BibleProject - Luke Part Four: Jesus, Rebels, and Resurrection

Episode Date: January 7, 2017

In the fourth part of their discussion on the gospel of Luke, Tim and Jon talk about the strange story in Luke 9 of the transformation of Jesus on the mountain. In this travel section, we find many parables of Jesus, and the banquets and parties he attended. Jesus is fascinated with parties, and he even used them to talk about what the Kingdom of God is like. These stories continue to reinforce that Jesus’ mission was first for the outsiders, a message that gets him into trouble with religious leaders of the day. Tim and Jon continue to discuss many more parts of Luke’s account. The final meal Jesus had with his disciples, followed by his arrest and execution. Two disciples who unexpectedly run into Jesus but don’t recognize him until he reveals himself to them. The transformation of Jesus on the mountain calls back to Mount Sinai as he becomes like the ancient of days enthroned in heaven, gleaming like shiny metal and fire. A series of parables about two things: money and dinner parties. Luke is clearly trying to make a point with what he chooses to include in his account. The contrast between Jesus’ arrival to Jerusalem and his eventual execution as a rebel. Jesus using the Passover meal with his disciples to talk about his death. In Luke’s version of the last supper, the innocence of Jesus is emphasized. And lastly, what is Luke trying to teach his readers by including the encounter on the road to Emmaus? Video: This episode is designed to accompany our video series on the Gospel of Luke. You can view the first two videos on our youtube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OLezoUvOEQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k4GbvZUPuo Scripture References: Luke 9-24 Daniel 7 Show Music: Defender Instrumental by Rosasharn Music Blue Skies by Unwritten Stories Flooded Meadows by Unwritten Stories This is the last episode on the Gospel of Luke. If you haven’t listened to the previous three, we’d recommend listening for context to this episode. Luke Part 1: An intro to reading the Gospels - https://thebibleproject.simplecast.fm/episodes/51526-luke-part-1-an-intro-to-reading-the-gospels Luke Part 2: An overview of Luke - https://thebibleproject.simplecast.fm/episodes/53624-luke-part-2-an-overview-of-luke Luke Part 3: Good News for the Poor - https://thebibleproject.simplecast.fm/episodes/55068-luke-part-3-good-news-for-the-poor

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

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I'm John and in this episode, I'm gonna be finishing up a conversation with Tim on the Gospel of Luke. If you haven't listened to the other three episodes that come before this on the Gospel of Luke, I highly recommend it, so you get the context for where we're at. In this episode, we're first gonna talk about

that strange story in Luke chapter nine, the transformation of Jesus on the mountain. He becomes like the ancient of days enthroned in heaven in Daniel chapter seven. In the next chapter is nine through 19, Jesus travels to Jerusalem. In this section, we find many of the parables that Jesus told, and we find Jesus at many banquet parties that he tends.

In fact, Jesus is fascinated with parties, he even used them to talk about what the kingdom of God is like. When you give a lunch or a dinner, don't invite your friends, don't invite your family or your rich friends. Go get the poor, the crippled, and the lame, and the blind, and then you'll find true blessing. All of these stories in this section reinforce that Jesus' mission was first to the outsiders. It's a message that gets him in trouble with the religious leaders of the day. You don't need anyone to go look for you. You already are trying to be devoted to the God of Israel. But now there's all these other

people who have not been devoted to God of Israel who have been excluded for different reasons, and I'm going out to find them and include them, and you're getting angry and calling me into question for including the people around the outside. Jesus gets to Jerusalem, and we discuss the final meal he has with his disciples. Jesus didn't give a lecture on the meaning of death. He gave a meal, symbolic meal. We talk about his arrest and execution. He's being crucified as the kind of rebel that he was calling Israel not to become.

And so he literally dies in Israel's place, as the kind of person that he was calling Israel to turn away from. Being. And finally, we talk about the last story in Luke. It's about two disciples who unexpectedly run into Jesus and don't recognize Him until Jesus reveals Himself to them. It's only when you see the crucified Messiah as the real victor and king that you can actually recognize Jesus. And even then, you don't have a handle on him because he's gone.

Thanks for listening. Here we go. I'm trying my best in a touch, little one. A touch, little ones in my head. I just want a little one in my head. Okay, so we've been talking about this opening section that goes through Jesus' ministry while he's in Galilee, finding, recruiting his disciples, giving the sermon on the plane, there's healings.

So the way this opening section in Galilee ends then is with this story of Jesus being transformed on the mountain. So Jesus takes three disciples, Peter James and John, closest crew, because up to this mountain, not described where, he's on a mountain and a cloud of divine presence descends. So we're like, oh, is it Mount Sinai? No, that's really far away. It's another, oh, it's one of these flashes on the back screen of Mount Sinai. Yeah. You should be thinking about that. That's right. And then Jesus is transformed in their midst.

Which means shining white. He becomes like the ancient of days in Throne in heaven in Daniel chapter seven. That's the flash of the back screen. Is the ancient of days gleaming like shiny metal fire and so on. That's what Jesus turns into. And we don't know. The transformation on the mountains, a very interesting story, is this a vision the disciples are having? Where did the story come from? You know, presumably came from the... And actually, Peter reflects on the event in second Peter. He looks back on this memory and says, we were there, it was what we thought on her. It was very strange, but it's what we thought on her.

And then they hear from the cloud, the divine voice, echoing what was said at the baptism. And then it's Moses and Elijah there. There's another flash, two other prophets who were on a mountain and met God in the cloud. And they start having a conversation about Jesus' exodus. So there's all these things rushing together here.

The Jesus that you just saw go do all this awesome Upside down kingdom stuff He's the king of Israel, but he's more. He's the enthroned one of Daniel 7 and Daniel 7 It's there's this it's all the visionary symbolism of Daniel where the son of man is this figure who represents Israel Who gets trampled by the beasts, the beastly kingdoms. But God comes and exalts the persecuted, suffering Son of Man figure and exalts him to his right hand to share in his rule over the nations.

The Son of Man figure is in Daniel a way of representing Israel in a single person. And Son of Man was Jesus' favorite self-designation. It's how he called himself. He actually never called himself Messiah. Other people called him that. He called himself the Son of Man, which is, he knew he was the king,

but he knew that he would come to his kingship in this way that involved the road of suffering. So we're going to do a whole video on Son of Man eventually. Yeah, oh yes, it's gonna be so awesome. But let's talk about a little bit here. Is Jesus doing something novel here with that use of Son of Man or did other people have an idea?

Oh, this is an actual character versus just an image, a metaphor for Israel. Well, yeah, here's the Son of Man video that we'll make in a nutshell. It all goes back to the Genesis image because Son of Man just means a human one. It's just a Hebrew way of saying a one who belongs to humanity, a human. So it's Adam in the garden, he's called the rule the beasts. And he rules the beasts by humbling himself under God's rule. And then when humans rebel, they begin the road to Babylon, Genesis 1 through 11. And so humans

actually become the beast that destroy other humans. And so Babylon, then in the Pentateuch, gets linked to Egypt, and then you have God's covenant people who are suffering under the oppression of the Babylon Egypt, distorted human beast. So Daniel's aware of all this, the book of Daniel's tracking with all this. And so Babylon becomes this icon of everything that's wrong with the human race, and so these human kingdoms that don't acknowledge God's kingdom cease to be human, like Nebuchadnezzar ceases to be human when he won't humble himself and they become a beast. So then Daniel is these visions about the son of man suffering and trampled by the beast.

And it's... So it's an Adam-like character. It's a... yeah, it's an Adam-like character, but now Daniel and his friends who are from the line of Judah, they are in the belly of the beast in Babylon, trying to be faithful to their God, and they're persecuted, thrown to the lion, thrown to the beasts, thrown into the fire, and so on. And at every point God delivers and vindicates them, and they share in, they get exalted. So the stories in Daniel, this whole arc, this narrative arc of humans

from Genesis are made to rule, but when they don't acknowledge God's rule, they become beasts and persecute other humans like animals. But Israel, God's chosen people, they're supposed to be different, they live under God's rule and they're persecuted by the beast. But one day, God will vindicate this human one, the Son of Man, and exalt him to a place of rule over the nations. That being Israel. Well, in Daniel 7 explicitly, the symbol of the Son of Man is unpacked as referring to the saints of the Most High. So that in Daniel 7, it's a reference to the people God's covenant, faithful people as a whole, but they represented in the vision by a personified single individual.

It seems clear that in Jesus' mind, He's merged the suffering, vindicated Son of Man of Daniel with the suffering. Served of Isaiah. Served of Isaiah. And He's seen, He sees all of that as His vocation and calling. This is all what we can see going on

underneath the surface of how Jesus quotes from and uses the Old Testament. And he's connected with all this. So how did we get there? Oh, okay, so. So this is a picture of him. The being more than. Jesus being transformed in the mountain.

Yes. It's connecting him to the Daniel. Yes, so he's being exalted as the exalted son of man. But we know that happens only after suffering and being persecuted by the beast, which in the Old Testament is always pagination. But as he's gonna go to Jerusalem, we're gonna see that Israel itself has become the beast

and we'll kill it's own king. So that's on our minds, as well as the Moses imagery of his... Okay, but I'm so sorry. Yes, sorry. I'm a, I'm a nishri light during this time. I'm familiar with Daniel, familiar with Son of Man. And then a guy comes up and calls himself Son of Man. Yeah, yeah.

What, how do I take that? What does that mean to me? Yeah, it's tricky. We know the Vueget Daniel was really popular in many circles in G.S.A. Stay. This son of man figure was talked about and referred to, often connected to a coming ruler, king. The Kumaran community has a lot of references to this figure in their own. So there is a tradition of going, this is a person who will be connected to the being of the king. It's a person who is also the leader of a group of people.

It's never separated as like... It's the leader of a movement. The leader of a movement, but the remnant, God's true people, represented by their true leader, got it. Will be trampled by the beast and vindicated. And that's how the Kunran community... I saw them, so...

We can't forget for our listeners, the community that produced the Dead Sea Scrolls that were found in 1948 This community you read the literature they viewed themselves as this the room the faithful remnant that would be vindicated Yeah, so they viewed themselves so their leader would have been the son of it They called him they called him the teacher of righteousness. Oh, yeah, what is how their leader is referred to? Yeah, it didn't call them the Senate man. Mm. So this is our, it's in the air. The Daniel seven help Jewish people who wanted to be faithful to the covenant. It helped, it gave them hope.

Would there have been other leaders, teachers walking around calling themselves the Son of Man? And any time kind of before after doing it. It's a good question. Off the top of my head, I'm not aware of any, but I have to do a little homework. I do know that Son of Man was a term Jesus used to refer to himself and no one else ever referred him to him that way, and it didn't stick.

None of the disciples or apostles call him that anywhere else. Yeah, they call him the Christ. They call him the Messiah, the Son of God, the righteous one. But no one called them the Son of Man after. So it was Jesus' special way of referring to himself. Precrucifixion. It is interesting. So let's move into the second section then. If Luke, if the main thing is this reversal and we see it kind of the launch of his ministry

and then we see it when he's being crucified, let's talk about this middle section then. How does it fit into him traveling to Jerusalem and telling these parables? Yeah, so the travel section in Luke 9, the end of 9 through the half of 9th, chapter 19. So it's the bulk, it's the biggest section of the book. And there's a lot of material in here. It's almost, I've wondered if this isn't

kind of become like that kitchen drawer for a little... Oh, where is he? So the story doesn't fit. It's almost, I've wondered if this isn't kind of become like that kitchen drawer for a little bit. Where is he? The story doesn't fit. He got a lot of material. And he didn't get any information about where it fit chronologically, so he's like, I'll put it here. But that's how some stories and sayings feel like.

But you can't see through repetition. He's put a lot of repeated words and themes in here, and that's what's highlighted in the rescripture video. So he talks about more about his disciples relationship to wealth in these 10 chapters of Luke, than you find anywhere in all of the gospels. So money is a big deal to Jesus, but again, it's an indicate how you relate the money,

indicates how you relate to the dominant social values that he's here to turn upside down. It's an indicator. Yeah, and it's also not a democratic republic, a capitalist society. Society. Because he's mostly down on trying to acquire build wealth in these chapters. But in their day, if someone was wealthy, it was either because they... Because usually sketchy. ...inherited or they... it was sketchy.

You mentioned that in the money and God episode. Yeah. Yeah, it's interesting. Yeah, different settings. So we live in a society where getting wealthy is altruistic because you're growing the economy. Correct. You're creating jobs, you're helping people.

That's the, and because of the in theory, the immediate loop of our culture where honesty is actually the best business, then in theory, having, doing honest business is the way to success. And there are many cultures in the world today and you could even argue, an American culture, much of our economy, actually doesn't operate that one.

Sure. But in theory, you know, so one money, how you relate the money, as a sign of whether you're going to accept Jesus's radical subversion of your view of the world to the banquet parties, there's multiple banquets where Jesus is, I mean, not, you know, what kind of people is they hanging out with here? The blind, the sick, Samaritan, Zacchaeus, little Zacchaeus, has Jesus over for a party. So he's having all these parties with people, and then there's more than one dinner with Israel's religious leaders, the Pharisees, and somebody questionable comes into the room, or Jesus says he doesn't wash his hands, and then they get into a debate.

So it's Luke has almost created these contrasting parties. There's like the lame party, you know, with that represents Israel's current leadership, and then there's the new kingdom community, and that's where the celebration is. And it all gets brought in to chapter 15. This all comes together in chapter 15, which is there's no way we can do it. So hold on, I'm sorry. When he has the banquet with Israel's leaders, what's that story? Here, look at the

references there. 1137-52. When Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to eat. He went in and reclined at the table, but the Pharisee was surprised when you saw that Jesus didn't wash his hands. And then Jesus is just like, oh, wash your hands,

and then he just goes into a thing about, listen, you guys tie, then you've created all these new rules, but woe to you. You don't actually. So it's an awkward. Yeah. It'd become a really awkward dinner party.

So that's the contrast between the banquet with Zacchaeus or the other one is 14, beginning of 14. Once Sabbath, Jesus went into eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee. He was being carefully watched. In front of him was a man suffering from abnormal swelling of his body. Oh, and then this becomes the debate about the healing on the Sabbath. So he heals the man. abnormal swelling of the body. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. So this guy was at the dinner party?

Yeah, apparently. Yeah. Jesus heals him. We don't know why or how. Oh, yeah. And then Jesus, no, start noticing how the guests were given certain places of honor at the table. So first this was about Sabbath and Torah, but now he's gonna call them out for giving in to the Roman honor shame way of life and be like, listen, you assign your value by how

close you get to seat, sit to the head of the table. And then he tells these parables about, you know, if you live in the kingdom and you have a party, you invite all the nobody's and the no names. When you give a lunch or a dinner, don't invite your friends, don't invite your family or your rich friends. Go get the poor, the crippled, and the lame, and the blind, and then you'll find true blessing. Which is what he was doing. Which is what he was doing, yeah.

Yeah. So, yep. He's basically saying you should be doing what he was doing. Which is what he was doing. Yeah. Yeah. So, yep. He's basically saying you should be doing what I'm doing. You should be going and don't mind. Yeah. Chapter 14 it all comes together. Then chapter 14 he tells the parable of the great penguin. Penguin? He says, so he's still at this party where he's just already insulted the guests and the host. And then he says, when one of those are at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, well blessed is the one who will eat in the feast

of the kingdom of God, right? And Jesus says, let me tell you about the feast of the kingdom of God. And it's this parable about a man who's through a great banquet, and then all the guests who were invited say, oh, sorry, I'm busy, you can't come. Yeah. This parable about a man who's through a great banquet and then all the guests who were invited say, oh, sorry, I'm busy, you can't come.

Yeah. And so he goes and invites all the poor, the lame and so on. And then the people who are first invited will never get to come to the banquet. That's the parable he tells. Jesus, really, anti-social. So.

So. Don't like that guy back. Chapter 15 begins, I say, now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around Jesus. Average day now. Jesus has all kinds of... Crowd of people. Those people. But the people who are stug, people who are stug. And questionable people, specifically. Matthew, Levi, prostitute, types. Oh, oh, tax collectors. There's got to go.

Yeah, right. So he's got his usual crew of all the wrong people around him. Yeah. According to the Pharisees, and the Pharisees of the law are muttering, look at him, he eats. Wait, so sorry, to be a tax collector, you can't, you're not accepted in the religious community, you've kind of sold out, you're like, you can't go to tabernacle or something. Well, I mean, so you work with, you work for the Romans, which means you're meeting

with your regional district overseer, you're probably, you're probably not eating kosher when you're in his house, giving your weekly report that kind of thing. So he's mixing with Gentiles all the time and not to mention he's exploiting and profiting off of the taxation of your own people by a military occupier. So yeah, yeah, a tax collector, you're unclean and you're a trader to the covenant people. So the Pharisees say, this man welcomes sinners and eats with them.

So their accusation is about these people that Jesus is bringing the kingdom to. So then he tells the parable of the lost sheep, he tells the parable of the lost coin. he tells the parable of the lost coin. Somebody loses something, they drop everything to find it, then they find it, and there's a big party. For the sheep, for the coin, and then there's the parable of the prodigal. It's called the prodigal sun. And what's interesting is that in most modern retellings of the story, the focus is on the father showing grace for the son Which is, I mean, that's huge. It's a big part of the thing. Yeah. So the father, no matter what the son is done,

the son comes back with humility and the father. No questions asked. Just like come right back on it. But that's not what the story ends. It ends with the other brother who never went away and he's been faithful to the father all along and he's really angry. So you can see in this exchange with the Pharisees, he tells two parables about what he's doing and then he tells another parable where these grumpy Pharisees are woven into the store right now. There's the older brother. Yeah, why are you so angry that the lost are found? And so the last line of the parable, the father says to the grumpy son who represents the Pharisees,

my son, you're always with me. Everything I had is yours, but we had to celebrate because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again. He was lost and now he's found. So he's telling the religious leaders, you're already in. I mean, you've got it. I mean, sometimes he's bummed on him. Like, you actually, you got this all screwed up, but here's like a stone of my bone. He's kind of kind of like, you're already inheriting the favor of God. Yeah, you don't need anyone to go look for you. Right. You already are trying to be devoted to the God of Israel. Yeah.

But now there's all these other people who have not been devoted to God of Israel who have been excluded for different reasons. And I'm going out to find them and include them and you're getting angry and calling me into question for including the people around the outside. And notice it's cool that on the three parables, everyone's uses this phrase lost and found. The lost coin, I found it, let's rejoice. Lost sheep found it, let's rejoice. And then this parable ends with lost and found imagery, but also death and resurrection.

Brother of yours was dead, now alive, lost and found. So again, think this pre-resurrection, pre-cruis fiction, what would a Jewish teacher telling a parable about death and the life again? What would that mean to a Jewish hero? again. What that means to a Jewish hero? And you've only got a small number of places in the Old Testament that you could be echoing. There's the Valley of Dry Bones, Nizekil. There's the book of Daniel, where the suffering remnant can have the hope of being resurrected and then Isaiah, very similar as a 26. So Jesus pulls on this hope from the prophets, the language from the prophets, that when Israel is brought back the new covenant, it will be like the resurrection of Israel. So Jesus pulls on this language. So that would be on the backdrop there. Yeah, that's what something backs green is that when Israel gets renewed as the covenant people

It's the resurrection of Israel and Jesus is saying and look who's the part of that new it's real. It's these people Now again the the the leaders Religious leaders they wouldn't disagree that God wants to include these people But they would be saying You're doing it the wrong way. Because we have our standards now. Yes, we have the way to do this. And you're breaking these rules.

You're breaking it. Because you're, yeah, that's right. If you gotta do it on our terms, we're not gonna do it on your terms. That's it, that's it. If Levi, the tax collector. If he wants to come back in. If he wants to repent, change his ways,

and come back to synagogue, we'll accept him. Are you kidding? Yeah. You know to come back in. If he wants to repent, change his ways, and come back to synagogue, we'll accept him. Are you kidding? Yeah. You know, and like we'll accept him. But under our authority and power in terms. Yeah. And so what made Jesus scandalous was that he was going outside those accepted channels of religious authority and starting a populist movement. Yeah, and intentionally going to the Levi's and the prostitutes and calling them to follow him and He meant and saying what you guys think you're doing. I'm actually doing I'm actually I'm actually doing is going and Finding those who are lost. You think you're being true to this covenant? Right. All these things that the prophets were hoping for, and you're hoping for I'm doing.

Yeah. And they would have been like your nuts. Yeah. It's trying to think of analogy. It's the difference of maybe a county run food bank that's located out in the suburbs. Your spot and everything. And how's anybody, how the homeless people downtown supposed to get all the way out there?

But then, you know, these two high school students start up and they get all their friends to donate food. And then they just go tour downtown and set up shop and pass out hamburgers. It's like, so it's not perfect analogy. Sure. But it's the idea of going outside the authorized channel. Channels. And doing your own thing.

And then claiming, this is actually where God's really at work. This is where the God of Israel is raising people. You should be celebrating with us, not sulking in your corner of the room. Correct. This is what the story has always been about, the finding of the lost. So you need to come on my terms and embrace what's happening here. That's right. Which would be very humbling and very...

Yeah, it would be the two high school students then saying to the county, you need to adopt our model of coming down here. Right. Give up your programs. That's right. Give up. Yeah. It's the kind of threat that Jesus posed. So you can begin to see here how a really righteous good man who tells people to love their neighbor gets executed. Right. Right.

Let's kind of puzzle. If like all I ever told was people to hug each other Yeah. And be nice. Right. Why did he get killed? Yeah. What's that?

And would heal people. Yeah. And like do great things, feed people. That's right. Yeah, you might think he's crazy, but he's helping people. Yeah, but he is helping people, but he's doing it in a way that's intentionally

and consistently challenging the political religious leaders. That's Jesus of men. So he's not, yeah, and he knows he's doing that. Oh, it's very, he's in the guy's house, and telling a parable about. He's not trying, he's not thinking to himself, well, I need to ease them into this new revolution or I need to be diplomatic.

He's just like, guys, like you're missing it. I mean, no wonder it's so clear to him that he was gonna get killed. Yes, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, the writing was on the wall. Yeah, he just knew it was gonna be time. I mean, I always would read that and just assume like, oh, because he's God, he had special insight

into what was gonna happen, and maybe that's true. Oh, I see, I see. But regardless of that, whether or not, he had special revelation about... Maybe that's true. Oh, I see. I see. But regardless of that, whether or not, yeah, he had special revelation about, yeah, but the question, how did that awareness arise? What circumstances would lead Jesus? There would have been plenty of circumstances.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, well, for goodness' sake, he was, they tried to kill him a number of times. So, already. Yeah. Did that happen in Luke at all? Not, once in chapter four, people try and push him off a cliff, but it happens more in John where he's in Jerusalem and so that's the travel section. I think that's how I want to boil it down.

There's lots more going on of course, but these contrasting banquets and the way the the lost and found parables or maybe just the sun, the lost son parable. Boils it down to its essence. We can't do Luke without doing that. And also, Luke is the only gospel with the parable of the good Samaritan, which is also an upside-down. He makes the Samaritan, the hero, and he makes the priest and the Levite, the villain, which is like taking an Islamic state, suicide bomber, and making them the hero of your story, but making a marine villain, the US Marine, the

villain. It was just very provocative images. From here Jesus rides into Jerusalem. For Passover. We kinda talked about this. I'm already. In Luke's version, he's weeping over the city. In Matthew and Mark, he goes into the city, he's rejected, and then he weeps. In Luke, he's combined the weeping as he rides in.

And actually, this is interesting. This is in the end of chapter Luke 19. Do you like how I say everything's interesting? You do say that a lot. As Jesus approached the city of Jerusalem, this is Luke 19 verse 41, the crowds have already hailed him as Messiah. The Pharisees have said, tell them to be quiet. Jesus says, eh, if they are then the rocks will start shouting.

So, please, as he approached Jerusalem, he saw the city and he wept over it and said, if you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace, but it is now hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you. In circle and him you in on every side, they'll dash you to the ground, your children within your walls. Not one stone will be left on another, because you didn't recognize the time that God was coming to you.

So this is Jesus predicting the downfall of... First of all, Jesus is saying him riding into Jerusalem is the time of God's coming to his people, which goes all the way back to John the Baptist announcing God was going to come, Isaiah 40, Malachi 4, and then Jesus shows up. This is another place where local flash on the backdrop, these scenes from the prophets of God returning to His people, returning to the temple, and then what you see on the stage is Jesus writing a donkey into the city. So he could just write here, Jesus is the God of Israel coming to the people, but instead he does it that way. Yeah, because there's this prophetic hope of God himself coming. God himself,

like the cloud and the fire and the pillar that led us through the wilderness and the cloud that came over the temple. And everyone's waiting for that. Yeah. That's going to be a glorious day. Yeah. It's going to change everything. Yes. And here it is happening and only some outcasts are recognizing it. Yeah. Just the blind and the lame and the tax collectors can see. And otherwise, no one notices. Yes. And notice what he says,

what's the result of Israel's leaders not recognizing Jesus as their king? If they had, look at what he says, it would result in peace. So you have to stop and think about what did following Jesus mean if you're one of these Galileans who start living out his teachings?

It means somebody steals from you, you don't retaliate. Somebody hits you. You don't retaliate. You give generously to the poor. And, right, I mean, there's most evocative teachings of non-retaliation and forgiveness. And so following Jesus results in peace, literally. So he was calling individuals to that. But now you realize he's calling all of Israel to it, and this is where the Roman oppression of Israel becomes this backdrop to the whole story, where, you know, not 30 years, well, they're already sparks of revolution happening against Rome.

What kind of stuff is that? Oh, they're already bandits living up in the hills of Galilee, Robin Hood types, who would do rating parties on Roman convoys. And this is why Levi the tax collector carried a dagger. Because he had an ex on his back as a traitor. So, there are already... There are signs that... Yes. That room might have to step up and do something.

Correct. Yeah. And actually, the Greek term to refer to these rebellious revolutionary Jews was the term Lace Days. It usually gets translated as thief. But Jesus... When Jesus storms the temple, he says, you've turned this place into a den of Lace Days. Which is why in the the Luke we'd scripture video, we translate it as rebels. You've turned it into a den of rebels. Oh Jesus is crucified alongside to lace days. So they didn't get caught shoplifting. They were rogue. Yeah, they're robbing it. Men in the house. And Jesus is crucified as a lace daysacedace. As a rebel. He's lumped in with

what would you call that? He's lumped in with Israel doing the very thing that he was calling them not to do, which is violent retaliation against Rome. It's again, it's the reversal. So when Jesus rides in and says, if you followed me and accepted my way of the again, it's the reversal. So when Jesus rides in and says, if you followed me and accepted my way of the kingdom, it would bring peace. But now, here I am, you've rejected me. You're on a road to no return, which is what? Which is the Roman armies building siege ramps,

having you in, killing everybody, tearing down the walls. It's haunting a prediction of what happened in 70 AD, as you could want. So once again, it's the political layer of Jesus' kingdom mission comes out here where the rejection of Jesus literally resulted in the wrath of Rome coming down on them. Why is he saying, if I was accepted here

and we turn this into like a city of peace, Rome wouldn't take us over. Yeah, well, it's the theme we brought out in the Gospel of the Kingdom video. He was calling Israel in that moment of their history to be the Kingdom of God in a way that didn't involve killing their enemies. What else does love your enemy instead of killing them? killing their enemies. What else does love your enemy instead of killing them? Yeah. Like how was a Jewish person supposed to live that? Well, you've got your enemies in your village because someone so cheated me five years ago. Yeah, he's not talking about that. But well, he's talking about that too. Okay. But what does it mean to have a military occupier? It's like a real enemy.

You have an enemy and Rome is just the most reason installation. You know, it's the Greeks before them. The presence of a category for living in that kind of environment. Yeah. It's very hard for most Westerners too. And so we don't immediately catch the controversy, Jesus, would cause when you would say something like go the extra mile, turn the other cheek, things like that. Because you're resisting.

Like you're trying to resist this empire and that's a bright, just thing to do. And in Jesus' teaching, you're also resisting. But resisting in a different way. But resisting in a non-violent way resisting in a non-violent way. In an upside down way. Yeah, yeah. Which is again, the whole moment of the crucifixion then becomes so layered with significance

that by the time you actually get to it, because he's being crucified as the kind of rebel that he was calling Israel not to become. And so he literally dies in Israel's place as the kind of person that he was calling Israel to turn away from being. So that's a very powerful moment in Luke's arrival and Jesus' arrival in Jerusalem and Luke. And then he goes into the storms of temple. You've made a den of Lestace, a den of these guys, and actually he's quoting from Isaiah and Jeremiah as he does so. What do the Jewish religious leaders think of these lace days?

Like, they crucify him? Or that's a Rome crucifying him? Yeah, Rome crucifies them. They probably think they're kind of heroes in the way that... Yeah, it probably depends. If you're a power broker in Jerusalem, then there, and you're trying to work things out with Rome. Yeah, you're probably bugged by them. Yeah, you think they're dangerous.

If you're a, it seems like the Pharisees had a divided mind among them as to how to relate to military Jewish revolutionaries. Militants. And then probably, you know, most people are just trying to farm their land and so they would go and raid Roman towns. When you say they would go raid towns, they'll leave. Yeah, yep. Yep.

If you like historical fiction, there's a New Testament scholar who tried his hand at historical fiction, and I think succeeded. A guy named Gerd Theson wrote a wonderful retelling of Jesus in called the Shadow of Galilee. He tells it from the vantage point of one of these Galilee and revolutionaries. And then his brother, someone related to him, Alaystase. But then he starts hearing about this Jesus from Nazareth who's telling us. Not to do this. Not to do this.

And he eventually runs into him in Jerusalem. And this guy ends up, the main character ends up being one of the Alaystase. who's telling us. Not to do this. Not to do this. And he eventually runs into him in Jerusalem. And this guy ends up, the main character ends up being one of the Leistays. That gets killed next to him. In Luke, who says, remember me when you come in your kingdom. So it's all about how would a Jewish, violent Jewish Galian have viewed Jesus? And only at the last minute come to see who it really was. It's brilliant. It's called in the shadow of the Gowlian. It sounds really great. It's really great.

You're right. I did. I read it right leading up to when you and I went to Israel to get it. Oh, did you? Not a man, cool. To read. So, did any of these guys follow none of them

or one of the disciples? Jesus recruited one into a circle. Yeah, that's what I was wondering. Not one of the twelve. Yes. I wanted the twelve. Yeah, let me look real quick. It's either in Mark's list that he notes it.

It's called the Kananayan. Yeah, yeah. Okay, in Mark chapter three, where you get the list of the twelve disciples, Simon Peter, Jacob, son of Jebede, John his brother, Andrew Philip Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, Jacob, son of Afeas, Stadius, and Simon, the Kananayan, which is spelling in Greek letters the Hebrew word for zealot or revolutionary. So Simon was one of these? Simon was a former... Hylthugs.

Hylthug, Hylthop gang. And he heard the teachings of Jesus and was like, that's it, I'm leaving, leaving that way of life. So dude, and who else is in that crew, Levi, the tax collector. Yeah, they would have hated each other. Jesus did. Talk about intentional forming a team of rivals.

Yeah. Jesus got a former tax collector and a former assassin of text collectors in his inner circle. Jesus, the dynamics there. Yeah, but think about as a symbol of what that means. What that would communicate to people. Yeah, where do we know about these men in the hills? Oh, our main sources for what's going on,

the Second Temple Literature, the second temple literature, Josephus, who was a Jewish historian, who served, he says, among one of the revolutionary groups, but then turned and became a servant of Rome. He was born around the time that Jesus would have been executed. He writes an account of biblical history to retelling of the whole Hebrew Bible. Then he does a historical account of, it's

called the Jewish Wars. How did 70 AD, the destruction of Jerusalem happen? What were the events? Have you read Josephus stuff? You know what, I haven't read any of his works beginning to end. I've just read portions as irrelevant. So all this leads up to then Jesus offending the temple authorities. He gets arrested, but the night before his arrest, the days around Passover, and so Jesus uses the Passover meal once again, Exodus Passover imagery flashes on the back screen. And he says that his deaths will play the equivalent of the Passover lamb and also bring about the new covenant. So he mentions this blood and his body bringing about the new covenant.

So this is about sins being forgiven, but also about creating the new faithful, remnant people of God. Which I mean, think about, again, for his disciples. That would have been, that phrase, new covenant, wouldn't have been a new idea for people. No, no, no, it's woven into the heart of the scriptures and the story. But the idea that Jesus keeps saying he's going to die and then we have this meal, Passover meal, and he takes the symbols that already have a symbolic meaning in the Passover meal, but he says that all of a sudden they symbolize something new, his body and his blood. Because the bread symbolizes...

The bread was the unleavened bread. Simplized how quick you had to go. Made without yeast, so you gotta get out of here quick. The lamb. The lamb. Represented. Represented this substitution. A God will bring His justice on Egypt,

but for those covered, whose houses are covered by the blood, they're spared. So it's about God's judgment and mercy. So the bread becomes a symbol of sustenance, this broken body, this bread is what gives you life. So his body will be broken so that others can have life. And then this wine symbolizes blood, which means your blood you're going to die, but has this sacrificial meaning to it that it's about God's mercy and judgment. And then he says the blood is the covenant, the blood of the covenant, or the new covenant

in my blood. So without that echoing, Jesus didn't give a lecture on the meaning of death. He gave a meal, symbolic meal. And then the events, you know, the wheels moving, he's arrested, put on trial. And during his trial, he says, from this moment on, you'll see the Son of Man lifted up and exalted. He says that's a pilot. He says that to the Sanhedrin Jewish leaders.

So the implication being, Jerusalem has become the Babylon. Jerusalem has become the beast that tramples the Son of Man. How does it mean that? Oh, because he's doing this. He's quoting Daniel seven. He's quoting Daniel seven, where it's Babylon is the iconic of the rebellious nations,

trampling on the line of Judah, Daniel and his friends. But now Jesus is the Son of Man and Jerusalem, the Sanhedrin, the temple leaders. They're trampling on. Are the beast. Luke highlights his innocence.

We talked about this. He adapts the wording of the centurions confession. So everybody now is recognizing this was a righteous man. And what that does is it just turns up the paradox and the tension of, now he's the one dying as the criminal. But innocent in what way? I mean, their accusation was that he's dangerous to their religious order, right? And he's guilty of that, right? Like that's he never pulled any punches with that. I mean, what's he officially on trial for? Um 23 the Sanhedrin arose, led him to pilot. They begin to accuse him saying we found this man subverting our nation

He opposes the payment of taxes to Caesar actually false Mm-hmm, but and he claims to be the Misogynist are king which he never goes outright and says but he didn't allow Yeah, he did you let, yeah, he didn't... But you let people say it. He let people say it. And he, what he did in the temple, he acted like it.

He acted like it. Yeah. So it's also... So guilty. He's one for two. Yeah. But so then the question is, Jesus has in his mind what he thinks it means

for him to be the Messiah. Yeah. But he, and it's very his mind what he thinks it means for him to be the Messiah. But he, and it's very different from what they think it means and what Pilate has, because Israel hasn't been allowed to have a king. The high priest was the most powerful role in Israel in this time, under the Greeks and the Romans. They weren't allowed to have their own governors and kings anymore, because that would just park back to the days of independence and monarchy. So anybody who comes claiming to be the king, because Messiah is that's a equivalent.

Messiah is the king. It means the king from the line of David. So when Pilate says you're the king, are you the king of the Jews? There is already a king, his name Caesar, Augustus, he's over in the long. He's the king of the Jews. And Pilate's his embodied representative as the middle. He's the king of Jews. And Pilates, his embodied representative, as the governor. So it's kind of like, I don't know,

it's like the governor of Oregon. Are you the president of United States? Are you the president? You're the president. Yeah. People are accusing you of calling yourself the president. Calling yourself the president. And Jesus says, you say, you say so,

to which Pilate says there's no valid charges against this guy. But they insisted, now he's stirring up people all over Judea by his teaching. He started and got Bengali, and now he's down here. When Pilate heard that he's a galleon, he's like, oh, this is my guy, this is Herod's guy up north. This is Herod Antipas, he's Herod the Greats, son or grandson, dang it, I forget. And he's just overgaulily, like a puppet ruler governor.

And so Herod was greatly pleased, because for a long time, he had been wanting to see this Jesus Nazareth character. From what he'd heard about him, he hoped he might perform a sign. Come do a trick. So he applied Jesus with many questions. Jesus never said a word. Chief priests and teachers of the law were there accusing him. Herodinus soldiers mocked him, ridiculed him, dressed him up like a king, and sent him back to Pilate. Then Pilate, once again, starts asking him questions, and says, there's no valid charges. But all of this, it seems like Luke includes

to play up Jesus' innocence. Luke's highlighting this substitution thing. There's no reason Jesus actually deserves to be on the cross. The only reason he's gonna go there is by staying silent and allowing himself to be falsely charged. Which, again, think back to the sermon on the plane. People strike you. Let him. Yeah, let him. And you think you're losing, but actually you're defeating. And he's doing it. Yeah. That's what he's doing.

It's crazy. Even right now, just as I say it, I'm like, this is a way to live your life. I know. I think it's you killed. This is the kind of thing you'll get you killed. And it's what gets Jesus killed. And so right to the very end, Jesus is forgiving the Roman soldiers as they crucify him. That's only in Luke. Father forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. The lace-dace, the rebel who makes fun of him, but then says, remember me when you come in your kingdom.

And Jesus immediately forgives him and promises him today. He'll be with me in paradise. That's only in Luke. So Jesus is just in command of the situation, even as he's hanging there, giving out mercy, and then he dies. This road to Emma mass unique to it. It is. The two disciples on the road to a mass is only in Luke.

And once again it's about surprise. They thought Jesus was going to redeem Israel, but now he's dead. That's their bond. And these aren't two of the twelve. Uh-oh. They're just one of the crews, people who went on the road with Jesus. And what's in a mass? Oh, it's a town that's nearby.

So Jesus is dead, parties over. Everyone's going home. These are two very disillusioned disciples. They might be from a mass maybe. Most likely. Yeah. Yeah, why else would they be going there? And they're processing each all of this. They might be from Ames maybe. Most likely. Yeah. Yeah. Why else would they be going there?

And they're processing each all of this. And then Jesus is there. The story is loaded with layers of irony. There's a reason Luke tells it here. So they're going and they're talking about. And then Jesus is there, but they don't recognize him. Yeah. So that's the first thing in the story.

You're like, what? Wait. Yeah. They see him, but they don't see him. Yeah. So that's the first thing in the story. You're like, what? Wait. They don't see him, but they don't see him. He's there with him. What do they think? He's just another dude traveling. Yeah. It just says their eyes were kept from seeing him, which as a reader, you go, okay.

So they can see that there's a Jewish man here walking with us, but they don't recognize him. Why? You gotta keep reading. Jesus. Wouldn't that be strange to be on a road to a city? I mean, you're kinda out in the, you know, and someone's just all sun just cruising with you?

No, I've probably happened all the time. Is it people cruising? Is this like being on a hiking trail and someone's like, Yeah, it is like a well-traveled road. You come across travelers. It's a Jewish man. Oh, it's Jewish. He's one of us.

So, and he comes up. Walk with us for. He's one of us. And he comes up. Walk with us for a while. Walk with us. And Jesus, what are you guys talking about? And they're so dramatic. This story is as dramaticly told as the introductory stories. They stopped. Face us down, Cath.

One of them, Cleopas, who's likely the husband of one of these women who is out of the tomb. Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem? Who doesn't know what happened? And then Jesus plays dumb. What? What? What thing? Jesus of Nazareth, we're going to say, because they reply.

And look at how they describe him. He was a prophet, powerful in word indeed, before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death and they crucified him. We hope that he was going to be the one to redeem Israel. Now this is key because this echoes the line of Zechariah's poem at the very beginning. He will redeem it. He will rescue us from the hands of our enemies. That's what Zechariah said. The Messiah would come and do. And that's what they hoped would happen. But they'd raised the question, Jesus said he came to give his life

as a ransom for many. So their words get you thinking of these two different interpretations of the Messiah, Jesus's version of redemption and their version of redemption. And in their version, if you get crucified, you didn't bring redemption. Right.

Because you're dead. You're dead. But then it seemed weirder. It's the third day some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb, like, didn't see his body. And then they came and said they saw some angels who said he's alive. And then some men went, which for them was more trustworthy.

Some men went, but it was just as the women said. And nobody can see as seen Jesus. And then Jesus is just like, dude, you guys, didn't the prophets say the Messiah would suffer and enter his glory? Daniel 7, Isaiah 53, and beginning with Moses, he started to tell them, come on, the Hebrew scripture is said, this is what would happen. So they're having this conversation as they go into the village. They urge Jesus, stay with us. It's almost night. And he acted as if he were going further.

That's my favorite part. It's like, ah, I gotta keep going. Yeah, I gotta see a man about horse. What? Whatever. And then they are, they're, oh, keep with us. Okay.

And as they had this key, as he had, as they had the table with them? He took the bread and gave thanks and he broke it And he started to give it to them and then their eyes were opened and they see him recognize him So he get he took bread he gave thanks he broke it and he gave it to them Just clear echoes you could want. To the Passover. To the, wow, the Last Supper. Or the Last Supper. Yeah. Yeah, the same phrase.

Same exact phrase as the Last Supper, and then they recognize him. And then he disappears. And then he's not there. Jesus. So the question is, how did they come to see him? Right. They had a certain interpretation of who Jesus was

that didn't involve him dying. And as long as they hold that idea and that view of the world and of Jesus, they remain blind to who he really is. But all of a sudden, when they see the Jesus whose body was broken for them so they could live, the interpretation the Jesus offered of his death at the last supper, it's only when you see the crucified Messiah as the real victor and king that you can actually recognize Jesus. And even then, you don't have a handle on him because he's gone. So this story, dude, is brilliant. It's symbolizing the journey that I think

that every disciple of Jesus has to undergo. Yeah, that's what I was kind of thinking. It shows that there's this slow awakening to what's really happening. It's not like all of a sudden. Jesus could have just been like, hey guys, I'm Jesus, and I'm alive. It's an awesome, they could all high five.

Yeah. But instead, it's this really elongated, just journey of them going, oh, okay, so Jesus had to die. Oh, okay. And then like, this is really interesting. And this something's burning within us. And then all of a sudden, there's that moment of like, and you are Jesus.

And you can see how that would mirror the process of coming to faith after the resurrection of, wait, so Jesus was saying that and this is what the scripture was saying and then it's all sinking in and then eventually the coin drops and you're like, oh, yep, I'm in. Yeah, that's exactly, I'm in. Yeah, that's exactly right. So powerful. It's kind of spooky. It's like these last scenes.

I'm kind of reading a head here where the next story is they go tell the disciples, like, yeah, Jesus is alive. We saw him and then there's talking about it and then also Jesus is there. Yeah, exactly. And then what he does is he has the same Bible study with them.

He unpacks the Hebrew scriptures and said, listen, the suffering, vindicated Messiah, who dies to liberate others, to remevil and sin, to create the new covenant people. This is what the Old Testament was always about. And so there's also this element of like, once you read the Old Testament through the lens of the story of Jesus,

you can see all this. In the same book by Richard Hayes, he talks about how this paradox of accrucified Messiah is the foundation of the Christian world here. And he actually quotes from the former, I think, Archbishop of Canterbury, Anglican Church, Rowan Williams, who wrote this book called The Wound of Knowledge, what a great title. Who wrote this? Christian faith has its beginnings in an experience of profound, contradictoriness,

an experience which so questioned the religious categories of its time, that the resulting reorganization of religious language was a centuries-long task. He goes on to say, that experience of a profound contradiction is the crucifixion of Jesus as the event that somehow brought God's salvation to the world. The paradox of God's purpose made flesh in a dead and condemned man. He says the Gospel of Luke is one of these first attempts to reorganize our view of the world around an event that seems so bizarre and strange. So this road to a mass is also then a picture of what Luke's trying to do for you. Correct.

He's been on a journey with you and telling you and he's letting you sink in. And there's no coincidence that it's another journey story. Just like Jesus has been on a journey from the cost. But now you're the one on the journey with Jesus. And Luke wants you to see that you probably are still blind to Jesus in significant ways. Jesus might be right in front of you. And you can't see it. And you can't see him because you haven't really deeply embraced the upside down paradox of his kingdom,

the cross in bodies. And it's only when you see that, that life comes through giving up your life. You know what have been nice to have is the Bible study that he does. What are these guys? But he didn't lucrate that down. I know.

Yeah. I'd be like a bestseller by saying this. He walks through the Tanakh, which is the shorthand for the Jewish structure of the Hebrew Bible, Torah, prophets, and writings for the Psalms. So he takes them through, yeah, the Hebrew scriptures, and he says, listen, this is what it was all about. And so now here we are, I'm the king of the world.

I'm the exalted king of all things. And you all are going to go out and keep doing what I've been doing, which is going to the nations announcing that there's forgiveness and new life in the kingdom of God, but stop and wait for the Holy Spirit to actually just what he says, your witnesses of all this, I'm going to send you what my father promised, which echoes the promise. Like what comes along with the package of the Messianic Kingdom? You get the Messiah, you get the nations, you just said, go to the nations, you get starting in Jerusalem. So the Spirit, the personal presence of the God of Israel, who is now coming through and being sent through

Jesus, who he calls, wait till you're clothed with power from on high. And then they went out from the meal they were having with them. And he was taken up to heaven. This isn't about some strange extraterrestrial transportation. To be exalted up into heaven is Daniel seven. It's to be exalted in enthronement language. He's enthroned as the king of heaven and earth. Yeah. There's not talking about like you just elevated into the sky. Yeah, it's not just and then he floated away. So it's that they watched whatever happens to Jesus here that they saw is connected to the Son of Man going up on the clouds of heaven, coming in the clouds of heaven up into

the presence of God to take up his throne. And then dot, dot, dot, wait for the book of Acts. Wow. Is the ascension here is unique to Luke? Well, Mark doesn't have the original ending mark, doesn't have an ascension like this. Matthew has the great commission. No, Matthew just ends with a great commission. He meets them on a mountain up in Galilee and says, go make disciples. And I'm with you to the very end of the age. And then John ends with Jesus having lunch with Peter

and John in the beach. That can all be fish. So yeah, Luke's the only gospel with Jesus concluding with an enthronement of Jesus. Do I just boy? Try to judge. Thanks for listening to this episode of The Bible Project. Throughout this year, we're going to make a whole series of animated videos that walk

through the literary design of Luke. You can find them on our YouTube channel, youtube.com slash the Bible Project, and you can find them on our website, thebipoproject.com. Up next on the podcast, our couple things were starting a new animated series called Intro to the Bible or Intro to Biblical Literature. I think we're actually just going to call it How to Read the Bible. And the first episode is what is the Bible. And so you'll get to listen to that coming up soon. And then also the next theme video that's going to release is on the Holy Spirit. And so there's going to be a few

episodes of our discussion preparing for that theme. So make sure to subscribe if you haven't. If you like this podcast, it's really helpful to give a review on iTunes and say hi to us. Or on Facebook, Facebook.com slash the Bible project and we're on Twitter at Join Bible Proge, PROJ. Thanks so much for being a part of this with us. I'm curious.