The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - What Are 1st Century Donkey Stickers?

Episode Date: July 1, 2022

Do bumper stickers say a lot about a person? Bumper stickers on your car could say a lot about what you believe and what is important to you. In this episode, Jeff ponders, “If people in the 1st century would have had stickers on their donkeys, what would some of those have said?” Snippet from the Show Be doers of the Word and not just hearers. Email us with comments or questions at [e-mail]. Text “jeffcavins” to 33-777 to subscribe and get Jeff’s shownotes delivered straight to your email! Or visit ascensionpress.com/thejeffcavinsshow for full shownotes!

Welcome to the Jeff Kaven's show, where we talk about the Bible, discipleship, and evangelization, putting it all together in living as activated disciples. This is Show 277 First Century Donkey Stickers. And welcome. Welcome to the show. I'm Jeff Kavans. Thank you for coming back and spending some time with me. And if this is the first time you've ever been with me here on the show, welcome to you as well. Today we're going to talk about something that came up the other day when I was driving around in the car. And I came up behind a car that had, and I'm not joking about this, I had at least three dozen bumper stickers on the back of the car and on the side of the car towards the rear part of it. and I had all my all my reading material I needed for that particular red light and as I was reading it I thought wow this I know this person pretty well I mean I can tell you I can tell you what political party they belong to I can tell you what their views are on family sexuality what computer they use everything it was really there's sense of humor too which wasn't a lot but I can tell you so much about that person would have actually have been interesting to pull up alongside of them and, you know, yell out, hey, you want to get a

cup of coffee? I think I know you. But that would have been creepy, I'm sure. Well, I want to talk to you about bumper stickers and specifically first century donkey stickers. If there were first century donkey stickers, what would some of them be? That's what I want to talk to you about. But before we get into that, I've got to tell you, recently, and I'm not sure why. I think books are kind of cyclical in some ways. Several people were asking me about my story, specifically why I left the Catholic Church back when I was just a young man teaching the Bible, and why I ended up coming back to the Catholic Church. Was it social? Was it theological? Were there certain truths in the Catholic faith that really grabbed my attention and brought me back? Who helped me come back to the

Catholic Church. The more I share my story around the country about coming back to the Catholic Church, the more people come up to me and say, that's my story. Or they'll say, that's my son, or that's my daughter. Oh, my gosh. And is there anything I can give them? Well, I want to just give kind of a reminder going back into the library here. I actually wrote a book. I wrote a book called My Life on the Rock, a rebel returns to the Catholic Church, and that's available at Ascension Press, my life on the rock. And in that book, not only do I go through the theological reasoning as to why I came back to the Catholic Church, but I also provide some interesting pictures, like the day I was, the day that I was confirmed back in 19 something. You'll have to

see. But I also have pictures of when Emily and I first met, pictures of my family growing up, pictures of Bishop Paul Dudley, the bishop who really had a big part in my coming back. There were actually three bishops that helped me come back to the Catholic Church. Anyway, that's the book, My Life on the Rock. I'll put it in the show notes. It's available at Ascension Press. That's the book that tells the whole story. So it's good to every once in I'll bring that up. By the way, if you want show notes, I do have scriptures for today. If you want the show notes, all you've got to do is type my name, Jeff Kaven's one word,

and text it to the number 3-3-777. That's 33-77, and I'll get you those show notes. And before I get into my first century donkey stickers, I also want to remind you, and by the way, you guys have done a great job of this. Go to the show, go to Apple, go to Google, go to Google, go to Google plague, wherever you get the podcast and go ahead and rank it or give a comment. That really helps in the algorithm. And we have just found that out recently. I got a report about how many of you are doing that. And kudos to you. You have been a real help in bringing the messages of

these shows to people who desperately need them. Look, if people are searching for a good marriage or They're surfing for the meaning of life or they're searching for how to study scripture. This show comes up a lot in these searches, and a lot of that's due to you. So thank you, just taking a moment today to go to the show and give it a thumbs up, if you will, and make a comment. I would appreciate it very much. And I do read them because that's one way I can get to know you. Okay, our cars are billboards for the soul. That's a true statement.

Our cars are billboards for the soul. People have a habit of putting their deepest, their deepest, most intimate ideas and philosophy on a bumper sticker. Because they want somebody to read it and they want someone to know where they stand. And they want to broadcast and advertise the issues that they think are very important. Now, sometimes people put messages on their bumper stickers that stand for a better world. door. Sometimes they put messages on their bumper stickers that slam those who hold a different view than themselves. I'm surprised that there aren't more people just gently bumping the car ahead

of them to let them know, uh-uh, I'm not with you. I don't advocate that at all, obviously, but it kind of surprises me that people don't get out of their car sometimes and start arguing with people about the message on their bumper sticker. Well, I was one of those guys that didn't really want to put a sticker on my car. I thought it kind of diminished the looks of the car. And I did at one time put one sticker on my car. It was an Apple sticker when I was kind of a young Apple computer evangelist. But after Steve Jobs died, I took it off. I guess I was a fan boy. Well, the Jews of ancient Israel used symbols to remind themselves as well as to inform others, namely Gentiles, who they were. And they weren't bumper stickers necessarily, but they did

have something on their person that communicated to people who they were and what they stood for. They were sons of the commandments. You've heard that phrase bar mitzvah, bat mitzvah for girls. And so what they did, according to Numbers Chapter 15, verses 37 through 41, it'll be in the show notes. they attach tassels to the four corners of their garment. And it told everyone who they were and what they stood for. And that's kind of what bumper stickers do, right? And so while you might not be wearing the seat, seat, as it's called, the four tassels on the edge of the garment, the prayer shawl and the undergarmament called the Talit Katan,

which were big in Jesus Day, by the way, that was part of the whole wardrobe, Even though you don't do that, maybe if you have a bumper sticker on your car right now, you're trying to communicate to people. Well, a couple of weeks ago, I did a show about tattoos on the body. And on that show, I think you can tell, and the response that I got back was that, yeah, I see what you're saying. And the show was called Our Tattoo's a Sin. And you can check that out. That's Show 275, I believe, just a couple weeks ago. But in that, I was talking about, you know, no, it's not a sin, but you really need to think very seriously before you put a tattoo on your body.

Not only do you need to think seriously because of the permanence of the tattoo, but also the influence on other people to tattoo their bodies. And that's something that we have a responsibility for. So I thought on the heels of that show on tattoos, I thought, I thought, I would take a look at the car. And this guy that I was sitting behind with several dozen bumper stickers on his car made me think of this. And so before we get into the first century donkey stickers, some obvious guidelines would be, number one, is the message on your bumper sticker the truth? Is it the truth? Is that what you're about? Is it the truth? Now, I'm not going to get into these in deep detail because I want to get into the first century donkey stickers in just a

moment. But is it true? Number two, is the message on your bumper sticker going to get you run off the road in road rage? In other words, is it designed to be a message that's going to get underneath people's skins and possibly get them mad? Now, I say that because driving the car is not a good time for apologetics in terms of social apologetics. It just isn't. A car's purpose is to go from point A to point B. As my father used to tell me when I was growing up, son, when you get a car, it's to get from here to there. And if you're married, make sure your best car is your wife's car. That was my dad, Proverbs chapter 2, verse 7. So is the message on your bumper sticker going to get you run off the road? Number three, are you able to defend what you are purporting?

Or is it just an idea that you like, but you really can't articulate it? You can't defend it because if you put some of these messages on bumper stickers, inevitably someone's going to stop you at Walmart parking in the Walmart parking lot and say, let's talk. What's that all about? I don't know. I just thought it was cute. Number four, does this idea or thing on your bumper sticker really stand for who you are as a disciple of Jesus?

Is it in line with your vocation and your calling? So bumper stickers like a little meaningless funny bumper stickers. What would Scooby do? You know, seems to be a waste of time and space. But, oh, well. Or what if the hokey pokey is what it's all about? These are the types of things that you see out there. So, and number five, would Jesus, Mary, or Joseph put the bumper sticker on their donkey?

That's a good guideline for you. when it comes to bumper stickers. So that is what I would like to talk to you about. First century bumper stickers. If the characters of the Bible would have put bumper stickers on the back of their donkey, what would they have been? Well, I want to start off with the first one because I have several of these. And the first one, I think, would be a very good bumper sticker on the Blessed Virgin Mary's donkey.

And if she was riding past, you know, down the road, Can you just imagine a donkey sticker that says, my son is God? That'd be beautiful. My son is God. And she'd ride past Elizabeth's donkey, which said, my son's a prophet. And a lot of people are very proud of their sons today. And we see those bumper stickers like, my son's an honor student, my son's a hockey star, my son's Harvard grad, or whatever it might be.

But I think if Mary, the Blessed Virgin Mary, your mother and mine, were to have a donkey sticker in that day, I think my son is God is good. Now, I want to go into some detail about these ideas here, not just give you these first century donkey stickers, but what would it mean? My son is God. Well, I recently read a book about the 10 parts of a platform of what's called the New Progressive Theology in the world. And you'll see this with Catholics and Protestants, a progressive theology, which is actually quite damaging. And basically, it's a group of people who want to leave the truth and invent their own, popular, but a gelding religion. People are teaching, get this, that Jesus is to be considered a great teacher rather than someone to worship. Now, that's progressive and going back to

nothing, I think. But listen to that again. Jesus is to be a great teacher, yes, but that trumps worshiping him. He's just a good teacher. And this strikes at the heart of the gospel, and that is that Jesus is the son of the father in every way, including divinity. My son is God. I like what it says in John 14. Philip said, Lord, show us the father, and we shall be satisfied. Jesus said to him, have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me?

The words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does His work. Well, I think that sounds like a little divinity there, right? Jesus is more than a great teacher. He is a great teacher, but he's more than a teacher. He is God. And the Council of Ephesus, which is attached to the Blessed Virgin Mary here, get this. The Council of Ephesus, Ephesus is a city where John the Apostle took her and cared for her. The Council of Ephesus in modern day Turkey was a council of Catholic bishops who convened in Ephesus in 431. In 431, the Roman Emperor Theodosius, the second, convened the council, and that was the third of its kind. And the goal of that council was to reach a consensus in the church regarding just this question of Jesus' divinity. A popular teaching that was false at that time, a heresy, was taught by Nestorius, the patriarch of Constantinople. And he held, get this, that the Virgin Mary may be called

the Christotokos, Christotokos, which means Christbearer. But the Theotokos, Godbearer, is what the council was about. And the council met for two months, June and July of that year. And they concluded that Mary is the Theotokos, not just the Christotokos, but the Theotokos. She is the mother of God. God. And that whole council, and actually the focus of it wasn't on Mary. To be honest with you, it was about Jesus and the Nestorian heresy, that he wasn't divine. But Mary is the mother of God, and therefore it would be very, very, very apropos for her to broadcast, my son is God. Now, on a lighter side, it was rumored that centuries later in Greece, that the faithful were seen with my mother is the Thiotocco. on their horses. This cannot be confirmed because I just made that up. Now, what is true is that Jesus is God and worthy of worship, and only one word describes worship, and it is the Latin word

Latria. And Latria is the type of worship of an uncreated being, which is God. We cannot worship a mere created being, but we can give honor. And the word for honor is dulia, and the word Hyperdulia is the word that would describe our affection for our mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary. Now, other forms of this prominent sticker, My Son Is God, were stickers such as St. Paul's, which read, My Rabbi is God. That one got him into some serious trouble, particularly at Ephesus. The next donkey sticker out of the first century was one that said, coexist. Maybe you've heard that coexist. And in today's world, that kind of says anything goes, just accept what everybody believes. Now, the Apostle Paul, the bumper sticker was, this bumper sticker was

frequently seen on the donkey of Priscilla and Aquila. Prior to Jesus, women did not enjoy a great status in society. Now, in Rome, they were considered property. But all the that changed with Jesus when he came to earth. And Paul, who founded the church in Corinth, which Aquila and Priscilla were there as well, he taught that there were no men and women distinctions when it came to salvation, value, and membership in the household of God. Now, his teaching was not backing up that there is no male or female gender, and you can't hijack scripture like that. He was pointing out that now in Christ, we don't have these distinctions, like the Romans, the women are chattel or the women are property. Jesus did more for women in the world than anyone in

history. Paul didn't say that it didn't matter if you were a man or a woman in terms of identity. He said that dividing walls come down in terms of access to God and enjoying the fruits of Jesus suffering. Paul's teaching would bear out that men and women had beautiful differences, and when brought together in the body of Christ, the church represented a beautiful stage on which the faithfulness of Christ is demonstrated. And Paul taught that actually in his epistle to the Ephesians. Now, this apparently had a big impact on both Priscilla and Aquila, as no one would put coexist on their donkey if they didn't have a meaningful way to coexist. Turns out that Jesus' teaching to Paul and Paul's teaching to the young church

works so well that the gospel was spread throughout all of Asia Minor, which is modern-day Turkey and Greece. It was reported, again, cannot provide proof on this, that Priscilla and Aquila, who were tentmakers, and it was said that they sowed the words coexist on the tents of newlyweds as a shower gift. Again, no proof, but the theologians and archaeologists are looking into this even as I speak. Now, here's what Paul taught in Galatians regarding this coexist. He said in Galatians three, for as many of you as were baptized into Christ to put on Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free. There is neither male nor female, for you are

all one in Christ. And if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring heirs, according to promise. All right, we're going to take a break. When I come back, I've got one, two, I've got three more. First century donkey stickers. You're listening to the Jeff Kaven show. Hi, my name's Father Mike Schmitz. And we know, right, as disciples of Jesus, we need to be encountering God's word on a regular basis. We need God's word to transform our minds, to move our hearts. anything like me, sometimes you sit down to read the Bible and just fall asleep. Or you get caught up in the names and the events. It can be a confusing set of books. We've created an answer. And the answer, we think, is the Catholic Bible in a year podcast. It is produced by Ascension

and hosted by me. For more information, you can go to ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a year. And thank you for coming back. I think you are interested in these first century donkey stickers. and some of this is a guess by me. I've got to be honest. It's a guess. I do not have archaeological proof of this, although that may emerge someday. Okay, so the third first century donkey sticker

was actually found on the donkey that Jesus rode from time to time. And that sticker said, I love you. I love you. Now, Jesus would have sported a gold bumper. sticker on his Jerusalem cult. A cult is a donkey younger than four years old. And all the scriptures tell us is that the donkey he rode in into Jerusalem was a cult. And today, a cult is considered to be a horse or a donkey younger than four years old. In John chapter 12, verses 14 and 15, it says, and Jesus finding a young donkey sat on it as it is written, fear not, daughter of

Zion. Behold, your king is coming, seated on a donkey's cult. Now, there is nothing that could state Jesus' relationship with the world, quite like, I love you. I love you. Over and over in the scriptures, we are told that Jesus loved us so much that he gave his life. for us. His love was different than filo, which is brotherly love. It's different than Storgay. These are Greek words for love. Storge means really the love of a mother, that affectionate love. It's greater than Eros, which is a passionate love. Jesus loved with Agape. Agape is God's kind of love. And this, in all seriousness, this is the kind of love where Jesus sacrificed himself so that our sins would be forgiven and we would enjoy eternity in his presence, better known as the

beatific vision. No greater love is there than this than to lay one's life down for a friend. And that is exactly what Jesus did and he called his disciples to love each other. In fact, he said that our love for each other would be the evidence that we are in fact his disciples. I can't think of any phrase on a bumper sticker that would have been more to the point than what Jesus may have had, which is, I love you. And that makes all the difference in the world because everybody standing on the side of the road that gets a glimpse of Jesus will know he loves them. And everybody that walks by us or all the people that we encounter as disciples of the Lord should certainly know that Jesus loves them. And I've seen that on bumper stickers before. In fact, maybe you even have one.

Jesus loves you. And some people might consider that, you know, well, it's trite. You know, that's kind of simple. But you know what? It's very true. In fact, the very first part of the corigma, that is the proclamation of the gospel, I did a show on that a while ago called a cup of corigma. You could want to listen to that.

The corigma starts with this message that. that God loves you and has an amazing plan for your life. So that is a wonderful bumper sticker. The fourth bumper sticker, this was found. This bumper sticker was very popular around the Sea of Galilee, where it all began. The first disciples were kind of a rag-tag group of fishermen, carpenters, and even a tax collector. With the new movement beginning, the question was, what would bond them together? so that they would be able to withstand persecution and false teaching.

How would they endure the persecution that was ahead of them? And so it was seen on several donkey stickers in the first century of the disciples and the disciples of the disciples. The sticker read, get covenant. I know it sounds crazy, but that's what, get covenant. Now, modern marketing machines have borrowed from that. saying get milk and other things, but get covenant. They needed something stronger than an agreement with Jesus and each other, just an

agreement. They needed something stronger than basic rules for their new organization. The one thing that would bring Jesus into the strongest relationship with his disciples was a covenant. Covenant goes way beyond promises and contracts. Contract was an exchange of good. goods. What they needed was an exchange of persons, an exchange of themselves, to give themselves to each other, to give themselves completely to Jesus, as he gave himself completely to us.

This is what Jesus did with the disciples. He made a covenant with them, and the covenant meal, the Eucharist, Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, was his body and blood. And the world had never seen anything even remotely resembling this kind of love and this kind of connection. Get covenant. Get covenant. Not get agreement, not get a teaching, not get an inspiration. Get covenant. Now this went on into the relationship between the disciples themselves. What would hold them together as the church began to grow? And what would hold them together was the Eucharist. The Eucharist, which is the center of the covenant. It's the covenant. meal. What held them together, in fact, what holds all believers together between heaven and

earth is the Eucharistic sacrifice. And I've heard people say to me before when I met them in another country and we weren't even sure that we were going to see each other ever again on earth, they would leave the conversation with a beautiful statement. They would say, I'll see you, I'll meet you in the Eucharist. You see, the Eucharist, my friend, binds all. us together. And that is a great bumper sticker in modern times, but it certainly was a great donkey sticker in the first century. Get covenant. It's easy to see why those early followers of Christ would choose such an appropriate short statement to speak of their binding love with the Lord. God covenant, we have covenant. Now finally, as the church grew and empires fell,

there was great emphasis on war and the church was faced with a decision do we spend our energy making war or disciples so this donkey sticker was found long ago in the first century church the phrase make disciples not war it grew to be a very popular a donkey sticker especially during times of war Paul was familiar with war and incorporated military imagery into his teachings on discipleship. The early church realized that they were in a war, not with flesh and blood, but with invisible forces. Imagine sporting this bumper sticker on the back of your donkey with Paul's teaching in mind. Remember, make disciples, not war. Listen to what he said to the Ephesians. He said, for our struggle is not against flesh and blood. but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness,

against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God that you may be able to resist in the evil day. And having done everything to stand firm, stand firm, therefore, having girded your loins with the truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the God, gospel of peace. In addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming missiles of the evil one, and take the helmet of salvation and the word of the spirit, which is the word of God. With all prayer and petition, pray at all times in

the spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert, with all perseverance and petition for all the saints. Wow. Make disciples not war? Yes. Well, you know, when we talk about make disciples not war, there are popular bumper stickers today that are very similar. In fact, it started in the 70s and 80s. And I would just encourage you today in all seriousness. And I know that some of this is a little on the humorous side, hopefully. But I want to bring a seriousness to it. When I say make disciples and not war. I think that the the true war that is going on today is not in network news. It's not in Hollywood or politics. I think the real war is the war that's being waged in the invisible for the hearts of men and women. And the way that we combat the devices of the enemy,

the spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places, against the powers and the world forces of darkness is that we have the message of the corigma, the gospel, the good news, and when we go out, the greatest way to change the world is to help people become disciples. And so I'm not a big fan of just waging social war, you know, the big debate in the town square. I think the way that the war is won is by making people disciples. That's the way. In conclusion, I would, I would, I would encourage you not to check Google for proof of these various ancient bumper stickers, but instead live the meaning of each of them as you drive. More important than sporting, catchy phrases, is living them. When we are doers of the word and not just hearers, his kingdom

will grow. Now finally, what I would like to do is challenge you just for a moment to to do something and that is to observe bumper stickers when you're driving around take a look at them and and ask yourself is there truth there or is there a counter truth to this you can use them as a way of of growing and and really honing in on on the faith what do we believe what are people saying out there what are they trying to communicate what in their life do they want you to know. And what would your answer be to them? If you happen to stop at the same coffee shop and there's their car next to yours, maybe that's a good opportunity for you to actually talk and bring up the gospel. So I encourage you to study bumper stickers and hone in on the true

faith. Again, if you want any of the scriptures or you want these ancient donkey stickers in the form of show notes, all you got to do is put my name in, Jeff Kaven's one word, text 33777.7. We'll get them to you. Well, I do hope you have a great day and take to heart these ancient donkey stickers, which are, again, my son is God, coexist. I love you. God covenant and make disciples, not war. I look forward to seeing you next week. Let me pray for you just for a moment in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Lord, I pray for my dear friend, and I lift them up to you right now and ask you, Lord Jesus, to speak to them clearly in their life and what they're going through right now. Lord, I just sense that my friend has got questions and facing difficulties in

their life. And Lord, I intercede for them and ask you, Lord, to come to come to their side and lead them, guide them. May they hear your voice. Thank you for your power, which is accessible through confirmation, baptism. I thank you, Lord, for my friend. May God bless them. In Jesus' name, I pray, amen. Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Have a great week. Looking forward to talking to you next week.