Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 380 | The Birthplace of 'Duck Dynasty' & When Jase Beat All His High School Coaches at Dominoes

Episode Date: November 14, 2021

Jase reveals the secret to Miss Kay’s sweet potato pie. Jase shares the made-up history of the Robertson clan. Al and Jase relive the family's legendary arguments at the card and domino table. Jase remembers the day he beat every one of his high school coaches at dominoes. And Phil reveals where they got the idea for "Duck Dynasty."  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? So I didn't realize it, but when she put it in the little pan, it just is crisperier on the bottom side, which has made it better, and she doesn't have too much sweet potato in the middle. You know, I do this every year. She cooks a bunch of pies. Then she gives me one, and I eat the whole thing.

So now... At one setting. In one sitting. But the problem is this year, She has the mini pie. I'm talking about I ate the whole one. The big one. She gave me two of these, and I'm thinking, what are we?

Will we cut back here? This is one of the great. So, Jason, explain to the listening audience what you're talking about, because we're rolling. Sweet potato pie was made by Ms. Kay. She has some at home, the 12 inch, but she made a couple of them about, what do you think, about three to four inches. and she told me explicitly take these to Jace because he'll love my pie so yeah about four inches wide and uh jace has partaking in his breakfast this morning sweet potato pie i mean i haven't eaten one since last

year and by the way there's an art to making as you noted no doubt there's an art to making a sweet potato pie i mean all other sweet potato pies that i've ever tried it wasn't even scalable that's right Well, first of all, you've got to be an old lady to really do it justice, I think. There may be some young ones out there, but I hadn't tried to admit it. Something about that years of seasoning. Of course, Mom, the key and hers, the middle is fantastic, but the crust is so good. And she says it's because she has tiny hands, and her small hands can handle the crust just right. Because I tried, me and Willie tried one time, and she said our hands were too meaty, was the way she put it.

Well, I don't want to be unkind. Which describes a lot of me this day. I don't want to be unkind or lewd about this. But your mother made this sweet potato pie under duress because she's, I didn't say it in my speech the morning in a sermon. I said, I better leave that out. But she's got in their 70s now, you know. And I said, you know, when they get in their 70s, you know, they're real talkative and all that. but she's always running into things and she keeps she's got a big gash now she has around the clock wound care

a big gas right below her knee where she hit the concrete when she was with the girls boom she hits her leg it just splits it her skin real tender so they just kind of put that flap back on it so she's down there now. Flap of skin. Yeah, and her leg is, the nurse woman said, look, the wound care woman said, keep your leg elevated for at least four or five days. So she's got her leg. But in between that, she went in there and made those sweet potato pies.

Her problem is, I want to be kind, and I don't want to be unkind. She's, as they say, she's top-heavy. So she leans. a little the weight on the upper part of her body. She falls like a tree in woods. Physic. But I didn't want to say that in the sermon because I thought people. Well, we appreciate that.

I'm sure she does. Yeah, nobody will hear it here, Phil. She's a top heavy woman, which makes it a lot easier like an old, an old snaggy tree. They finally fall because they're up on the top. You know what I'm saying? You need a team of people to be able to tell you. how to say something that is not too blunt.

You just need a team because you could have said she's healthy at the top. That would have been fine. Yeah, because I didn't want to be losing about it. She's a healthy woman. Right. Yeah. I'm glad you didn't say that. I mean, what you did say is you said when she was young, she was shy and she wouldn't

talk much. And now that she's older, she can't stay upright and she won't shut up. That's right. Now, you did say that. Yeah, I did. But everybody laughed, and I thought. It's not bothering me. It's just, I'm just explaining what the situation is.

Two 70-year-olds, your mother and your dad, you know. But I want to start. We're entering the stumbling, bumming type age. But most seven. I'm taking a good cheer because I believe in the resurrection, and there's a departure coming up when we leave our bodies. But our bodies, for lack of a better term, Zach, your uncle. my body is beginning to, along with hers,

it's not as efficient as it used to be. Well, at least it's not tap-to- I think you put that a very kind way. No, Phil, I think you've come a long way on that. By the way, the logger, Harrington, by the way, if someone wants to make a beautiful duck hole, these are the guys you get a hold of, Harrington, Harrington.

That narrows it down. Yeah, just find that, Harry. They made that prairie over there in the middle of the woods, and I mentioned him yesterday because he's the one that said the tree that liked to kill me, it hit my truck, and I jumped back just in time before it hit the truck. It just jumped up six feet when I saw it down, overcut. Jumping Betty. Big tree.

Jumping Betty. And he said, Jumping Betty. I told him, I said, that longer said, oh, yeah, that's a killer. that jumping Betty. Well, I saw him out there a while ago. He said, I heard that on the podcast, me and my woman, you know. But I highly recommend that particular logging crew if you want a beautiful duckhole. Well, I was going to say a while ago.

The problem I think is Ms. Kay was she in her mid-70s, and she had this fall because she was out of concert, you know, right before midnight. Most people in their mid-70s are not concerting. in the middle of the night. No, Jace, it was, but you did her facts for a little off. It's even worse than that. She was hurt getting ready at the hairstylist place to go to the concert. So she's in the mercy room and she calls Lisa and I, and she said, well, I'm back in the ER.

And I said, what have you done now? And so she tells me. And then I said, well, so are they taking you home as soon as they, you know, get you fixed up? And she said, oh, no, I'm going to the concert. Oh, okay. And I was like, mom, when the numbness where they're going to give you some numbing stuff, but trust me, about 8.30, when that concert's rolling, that numbance going to wear off and you're going to wish you were home.

But, you know, she didn't do it. She was front row Joe at the, it was Matthew West concert. Matthew West. She told me, she said, I got, I went to the, so she was the ER first. They didn't dead in the pain, but they gave her a pain pill. She said, well, once that hit, she said, I was kind of, I was like, I'm good to go. and so she goes to the concert sits on the front row of the Matthew

West concert with a gashed up leg but the bottom line is during this process the sweet potato pies just keep rolling out that's what I was doing so it's pretty amazing that a woman in pain would stop and take

a time out and make me because they're tradition this first sweet potato pie of the fall yep that's it and I think because she knows how much you love it jays that's what a good mom she is well i'm glad you're saying y'all have argued through the years she's every year she comes up with the sweet potato pie even through injury even on the hour

where did she come out she was she was she was she was at cricket shop she's her hairdresser's call her real name is cricket so by the way your man who wrote the whiskers book the beard the beard book it's gronk yes cronk here we go again c r o m kronk crook hair He did an outstanding job. We're just kind of reminiscing here about this about food and hospitality within a family structure, Al. You would have to admit the hospitality side, we put that into practice in a big way over the last 50 years.

Yeah, it's just always been a part of how we grew up. And it didn't matter, as you've said before, the only thing that changes is the menu. You know, we're eating a little bit higher-in stuff these days, but it didn't matter whether it was low-end or high-in. We always had a house full of people. And mom was, look at that. Jay, you get the Clean Plate Award, for those of you, they're watching. I was showing the.

It's always been a part of who we are. And it just kind of was generational, because I can remember the whole sweet potato thing. I remember when mom didn't make the sweet potato pies, Granny made the sweet potato pies. I was handed down. It was handed down. You remember she would have a, she would have. them spread out, Jays.

You remember all around the sewing machine and the kitchen and the front porch? If you think about it out, when you're raising children, now that y'all are raising children, we're talking about how y'all were raised and how Ma and Paul, from the patriarchs on down to me and then you, well, now that you have children and grandchildren, it becomes a bigger factor than people realize it brings families and showing them how to behave. Yeah, how to operate in a sin-cursed world. It really is a wonderful thing, hospitality. Just to note, I've raised mine also.

What's your kids? My last one's 18. She's on our own. Zach still raising. Zach still got it. Yeah, my youngest is 18. I still got a few left. But, you know, I think that's true, Phil.

I mean, I think one of the tragedies of the last two years of us wanting to erase all of history is that we lose the lessons from the matriarchs and the patriarchs along the way, which is a book you mentioned, by the way, shameless plug, go to beardballad.com if you want to get it. It's a children's book, but that's why we got behind it because it's amplifying a father and a son relationship and a son looking to his dad to learn how to be a man. Yeah, that's where we learn these things. Y'all pass down a lot of great traditions and values that we all hold as a family to this day. I'm thankful for it.

Think about it. I'm 75 years old, and I delivered two sweet potatoes, little pie just morning to one of my sons. And you're like, it's family structure. It's a grown man. Now with his own children, I was really thankful that y'all thanked me for raising you the way we did, Ms. Kay and I. So, Dad, I was. Somebody called and said, thank you, Dad, because now that we have children, we get it. But to be completely transparent, look, he was done in me for the fuel around here,

and he was handing me two sweet potato pies. Exactly. And I was like knowing that I would have paid $1,000 for that pie. You know what you call that? I showed him the fuel bill of yesterday's fuel bill. You know, 700 gallons of diesel came our way. We're pumping water. I told Jason, jays, here's some pie.

You know? It's a question of fairness that all this fuel were buying. I said, you know, everybody's using it, but there's only one person paying for it. That'd be me. I said, let's spread this thing out a little bit. The message that I got was if you won't, because you never said this, but it was like, it was implied. There's more pies where that came from.

So, you know, that's a great reminder that OPR, old dad, he was the original entrepreneur who understood how to get things done to build a business day. Every once in a while there's a reminder in retired Phil if you ever retire. So, Dad, I was out in California last week, and I spoke, Lisa and I spoke a couple of times. And I mentioned in my speech that I was talking to him about this very thing, about losing family connection, about not having heritage. So I show a picture of our family. But I mentioned, I said, you know, my dad baptized my mind. granddaughter a year and a half ago in the hot tub on our front porch at my house I said that was a

great grandfather baptizing his great granddaughter yeah I said there's no better picture to me of that of what you're talking about that this is legacy that lives on because you're talking about four generations were present there of faith you know amazing which is pretty powerful that's what that's what it's all about I guess by way of sweet potato I said jays have you recovered I mean, can you go on now? Are you going to go into a coma? Are you going to affect you? Yeah, it was, I'm glad it was the little one.

I mean. I watched you eat that whole pie. I couldn't stop. And I'd already eaten breakfast. I'm like, if you see me take off in a hurry, you'll know what happened. I'll be back. Before our listeners, before we started the podcast, he's eating the pumpkin pie or the sweet potato pie. and he couldn't stop to start the page.

He said, just start without me. I'm going to eat this. Which is what I love about unashamed. You're going to get it exactly like it is. There's no sugarcum. Let's take a break. There also is a hornet flying around. Oh, boy.

I'm an air traffic controller. So at some stage of this podcast, I actually got a couple letters over that because I was protecting my wife. Remember the day we had a hornet? It led in Dad's beard. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, and I can't blame him for that. He thought, here's a nice little nest here. I could make it a home. One of the positive assets that a person can have is that if a hornet wants to sting you on the face, he has to go through this. Locker, blocker. And look, he hit wanting to get. Wanting to get through to sting me.

Too thick. So I just, and he took off. But it saved me from many a bee sting, hornet sting, whiskers. Just another, just a thought. I'm just saying. You said, well, how come women don't have them to protect them from them? Because there is a truism. Women, for the most part, other than a little peach fuzz,

and they're quick to get that out, they don't have facial hair. Males do. and someone says it looked like there's almost males have whiskers but females do not have whiskers to the extent that males do yeah and you're saying there's no difference between male and female no there's a big difference check their face that's a good point so um i was watching a clip the other day just to show you how people handle things differently we've had a couple of occasions where some kind of, you know, bee or hornet or whatever got loose in our podcast.

Megan Kelly used to be on Fox. She has a podcast. And the other day, a bird got in their podcast studio. And I watched the video of it. But it was handled a lot differently. Things were knocked over. Her guest was a woman. They're up running around the table.

I mean, it was one of the funniest things I've ever seen. But it was sheer panic over a bird that got into the podcast studio. So I just laughed about it because both times we've had something happen. Whatever it was that got in there was dead within seconds. Megan Kelly, it just shut the whole production down. So there you go. I guess there's a difference in how we handle things. We already talk about Matthew?

Yeah, where are we at again? Go for. Matthew 17. Does anybody else got any musings? Yeah, we're Matthew 17. Well, I will say this. My oldest son sent me a video that he had come across. Because he said he had been exploring the genealogy of our family. And a Scotsman had done a show seven or eight years ago about the Robertson clan.

And so my son sends me to this video. And he said, it's all making sense now. It's all coming together. And so I watched the 30-minute episode. And it was kind of embarrassing. I mean, you had Siah represented some of the, because as they talked, they just didn't like their history. I'm talking about the Robertson clan. So they just said, well, let's just make up some better history.

And so they had a little red book, and it was filled with stories of heroes. And so now, you know, there's basically some argument about what's actually true. Because they said embellishment had run amok. Imagine that. How far back to do they do. I mean, this was most of what was discussed in that show was around the, it was Alexander Robertson in the 1600s. Yeah. Yep.

And just lived out in the middle of nowhere where James, James Robertson was some kind of explorer. Oh, yeah. Where streams come together. I think that's what the actual clan name means. So I was like, yep. But I thought the most hilarious story was that they were in some kind of battle somewhere. And supposedly, because they didn't know what parts of the stories were true because they had made a bunch of them up about their history. But that's what, that's what Reeve was there.

That sounds like size book. Yeah. Well, one of them, they found a part of the Robertson clan, the findings that they had throughout their, history was one of them found a crystal ball and they still have it they they should it's got a crack in it but and so they they used that for knowledge and wisdom and healing and different things i said yep i can see sigh right now and say hey boys gather around here and put your hand there on that crystal ball so i just we were talking about family and you know reads at an age where he was trying to figure out how all this happened

But the more he dug, he thought, oh, wow. That's weird. I got an email this week about a guy, some guy had done the research. I just skimmed over it. Joseph Robertson from the 1775 or some area. I forgot where he was at, but he fought in the Revolutionary War. And they were trying to, they said we were connected to him somehow. I haven't looked into it at all, but I thought that was interesting.

I think I may go over there and do a little metal detector. I'll have to look at their laws about that. But I figure if we're a Robertson, they, you know. Yeah. We should have like an old home place somewhere, right? Well, they went to one, and I said, I need to go meddle. When we visited Scotland, they had a museum, a Robertson museum. And I asked the guy he had the skirt on, you know, and the whole work.

Cilt. Yeah, kilt. And I asked him, I said, so what kind of reputation did we leave when we moved to the, U.S., they came across the ocean, and he said, uh, reputation, both good and bad. He said, he said, uh, our mantra was fierce when roused. You roused them up and there's a fierceness that comes out. I thought, really, I said, what are we known for overall?

He said, jam. Okay. Jelly. Oh, not like, get your jam on like, jam on like, jam and jelly. And I thought, well, I still, I'm still, I'm still, fixing. jam and jelly to this day. I would say that fits the Phil Robertson motto,

fierce when roused, which is why we never woke him up. I've been making jelly my whole life. Making jelly. We never woke him up, right, Jay? He's from a nap. And then he's been making jelly his whole life. Well, from what I gathered from the 30 minute show, we were known for a lot of drinking, which we've had some of those problems in our past. Yeah.

Lived in the outdoors. I mean, just, I mean, they would go to places where no human had existed and say, Yep, we're going to live, we're going to set up right here. That explains the woods we're sitting. That's familiar. This is, you found this place and a lot of storytelling.

Yep. Oh, that's us. That's weird. There's no doubt. So did it say anything about Jay's? We, like, because I'm not sure how it all works, but the Robertsons, we're kind of part of a greater clan as well. And there's like these big families. And I think it was McDougal.

Did they mention that? It's all in there. But that's the problem is you can't figure out exactly. exactly where the Robertsons fit in because they made up their history. That continues to this day. That was the joke, if you miss that out. We don't know. He's like, we're never going to find this out.

Revisionist history. Because the red book with all the history was burned in a fire after an argument broke out between two Robertson. So they burned it in the fire, which sounds exactly like many a domino game that I played as a kid. An argument would break out and things would start. to get thrown in the fire. So, Jay, do you remember this?

I can remember when we were kids. We got into a heated card game, and Granny and Paul tied into it, and Granny took, like, a handful of our playing cards and tossed them into the ever-burning fireplace. It was right behind the domino table. And that was the end of the game, not only for that day, but for a while until somebody wouldn't bought another deck of card. Do you remember that? Yeah, I remember.

I remember also, you know, Paul got. mad and burned that 6-4 domino with his cigarette. On the corner. Yeah, on the corner. Well, then everybody knew who had the 6-4. And from that time on, if somebody needed 10 or less to go out, you just look for the burn cigarette domino and you automatically win. He used to make me so angry because I thought, he was like, no, you can't see that.

Of course, he'd grab it and turn it over and say, we win. Ten. he would always say T-I-N-10 when he took a 10-k. Well, you know, what we should have done was we should have burned three or four other ones, and then you wouldn't have known because it could have been a choice. That's what we should have. I'd have to admit, you guys were raised when you were raised up as boys. I mean, y'all had daily or nightly domino games and cards and domino.

Car games, yeah. He was always there. Yeah. Every time we would get home from school in the school year, we would go down and play for an hour or two with Granny and Paul. That was just standard. And that's why Jay's and I got so good at it because we played every day. Willie was a little bit too little.

You know, when Jay strapped on all the coaches up there at his high school, there's going to fleece you and you smoke them. One of my greatest memories as a kid. Hang on, Jay's. Hang on, Jay's. Before we tell that, let's take a break. It was snowing, but I couldn't miss another day because I had had duck fever for like 19. and a half days during Doug season.

So I couldn't miss another day, or I'd have to repeat the whatever grade I was in. So there was, in a school of 2000, there's about 12 people there because they didn't officially call it off. So I had to be there. I couldn't miss another day. And so the coaches were in there.

I only had three of them. They were looking for, you know, somebody, you've got to have four to play. And I'm just hanging out because I don't have anything to do because nobody else is there. And the coaches don't know your background and Domino playing. Yeah, and they kept saying, well, you know, we could play three-handed,

and I said, well, I could play with you. And they kind of, yeah, you know how to play? I was like, I know how the game is supposed to be played. That's how I said it. One of them said, all right, you know, sit down there. But the first hand, I picked up five-fives, which for you Domino players, pretty strong hand. which led to me at the end of the hand rising up and playing three times consecutively.

And they were like, whoa, whoa, whoa, what's going on? And so that I did the, which I learned from my grandpa, I'd pull the domino back and say, can you play? Boom. So then I got to do it again. Boom, 25 count them. Were they stunned? Well, here's what's funny.

The next day I'm sitting in class in whatever accounting. and over the mic system, it said, can you please send Jason Robertson to the office? And I thought, well, I'm in trouble. Until I get there, one of the coaches said they need a player in the dumb name. I guess I'm in now. It's the greatest thing that ever happened. You smoke them, you got their respect.

Can I play? I've been playing until it's about five. But they were good, too, you know. Right. I remember those guys because they were the same guys that coached me and one of them was old Williams' dad Mike Williams' dad was one of them coached that.

And that was the same thing. You know, I mean, they're cussing, fighting, throwing Dominoes against the wall, you know. Because after a while, I just became one of the boys and that's just the way it was. You would have to have the background to be able to pull that off, which is pretty good. And we still play.

For some reason, Domino's makes people very loud and angry. Oh, yeah. You know. It does. That's size problem in cards. He tries to apply that from what happens at Domino's to Cards, but he just, it ain't there. I told him last. He was playing cards last night.

I said, Sa, you need to stick to Domino's. So, you know, y'all may not know this, but when I was trying to find a domino table that was made out of cherry wood, which is the one we grew up playing on, because it was, it's lightweight and it bounces. because, you know, we do a lot of slamming, and the problem is if you're playing dominoes the way we play on a thick table like the one y'all are sitting at right now, that's a broke finger.

What's happened, which is part of the game, and you tape it up and you keep going. But if you have a better table, you wouldn't break your hand. Now, you want a bouncer, so I thought, okay, surely I can find me a domino table. So I started looking. Well, I couldn't find anything.

And then I started, you know where they were popping up everywhere? Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and New York City, which has a lot of Dominicans and Puerto Ricans in it. So I realized I started running out the culture, studied this thing. And I started seeing these videos of these guys playing dominoes in kind of a public square. Like you imagine like playing chess. They were serious too. Oh my goodness.

You talk about jumping up on the table. It reminded me of our childhood because they're slamming. And of course, I'm sure they're cursing each other. They're all Spanish, you know. And so I found a collapsible, which you can fold it up, cherry wood domino table in New York City and had it shipped to my house. And right now that's what we play dominoes of. But I never knew in the sort of Caribbean culture. They play dominoes just like we played dominoes.

But I never knew that. The Asians are big into dominoes. Really? Oh, yeah. I didn't know. Yeah. Well, I spent probably about 15 years in sales. and I traveled all the back roads in Louisiana,

and I went to every small town in the entire state, and in every small town in Louisiana, there's a big oak tree, and then there's a group of people underneath that oak tree playing dominoes 24-7. Every small, yeah, really? Yeah, I don't know if it's the, but every town, they would sit in there and play dominoes all day. Maybe not 20.

Old timers, mostly? Yeah, just like older guys out there, older men out there playing dominoes, and it's like they sit there all day and drink beer. I told you all that when I was in Greece, you know, and I heard them hollering. I went over and investigated big domino game. Then I was breaking down the hand to my cadre that was with me.

They were like, well, how did you figure out, how did you know all that just by looking at it for three seconds? I said, oh, you could tell. But they were all looking at us like, keep moving. you're not welcome here we need to do our version of the queen's gamut we need to do our version of the queen's gamut we can tell jace's domino victory story maybe we can get it on netflix did y'all watch the queen's gamut about the chess player uh i must have missed that no no never mind

it doesn't sounds a little too close i think me and i had the greatest comeback ever wasn't that me and you yeah oh satt tells the story consistently he remembers it like it was just yesterday. We needed 150 and they needed a nickel, which if you play dominoes, that's like you don't come back from that. They needed five. We needed 150. That's like 100 to nothing in a football game and you win it. And you come back and win it. And you come back. We came back in two hands of sixes and fives. They never scored and we ran the two hands and one. It was against Harold and Jimmy Frank, dad's older two brothers. And they never lived it down. It was a lor I mean, it's the, of course, I mean, now we're wondering, is it like the Scottish stories?

Now I wonder, is it really true? Did it really happen? Or did we just make it up? I don't know. But everybody still talks about it. Do you remember it, Jay? Oh, yeah. It was good.

And we were a gentleman about it. We trashed out for months. We had to, well, we had to walk the line because everybody trashed out, but we were, we were young. We were the nephew. So we couldn't quite go as far as they did, but we went right up to the line. No, I crossed the line. Phil confronted me one time. He was like, hey, you're being disrespectful at the Dominole table. I was like, well, that's just part of the game.

He was like, hey, you do it again. I'll tell you by. He had the ace card. Well, that was the ultimate card. I remember two things being younger. Me and Jeff, you know, we kind of just run through the house. We weren't invited to sit at the table until we got much older. It was kind of like a right of passage, you know, once you got to play,

that was kind of a cool thing. I remember the two things that rouse the emotion more than anything was card game, domino games, and Bible studies. Yeah. That's how you get. That's when you get some fired up conversations, too. Well, and actually, let's take another break. Actually, Zach, we've talked about it, that that's really the, I would say that's the birthplace of Duck Dynasty as well as this podcast. is how we all grew up, like studying the Bible.

And, of course, the show didn't feature that, but, you know, we're able to do this now. But on the show, it was about being able to, you know, argue your point or, you know, the whole dinner table thing was us, you know, the whole time at the dinner table, we talked about the Bible or politics or whatever was going on. And, you know, you learned that that's where you had your voice. And so you need to have something good to say. Willie describes it as whenever you got your chance, it was like a spotlight appeared out of nowhere. And you better not drop the point because this is your chance. If you ever blow it here, it's like, okay, get on down at the end of the table. We got a lot of complaints when we first started the podcast about people, you know, us interrupting each other.

But we're really more y'all because I wasn't on much and I was more on the other side of the camera. But I was always like, man, if you think that's bad, you should have seen what it used to be like. I mean, this is a tame down version, you know. But it's how we process. You know, everybody's talking and collaborating. So it's fun. Yeah, I was in Massachusetts, and a guy I was there that listens to our podcast, and he was describing to a person there that doesn't watch it. And he was like, you know, this is what it's

like. He said, now it took me a little bit at first. He said, because they kept interrupting each other, and I thought, man, these people are so rude. They won't let each other finish a sentence. He said, but after a while, I realized that's how they discuss things. And so I was like, you got it, dude. You know, he's explaining it. So I thought it's pretty funny. All right, so in the book of Matthew, you got something going, Jason? I always got something going. Turn him loose, huh? I think we left off.

We left off at the Matthew. We just covered the first part there of the Transfiguration. Transfiguration, which is, to me, one of the greatest stories in Matthew Marluck or John. No doubt. Because he's saying, I got the power. This is possible. Just think if you're standing there as being. Or nothing is impossible.

Well, I think that's what led him to this next story, the healing of the boy with the demon. When they came to the crowd in verse 14 of 17, a man approached him, knelt before him. Lord, have mercy on me. He has seizures and has suffered greatly. He often falls into fire or in the water I brought him to your disciples. but they could not heal him. And so Jesus said, O unbelieving and perverse generation,

how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me. Jesus rebuked the demon. It came out. He was healed. Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, well, why couldn't we drive that out?

He said, because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say this mountain move, from here to there and it will move. And then he said, what you just said, nothing will be impossible for you. When they came together in Galilee,

he said to him the son of man is going to be betrayed in the hands of men. They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life. And the disciples were filled with grief, which is ironic. Yep. What would he have to do for them to give? for them to get it, that death is not the end. The very thing that saved them from their sins

and gave them immortality, they were grieving about it. Yeah. Not understanding this is the only way this is going to work. That's the second time, by the way, that Matthew recorded what Jesus said. I'm going up to Jerusalem. There was no dilly-dallying around, just straightforward,

and they like, when they... Can you remember? Imagine somebody said, by the way, let me just explain something to you. And he says it once. Well, the next thing they know, he says it again. And they're like, going up to Jerusalem. Well, then he says it again, and again. And they will kill him, and on the third day, he'd be raised alive.

If someone tells you that your neighbor says, look, Phil, I'm going over here and take a trip, they're going to kill me. But in three days, I'll be back. I'll come back from the dead. I would say, what? you'd say yeah okay yeah well that's what they said yeah okay buddy even the ones with him had difficulty believing what he said it's hard to believe practically I mean look this looks good on a poem saying nothing will be impossible for you

could people come up with all this stuff all the time that's why I brought up you know marvels coming out with a new movie called Eternals you know why because somebody got in a room and said, let's call it Eternals. Now, is something eternal actually going to happen in that movie? No. No. But they're calling at that because you're thinking, whoa, something eternal could happen. Let's go check it out.

And so by the time you eat enough popcorn and drink a Coke, you don't care. You were entertained and you left, but nothing eternal is going to happen. Well, I think that's just the natural way of viewing these things. He said nothing will be impossible for you. Well, then they're filled with grief two verses later because he said he was going to die. But he also said he was coming back. And they're like, oh, man, this is sad. They didn't have the wine skins to hold his new wine.

And even the part before that, when they weren't able to produce. the miracles because of their lack of faith, I mean, keep it mind, this is directly after they saw the transfiguration of Jesus with Moses and Elijah, which you would think would have emboldened them in their faith. And still, it's like it's, it's just the nature of kind of our humanity is like even in the midst of these miracles and things that are happening, they still would go back to their own selves for the source of their whatever they're trying to produce. And I think that's his point and the part about when he says, you know, your lack of faith is why you couldn't perform these.

And he says the faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains, you know. I think what the point is is that like it's not about what you're producing. It's about what I'm producing. And we always try to go back to ourselves in that and wind up with the same results. By the way, Jason, in the next section, he discusses the temple tax. you know, tax collectors, it's brought up repeatedly on the flow of money and what's required of the human race by man-made constructs. They're always tax the people.

And it's pretty interesting the way this unfolds about paying taxes. Hang on, Dad, for it. Let's take a break. And what's more interesting about that, Dad, is this particular tax was a temple tax. So they're Jewish. And, you know, to worship, they go to the temple. And so the powers that be had decided that they were going to tax people to come and worship God, which was really interesting because you don't see anything about this in the Old Testament. I never something much about temple tax.

There was a, you know, you're supposed to give a tenth to be able to uphold the priesthood, the Levites. But they have just decided to make some money off of worship. and so it's interesting because Jesus says... I wonder if that ever caught on in modern day. Well, maybe, maybe. Yeah, exactly. It became about that. And, of course, his point is he says, look, these people out here, these other kingdoms,

and that could have been Rome, who was occupying Israel? He's like, who do they tax? They tax their own sons and daughters? Or they tax these other people that they have conquered? And they were like, well, the ones they conquered. And he says, well, then as sons, we don't. don't have to pay either. But so I won't offend, go out and catch a fish and in his mouth, as Jay's talked about last time, there's going to be some coins in there. So the question is,

did Jesus, through his power of being divine, put the coins in the mouth of the fish? Did the the fish scoop them up? And Jesus knew where the fish was. I mean, you know, the miracle could be seen in a lot of different ways. But what he was showing again, just like he showed with the power over the evil being is that he has the power to create what he needs to to get by. But I always thought it was interesting. He could have conjured up. He could have just stuck his hand in his pocket and conjured up those two coins. Why did he put them in a fish?

He could create matter and destroy it. That's right. He's already shown that from the feeding of the several thousand people. Because that process is fun, too. It's why I metal detect. But why I do it? The process is fun. I don't know any other reason why he would send him down there to catch a fish.

Well, what is that? Catching a fish? That's fun. I don't care who you are. It's also fun to find coins in mysterious places or lost places. But it's also another element, Judge, to show his power. And I think, you know, what I believe this whole section that started back in 14 is about him strengthening their faith. And to Zach's point earlier, discipleship, and we've all done it for years.

I mean, we're constantly being disciples or discipleing other people. And when you're young in the faith especially, and these guys are, I mean, they still hadn't even gotten to the big moment yet. But discipleship is always two steps forward, one step back, because we're human beings. And so I think you see that so clearly in these few chapters about the disciples, because every time they seem to make an advance of understanding, then they seem to take a step back a misunderstanding, you know? And so that's what continues to happen over and over again.

But he also referred him as family. He was also giving the picture. That's why we come up with this forever family. You just think about it. He was transfigured to show the other power. And then he predicted his death, bail, and resurrection. And then you have this thing come up with the taxes. But he's referring to them as sons.

But he's like, we don't. don't want to offend them, even though we're the sons of God here. That's right. So we'll pay it. I love it because he's giving them a picture that, oh, we're the sons and daughters of God. These taxes are, this is almost like he was acting like this is just meaningless. But we don't want to offend them. So go down there and catch you a fish.

You'll find their taxes. Give it for me and you. I mean, how do you make that up? Well, you're seeing the gospel being played out in advance here because he says the sons are exempt. Primarily, he was exempt because he was the son of God, right? But however, even though I'm exempt, I'm a son of God, however, I know I don't have to pay this, you know, however, so that we don't offend them, go do it, and I'll provide the payment, which I think is another foreshadowing of the gospel of how Christ did not deserve. death, but yet he paid the penalty.

He substituted, he's substitutional penal atonement. That Christ paid the penalty, he substituted what we were due, what we owed, he said, I'll pay that. So you kind of see a foreshadow here. I believe there's a point to be made

that, you know, we all pay taxes then and now. We pay taxes kind of begrudgingly. In the grand scheme of thing, things, paying taxes, which we've all done, it doesn't amount to much, no matter how much you pay. I don't mope around because I'll pay the government taxes.

Well, and some people will be like, I'm going to be an anarchist. I'm not going to pay any taxes. And there's always a group that rises up to say that. And nobody hates to pay taxes more than me, especially when I see how the money is wasted. But at the same time, when I look at stories like this, or, when Jesus said in another context, give to Caesar's what is Caesar's, I'm like, I'm going to pay the tax. I don't like it. I don't think it's fair. I try to elect people that would cut our taxes, but at the same time, you're right, Dad. I mean, I live in a place that's a, you know, it's a pretty

good place to live. It's got a lot of flaws, but at the end of the day. This issue could have cost him dearly on behalf of the Romans, but he didn't stir them up. He said, no, you pay taxes, you know, give the Caesar what's Caesar's. Give God what's God. He kept it simple. Yeah, he was... He didn't rebel against it. He was dismissal of kind of,

he was dismissal of kind of these political issues. But the irony is, is even though he was dismissal of kind of the Roman structure and the Jewish structure and just kind of like, yeah, pay the tab, whatever, do the thing, that's not really what we're concerned with here. But the irony is, is that it did what he taught and what he was and who, you know, and who the embodiment of Christ ended up bringing down the entire structure, both the Jewish temple and the Roman, the Roman hegemony, the Roman power structure. And so, yeah, I think it's just interesting.

But that wasn't his goal. That was a byproduct. I think for us, what's in that is like we get so hung up on, like, we've got to make sure that, you know, we preserve America. And I'm not saying that we shouldn't. But what I am saying is that that is a byproduct of doing kingdom work. a healthy American kingdom is going to be the byproduct of a healthy, godly kingdom in America. Yeah, a bunch of river rats down on the river decided they shouldn't pay taxes,

and the wrath of the government will come up on you. He just cut through every bit of that in about this much in the Bible. You know why they wouldn't pay taxes? Because they kept catching fish, and they kept looking in there, and there wasn't any coin. They said, I'd pay it if I could catch one of those. fish, but I just can't do it. Which to me, Jay, this is a great overarching point

is that ultimately God provides for whatever it is you need. And so, you know, look, I spent most of my life because I was in ministry not making a lot of money and therefore I didn't pay a lot of taxes. I mean, most of my life I didn't pay a lot of taxes. Well, guess what happened when I started making a little money?

I had to start paying taxes. But I realized that God provided that. I also enjoy a lot of things in my life that he gave me as a blessing for being true to him. So look, it's, God will provide. So if you get stingy and you start thinking like, no, this is about me, then you're going to run into some serious problems.

You can't worry about. Correct. They're going to waste it, which they probably are. But that's a good story to share our responsibility. I mean, we don't want to offend anybody. What I wanted to read, getting back to this, the part I was inferring was Galatians 326. It says, you're all sons of good.

through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who are baptized into Christ have put on or clothes yourselves with Christ. There's neither Jew, Greek, slave, free. You're all one in Christ Jesus. Then he goes on and kind of explains this in chapter four. He says, what I'm saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. he is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by the father. So also, when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world. But when the time had fully come, God sent his son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law so that we might receive the full rights of sons.

Because you are sons, God sent his spirit into our hearts. So you're no longer a slave, but a son. And since you're a son, God has made you an heir. Yep. I think he was introducing the bigger principle. Yep. That because of my son, you're going to be sons. And we're not worried about these worldly, what you're going to do with money and all that.

The air of what I have is everything, everything good and life. and that's what you'll be a part of. I mean, I think it's a window into what we get to partake in because of God's power. It's a great point, Jason. Really, if you're a co-air of the entire universe, does the temple tax, should that really make your blood pressure go up? No. I mean, in the big scheme of things, we're co-hears of the universe with Jesus.

So I think sunship is more important than that. All right, well, we're out of time. We'll try to do better next time. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast. Help us out by rating us on iTunes. And don't miss an episode by subscribing on YouTube and be sure to click that little bell to get notified about new episodes.

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