We will do it. House is a

9:15

mess. One of them got a black

9:17

eye. Yes. Yeah. So he said to

9:19

them in response to them saying, yeah,

9:21

we got you. We're going to do

9:23

all the things. You will drink my

9:25

cup, but to sit at my right

9:27

hand and at my left is not

9:29

mine to grant. But it is for

9:31

those for whom it has been prepared

9:34

by my father. And when the ten

9:36

heard it, they were indignant at the

9:38

two brothers. I love it so much.

9:40

where the two brothers completely trashed because

9:42

they thought they could do more than

9:44

they could, then the other ten are

9:46

like, dang it, why didn't we think

9:48

to ask that? Always. Well, there's a

9:50

bunch of stuff here. I mean, one.

9:52

I like the directness of this whole

9:54

thing. So, like, she comes up and

9:56

she just says, what do you want?

9:58

Which is great. And then she says,

10:00

okay, I'll tell you exactly what I

10:03

want. Here's what I want. I want

10:05

you to say that these two sons

10:07

of mine are just sit, one of

10:09

your right hand and one of your

10:11

left in your kingdom. Now, and Mark,

10:13

it says, when you come to your

10:15

glory. Glory. Glory. Right. So, you know.

10:17

And then also, Jesus' responses, are you

10:19

able to drink the cup that I

10:21

am to drink or be baptized with

10:23

the baptism? I am to be baptized

10:25

with, which I like those additional details.

10:27

And then Jesus says, yeah, you're going

10:30

to be able to drink this cup

10:32

that I'm drinking. They said, we are

10:34

able, and then he says, oh, you're

10:36

going to drink it all right. But

10:38

to sit at my right hand and

10:40

my left is not mine to Graham,

10:42

but is for those to whom it

10:44

has been prepared as been prepared by

10:46

my father by my father. Yeah, but

10:48

there's some interesting things here where he

10:50

says, you know, are you able to

10:52

drink the cup that I'm going to

10:54

drink? And they say we were able,

10:56

and we kind of laughed at that

10:59

and said, yeah, right, guys. And then,

11:01

but Jesus does say, oh, you're going

11:03

to drink it. Now, I think that

11:05

there's like a lot of stuff going

11:07

on here. So when you get to

11:09

the cup, like, Jesus is going to

11:11

drink the cup. of the wrath of

11:13

God. I mean you have this, like

11:15

him alluded to this in the garden

11:17

of gazemone and this kind of thing.

11:19

And so are they able to drink

11:21

the cup of the wrath of God?

11:23

No. No. But then he says you

11:25

are going to drink from my cup,

11:28

right? So in other words, like I'm

11:30

going to go and drink the wrath

11:32

of God and I am going to

11:34

give you a cup to drink, but

11:36

it's going to be my blood. right

11:38

so this is the cup that is

11:40

given to you to drink i have

11:42

to drink this other cup and this

11:44

talk of of then of can we

11:46

be at your right hand your left

11:48

hand i don't think you know what

11:50

you're asking them then then either because

11:52

when you look at the mark passage

11:55

in and in The question is, hey,

11:57

can we be, can these two sons

11:59

of mine be at your right and

12:01

your left when you come into your

12:03

glory? I think that we think like,

12:05

and I think the mother is asking,

12:07

can they be seated up in heaven

12:09

with you on your right and left

12:11

hand? But what she doesn't understand is

12:13

that the glory of God, the flaming

12:15

center of the glory of God is

12:17

the cross of Christ, and there is

12:19

going to be someone on his right

12:21

and his left, and it's not going

12:24

to be either of them. But there

12:26

will be two people that are crucified

12:28

on the right and the left of

12:30

Christ. And like this is where Christ

12:32

is in his glory. This is where

12:34

God is glorified. That's interesting. And that

12:36

has been ordained by his father. He

12:38

said, that's not for me to choose.

12:40

I'm not making that decision. And you're

12:42

not going to drink this cup that

12:44

I'm going to drink while that's going

12:46

on. But I am going to give

12:48

you a cup to drink. That's what

12:50

I think anyway. I think you're right,

12:53

you're right, Dan. I think that's exactly

12:55

what he's alluding to. I think usually

12:57

people see this, I mean usually people

12:59

see this as also an illusion to

13:01

the fact that all the disciples will

13:03

end up dying martyrs deaths, etc. besides

13:05

John, you know, and so when he

13:07

says you will drink my cup that

13:09

it's an illusion to the fact that

13:11

they're going to face persecution, that sort

13:13

of thing. And that might be that

13:15

might be alluded to here, but the

13:17

fact that he says you will drink

13:20

my cup. Well we know what... his

13:22

cup is, as you already noted, it's

13:24

the cup of his blood. Oh yeah,

13:26

that Jesus is going to drink the

13:28

cup. They're going to drink his cup.

13:30

And John, of course, is one of

13:32

the sons of Zebedee, and he, of

13:34

course, will not be martyr. That's right.

13:36

I don't think that's it. I think

13:38

that he's going to give them a

13:40

cup to drink that is based on

13:42

the cup that he has to drink,

13:44

that nobody can drink but him. I've

13:46

always taken, I mean I like the

13:49

illusion to the people that are crucified

13:51

with Jesus and I wouldn't say that

13:53

that's not it, but I've always... thought

13:55

of this. I mean to me I

13:57

kind of whispered it this is a

13:59

bit of an election passage here in

14:01

verse 23 you will drink my cup

14:03

yeah he knows that not he just

14:05

predicts his death predicts the order he

14:07

didn't say anything about the upper room

14:09

there and what we call the all

14:11

the things that go on Monday Thursday

14:13

just prior to the set of events

14:16

that he talks about in the previous

14:18

verses. But there he's going to give

14:20

them his cup. He's going to give

14:22

him a cup of his blood on

14:24

that night and he knows they're going

14:26

to be there. You will drink of

14:28

it. But he says, but to sit

14:30

at my right hand and my left

14:32

hand is not mine to grant. Well,

14:34

the illusion to sit in the right

14:36

hand and left hand is who's going

14:38

to be with him in glory. I

14:40

think what he's alluding there too and

14:42

he'll get, he gets more specific with

14:45

it and Paul gets very specific with

14:47

it, is that those who are going

14:49

to be his were chosen and prepared

14:51

and prepared by his father. You

14:53

know and we'd sometimes say before the

14:55

foundation of all things and that's that's

14:57

what I for verse 23 That's what

14:59

I've always taken from verse 23. Yeah,

15:01

and I certainly think that that's what?

15:03

The mother is asking for beyond without

15:06

doubt It was also funny because he

15:08

just got done saying like I'm gonna

15:10

have you like ruling over the like

15:12

it gory is gonna be you 12

15:14

you know we're gonna rule over the

15:16

gender and all the stuff and his

15:18

mother's like okay That sounds good, but

15:20

can they be elevated even more? Yeah,

15:22

how do I up it? Can I

15:24

get a little more than that? You

15:26

know, like there is a right and

15:29

a left hand here. And you're like,

15:31

I don't know, in glory, you know,

15:33

because there's also an illusion to, the

15:35

right, when you think about right and

15:37

left hand when it comes to Jesus,

15:39

you have... The criminal

15:41

on his right and a criminal on

15:43

his left, but you also have like

15:46

in the judgment you have like dividing

15:48

sheep and goats You have on the

15:50

left and on the right and this

15:53

kind of and this is the kind

15:55

of stuff that has been used over

15:57

and over again It's like you want

16:00

to be on one side not the

16:02

other But she can't be asking that

16:04

because she doesn't want one of her

16:07

sons on this left-hand side of it.

16:09

No, that's not what you understood. He's

16:11

asking for me to be in the

16:13

positions of power. She's thinking in glory

16:16

there's a throne. Yes. And there's two,

16:18

you know, advisors on each side of

16:20

Jesus on the right and in the

16:23

left in glory. One of those has

16:25

got to be James and others got

16:27

to be John. Yeah. And like, and

16:30

the answer I think is that like,

16:32

that's just not how my kingdom works

16:34

at all. Like, I mean, you know

16:36

what you know what you know what

16:39

you know what I mean. And the

16:41

picture in my mind is like a

16:43

great throng, you know, his throne is

16:46

there, but it's a great throng and

16:48

because of the way throng works, there

16:50

are people all around him on his

16:53

right and his left. And his father

16:55

in heaven has been the one that

16:57

has decided and called and will prepare

16:59

that from the foundation of the world.

17:02

I do, by the way, light that

17:04

this question backfires with the rest of

17:06

the guys. Like the other guys like,

17:09

yeah, what? Like, what kind of question

17:11

is that? Like, are you trying to

17:13

elevate yourself? What's Peter doing? Like, Peter's

17:16

upset about that question? Like, somebody would

17:18

ask such a question? Yeah, all right,

17:20

Peter. So, Jesus called them to him

17:22

and said, you know that the rulers

17:25

of the Gentiles lauded over them, and

17:27

they're great ones, exercise, authority over them.

17:29

It shall not be so among you,

17:32

among you, but whoever would be great

17:34

among you, must be your slave. even

17:36

as the son of man came not

17:39

to be served, but to serve and

17:41

to give his life as a ransom

17:43

for many. Great, great line, always taking

17:46

out of context too. Yeah, absolutely is.

17:48

This is the part where it's like,

17:50

I think it's a Mark 16, Steve

17:52

Paulson will bring this up all the

17:55

time, where what these disciples are always

17:57

asking, and Jesus addresses it here, I

17:59

think, is that they want to know

18:02

who's going to be able to judge

18:04

the other disciples judging. everyone else. They

18:06

just want to make sure that that's

18:09

the... case, right? They're always trying to

18:11

like make sure that they're going to

18:13

be the one that's going to be

18:15

able to have judgment over someone else,

18:18

whether it's the rest of the religious

18:20

authorities or the rest of the Jews

18:22

or the Gentiles, or in this case,

18:25

you know, the Sons of Zebedee trying

18:27

to make sure that they're going to

18:29

have the authority to judge the other

18:32

10 in glory. Peter asked these questions

18:34

pretty frequently too. I mean usually after

18:36

he does something really great. Yeah. And

18:38

Jesus is saying, he's like, you guys

18:41

got the way this world works so

18:43

locked in your head that you actually

18:45

can't even conceive of what I'm trying

18:48

to say when I describe the kingdom

18:50

of heaven to you. Yeah, I mean

18:52

this is really another great example of

18:55

Jesus depicting for his disciples and for

18:57

us the upside down nature of the

18:59

kingdom of God. It's just not going

19:02

to operate. according to the normal principles

19:04

of power in our world. Which, I

19:06

mean, this is very apropos for our

19:08

time, is there are many people in

19:11

the broader Christian world in North America

19:13

that are very tempted to think that

19:15

if Christians just get a hold... of

19:18

the levers of political power. It's going

19:20

to work this time. Pre-Christianize the country

19:22

or whatnot. Yeah. And it never works

19:25

to the church's benefit. It always backfires.

19:27

It always ends up in much more

19:29

harm done to the citizenry than good.

19:31

The church does not do well with

19:34

political power because it cannot operate according

19:36

to the principle laid out for us

19:38

here by Jesus. Yeah. What did the

19:41

medieval Roman church do with these masters?

19:43

My lord. My lord. I think they

19:45

found a way to minimize them, Scott.

19:48

Not that that's unusual for us today.

19:50

Left them in Latin and they never

19:52

tell. They did the same thing that

19:54

Jerome did with that word repentance. Leave

19:57

that alone. I don't think this one

19:59

was coming up in their electionary. Yeah,

20:01

this is the whole thing, is that

20:04

all of this is just being like,

20:06

okay, you guys have no idea how

20:08

any of this works. And I think

20:11

that's, I mean, that's all kind of

20:13

baked into his statement, like you don't

20:15

know what you're asking for, right? You

20:18

have no idea what it is you're

20:20

asking for. And part of the reason

20:22

that you think about the death of

20:24

Christ. Jesus just talks about, I'm going

20:27

to Jerusalem, this is what's going to

20:29

happen. And then it's like, hey, can

20:31

my sons be with you, like on

20:34

your right hand side, when you come

20:36

into your glory, when you come into

20:38

your kingdom? And then he says, you

20:41

don't know what you're asking, and what's

20:43

the follow-up question? Are you able to

20:45

drink the cup that I'm going to

20:47

drink? Because that's what it would take.

20:50

And the answer, of course, is no,

20:52

I'm going to have to give you

20:54

a different cup. In our passage, are

20:57

you able to be baptized with the

20:59

baptism that I'm going to be baptized

21:01

with? The answer is no. He's going

21:04

to give you a different baptism, right?

21:06

And this is not how my kingdom

21:08

works anyway. Like my kingdom doesn't work

21:10

by, like there's not going to be

21:13

all these different positions and I'm going

21:15

to like set up this whole like

21:17

hierarchy and like we're going to have

21:20

like power layers and all this stuff.

21:22

It's like, I'm king and everybody else,

21:24

our children, like, and this is how

21:27

it works. Yeah, yeah, they, I mean,

21:29

to be sympathetic to the disciples. I

21:31

mean, Everybody else in their world who

21:34

had any sort of authority when they

21:36

would speak about what the days would

21:38

be like when the Messiah came was

21:40

telling them was telling everybody that it

21:43

was going to look like David's reign

21:45

but even more powerful that it was

21:47

going to expand worldwide and he would

21:50

rule from Jerusalem on the throne in

21:52

the temple I mean this is this

21:54

was so common This is just common

21:57

knowledge for everybody raised according to Jewish

21:59

teaching at the time. It is very

22:01

understandable. for them to struggle to get

22:03

in their mind what Jesus is saying.

22:06

Because they believe he's Messiah, but their

22:08

conception of Messiah is so opposite of

22:10

what he is laying down here. Yeah,

22:13

well it'd be like in our context

22:15

you'd be like, all right man, so

22:17

you're going to be king, right? Okay,

22:20

can us to be vice president and

22:22

secretary of state? Yeah. And then he's

22:24

just like, no, that's not how this

22:26

is going to work at all. No.

22:29

But that's always how it works. current

22:31

context you know RFK throws his way

22:33

behind Trump and he gets a cabinet

22:36

appointment that he would have never otherwise

22:38

had you know JD Vance throws his

22:40

early on changes his mind about Trump

22:43

throws his way behind him vice president

22:45

right and left you know yeah this

22:47

this is the way that that power

22:50

works the vast majority of the time

22:52

everywhere everywhere except in the kingdom of

22:54

God you're talking you're saying our world

22:56

isn't our American political system isn't unique

22:59

Eric It's not modeled after everything laid

23:01

out in the kingdom of God and

23:03

the Bible? Yeah, indeed. This was a

23:06

Christian nation. Yeah, so you have this

23:08

session just happening right now, where you

23:10

have the disciples looking pretty blind to

23:13

like who Jesus is and what he's

23:15

here to do. Meanwhile, the very next

23:17

event that Matthew records shows another altercation

23:19

with blind people, but a completely different

23:22

result. And so it says, and as

23:24

they went out of Jericho, a great

23:26

crowd followed him, and behold there were

23:29

two blind men sitting by the roadside,

23:31

and when they heard that Jesus was

23:33

passing by, they cried out, Lord, have

23:36

mercy on us, son of David. Now

23:38

that is one of my favorite pleas

23:40

in all of the Bible, especially considering

23:42

the context, because they understand that for

23:45

whatever reason, somehow or another, they have

23:47

understood that The one who is the

23:49

son of David, the Messiah, they are

23:52

calling him by his messianic title, is

23:54

only to be pled with. according to

23:56

his mercy, that it's his mercy that

23:59

they go to him with. That's what

24:01

they appeal to. They have the best

24:03

part of this is? The mother of

24:06

James and John goes to Jesus and

24:08

he says, what do you want? And

24:10

he says, I need my son to

24:12

sit here right and left hand. He

24:15

says, no. And then these two blind

24:17

guys have mercy on us, son of

24:19

David. And Jesus called them and said,

24:22

what do you want me to do

24:24

for you? And they said to him,

24:26

Lord, that our eyes be open, and

24:29

he says, yes. Like, it's so great.

24:31

Like, the mom gets turned down flat,

24:33

and the two blind guys are like,

24:35

this is what we just need mercy,

24:38

and he's like done. Yes. And I

24:40

love the fact that they're kind of

24:42

persistent about it, not just kind of,

24:45

because we read in verse 31, the

24:47

crowd rebuked them, telling them to be

24:49

silent, but they cried out all the

24:52

more. Lord have mercy on a son

24:54

of son of David. And stopping, Jesus

24:56

called them and said, what do you

24:58

want me to do for you? They

25:01

said to him, Lord, let our eyes

25:03

be open. And Jesus and Pity touched

25:05

their eyes. And immediately they recovered their

25:08

sight and followed him. What a great

25:10

day. I mean, what's the lesson for

25:12

us? The lesson is that His kingdom

25:15

is always and forever going to operate

25:17

based on mercy. Could you imagine seeing

25:19

that that day? I can. It would

25:22

be amazing. Yeah. I would love it.

25:24

No, dude, it's it's awesome like the

25:26

and he also is showing you like

25:28

the The sorts of people that are

25:31

going to make up his kingdom and

25:33

stuff too right? He's done like this

25:35

first and last talk like like several

25:38

times now And now he's like these

25:40

are the kind of people who are

25:42

going to be following me People that

25:45

are crying out for mercy people that

25:47

everyone else is saying, hey, be quiet.

25:49

Like, this isn't for you. Jesus lied

25:51

down. That's exactly who I'm here for.

25:54

Like, bring him over here. Let me,

25:56

what do you want me to do?

25:58

And I do. I do like how

26:01

like sometimes Jesus is just straight to

26:03

the point. They say Lord have mercy

26:05

on us. They've already said that we

26:08

want mercy. And he's like, how would

26:10

you like this mercy? You know, how would

26:12

you like this? How would you like this

26:14

to be to play out? And they're like,

26:16

we need to see man. He's like, let me

26:18

put my eyes on my hands on your

26:20

eyes and make that happen for you. And

26:23

this is the thing that, and I know

26:25

we said this a bunch of times, but.

26:27

You're not going to find any

26:29

passes where Jesus where people do

26:31

this sort of thing and Jesus is

26:33

like no No, yeah Yeah Jesus responds

26:35

to please for mercy. It just doesn't

26:37

happen man like I mean if you're

26:40

asking for mercy like Jesus gives it

26:42

That's what he does it fits. We

26:44

didn't spend much time on it, but

26:47

it fits what He his narrative has always

26:49

been about why he came in verse 28

26:51

Even so the son of man came not

26:53

to be served but to serve Yeah. And

26:56

to give his life as a ransom for

26:58

many. But when you're asking him to sit

27:00

his right and his left, you're not asking

27:02

him to serve, you're asking him to rule

27:05

with him. And then these guys ask to

27:07

be served, and like you said at the

27:09

beginning, the explanations part down,

27:11

the answer is of course. Yes. Few other

27:14

things, few other notes here, just I

27:16

want to pay attention to the fact

27:18

that we're told Jesus in pity. He had

27:20

pity on them. And one of the reasons

27:22

I love that is because he has the

27:24

right. to have pity on others

27:26

because he is the one that

27:28

is above all. And secondly, I

27:31

just always try to never run

27:33

too fast past the fact that

27:35

Jesus doesn't have to touch them.

27:37

Everybody always does. He always

27:40

gets dirty. He always gets his

27:42

hands dirty, but he doesn't have

27:44

to. I mean, we know he

27:46

can just say, have sight, and they

27:49

can. But he chooses to. He

27:51

condescends to where people are at. And

27:53

then the third thing I think we

27:55

should probably just take a brief time

27:57

to note is that if you go

27:59

to Marx... account of this story in

28:01

Mark Chapter 10, you're going to

28:03

notice that he doesn't say, he doesn't

28:06

mention anything about two blind men, he

28:08

just highlights one blind man, blind

28:10

Bartamaeus. Some of you are familiar with the

28:12

name. And you know, there's some that

28:14

have suggested that while that shows

28:16

that there's a contradiction between Mark

28:18

and Matthew. But I'm going to argue

28:21

that that actually shows that probably

28:23

the reason Mark highlights Bartamaeus. is

28:25

because that was a name that

28:27

was known to the other disciples

28:29

and to the early church. And

28:31

so Mark is actually using it

28:33

as an apologetic to say this

28:35

historical person that you people know, Barta

28:37

Mayas, who was once blind, this is

28:39

how he came to faith. And so

28:42

it's not a contradiction, it's just a

28:44

highlighting of somebody that the people

28:46

probably would have known. Mark does

28:48

that. Mark will mention the names

28:50

of people that have no particular

28:52

significance to the narrative. except to

28:54

show that like, oh, these are

28:57

real people. Yeah, real person. Yeah,

28:59

yes, Rufus and Alexander, Mark mentions

29:01

out of the blue that were

29:03

Simon's sons. We, who cares? And you,

29:05

except for the fact that they knew,

29:08

Rufus and Alexander, yeah. And you brought

29:10

a pity in verse 34. It's interesting,

29:12

I mean, that word is

29:14

often translated, that Greek words

29:17

often translated as compassion, and

29:19

we have a negative sort of connection

29:21

with pity, you know, you know, you

29:24

know. To have pity or to have

29:26

is just to really, I mean,

29:28

in its truest form to have

29:30

pity is just to have compassion

29:33

on somebody that's going through something

29:35

that you are not going through.

29:37

And all that is, is to

29:39

put yourself in the place of the

29:41

other person. Well, and being, you

29:44

know, a blind man sitting on

29:46

the side of the road, is

29:48

pretty pitiful. When you have no social, you

29:50

know, social networks to be able to,

29:52

there's no entitlement programs for a blind

29:55

guy by then. No status, no standing,

29:57

no money. They're entirely dependent on others

29:59

for their life. And it's pitiable, which

30:01

is what Jesus does. By the

30:03

way, you don't see the rest

30:05

of the crowd having pity, even

30:07

though it's quite a pitiful and

30:09

a pitiable situation. They're just like,

30:11

hey man, they don't stop cursing

30:13

my mellow. I'm following Jesus. Yeah,

30:16

we're, and I think, and then

30:18

we gotta wrap up, but I

30:20

also love that this story happens.

30:22

You gotta remember that Jesus is

30:24

on his way to do the

30:26

most important thing that will ever

30:28

happen in the history of the

30:30

world. And yet on his way,

30:32

he's given two blind guys their

30:34

sight as he is literally on

30:37

his way to go die for

30:39

the sins of the world. Still

30:41

has time to say, I'm going

30:43

to give you what you need,

30:45

I'm going to restore your sight.

30:47

Which is, I just, there's something.

30:49

that that should tell you about

30:51

sort of just the heart of

30:53

your Savior which is quite beautiful.

30:55

The God of the universe is

30:57

never too busy for you. Yes,

31:00

great. It's great man. He's you

31:02

know he's about to go suffer

31:04

horrifically and yet yet removes the

31:06

suffering and the affliction of these

31:08

two men on his way to

31:10

do so which is pretty great.

31:12

Yeah. Well all right well we

31:14

will... Leave it there guys next

31:16

week. We are going to We're

31:18

in a holy week. Yeah, we're

31:20

getting into holy week man You

31:23

know we're getting closer and closer

31:25

to the end of the Matthew.

31:27

It's taking us a while But

31:29

we got 28 chapters. We're gonna

31:31

start 21. We're gonna get the

31:33

triumphal entry Next episodes. You don't

31:35

want to miss that. I'll see

31:37

you guys then sounds good