BibleProject - Lord of the Sabbath - 7th Day Rest E13

Episode Date: December 23, 2019

QUOTE"We're getting into the scandal that Jesus represented—which wasn’t offering an alternative religion; it was saying that he was bringing the whole storyline of the Scriptures to fulfillment."KEY TAKEAWAYSJesus' claim to be "Lord of the Sabbath" was a key part of his understanding of his own identity.Jesus’ resurrection is literally and metaphorically the first dawning of a new week. He was literally raised on the first rays of a new week, and metaphorically, this represented Jesus and all who follow him entering a new age of communion with God.The Sabbath practice and the traditions that surround it has always been a controversial topic. As Gentiles who had no Jewish or Sabbath background fell in love with Jesus, the church began to practice or not practice Sabbath in a variety of ways.SHOW NOTES:In part 1 (0-7:15), Tim and Jon review the conversation so far. Jesus is claiming to bring the eternal seventh-day rest into reality.In part 2 (7:15-21:15), Tim dives into words of Jesus in Matthew. Matthew 11:25-30“At that time Jesus said, ‘I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in your sight. All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal him.“‘Come to me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.’”Tim quotes from Samuele Bacchiocchi.“The metaphor of the ‘yoke’ was commonly used to express subordination and loyalty to God, especially through obedience to his law. Thus Jeremiah speaks of the leaders of the people who knew ‘the law of their God, but they all alike had broken the yoke, they had burst the bonds’ (5:5; cf. 2:20). In the following chapter, the same prophet says to the people: ‘Find rest for your souls’ by learning anew obedience to God’s law (6:6; cf. Num 25:3). Rabbis often spoke of ‘the yoke of the Torah,’ ‘the yoke of the kingdom of heaven,’ ‘the yoke of the commandments,’ ‘the yoke of God.’ Rabbi Nehunya b. Kanah (ca. 70) is reported to have said: ‘He that takes upon himself the yoke of the Law, from him shall be taken away the yoke of the kingdom and the yoke of worldly care’ (Pirke Aboth 3:5). What this means is that devotion to the law and its interpretation is supposed to free a person from the troubles and cares of this world.”(Samuele Bacchiocchi, “Matthew 11:28-30: Jesus’ Rest and the Sabbath,” p. 300-303.)The quote continues:“Matthew sets forth the ‘yoke’ of Christ, not as commitment to a new Torah, but as dedication to a Person who is the true Interpreter and Fulfiller of the Law and the Prophets. The emphasis on the Person is self-evident in our logion: ‘Come to me . . . take my yoke . . . learn from me ... I will give you rest.’ Moreover, the parallel structure of vss. 28 and 29 indicates that taking the ‘yoke’ of Jesus is equivalent to ‘come to’ and ‘learn from’ him. That is to say, it is to personally accept Jesus as Messiah. Such an acceptance is an ‘easy’ and ‘light’ yoke, not because Jesus weakens the demands of the law (cf. Matt 5:20), but because, as T. W. Manson puts it, ‘Jesus claims to do for men what the Law claimed to do; but in a different way.’ The difference lies in Christ’s claim to offer to his disciples (note the emphatic kago) the rest of Messianic redemption to which the law, and more specifically, the sabbath, had always pointed.”(Samuele Bacchiocchi, “Matthew 11:28-30: Jesus’ Rest and the Sabbath,” p. 300-303.)In part 3 (21:15-30:00), Tim moves into the next story in Matthew.Matthew 12:1-14“At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and his disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat. But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, ‘Look, your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath.’ But he said to them, ‘Have you not read what David did when he became hungry, he and his companions, how he entered the house of God, and they ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat nor for those with him, but for the priests alone? Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and are innocent? But I say to you that one greater than the temple is here. But if you had known what this means, “I desire compassion, and not a sacrifice,” you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.’“Departing from there, he went into their synagogue. And a man was there whose hand was withered. And they questioned Jesus, asking, ‘Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?’—so that they might accuse him. And he said to them, ‘What man is there among you who has a sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable then is a man than a sheep! So then, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.’ Then he said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand!’ He stretched it out, and it was restored to normal, like the other.”Tim says that the controversies caused by Jesus on the Sabbath are not meant to show Jesus as divisive. Rather, when Jesus says he is “Lord of the Sabbath,” he is saying fundamentally the same thing as when he declares, “The Kingdom of God is here.” Both of these phrases are declarations by Jesus that he is beginning the restoration of creation.In part 4 (30:00-38:00), Tim and Jon have a quick discussion about practicing the Sabbath, taking one day out of seven to rest. Did Jesus value this? Yes! Jesus went to synagogue on Sabbath. But Jesus seems to place a greater importance on the concept of the Sabbath. Jesus is effectually saying that what the Sabbath pointed to—a time of constant communion between God and man—is here because he is here.In part 5 (38:00-61:30), Tim talks about instances of Sabbath practice in Paul’s writings.Romans 14:1-12“As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. “One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.“Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written,“‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,and every tongue shall confess to God.’“So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.”Tim also shares from Paul’s writings in Colossians.Colossians 2:16-19“Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.”Tim notes that eating kosher and Sabbath practices were controversial issues in the early Church as they are now. Tim also notes that once the Christian movement became majority non-Jewish, the Christian movement quickly lost respect for its Jewish roots and traditions.Tim then asks, based on Paul, whether modern Christians should have some sort of Sabbath practice? It seems that Paul was flexible. He always went to synagogue and even fulfilled Jewish vows. But he also stood up for Gentiles who had no history or desire to begin practicing Sabbath law. Instead, Paul was excited to build a Christian community where all experienced equality under the lordship of Jesus.In part 6 (61:30-end), the guys quickly talk about the resurrection narrative at the end of the Gospel of Mark.Mark 16:1-3“When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb And they were saying to one another, ‘Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?’”Jesus’ resurrection is literally and metaphorically the first dawning of a new week. He was literally raised on the first rays of a new week, and metaphorically, this represented Jesus and all who follow him entering a new age of communion with God.Thank you to all our supporters!Show Resources:Samuele Bacchiocchi, “Matthew 11:28-30: Jesus’ Rest and the Sabbath,” p. 300-303.Show Music:Yesterday on Repeat by VexentoOhayo by Smith the MisterMy room becomes the sea by Sleepy FishShow Produced By:Dan GummelPowered and Distributed by Simplecast.

Hey, this is Cooper at Bible Project. I produce the podcast in Classroom. We've been exploring a theme called the City, and it's a pretty big theme. So we decided to do two separate Q and R episodes about it. We're currently taking questions for the second Q and R and we'd love to hear from you. Just record your question by July 21st

and send it to us at infoatbiboproject.com. Let us know your name and where you're from, try to keep your question to about 20 seconds and please transcribe your question when you email it in, try to keep your question to about 20 seconds, and please transcribe your question when you email it in. That's a huge help to our team. We're excited to hear from you. Here's the episode.

Hey, this is John at the Bible Project, and today on the podcast, we're going to continue a discussion about a theme in the Bible. It's a beautiful and big theme that we're calling seventh day rest. It's the idea that all of history is culminating in a time where humans and God can rule together on earth and rest and peace. It's why the Jewish people have celebrated the Sabbath a stop day to recognize that this reality is coming.

And it's the heartbeat behind all of the festivals in the Jewish calendar. Last week, we began talking about Jesus and how He is the climax of this theme of seventh day rest. Jesus started His ministry on a Sabbath day, reading from the scroll of Isaiah, and saying, the ultimate Sabbath, the ultimate Jubilee,

would come with him, where slaves are set free and debts are forgiven. And after this announcement, he begins to go out and perform miracles. In this episode, we're going to discuss another claim that Jesus made, that ties into the theme of seventh day rest. And it's found in Matthew 12, where Jesus calls himself the Lord of the Sabbath.

So, this last line is, for the son of Adam is the Lord of the Sabbath, the truly human one that the whole storyline of the Hebrew Bible is pointing to. He's claiming that he is the one who will provide the rest. He's the human to which the storyline of the Torah was pointing, who will lead God's people towards the ultimate who believe. We're getting into the scandal that Jesus represented, which wasn't offering an alternative religion. It was saying he was bringing the whole storyline of the scriptures and their tradition to its fulfillment. So you had to go through him. For Jesus to go around and call himself the Lord of the Sabbath,

I mean, that sounds pretty scandalous, because if it's true, what does that mean for the sacred ritual of the Sabbath? This became a pressing matter once the Jesus movement became multi-acquement. And Paul moves right towards this very issue in Romans chapter 14.

I'm John Collins, and today I talk with Tim about Jesus' claim that he's Lord of the Sabbath. What it means, and how Paul handles the question of Sabbath celebration to a non-Jewish Christian audience. Thanks for joining us. Here we go. Okay. We are on the home stretch in this conversation on,

the eternal rest. Eternal rest. We use another phrase we haven't used. No, that's right. That's kind of more from my childhood. Hmm. Yeah, and it's a good one. The rest.

The rest. The idea of across the Jordan is the promised rest for God's people. And Jesus is baptized in the Jordan. And goes to a hometown after a tour in the wilderness and then says, yeah, the ultimate Sabbath has arrived. Yeah. I'm doing it. So we're talking about Jesus' announcement of the ultimate Sabbath, which he also calls the reign of God, the Kingdom of God. The rule of God.

The place and time and people over which God's rule is realized and embodied. The way it was meant to be, which is this Genesis 1 and 2 image of a rule that is abundant, that you don't have to slave in order to get to it. It arrives kind of in its own way and in a way that's abundant. You get to cooperate with. Yeah. Yeah. And there's plenty. Yeah. So, So, do you think that that's happening with him? Yeah.

The Sabbath Jubilee rest. Yeah. It's starting. He's bringing it into reality as he goes about announcing the release from sin and death to the people of Israel. And then he actually starts bringing it about as he heals people and creates communities where people can trust that they're forgiven by God and included in God's family to rest and enjoy the party. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Either you're doing Sabbath rest or you're a slave to the decay and death.

Yeah. And they're mutually exclusive states. And you've got to be liberated from one into the other. That's right. Jesus was not coming offering an alternative to what some people call the religion of Judaism and he's here to bring Christianity. The whole storyline of the Jewish scriptures is about God's mission to restore the nations and his world to the ultimate rest.

That was the culmination of Genesis chapter one. And so Jesus is saying, that's that thing that we've all been waiting for is here. And I'm the one doing it. So we talked about his announcement. We talked about his bringing about that rest and people often on the Sabbath. He'd go somewhere on the Sabbath and heal somebody.

And that starts earning him some enemies. And again, not because he broke the Sabbath and he'll somebody. And that starts earning him some enemies. And again, not because he broke the Sabbath, but because he's claiming to be the one bringing God's eternal Sabbath and the present. Right, he's not anymore like saying, hey, we should practice the Sabbath so that one day it can become a reality. He's saying, hey, we're living the Sabbath now.

That's right. Because I'm here. The thing to living the Sabbath now. That's right. Because I'm here, the thing to which the Sabbath pointed all along is, it's happening. That's happening. Yeah. Yeah.

It's the difference between, it's the difference like when the sun rises and shines into your living room. And so you don't need to have your lamps on. Or it's not that your lamps are wrong, it's just they become unnecessary. They don't become needed in the same way. Actually, okay, so now this is a good lead-in.

Whatever metaphor you choose, the point is, is when you're anticipating something, you might develop practices that help you remember and hope for the thing that you. That you're waiting for. And then once the thing happens or comes, those practices change in their role and necessity. Yeah. Because the thing is here.

The thing is here. That's right. So there's a similar dynamic at work here. In fact, we're going to look at Matthew chapters 11 and 12 and see some interesting things drawn together here about Gio's concept of rest and the Sabbath. So Matthew 11 and 12 are key chapters. The arc of chapters one through four is the birth stories and then Jesus passing the test, being tested by the Satan here.

And then he arrives at the end of chapter four announcing the good news of God's kingdom, preaching and teaching about the kingdom and healing. Then Matthew gives you the sermon on the mount, you get the preaching and teaching of the kingdom. Then after the sermon on the mount, you get Matthew 8 and 9 and he's assembled nine stories of Jesus performing healing or doing something mighty to heal or rescue people 10 times in nine stories. And so it's exactly, is Jesus teaching the kingdoms from them, and is Jesus bringing the kingdom in science and wonders. And then Matthew has packed into chapters 11 and 12 after Jesus has done that. All of the controversy and negative responses

of Israel's leaders, of his own cousin John the Baptist is like, are you the king? Why am I in prison? down the Baptist is like, yeah, you look like a man, why am I in prison? You know. So right in the middle of these two chapters, Matthew 11 and 12, or of all these people with mixed responses to Jesus, mostly negative, right in the middle, we get a little like window into Jesus' prayer life

on a given day. And here's what he prays. Do you want to pray it? Pray, do you want to pray it? Do you want to say it? At that time, Jesus said, I praise you, Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well pleasing in your sight. All things have been handed over to me by my father, and no one knows the Son except the Father.

Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal him. Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble and heart, and you will find rest for your souls For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. I didn't realize that I was all part of a prayer. Oh Yeah, Jesus starts talking to the father. Yeah, you're right And actually once he starts saying come to me all you who were weary. He's like he's addressing a crowd Seems like at verse 27 he stops addressing the father and he starts addressing. Oh, I see. Yeah, you got it.

It's because he starts talking about the Father at the third time. Yeah, yes, Father, this was pleasing in your sight. Verse 27, all thing, he starts talking about the Father in third person. Yeah. But it's just packed little speech by Jesus. Yeah. No audience is marked in terms of who he's talking to. He's just praying. And then he just starts talking into the air to a group of unmarked people. It's an interesting narrative technique. It's as if it represents Jesus's response

to this situation and then sharing with his disciples in some way. Yeah, that's interesting. So in context, he's just had a whole bunch of people reject him, request him, try to humiliate him in public. And he calls them the wise and intelligent that God has hidden the truth from. This is so he revival. He's been nice.

This is so he revival. God loves to upset the normal power structures and elevate the people who were insignificant and keep the people who think they're significant in the dark. And so he calls babies. That's what he calls his followers. Yeah, infants. Infants. We're like children in the eyes of, yeah. Right. This little rag tag group touring Rangalli. Hmm. What do they know? They're saying God's kingdom is here and they'd like feed people and he's a magician and he was some sick people and they think God's kingdom is shown up. They're babbling like toddlers. Yeah. Totally. Yeah. And Jesus is exactly the opposite. Verse 26, this was pleasing in your sight. You

love to turn upside down the conventional ways that humans do things. Verse 27, Sounds like a statement of Jesus from the Gospel of John. Yeah. All things are handed to be by my father. That's son of man like which right there. All things given over to the son. Okay. By the father. Yeah. Mm-hmm. And then he ratchets it up. In fact, no one actually even knows God except through the way I am opening up the true heart be of the Father. That's tall claim. So you can see just stacking here of like the claims just keep getting intense intense. And then these famous lines that are easy to take out of this context. And people have often puzzled even what do they mean in this context?

Yeah. Almost feels like they were pasted in here. Yeah. So after this claim that in him, the God who's stories told in the Hebrew Scriptures, creator, his father, uniquely revealed through me, Jesus says. And so therefore, everybody who's heavy, laden, who's weird, tired, and has carries burden on your backs.

I will give you rest, and then this image of a yoke, which is the instrument and oxwares to work with another ox to plough fields. That's right. So, I think implied here is you have another yoke. You're already yoke. You're already yoke. Everybody's under a yoke.

But you take my yoke and you'll find that this yoke actually is light. Oh, light. It's not heavy. It's not heavy. Yeah. And it's certainly a inversion of a metaphor. I mean, yokes are heavy, but they're also meant to make your burden less heavy.

Easier, right? You're sharing the load of someone else. And yeah, sharing and it distributes the weight across your shoulders, right? If I like have a backpack in it, and it's all on one strap, my shoulder gets sore. Oh, yeah. But I put on two straps.

Yeah, and then you get those backpacks at like then. A little waist back. Put the weight on the waist, yeah. Yeah, yeah, distributes the weight, carrying waist, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Distributes the weight, carry it in your core. So his point is my, Yoak is more ergonomic. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha When you work with me leading you, you'll find that your work is paradoxically the way. You let me disperse burdens the way they're supposed to be dispersed. And you'll find that you're not actually plowing a field, you're resting.

Yeah, your work is done from a place of rest. You think that's what it is? Your work is done from place of rest? Or you will rest. I will give you rest. I will give you rest. Is this what we talked about this a lot in terms of What's the difference between work and rest? Yes, right. That's right. Yeah, that's right when work is joyful

It feels playful. It's right the image of what does working the garden God puts the human in the garden to work it It's a difference between working in a garden that, man, day in and day out, you're just trying to get it to cooperate and it's always fighting against you. Versus working in a garden where you turn around and you're like, whoa, what did that thing come from? Look at that beautiful vine and it's like a playful kind of gardening. So let's, this is back to, I think we quoted from him, this Italian scholar, Samuel Bacciucci. So he's got another really influential essay

on this passage in Matthew, called Matthew 11, Gio's is rest in the Sabbath. Because Matthew has placed two stories about Jesus having controversies about the Sabbath right after this saying in Matthew 12. So it so certainly on purpose. He's talking about rest Inviting people to rest and then there's two stories of how Jesus Announces the Sabbath being fulfilled But here's this phrase the coming under a yoke or the yoke of a rabbi. This is like a fixed phrase in Jewish culture

It's an idiom. Yeah, so he he explores He says, the metaphor of the yoke was commonly used to express subordination and loyalty to God, especially through obedience to the Torah. Jeremiah speaks of the leaders of Israel who knew the Torah of their God, but they all alike had broken the yoke and had burst the bonds. Okay. Jeremiah 5 verse 5. The law obeying the law is a type of yoke. Yeah. That's the metaphor.

Correct. Yeah. The laws of the Torah be faithful to them. Yeah. Is like a yoke. Later on in chapter 6, Jeremiah says, find rest for your souls, that is, by learning a new obedience to the laws of Torah. So in Jeremiah 5 and 6, bursting the yoke is disobedience to the covenant laws.

Therefore, finding rest by being faithful to the covenant, you can see there's an image here, taking God's yoke offered in the terms of the covenant will actually be their way in the narrative. It's their way to find rest in the terms of the covenant will actually be their way. Look at the narrative. Yeah. It's their way to find rest in the promised land. Yeah. Do these things and you will be blessed. That's right.

Yeah. Don't eat of the tree of knowing Good Neville and it's going to go awesome. And you've got a lot of trees to eat from. Yeah, that's right. Every other one. That's right. And they're producing for you. Yeah.

The command is a Yoke that actually helps guide you. Interest. Into your rest. So he, Samuel Bacciocci goes on. He says, the rabbi is often spoke of the yoke of the Torah, or they even call it the yoke of the kingdom of heaven, or the yoke of the commandments, or the yoke of God. Rabbi Nuhunya, Ben-Kana, who died around 70 AD,

is reported to have said, He who takes upon himself the yoke of the Torah from him shall be taken away the yoke of the kingdom and the yoke of worldly care. He goes on. What this means is that devotion to the Torah and its interpretation frees a person from the troubles and cares of the world.

And that's kind of what proverb is all about, too, in a way. Oh, yeah, huh. Are you sure? Live by God's wisdom. Yes. Things will go well for you. Yep. There's even Proverbs that are about finding rest in the land.

Yes. And, yeah, long life, all that. The Proverbs package deal is a kind of Sabbath rest or a little taste of it. So what it seems like, what Jesus is doing, actually this is great. I'll just keep reading from Bacciochi because he has a good way of putting it. He says Matthew is setting forth the yoke of the Messiah, not as a commitment to a new Torah,

but as dedication to a person who is the interpreter and fulfiller of the Torah and prophets. The emphasis on the person is self-evident in the saying, come to me, take my yoke, learn from me, I will give you rest. That's an interesting way of putting it, I think. Yeah, because a rabbi would typically say, come to the Torah, listen to the Torah,

learn from the Torah, it will give you rest. And Jesus is saying, he's making it very personal to him. And not because he's trying to take you away from the laws of God, but he's saying all of this is coming to fulfillment in me. That's right. In a way, what he's saying here about the Yoke then is another way of thinking about his statement in the sermon on the Mount.

I didn't come to negate the Torah. Rather, I came to fulfill the Torah and the prophets. That's what he says. And so here, if you come under my teaching, you will find the true way to rest in the Promised Land. He's offering himself and his inauguration of the Jubilee as the true way towards Israel's rest in the land. Jesus thinks very highly of himself. He does. And now it makes sense why this saying about, I'll give you rest, isn't next to a statement of saying, no one knows God, the God of Israel, except me, and the one that I revealed. It's interesting. You can't just go to the Torah and find the true rest.

You need to see it through Jesus. Is that kind of what he's saying? I think his point is that the Torah is about him. He's claiming that he is the one who will provide the rest. He's the human to which the storyline of the Torah was pointing, who will lead God's people towards the ultimate Jubilee. Because the Torah has laws, but mostly it's a story. Yeah, but Israel is sitting in exile because nobody was faithful to those laws. Yep, that's right. We're getting into the scandal that Jesus represented, which wasn't offering an alternative religion. It was

represented which wasn't offering an alternative religion. It was saying he was bringing the whole storyline of the scriptures and their tradition to its fulfillment. So you had to go through him. Yeah. So I will give you rest. Take my yoke. Yeah. The next story after these words is how the Pharisees just can't take it. They just can't take it. Yeah, I mean, it's really... It's gutsy. Yeah. Totally.

If you don't already come with a pre-subposition of, yep, Jesus is who he says he is, this all sounds really narcissistic. Yeah, sure. Yeah sure yeah yeah sure I've encountered people yeah who are reading the gospel's brand new who get that impression some saying of Jesus. So here's the next story, right after GSS. At that time Jesus went through some grain fields on the Sabbath. And as disciples became hungry, so it's positive.

I'm hungry on the Sabbath. They're not work. Right? So think through the manner in the wilderness. Yeah, God will provide. Yeah, God will provide. And Jesus is like, yeah, God will provide that grain that's right beside you. Right?

His disciples became hungry and they just started to like pick heads of grain right there. It's like they're like they're in a garden. Like they're in a garden and they can just... Onchabat. Just pick what they want. Yeah. Yeah. Whether we meant to hear echoes here of the laws, remember in the seventh year of release, leave your fields and let the poor, the immigrant and the wild animals eat from the field. Are they like trying to pull a poor... They were the poor, poor example here. Yeah.

When the Pharisees saw this, they looked at him and says, what, your disciples are not honoring the Sabbath. Yeah, you're harvesting on the Sabbath. Yeah, yeah, it's a kind of harvesting. Which we talked about this in the last bit. This is a little crack, pretty small. It feels like they're nitpicking. Yes. But remember, the person who they're nitpicking with

just claimed to be the embodiment, the revealer of the true God of Israel. Yeah, so he better live consistently. They're totally, yeah. And obeying the Sabbath is so important that there's a lot of guidelines around it. And you better have a, like there's no reason to be breaking these guidelines

unless you just don't believe in the Sabbath. Yeah, so once again, this is Jesus. He's not breaking the Sabbath, we're saying it's bad. Here's what he says. He says, hmm, have you read the Bible? Bible experts? What David did when he was hungry, he and his companions, he went into the house of God and they ate the holy bread, like the bread of the Presence in the show. Yeah, 12 loaves changed out every Shabbat. Yeah. So David went in, he eats the bread and that's not lawful. Nobody's supposed to eat that bread. Yeah, that's a symbol. That's a sacred symbol. Yeah, but it's only for the priests alone. So let's pause right there.

Are they priests eat it or they just change it up? They could change it up. Oh, I forget. It may not have said there whether they can eat it. Jesus assumes they can eat it. Okay. It's weak old bread. Yeah. Good for you. Seven days. Yeah. They have some stale bread. We've talked about this passage. I feel like in recent memory. Yeah, in the you. Seven days. Yeah, don't. They had some stale bread. We've talked about this passage. I feel like in recent memory. Yeah, in the Son of Man. This was at Son of Man? Yeah, because Jesus is the punchline of the whole story

is I'm the Son of Man. Oh, OK. That's right. That's what we did. But so just remember Jesus is creating a little parallel scenario here, telling the story about David. Yeah. OK.

He's quoting a story from when David was fleeing from King Saul, who Israel thought was still their king, but in God's eyes he was an illegitimate king. David's the real king, but he kept to undercover until God exalted him. So Jesus is putting himself in the place of Israel's true but unrecognized king. Yeah. Yeah. They weren't angry enough. Yeah, totally. And he's putting them in the Slavs' Saul, the illegitimate of the king. And then he puts himself in the place of going into the temple and just acting like he's

a priest. Hmm. And if the garden is an image of the temple. Adam and Eve are the first royal priests. Keep the royal garden. They're priests who rule. Yeah. That's the point of the Sabbath is to remember and celebrate that thing that was lost.

Correct. And it needs to happen again. That's right. So Jesus' point is, well, actually, let's keep going. It gets better. He says, or maybe you've read the Torah, you guys. You know that on Shabbat on the Sabbath priests are in the temple breaking the Sabbath and they're innocent. I mean, they're they're working all day long Sacrificing animals cleaning up. It's a long day of work for priests on the Sabbath

And you know, it's interesting gods totally fine with that. Yeah. Because they're in the little micro-edin, doing their priestly duties. Yeah. This is all about Adam and Eve as the royal priest. Yeah. The true humanity, right, in the garden. To be the human priests in the cosmic temple, it's a type of work, but it's a Sabbath work. Yes. In fact, I was just thinking this. You've asked this multiple points, these images of, what is the non-slavery to death kind of work? Yes. That's the garden. And Jesus is, in a way, he's addressing that very issue right now.

Yeah. It's the priests doing sacrifices in the temple. Yeah. That's a non-slavery type of work. Yeah. It's a work that is a kind of rest because you're in the presence of God honoring him. I mean, the sacrifices are all about thank you for everything you give us. Yeah. We give back to you this. These animals ascend and smoke as representatives of our gifts and our love and our honor to you.

So he says, listen, the priests work all day on Shabbat and the temple and God's fine with that. And then, verse six, and I tell you, one greater than the temple is here. Yeah. So David planned for designing the temple. His son built it. Yeah. The priests work in it. And then Jesus is like,

and I am the reality to which the temple was pointing. And then you just have to go ponder, okay, what did the temple point you? What does it mean to say something like that? We're combining so many themes here. Yeah, we are, huh? Yes, Jesus is. The temple theme.

Yeah, yes, all right. Jesus is the gospel writer of Matthew. Yeah. The temple, Jesus is the temple, but the temple is also all of creation. Those are both happening. So for Jesus to say, something greater than the temple is here, that's me.

The temple is pointing towards when God dwells in the presence of human. Yeah, the seventh day. And that is the seventh day. Jesus walking around is a perpetual Sabbath. Jesus thought of his whole life as a Sabbath. Yes, at least since he launched the kingdom. Yeah, it's like this is all Sabbath. It's all as Jubilee, the year of the Lord's favor.

Yeah, yeah. And so whether I'm doing on the Sabbath or not, anything I do is Sabbath activity. Yeah. Do you think he's got that? Everything I do is Sabbath activity. Well, you know, they're walking on a road, and apparently he thinks of picking grain

as like Adam and Eve in the garden, which is what the temple and the priests and David all represent. It seems like it. So he believed he was in the garden of Eden. And this happens to be on a Sabbath. It happens to be yes, yeah, right. Yeah, what better day to play at the point? Play act that you're on this, yeah.

But he's not play acting. Exactly. Yes. Yes. He's claiming that is at the point. But he's not play acting. Exactly. Yes. Yes. He's claiming that it's the reality. So this last line is, for the son of Adam is the Lord of the Sabbath, the ultimate son of Adam, the truly human one, that the whole storyline of the Hebrew Bible is pointing to the one who's exalted to sharing God's identity and rule in Daniel 7, all that.

The Sabbath is the ideal new Eden is what God installs the new Adam over. Yeah. And that's who I am. I see. That ideal needs to have a ruler, someone who's, that's the setting for some to reign. Yeah. And it's Adam and Eve in partnership with God in Genesis 2. And then it's humanity realizing we just can't do this.

And there's this hope for like, well, there will be a human who can't do it. And he will invite everyone back into that. And he will be the one that truly reigns in rules in the setting of the eternal rest, the eternal Sabbath. Yeah. Okay. I feel like it's taken me so long to learn how to read the Bible. Yeah.

But the way that the Garden of Eden story underlies everything. Yeah. And so whether Jesus is talking about David, the priest or the temple or the son of man or the Sabbath, all of those are just later design patterns mapped back on. And so he can pick any of them, yeah, and say that's, it was all leading to me. 1 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 So what do you say about Jesus and the Sabbath?

There's a lot of stories about Sabbath controversies. Right. So it was a regular point of contention. Yeah. But what he was doing was saying that some people have characterized it as Jesus, you know, kind of played loose with the Sabbath or he flout, flouting, convent, flouting traditions that were flouting. Flouting, flouting. Flouting, flouting. Uh, uh, yeah. Dismissing, yeah. Dismissing the practice of the tradition.

I think it's because they merge how Paul's trying to deal with Sabbath and his context. Uh-huh. Which is a Gentile context. The Gentile Jew context? Yeah, and it's just different than what Jesus is doing. This is just classic how Jesus talks about the Hebrew scriptures and all of the seven, the days and the calendar, it's all pointing to something

that he's bringing into reality. To say that the Sabbath, the Jubilee is here and that the Son of Man is greater than the temple or Lord of the Sabbath, is the same basic thing as saying the kingdom of God is here through me. It's all different ways of getting it the same reality. Yeah.

So Jesus sees himself as inaugurating this release, this cosmic release of sin and death. And what we haven't talked about is how there's a paradox even there in terms of, and what way is He doing that? He hasn't done it fully. People are still sick. There's still work that sucks,

but he is doing it in a way that is practical and real. People are being healed, sins are being forgiven. And this is all leading up to his cosmic confrontation with the powers of people and darkness, where he wins another battle. Yes, but don't forget the sermon on the mount. The sermon on the mount is about imagining a new way of human

communities that in theory, if people really live this way, we'll find their life together a little bit more like a place of safety and rest with each other. Yeah. If people live by the sermon on the mount, that's a big condition. Yeah, pretty massive condition. But if that's the part of the yoke of Jesus, take my yoke and find rest, part of tasting that future rest in the present and living under God's Kingdom in the present.

It's a way to find rest now. Correct. It's a way for eternal life to begin now. It's partial because I'll fail at it and so my neighbor. But it's a better way forward than any other I know. He'll turn it in. My life will get started. Yeah, why do we still read the sermon on the mount today and find it just as fresh of an ethical challenge

as it was 2,000 years ago. It's powerful stuff. Yeah, so maybe then another way to think about is if the Sabbath is a day in which to enact this, this rest and rule, this beautiful rest and rule that is the ultimate hope. And not only the Sabbath, but then all these feast days, Jubilee and all that stuff. And one way to think about it is it doesn't go far enough one day. Jesus, when he gives the Beatitudes, it's like,

here's a way of life, which means you have to kind of have this radical trust that the Sabbath was helping us do. Yeah, that's right. But it's now going to be just the way that we live through the day. In a way, what Jesus is doing is super honoring the Sabbath. Super honoring the Sabbath. It's like a magnifying it so that all of a sudden every day I look at through the lens of the Sabbath. Every day set aside every moment and opportunity to live out of abundance so that I share with others

and love my neighbor. Yeah. Yeah, that's a good way of putting it. If that's true, then how would Jesus then think about the actual Sabbath? Yes. It's just another day like any other or something still special. Yeah, that's a good question. During this time in which ultimate rest hasn't fully been.

Yeah. Well, I mean, he keeps going to synagogue on Shabbat throughout the Gospels. It's just that what he does brings him into conflict with certain leaders, perception of what Shudder shouldn't be done on the Sabbath. But yeah, that's interesting. Yeah, your point is, did he devalue the actual seventh day Friday? What we call Friday night to Saturday night, right? If every day is like that it doesn't seem that way. He is super valuing the concept of the Sabbath Yes Yeah, and the theme of the Sabbath and the hope of the Sabbath and by doing that it almost seems like he's devaluing one

Day that's interesting And by doing that it almost seems like he's devaluing one day. That's interesting. Okay. From one perspective. Yeah, I got it. Well, if that's not what the leaders of Israel don't challenge him in that way, like the debates are about what's acceptable, type of practice on the Sabbath.

Yeah. The assumed thing is Jesus does the Sabbath and so do we. It was a proper way to honor it. Yeah, I agree. That seems logical was Jesus devaluing the actual Sabbath day, but he doesn't seem to have bothered. People didn't seem to draw that conclusion from what he was doing. People began to draw that conclusion from what Paul was saying and doing.

So we'll get to Paul. Yeah, I'm imagining. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Yeah. At this moment, I don't have any other important reflections to offer. You've now planted that question in my mind. I think I have touched on all the relevant Sabbath types of stories, and they're about what

he does on the Sabbath, not that he devalues it in any way. Yeah. That becomes a major issue once the Jesus movement. I guess I just wanna say, he doesn't, I'm not saying he devalues it, but if he's saying that the thing that the Sabbath pointed to is happening.

It's here, yeah. And it permeates every day. It permeates every day. It's happened. It's here. Yeah. And it permeates every day. It permeates every day. That's right. Then the point of the ritual has to change. And this is the thing you brought up. Yeah, yeah, yeah, about you don't need your lamp on and your living room. When the sun comes up.

When the sun rises. Yeah. Doesn't mean you have to dishonor the lamp. Yeah. It changes its purpose. Its purpose changes. Its purpose changes. Yeah. It's a roll. This is where the lamp metaphor kind of maybe falls apart a little bit. I don't know because you don't need the lamp at that point. You might as well throw it away, but like you just didn't throw it. But maybe the lamp

is heirloom. And it reminds you of your grandma and how she took you on walk for the sunny days in the park. And so it actually helps you appreciate the sun, because it reminds you of your grandma, who took you on walks. We're actually, what I'm thinking about now is, this became a pressing matter. Once the Jesus movement became multi-ethnic. Yes.

And Paul moves right towards this very issue in Romans chapter 14. Okay. So, Rome is 14. Paul has written writing a letter to the church in Rome. He's never been there. Oh. He has lots of people he knows there because he's widely networked by this point in his career. The most likely scenario, this is, there's some

debate here among scholars. The most likely scenario, he's writing, writing to a network of house churches in Rome, divided along ethnic lines of Jew and non-Jew. Okay. Jews were expelled from Rome? Oh really? Mm-hmm. Yeah, by, uh, I always get my details wrong. There was an emperor who expelled Jews from Rome, let them back, they were let back in a few years later.

And you can just imagine a ripe scenario. Claudius? Yeah, I thought it was Claudius, but I always mistaken for also doing other things too. And there's a few Roman historians who talk about it, one of whom talks about how Jews were connected to disturbances about a certain Christus. And so some people wonder if the kind of things that followed Paul around are just buttes and quarrels or riots. If something wasn't happening that put the Romans, governors on authority be like not

cool in the Roman capital. The Jews are causing more problems. We're in the decades leading up to the Jewish war against Rome over in Judea and so the Jewish people are already on like the not favorite list throughout the Empire. So Jews are expelled from Rome. So you just that gives you a number of years for non-Jewish churches to just keep cruising and by churches 30 to 40 people in the house church and a network of Maybe maybe a couple hundred people probably less Total five house churches. No Jews. Yeah, it was no Jews for a number of years

Yeah, a bunch come back and there's tension Yeah, because all of a sudden nobody's been doing any of the Jewish customs anymore And then they come back again messian Jews, and we come to the Jesus meal, and there's non-Cosura food everywhere. That's a bummer. You know? That's not awesome. You guys forgot where you came from.

Yeah. And there's some friction that you can see why Romans 14 and 15 had to be written. And so one group, he calls the strong and the dynatos, the ones who are able. And then another group, he calls the weak. It's the weak. So it's clear, even in the terms he uses, Paul has his own view on the matter. In terms of which side of this debate he operates on. Yeah, because the strong ones are the ones in his mind that don't need the rituals. Yeah, that don't eat kosher and that don't observe Shabbat.

But his non-negotiable is there's room for all of us in the family of the Messiah. One thing that's not acceptable is that you'll exclude each other from this family based on those issues. That's he won't tolerate that. Yeah. So he says, except the one who weak, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his views. One person thinks, hey, I don't need to eat kosher.

God made all of it. Another person, he comes to the house church and he sees some slices of ham along with beef and he's like, I'm not gonna eat from that tray. Vegetables only. The one who eats shouldn't regard with contempt the one who doesn't eat. And the one who doesn't eat shouldn't judge

the one who does. For God accepts the one who doesn't eat shouldn't judge the one who does. For God accepts that, God accepts both. Yeah. So you can see kosher food. Yeah. Is like the center here. Yep. Then sacred days.

But then sacred days, what verse are you? Verse five. Yeah, one person regards one day above another, another regards every day the same. Now that's interesting. That last phrase takes on a different tone, if you think of... Oh, if every day's a Sabbath? Yeah, yeah. Most people don't live that way.

Most people think of every day like we're just living an age of sin and death. And the Sabbath wakes you up to the fact that there's more to life. Correct. But what if you lived life like... Like every day. Aged of sin and death was passing and you're living? My hunch is that if he's writing to Christians in Rome who were mostly non-Jewish, it's probably more people like me who I didn't grow up with any of those rhythms. Yeah, you just, every, there's no separation.

For me actually setting aside a 24 hour period and embodying any of this would be a real step forward. Yeah, right. Yeah. You know? Yeah. Because it wasn't weekends. Yeah, you know, I haven't done homework on what was the Roman work we've like

and who gets weekends or vacations. There you go, I don't know. But each day is the same. Each day is the same. Every day feels the same. Yeah, that's right. There isn't a feels the same. Yeah, that's right. There isn't a day of rest. Yeah, that's right.

So for sure, he doesn't say Shabbat, but for sure that's what he's talking about. He who observes a day observes it for the Lord. Just like the one who eats does so to the Lord. He's giving thanks to God and the one who doesn't eat gives thanks to God. He goes on, for none of us lives only for himself. We're a community that lives for one another. No one dies for themselves. If we live, we live to the Lord.

If we die, we die to the Lord. So whether you live or die, we're the Lord's. Pauline logic right there. So why do you judge your brother? Why do you regard each other with contempt? We're all equal members of this family. We'll all have to give an account to God, so don't put obstacles in front of each other. So, you know, from the point of view of non-Jewish Christians, this, this is the reasoning of Paul that made the Jesus movement available to them. For some

messianic Jews, this was great. They were thrilled about all of this. And for others, they were really bummed about this. And that's remained to remain a contention for 2000 years now. It's interesting as you continue the logic, hit Paul's logic here, he gets back to kosher food and then his kind of solve is the strongest sort of the week. Yeah, that's right. He, yeah, he turns upside down, though. Yeah. Yeah.

So yeah, you're stronger because you could eat whatever you want, but hey, if it's making trouble, that's right. And don't do it. That's right. Yeah. Yeah, that's totally the Jesus it. That's right. Yeah. That's totally the Jesus redefinition of rank. Yeah. Yeah.

The people who would normally be in a socially superior role because I have less group roles or issues about freedom. I have more freedom is the one who makes himself more servant to their neighbor to put them, yeah, totally. That's exactly right. Yeah, because the Kingdom of God, verse 17, isn't food or drink, righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. So in a way, Shabbat is about food and drink in terms of abundance, but not in this way, in a way that ends up elevating. Right. Rituals about food or drink. The point is we come together to celebrate

and righteousness peace and joy. That's like, those are the things to fight for. Yeah, yeah. All kind of food. Yes. You were gonna eat. Or in what way you're gonna rest. So notice, eating kosher is not a debate activated in the Gospels except maybe in one story

in the story about washing your hands from purity that Jesus goes. There was a major circumcision in kosher. Eating kosher was major in the early church. Right. Where as delineations of whether you're Jewish or not. Yeah. So it's a different set of issues than what's at work in the gospels, which is an inter-Jewish debate about

how the Sabbath is meant to be honored and ultimately fulfilled. Yeah, so it's helpful to distinguish those two. Does Paul ever talk to a Gentile audience and any of the letters and talk about rest? In a way that helps you understand his perspective on how Sabbath culminates and should be thought of.

Yeah, yep, his letter to the Colossians. There was some kind of influence group in the city of Colossae that Paul's responding to in the neighborhood when he writes this letter. People have debated endlessly what exactly was the profile of the teaching, because it's definitely some kind of Jewish movement, because he talks about new moons and Sabbaths and the festivals. But then he also uses other language that some people think doesn't sound like a Jewish.

Purely Jewish. Yeah, to be honest, when I last worked through collotions, it sounded to me like some people from the cum-run community ended up in classics. And I don't actually mean that. I'm just saying, Paul describes people who are aesthetics. So they, with drawn separatists, they super rigorous diet, a food, they treat their bodies harshly, which aestheticisms perceive that way. But they're super into the festivals, new moon, the Sabbaths, and the worship of the angels

is a phrase he uses in chat. Questions 2 verse 18. Some people used to think what that meant was worshiping angels. And then people thought, oh, is this a Greek, like a synchrotistic pagan religion, worshiping minor details, something. But dude, the Kumbharaan community, their whole liturgy, like joining the angels was about joining in the liturgy of the angels. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So the worship of the angels isn't worshiping angels. It's worshiping with angels. It's worshiping with, worshiping God with the angels. Yeah. Who are the ultimate choir. Correct. Yeah. It's like joining the ultimate choir.

And what, is that's like just like what's happening in the book of Revelation when John sees into the heaven, looks through the room and the angels are worshiping. Yeah. And then the multitude join him. But what Paul doesn't want them to do is get drawn into hyperspeculation about these angels and contacting them, and again, read the Dead Sea Scrolls, and they were really into their angels. And for Paul, what he says is all of,

he says the festivals, this collations to verse 16 and 17, let no one act as your judge with regard to food or drink festival, new moon or Sabbath. That sounds like Rome is 14. Yep, yep. For these things are a shadow of what is to come, but the body, the body uses the word body, Soma, this is reality. Yeah, the substance belongs to the Messiah.

Yeah. So I think here we get a view of Paul's view of all of the Holy Days, right? Live it at his 23. They all point to a reality that has arrived in the Messiah, which practically, if it's not practically whether or not you'd celebrate a certain day or festival, it's practically whether or not you're living in community with righteousness and peace. Loving your neighbor.

Love. That's right. And it was back to Romans. He goes on in Romans 15 to accepting one, he says, accept one another as the Messiah accepted you. He's writing them mostly Gentiles. So the Jewish Messiah accepted you. So, Darnit, you receive your Jewish brothers and sisters in the Messiah and do not make them feel second-rate. Because they honor God by keeping Shabbat.

You know? So fascinating. Yeah. What is crazy how quickly the Jesus movement became turned on its roots. Yeah. And not just speaking indifferent to his Jewish roots, but actively hostile to Jewish communities.

And that especially happens in a place where the Jewish people had to get up and leave for a decade. Yeah, yeah, I can roam. Yeah, totally. Paul would be up-Paul'd and how people ignored his words in Romans. And Paul, he still followed this abyss? We don't know. We don't know.

We know that when he went back to Jerusalem and he was asked to Go to the temple. He was like, yeah, great. That's great. All any fulfills a vow. Yeah He in his missionary journeys he always goes to the Jewish community first Yeah, and to which means go into synagogue on Shabbat. Yeah, and he participates in the readings and okay So he gives every sign yeah, and he does like if he was at one of these bankwits and there was Some pork on the table would he be the weaker brother that said like I'm not gonna eat that Yeah, that's a good toy people debate these things Yeah, yeah, and people have a range of views on these things And I haven't given it enough recent thought to have an informed opinion

But you know some people emphasize like what he does in 1 Corinthians 9 is I have certain rights as an apostle, but I don't use them. All things to all people. And so was it his default mode is his heritage, right? Jewish traditions, but he wouldn't he's among Gentiles, he won't make it an issue. Okay. You know, but his default is Jewish. That's some people's view.

For some people they flip it and say, he's actually his main view now is not adhering to any of that, but when he's with messianic Jews, he'll do it. He'll observe the traditions. But isn't that when he gets angry with Peter about? Well, we can say what's Peter about is Peter go start acting like he can't eat with non-Jews.

Oh, right. Yeah. Treating them like a second rate, members of the massage family. Got it. That makes sense. Which is different than saying, I'll do Jewish things when I'm with Jewish brothers. Yeah, that's right. Yeah.

So, this is a tension, yeah, that it persists to this day. There's so many different groups with so many different views about how Jesus followers relate to their roots in the family of Abraham. So the question rattling in my brain is then, as a modern Gentile Christian, non-Jewish Christian, who was fascinated with the Sabbath as a ritual, and so is my culture now, it seems like it's kind of in the air. Yeah. Yeah, there's a network of churches that are encouraging people to do so.

Practice Shabbat, although, you know, Gentile version. Is it the Sunday Shabbat? Or the... Well, pick your day. Pick your 24 hours. Pick it, yeah. It's not super rigid. Well, I mean, there's a yeah. It's not super rigid.

Well, I mean, there's a spectrum. There's some people who are like, no, we gotta do the Friday night Saturday thing. And then some people are like, no, just pick the day, make it a day, and follow it, and make it a spiritual discipline. And then it becomes part of the whole culture of just spiritual disciplines.

It's the same way we fast and pray, and we should stop to rest. And there is a beauty in it. And I was listening to a guy teach on it and just saying, yeah, like on Saturday morning we'll be, we'll walk and we'll get a donut and people be like, what are you doing? Oh, today we just hang out and we don't work and we have sex and we, and they're married. He brought up the sex. There's this important Sabbath ritual for them?

And more information than I wanted. And it's a whole day and drink wine. And like he was just paying this picture that any Portlander would be like, sign me up for that day. I see, yeah, got it, got it, got it. You know what I mean? And, sure.

So there's a sense of like excitement about that. It's desirable. Yeah, and making it desirable. sense of excitement about it. It's desirable. Yeah, and making it desirable. In the culture of overwork, it actually is a value that becomes attractive. It's a practice. It becomes attractive again. And surely that's exactly how it was for Jewish communities in all, you know, living in Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Roman Empire, where people found an attractive practice.

It is attractive. And so it is attractive. I think about the point of the Sabbath isn't just to have a day that sounds fun. And Paul never seems to... It doesn't seem like as we're talking about like he's not encouraging I don't know why I don't remember what I started talking about this for like there was I think are you trying to discern if there's Any leverage Towards doing it versus not doing it in the New Testament. I think that Paul was so enthralled with I think that Paul was so enthralled with what happened when he would show up with whatever co-workers he had with him as he goes into a city.

We start telling the story of Jesus with people in the marketplace, start praying with them, hearing their stories, inviting them to the love feast that they would do on Sundays to commemorate the resurrection. And people would get healed, and people would share with each other, and slaves and masters would eat at the same table together. And women who were oppressed in their home could lead the community in prayer and worship. And the Holy Spirit would speak through people. Paul was into that and that was as far as we can tell that was a resurrection Sunday meal gathering and he was, he just, that's where he experienced the new creation. And so it seems when you read his letters

that's what Paul's, he's excited about that. And so for him, I think Friday night to Saturday night, that's cool, do that. But come be a part of this community. Do that, don't do that. Experience the spirit and the new creation and love each other. But that does not make Sabbath adherence that like a thing that's gonna divide us

when the spirit of Jesus is doing this work in our midst. Yeah. As I've sat with Paul's letters for a long time, I think that's... Yeah. And what do you think he would say to non-Jewish people getting really fascinated with Sabbath? Oh, yeah. Same thing, like, don't get too distracted

with the real thing, which is... Yeah, I think he would say, listen, one person observes that day and he observes it for the Lord. And one person eats kosher, and he does that for the Lord. It's Romans 14 for six. And they give thanks to God. And the person for 6. And they give thanks to God,

and the person who does the opposite things give thanks to God. So if it's a practice that helps you, if it brings you closer to Jesus, do that. Yeah, do that. Do that. Yeah. Yeah. Foster the life habits that will increase your devotion to Jesus and do that. So that's why I was saying earlier for somebody who didn't grow up with any sort of religious structuring of time in my heritage. I mean our family attended church when I was growing up, but I didn't like it. And so for me it's very helpful to designate a day. And I guess I'm probably in the typical camp of like, because of Sunday, Resurrection Sunday, worship, we just kind of go with that day. Make that the day.

For that rhythm. And it's good. Yeah, it's a gift. I look forward to the slow day. Yeah, to remind yourself that you are not master of time. I'm not a master of my time. Yeah, I'm not gonna produce anything today. That I would normally produce during the week. I'm not that strict about it. I'm making it sound more thoughtful than I.

But couldn't you make an argument though that a Christian try to live that way every day? Ah, I see. I see. But there is something about the practice, the preparation to live a day in such a way. It's unnaturally restful. It cries out this preparation and requires all these guidelines. And that's kind of what the Sabbath day does. Correct. To a community. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, that's kind of what the Sabbath day does correct to a community. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, that's right So maybe it's the kingdom is now and not yet the Sabbath is here and yet So so live like the Sabbath is here every day, but on the seventh day, but like a special Pretend like it really is here. Yeah, right act like it's really yeah, especially. Especially. Ha ha ha ha. Pretend like it really is here. Yeah right.

Act like it's really here. Yeah, totally. Yeah, yeah. It's just, once we spent, you know, however many hours talking through, he rescuptures and how important in this theme and then, then you get to Paul and like all of a sudden it's just like, it feels like, it's not important anymore.

And I'm just, it just, I understand. It's well, and so that, maybe that's where the sun rise in the living room with your lamp. Analogy, maybe that fits a little better for Paul in his cultural context. Yeah, the lamp, the lamp has become, if the spirit guides you. Yeah, to have that lamp to remind you of the sun. Yeah, keep the lamp. And so Christians live in this paradoxical way in which

the sun has now arrived, but sometimes it's night. Yeah, you know, like yeah, so we don't need the lamp, but we need it when when it's night. Yes. In fact, the chapter before Romans 14, at the right at the end of Romans 13, love your neighbor, because love is the fulfillment of the Torah. And do this. Love your neighbor, knowing the time that already is the hour for you to wake up from sleep. Because salvation. Yeah, the sun's risen. Because salvation is nearer than when we believed. Wait, so the sun is yet to re-prone it up or the sun is gone. The night's almost gone.

The day is near. Therefore, let's lay aside the deeds that are done in the dark and put on the armor of light, behave properly like you're in the daytime and everybody can see. Not in drunkenness and sexual misbehavior put on the Lord Jesus. Dude, these metaphors. But this is that idea, the sun's risen. Yeah.

Not fully up, but it's shining enough that it warrants a completely different way of life. But keeping the lamp on Shabbat helps you mind you that the sun has risen and dead. Mark chapter 16, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John's, Resurrection narratives, all four of them, connected to the apostles, the empty tomb story, all registers and makes a really big deal to tell you that it happened on the morning after the Sabbath, on the first day of the new week. Yeah, Genesis 1, or? Yeah, and it's day one of Genesis 1.

The new ultimate week. You're now living into... So, Jesus's death took place over a Passover Sabbath weekend. Yeah. It was one of the special Passover's, which is why the Jewish leaders couldn't go all the way into the Pilots court. Court-resting.

Right, John registers that detail. And so, Jesus goes to Jerusalem for Passover. into the pilot's court. Interesting. Right, John registers that detail. And so Jesus goes to Jerusalem for Passover. He's executed over a Passover Sabbath. Yeah. And then his resurrection takes place on the eighth day, or the first day of the week of the ultimate. So we're in a new week leading now to the ultimate of the ultimate. So like we're in it, so we're in a new week

leading now to the ultimate Sabbath. Yes. So you do still need the light for when the sun does sat and day one through six, because we're still in that. But the new light of day one is the hope that day seven really is coming this time. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. So I just want, that's right. Yeah.

So I just wanted the register of the language. Wow. Mark 16, when the Sabbath was over, Mary and Mary and Solomon come bringing spices very early at sunrise, the peak of the sun. He tells me, I'm very early, the first day of the week, like right at dawn. The point is, Jesus' resurrection was the first day of the week, like right at Don. The point is Jesus' resurrection was the first day of new creation, first day of the new

week. History in the post-Ris and Jesus era is a new type of week, getting for a new type of liberation. And the liberation that it's hoping for is all centered on what Jesus did at the end of the previous week. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. And then all these weak cycles, you get in Genesis 1, liberation out of darkness and disorder, into order and being able to rule with God in a beautiful world, which then gets disrupted by evil and sin. And now we have then a new liberation week of God taking a people oppressed by evil and sin out into freedom. Yeah. Yeah. And it seems like as another week has begun. Yeah, that's

right. You remember Israel's exile was like a super Sabbath. Yeah, that's right. Remember Israel's exile was like a super Sabbath, an upside down Sabbath. So Jesus brings Israel's exile to its end by taking Israel and humanity's death and exile onto himself on a Passover Sabbath weekend. Yeah, yeah. It's as if Jesus brings the upside down exile to a close, but simultaneously launches the new creation. So the empty tomb, why do they all tell us that it's the first rays of the sun?

It's day one. Let there be light. Of the new week after this after a Sabbath. It's let there be light. The light of day one in Genesis is God's own glory, bringing life and light to the universe. That's cool. Oh, wow. There's something here that helps bring clarity. We have to do this in the video. Yeah. We have to find a way to, yeah. Yeah. It brings clarity to kind of like, it seems like, especially Paul has this mentality of, we're still waiting and I'm racing and I'm still struggling for the thing but I'm doing it in light of this hope that has already been realized on day one. That's right. So I'm waiting for day seven but I can look back to day one. Day one's already won't see it's gonna happen. It's gonna happen. I know how the story goes

yeah day one light comes and there's liberation. And now the day one light is Jesus and the ultimate liberation will be through that day one light. Yeah. Yeah. You can see why the Genesis 1 imagery became so valuable. It permeates all of the New Testament of God's light shining. This is a light theme video too.

That'd be a different theme video. Oh, that's a good point. But it is, yeah, as much as the seventh day is a culmination of light and life. Yeah. But it begins with let there be light. Yeah. And the Sabbath lighting of the candles.

Yeah, and then on the seventh day, you don't need the sun because of the day one light. Be correct. Yeah. Thanks for listening to this episode of the day one light. You're correct, yeah. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Bible Project Podcast. This episode is dropping in December 2019. And so this month, we are raising money to help fund

our ministry. Everything we're raising in December goes towards 2020. If you want to see more about what's going on, go to thebibeproject.com slash vision. We want to show our gratitude for you, our patrons, and our listeners. And we want to highlight some of the stories that we've unearthed about the impact that we've seen this have, which is really exciting. Today I want you to hear a story from Cassie and Andrew.

They were able to sit down with our producer Dan and share that story. Hi, I'm Cassie. And I'm Andrew. Oh yeah, we're digital nomads. Do you want to say that at the same time? Sure, let's try again. Hi, I'm see that. Australia. Hi, I'm Cassie.

And I'm Andrew. And we're digital nomads. I work online and we've been traveling the world, living in South Korea, Australia, Seattle, just all over, and we're just really blessed to go on the journey that God's taking us on. I'm a writer. My author name is Cassandra Cielo, and I have utilized the Bible project to help me in my writing. Okay, so I wrote my first sci-fi fantasy fiction book, Book From Ash, and I've always been inspired by like CS Lewis and Tolkien and just having like that undercurrent allegory of faith in my writing. So the Bible project listening to the podcasts has actually been a huge inspiration listening to the word

studies listening to the different meanings in the text and the way Tim and John discussed it a lot of times I'm able to like interpret that through the world that I create within my story. And so there's a ton of like undercurrent things. There's some Hebrew that I've woven into my books from the Bible project videos and different meanings. I went to seminary and had my master's in theology, but we didn't quite learn the way that Tim and John like discussed things and the way that they bring the Greek and the Hebrew into the discussion

and they really go back to the root of everything. I think it was, was like an older podcast. They were talking about the cities of refuge. And so I listened to the podcast and then I researched on my own a lot of the cities of refuge stuff. And so some of the cities within my book are actually named after these cities of refuge from the Bible. The Hebrew language is so beautiful and the way that it's discussed and described in the podcast. The Bible is such a complex book. I don't think anyone can ever write something that complex, but we can certainly try.

Yeah. To make something that is that beautifully written and just has an ability to connect with people on multiple levels, on a deeper level and emotional level and a logical level. That's how I can hope to do. We believe the Bible is a unified story that leads to Jesus. We're a crowd-funded project by people like me. Find free videos, study notes, podcasts, and more at thebibelproject.com.