Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 591 | Jase Explores a Scathing Parable & Puppets of the Roman Empire

Episode Date: December 2, 2022

Jase takes a closer look at the teachers of the law and the anger that Jesus expressed when he saw the activities taking place in the temple. Phil finds the unmistakable trait that all people have when they are rejecting Jesus as their savior, and Jase talks about the unremarkable character of the people Jesus chose to do his work in. And Al details the most frustrating tax that people were once forced to pay! The Blind hits theaters in 2023. Get updates, trailers, behind-the-scenes moments, and special opportunities here: https://theblindmovie.com - Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? So welcome back, Unashamed. We still got Zach in-house, as predicted, which is great. The prophecy was true. The prophecy was fulfilled right here, Zach in-house. We were going to just dive right in because we really got into Mark 12 in the last chapter. We started out with this parable that Jesus gives. it's a thinly veiled parable because the people who he was talking about got it, the crowd got it.

And of course, what he's doing is, as Jay said, is he's picking his fight now because he's out there. So we did say this in overtime that in Mark 1127, he identifies the people who are trying to trap him and argue with him because he is a threat to their release. establishment, which he established. And now he's trying to fulfill that in making it, you know, through prophecy and all the things that the Son of God is here. The kingdom has come. I'm the king. And he's now gone public.

And these people, Jays, have been, they've been on the fringe through the whole time, these three years he's been doing all this. I think that's why Mark lays his out geographically. You know, he was up here. He was over there. He was in the Dacopoulos. Now he's, he's come in what they think is their house. But what Jesus knows, no, this is my house.

And so there's the clash. You know, there's the clash because he's in the heart of Jerusalem at the temple. Which is the nature of like how corruption works, right? You have an institution that people start with good intentions. And it blows up and does well. And then it gets bigger and more powerful, whatever. and then people come in co-op that and kind of like the parasites, they suck off of it.

And they're sitting here and Jesus's temple, it's his temple. And they think that this is somehow their temple. That's right. Because they've been running the show for the last however many years. Right. And this guy shows up and he's flipping over tables and he's doing it. And they're like, who's authority way to wait. Who do you think you are?

Who do you think you are coming here doing this? And they can't just kill him outright because the crowd. at this point is with him. Because they have, he's doing miracles, which confirmed they're like, this is not a magic trick. Right. This guy was dead.

And he's, Lazarus was dead and now he's alive. Well, you know, if you were part of that, and I made that illustration last time, I mean, you're, you're jumping up and down ready to really die in that moment because you're like, evidently he can bring back to death. We read that in the last podcast from John Levin,

the arrogance. They saw and they said, what are we going to do about this guy? I mean, people are believing. If we keep this going, everybody's going to believe this guy. But he's a storyteller. So he gives him this parable about the vineyard. And I love that.

What was the one you read, the version of this where the people spoke back was that? It was in Matthew. Matthew. And the people speak back. They're like, you know what? These wretched wretches. So you can have the irony of that was, him telling this where. and the meaning of it was that God sent the prophets to them

and he's trying to share with them, like we've said many times, Jesus has come. I'm coming to the earth. Yeah. I'm in the form of a man. I mean, that's what he was trying to get them to see.

And they killed the prophets. They didn't put their faith and trust in Jesus. And the irony of all this is, speaking of vineyard and they would kill his son. I mean, he's telling them what's fixed to happen. And we pointed out that three different times he predicted his death, but he actually predicted it here in this parable, which would be a fourth one. But the irony that hit me was that later on,

Paul would record that Jesus Christ was the first fruits from among the dead. So he tells this parable about the vineyard, and he sends his son and they kill him. And even that would be used as a picture of Jesus being the first fruits, which implies this is going to happen. And that's interesting. You're right. He tells the story,

and it hasn't happened yet. That hadn't happened yet. So you can imagine their... Not a mind-bender. You can imagine their frustration, all right? You're on the opposite end of Jesus. Just think about it. You've been running the show.

It's your structure, your temple, your protocols, your network. This is your building. And this guy shows up and doesn't answer a question. You can't trap him. Every time you think you're going to trap him, he comes in with a whole other thing that blows everybody's mind. The people are getting behind him. You can imagine if your heart's not right, how angry. I mean, they were seething with rage at this man in Jesus who is, I mean, but.

But instead of seeing as conviction, they saw it as threatening because we've been talking about that in the power. You know what reminds me of like, you know, all of us speak. in front of crowds. And sometimes you're just into it, man, the Holy Spirit, the study, it's all coming out. And you got people talking back. Come on, come on, bring it. And then there's one guy sitting there that's just stone cold. He's not buying it.

And that's the one. You know, you're looking at him. And afterwards, he's like, I got a problem with you, preacher. And that's because the message was convicting, but the heart wasn't right. And so, you know, it's kind of what it reminds you of in this scenario. So if you're following along, he's, Mark, does it. many times he tells a story within a story. In this case, he's going to bring up two arguments politically and, I guess, about the afterlife, because you have three new groups of people

who are going to enter the argument stage, which they're not new, but they're the Pharisees and the Herodians in chapter 12 and 13, so we're going to talk about Pan Texas, which is a highly controversial paragraph. We'll get into. And then in 18, the Sagittesies come along who say there's no resurrection and they have a question to try to trap Jesus in one keeping the marriage law, this marriage and divorce and what happens if your spouse dies and what happens if you're married seven times at the resurrection? Well, who's going to be who's going to be the husband and the wife? I mean, you've created a system that won't work from their opinion. But then when he gets to 28, we're back to the teachers of the law because one of the teachers

the law heard these arguments and now we have another question which leads to another issue in the temple courts in verse 35 we're we're back with the religious leaders and then i love 41 when it gets to the end because he it gets to what jesus is all about in the new kingdom that these participants in the kingdom they may look poor they may be poor in spirit they may be weeping They may not have anything, but they're the most powerful people on the planet because of his power, his success, you know, his glory and his virtue. And we had talked about, Judge, just to reiterate this because we're fixing to read it, that the Herodians popped up back in Mark 3, you know, making sort of these alliances. And you've got to remember, this is all part of the political picture because you've got, you still have Herod and you've got this Jewish, but they're puppets. You know, they're not even.

puppets of the Roman Empire. Exactly. These aren't real, yeah, this is, yeah, but it is political. I mean, you have to recognize what's going on here. And I would argue that even the Pharisees and Sadducees were political groups. I mean, yes, they were, you know, part of the Jewish culture and part of the temple and all that. But this is, there's a lot of jockeying for power going on here. Right.

And so these alliances are made, so Pharisees and Herodians, who don't get along about anything, but in their hatred for Jesus, it brought them together. Same thing is going to happen later, the Bible tells us, with Herod himself and Pontius Pyle. They've never gotten along, but in this scene about what to do with Jesus, they wind up becoming pals going forward. So it's kind of like the evil alliance. And I will say this. Now, this may be deep, but he is laying the groundwork for introducing a phrase. that we've come to maybe take for granted a little bit,

but I would call it understanding what a living hope is. Because Jesus, it's going to look like he gets crushed. Everybody abandons him. He had nothing. We put down the insurrection. This crazy radical thinks he's something and can do all these magic treats. Well, now what are you going to do? We're going to crucify you like the, you know, whatever adjective you want to put in there that you are.

And you're, now what are you going to do? You know, they're mocking him and they're scouraging. He saved others, but he can't save himself. And then all of a sudden, uh-oh, he comes back from the dead. And so what that does, all these times that he's telling us to deny ourselves and bring, you want to follow me? Carry your cross. Give up everything you have.

Go sell everything you have. This, which seems to be a miserable calling to give up all world. success and endure pain and learn from it and go through your wilderness. But he's introducing a concept of living hope because what you think about your future, and this has been proven, whether you're a believer or not, affects how you live. You will endure whatever. If you know at the end of the road, you're coming out of the ground. I mean, there's been numerous movies and different things where, you know, two guys were

in prison. You know, one of them, his family died while he was in prison. Well, he was dead a year later. The other one had his wife and his kids waiting on him, and he just endured. And he did it because that love for maybe seeing them one day affected how he lived in his attitude. So I think we take that for granted because he's laying the groundwork for that so that later on, 2,000 years later, it may look really rough your life and you may lose

your job and you may lose your marriage spouse you know i mean all these things happen but you know in your mind when you look at the story of jesus that ultimate victory came through him laying down his life and being resurrected it produced a concept that was foreign to the world which is a living hope on earth i think that's the power of the passion of christ and um you know mel gipson did that film a few years pack. By the way, there's a, the sequels coming out. I've heard the resurrection. Yeah. So that's going to be exciting.

Yeah. But, you think about, like, when you watch that movie, the passion, and, you know, we try to watch it every Easter. And it's like when this, it's not an enjoyable experience, right? I mean, it's not like, I mean, I have to, like, gear myself up to watch it because of the brutality of it. And so, you know, I think about, like, my own life. And I think about how Jesus.

this question on taxes, for example, and it's like, you know, we get so bent out of shape of our, of how we're disenfranchised here on this. Maybe it's a religious liberties argument. Maybe it's a political, whatever the thing is that you're like bent out of shape about, and then you see the son of God having his flesh ripped off of his back and just beat to a living pulp. And you're just like, it could be worse. It was worse. You know, And to me, it's in that, like, it's in this death, in the way that he died, in this, the humility of it all. And when I said the humility, I don't mean like the humility. I mean, it was humiliating.

You know what I mean? It was a complete mockery. I mean, they're talking about, and you see that it was that, in that was the seeds being sown of a life that was coming forth from the grave that would, that would literally change the entire history of the universe. Every time I read this text, Zach Orr, watch the passion, I mean, I come away with extreme gratitude because I view this event of the passion as for me. And, you know, when they're down there sopping up his blood with, you know, with rags and towels, I mean, in the moment of watching that, I'm thinking, all that was for me. Well, that's what separates what Jesus did from all other religious so-called people.

I mean, at some point you realize that his blood, it goes down through all the politics and through all the bureaucracies and it finds you. And that's why he tells the story about you lose one. You got a hundred cheat, you lose one. Well, he's going to go get it. That's why I'm eating with this riffraff. He actually was the only power on earth

that just looked at all people equally, no matter where they were from, what they did. And all these, when we brought this up last podcast, these powers that be that are, attacking him, they tended to cater to the people that agreed with them. And since Jesus obviously didn't agree, that's why this is sickening, where the teachers of the law and the chief priest and the powers that be, they were not really, didn't have political prowess. So what do they do? They're the ones that sent in verse 13 later, these teachers of the law, because Jesus just

gave them a scathing parable. Before we read that, let's take a break. To your point, now there's four of us sitting here, and we all know each other well, Ken folks. I've been at this for about 50 years. And what stands out to me, and I see it here in all of this and all these arguments these people were making

so they wouldn't follow Jesus. You present Jesus to people, and it's not rocket science, you know. He died, was buried and raised from them. the dead. But the same, I noticed there's something that always flows within the people that have not moved at all. For whatever reason, you end up, you're telling them about Jesus. And that thing is, what's available is classically seen, and every one of them is misery. It's misery. It's just stark misery. You're trying to.

to get them to turn off her and get up and curse you know and just when you're pointing them to jesus you'd think but misery's there and by the same same uh observation i've seen you you boys here y'all now in your 50 is going towards 60 or whatever but there's one thing i never see in any of you misery i don't i don't see you're not miserable miserable miserable people they're there by the billions surrounding going everywhere. It's just stark misery. And to your point, it's not necessarily not just, it's amazing to watch.

People who just don't have, even people who are wealthy, who have possession. Yeah. A lot of misery. A lot of misery. Because you think those things will supply you what you want. It's an ethos of bitterness that just permeates. Yeah.

It is. And he's basically talking to these people. That's what he's talking about. It's going to all end up that they are going to suffer misery. Well, these religious leaders who are miserable should have been embracing Jesus. They should be, you know, having palm branches and saying, here we go. They should have joined those. And their doubt is just a sign and showing of misery.

So watch this. Let me read this. So later, verse 13 and 12, they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus because they have the political power to do something about this guy. We're going up the scale. Oh, they, it's a coup. And to catch him in his words, and this is, look, it's hard to read stuff like this, because watch what they say.

They came to him and said, teacher, we know you're a man of integrity. Yeah. So political. Watch out. How political is it? Watch out when people are flattering you. That's right. It gets worse.

You aren't swayed by men because you pay no attention to who they are, which is, I just made that point. He treated everyone from the peasant, even in his parable. You think about the servants he was sending the prophets. What were they? They were humble people. They were shepherds. They were fig gatherers.

They were the prophets of all. There was just normal people that he chose and because of their character and their surrender towards him. So look, then he says, let's see, where am I? You aren't swayed by men because you pay no attention to who they are, but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Incredible. Everything they said is right, but they're totally lying. So I thought the next question should be, can we follow you?

That's right. But instead, you get this question. Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay? Should we pay or shouldn't we pay? This is... And then they sit back and go, well, now deal with that.

What this is, this is like, we don't like the Roman Empire. Right. These people do not like the Roman Empire. Correct. But so what they're trying to do is, now they're going to try to shift this burden over to the Romans. Because if he says, yeah, you don't have to pay Caesar.

Now, the other translations, they say imperial, imperial tax and I looked it up and it was basically the worst tax they had which is just you pay to be part of the Roman yeah alive on planet Earth that was a census tax yeah if you say I'm here then you got to pay yeah and basically they're paying Rome to to oversee you it's it was like a mafia situation and look and you need protection so pay us so you read the history you go back how a fascinating read like 25 years before this there was a little bit of a little bit of leader who revolted and said, I ain't doing it. I'm not paying this. It's just ridiculous. They had a tea party. Yeah, it led to an insurrection and guess what? They revolted and died.

Because the Romans are saying, pay us taxes so it'll protect you. Who, from whom? Us. Everybody was aware of that. So basically you have this trap to the question. If Jesus says pay the tax, Well, then the people were going to bring a new, what are you saying? You're for this? I mean, and this Caesar, he was a fatifal and adulter. I mean, you know, everything the Lord is for, he's against and vice versa. So, and if you don't pay the tax, well, then the authorities, we're back to insurrection. Right.

You're creating insurrection. They need to be killed. They got him. Yeah, it's a trap. They got him. There's no way out of this. Which if it, of course, the Lord answers the best way, but if it had been me, I would answer like Fletcher did on Josie Wells, Senator, don't pee down my back and tell me it's right.

Guess what? This is as controversial today as it was anyway, because now you're getting into a political argument, which is this, verse 10. And it's a yes or no question, which in any media coverage of any political event, how many times did the media or any kind of Congress, they're seated? And they're asking the question, they'll say, please answer whether yes or no. Yeah, yeah. It's never going to happen. They're never going to say. They start talking, yes or no, please.

And he's like, now in 1994, yes or no, please. They're not going to say yes or not. Should we pay or shouldn't we? That's a simple question. But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. And his answer is, why are you trying to trap me? So he didn't answer the question. He answered the question with a question, which is in any political,

world they say that's the greatest thing you can ever do and jesus but he also destroys the narrative of all that flattery yeah it's like he did well you know as you said i'm a noble man who teaches only truth he just says why he turned it was all the trout because they were bragging on him so they put him on the spot everybody's watching this is a moment here this so yeah now now now i think there's some irony in here that i this is the i told last podcast when i was sitting in my house where he my Bible 1 o'clock in the morning, I was like, oh my goodness, it hit me in this next statement, because he asked, bring me a denara and let me look at it. They brought the coin, and he asked them, whose portrait or image, I think is a better rendering is this, and whose inscription?

Caesar's, they replied, then Jesus said to them, give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God, what is gods and they were amazed at him now the reason they were amazed i think we need to discuss and i'm gonna i'm gonna i'm gonna know i'm gonna uh bring out a couple of points that this this word that he used when it said give uh the king james version says rendered and it because it's a different word than the one you know is it right to pay what did they ask him is it right to pay taxes to caesar or not And so the rendering that he said, give to Caesar means you give him what you deserve. It's not give as in a gift or because it's your deity. So think about that.

Give to Caesar what he deserves. And so that's his answer. Now, so what is your initial thoughts? And then I'll give you all my epiphany. Well, I mean, my initial thought is he, they're trying to get him to, as you'd, property laid out to choose one or the other, and he chooses both. We're here. Caesar's here.

But there's a lot of individuals. There's a lot of individuals then and now that they really hate to pay taxes. Oh. And I'm one of them. I don't like it. But I live here and I'm a citizen of this country. Think about two ironies here. So the actual coin, I looked it up because y'all know I'm a treasure hunter and I'm into

I actually thought when I was studied, I thought about you. I was like, well, this is Jason. This is where, hang on, let's take a break. To my surprise, on the coin, you had this Tiberius Caesar and it says, son of divine Augustus. Now just think of that statement. Son of divine. And on the other side, it said, highest priest. So here's a king who produced a coin. They were his coin.

He took his material and made the coin. Right. So in this instance, it's a little different than our government deal. This guy had all this wealth. He possessed all the coins and distributed it to the people and was like, you pay it back. But his image. Through commerce and business. What he portrayed on the coin was son of a god, highest priest.

King. And so here is the Son of God, who is God's and our high priest, king introducing the kingdom. And that's where Jesus went, because his answer was, whose image is this? So he went to the image of the coin. Well, whose image is Jesus? He's the son of God. He's the high priest and he's king. That's what he was doing. So I think when he said render, you know, give, you give him what he deserves. Yeah, he didn't say no, don't pay the tax, but he's basically saying out from under that because he's not really supporting what he's doing, but he's like, well, he created this little cute picture with these claims that are not true. But you give to God what is God's. Well, we're created in the image of God.

And so I think you see the irony in that, which is give him his little coin, but you give God your allegiance. I mean, you give him your life. He wants your heart. That's why I made a big deal about that word. I mean, I think the NIV did a terrible job translating that. Yeah, I think it should be render is a better translation. Now, look, you go study it yourself and I could be wrong. No, I've read that too.

It's giving back to Caesar what it's more of what is already his. Yeah, which is what I said. He created the coin. And I think what he's getting out here, I think this point that he's getting out here is that because the big question I would have is, well, what's God's? Okay, fine, the coin is Caesar's, but what's God's? I think the answer is God wants the heart. He wants your heart. And that's why when we move further along into Mark 12, when they try to trap him again later on with the question, what's the greatest commandment, Jesus, does give an answer them.

I mean, that one, he doesn't, it's not a quirky answer, it's not a zinger, it's not a play on words, it's not a gotcha moment, which it has been up into this point. All these things have been like just him intellectually scalding the leaders. I look at it as like,

up into this point, it's like that scene in every high school movie where you have the new kid that moves in the school and he's being picked on by the, by the jock, and he just totally embarrasses him in front of the whole school. You know, it's like that moment where Jesus is embarrassing these people. He's exposing them. But then there is that moment where they say, what's the greatest commandment?

And there's like a, this is like a moment in the Bible in Jesus's ministry where it was just complete sincerity of this is what I'm after. I'm after the heart. There's no doubt. And there's a ton of implications of what that means. I mean, I think it's one of those things that I've been a Christian for. 20, 22 years. And I still don't really know what that means for you. I mean, I'm, I'm just scratching the surface of that. But I think whatever that means to give God my heart, I think when you talked

about misery, Phil, like what follows people who refuse to give their heart to God is misery. That's right. So I know whatever it is to give my heart to God, I know that it smells a lot like peace of mind. Well, that's why last podcast I brought up the sermon on the Mount, because those heart like qualities poor in spirit and hungering and thirsting for righteousness and humbled and meek. And you're in a position to give God your heart because you realize I'm not going to be able to pull this off. And so here, I think the irony of this, because we talked about Jesus owned everything but had nothing.

That's why people couldn't recognize him as a king. And we talked about all the things he borrowed. Remember the thing? He borrowed a colt. He borrowed the upper room. He borrowed a house. He borrowed boats so he could preach in. He borrowed food. And some of them he gave back the way it was. Like he said, I'll return the coat. Some he took and did a miracle and had more food. Well, here, he had to borrow a coin, which is, I think, ironic. And here, so you have two sides, two kings. You have one who owns all the coins in the. world literally he produced them and then you have another king on the other side who had to borrow one to make a point he didn't say let me get this out of my pocket yeah i i think there's some irony in here that shows you some truth but look and it does come forward to today because the same trap is laid out people do it today they'll think what's got to be either or you know no it's both and we live here so whatever the government is wherever you live on the planet there's a government

Guess what? They're going to print money and it's going to have their leaders on it. That's what ours do. And they're going to waste a lot. They're going to waste a lot. And look, and on our money, it says in God we trust, still, they've been trying to get it off. It says it on there. So both are mentioned on our money. E pluribus unum, you know, out of many one.

But you don't give your allegiance to it. And I think that's what he said. No, and that's it's the point. It's a place of extremes. And you see that. And I think he's somewhat addressing that because you see the, the radical edge of, of this or people just say, well, we're not supporting it. We're going to go move to a mountain.

We ain't paying taxes and we're going to seclude ourselves from the world. The problem of that is that flies in the face from every text about where the light of the world, where the salt of the earth, where God uses us in these situations. I mean, Jesus is going to the temple. Yeah. I mean, think about like, I mean, think about how long, well, I've been keeping up with the political battle since the late 90s when I was in college. and got into talk radio.

And here's what I can report after 20-something years of keeping up with it. People are still mad. I'm like, and at some point, I just had to come to the conclusion, I don't want to live my life in constant outrage. That's it. I mean, I'm going to give my head space over that if I'm not, I mean, it's like. And guess what, governments are corrupt. And look, and they waste money.

Yeah, big shocker. I mean, when you look, and here comes the misery. Yeah, it comes to the horn. Well, the other extreme is to be a zealot in these days, which was get a weapon. Yeah. We're going to, we're going to overturn it. By the way, one of the 12th, one of the silenians, zealot tendencies. He was a zealot.

He was a zeal. I mean, he was in that camp. But when he came over to Jesus, he's hearing a different message. Oh, but that's why Jesus's actual was so clever, which is basically giving him his little coin. but he didn't support that, but that's why I made it such a big deal about give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God.

And he made the point about whose image of that. Ultimately, God owns everything. Yeah. And compared to your life and the air that you're breathing and your talents and skills. There's a lot of people running around, Jay. There's a lot of people that doesn't give their money to either.

Well, right. That's a good point. heart. That's true. Yeah. But look, from our perspective, let's take a break, from our perspective, the government, the one that prints our money, they're powerful. And they could come in to the four of us. They could come in tomorrow, take all our money, put us in jail for whatever. Somebody makes up something. And it'd be hard for them in our system to take our lives. But even if they did that, they still don't get us. I mean, we're committed to something. I think that's the big thing, right?

I mean, that's the opposite of misery that now my well-being is not tied to my circumstance. And the kingdom of God, my well-being is not tied to my circumstance or what I'm consuming. Like, I think that's that we've bought the lie that if we can consume possessions and victory and political power, if we can consume these things and somehow, that's not going to fulfill you. And Jesus is upside-down kingdom. That's what he's saying. like it's not a like no you want like actually you get fulfillment in my kingdom from giving well that's something i can do well right that's why look that's why two barric graphs later you have a because he

does this story within a story within a story within a story he then brings up this in 41 jesus and i think we should read it now he sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury now look if you go back and read two chapters there's a pretty good chance that what's going on at the temple treasury might have some issues or some corruption because he's overturning tables. So many rich people threw in large amounts, but a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny. Now he calls the disciples overtram, and he said, look, I tell you the truth, this poor widow

has put more into the treasury than all the others. they all gave out of their wealth but she out of her poverty put in everything all she had to live on you said what was his point was he trying to to share why you should support the temple probably not

he just turned over the tables and talked about what a mockery they'd made out of anna a tin of robbers so obviously he didn't even about the money right no it just it shows you that the what his kingdom represents, and that's why I brought up to Luke 6, and I want to bring it up again,

because I really think that's his point. When he says, in Luke 6, in verse 20, when he said, blessed are you who are poor for yours, the kingdom of heaven, you read the Matthew 5, the poor in spirit, you know, those qualities that he's after, you have your heart ready to receive Jesus in this state. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you'll be satisfied. bless you who weep for you will have bless are you men who hate you when they so you're putting your your heart in a position to realize that jesus offers the solution he his power is what's going to carry me through his success so then he he turned it around and 24 woe do you who are rich for you

that's why he made these comments about it so hard for a rich man to inherit the kingdom of god because when you're comfortable, when you're successful, and when you got a lot of money, you're under a delusion that somehow another, you're a powerful person on the planet. And you're going to beat death and you're going to somehow justify the mistakes you've made. And it's just not going to happen. I mean, you're not going to have a purpose in life that doesn't end on you transferring all your power and people arguing about what to do with your money. You are no longer here. And at the end of the day. And it will happen.

You know, every time someone close to me dies, you know, I've lost, I lost two grandparents a few years of COVID. And my mom died before that, but it's when you're going through their house and you're going through their stuff and you're dividing it up at the end, it's a sobering thought, you know. A lot of it goes in the trash. And then the rest of it just gets kind of like divided up. My granddad on everything that he owned. I don't know why he did this. he put his name and his phone number, I guess, in case he lost it.

I mean, his coffee mugs had like a, like, I mean, everything. He, like, he didn't want to lose it. And I'm like, and I'm sitting here at the end of his life, and I've got all this stuff with his name on it. I'm like, it's just, it, he could, it didn't matter, right? It didn't matter. Yeah.

Yeah, and, and, and, and, and, and, like, you think, well, man, I, you can understand the frustration that people have in the misery. That's why, because there's that, that thing right there is, like, nagging at all of us. I think if, and for those who refuse to move into Jesus's kingdom, like, that's got to produce a, it's miserable because that is your faith. That is your end. That's, that's where this thing is headed. And I just, I think when Jesus is looking at this coin and he's like, all these things he's

talking about here, he's just, he's just kind of like this, putting a spotlight on all that. I think you're right, just to read that text in with the context of the question they ask, because it really does come down to which heart do you want to have. Because right before that, he just drives the teachers of the law, and it's not pretty. Nope. What they love, they love to be seen. I was trying to make a point that the reason this is controversial is because people go here to say whether you should pay taxes or not. But nobody ever goes to the widow's offering and saying, well, how come you're supporting all this mess in the temple here?

They've obviously missed it. Yeah. I mean, Jesus cannot be any more clear. And the problem is, is because we're talking about, you know, your money and the way the government operates. And remember, whatever political party you are, you're going to be able to find some problems with the government. And remember in the first century culture, the other than children, which are even lesser, but the widow woman is as low as you go. I mean, she's got nothing. She's got nobody to take care of her.

And so that's the picture he's saying, that's who I'm with. You know, Sunday, I preached a sermon. And you know, people are like, they appreciate this. You said that. I mean, I didn't understand that. And you get all these comments afterwards, but there was a little widow lady at our church that we all have known her whole life. And she got to where she kind of doesn't recognize people now.

But as I was walking out, she walked, somebody was helping her to get outside to her car. And she looked and, of course, I had just preached. And she looked at and she said, Alan, is that you? I said, yes, ma'am, it's me. And then she kissed me on both cheeks. And I thought, you know, out of any thing good that happened today, that was the greatest blessing I got. You know, because she's all in.

You know, it's that hard. And I think that's what Jesus is talking about. That's what he looks for. That's a good point that you bring up, too, with the kind of people that Jesus is holding up as the leaders in the kingdom. It doesn't make any sense. Even at his resurrection, you think, I mean, women were, I mean, I think it was Josephus said that a testimony of a woman was like out of a dog or something.

I can't remember the exact quote. And it was, that that's who Jesus chose. to bear witness to his resurrection. That's right. So, I mean, there's, like, all kind of implications of the kingdom and how it would advance marginalized people. I mean, you think about, like, Jesus was, I mean, what he was doing was completely groundbreaking.

Oh, exactly. And just transformation. That's why I keep bringing up this point, and I hope we get it, that when you think of any government or any court system or what is the purpose of that? Why do we have that? it should be to to have all people reach their potential and be their best. And to have true justice.

Yeah, to have true justice. People are wrong. For all people. Here's the problem. That's not happening. No. Only in Jesus will you find the answer to racism, to ultimate unity,

to taking care of injustice, to helping the poor, look, to health care. You know, how much money did he ever blow? I guess every time he had. He had to borrow a quarter. He's going around and I don't know of any, the only time I saw money chains hands was right here.

Well, he had to borrow a quarter. That's what I said. One piece. He's like, let me make an illustration. Coimine out of the fish. All right, quick, give me a quarter. Yeah, I need a coin to look at. Let's take our last break.

I just find it fascinating. And I think if you go down the political spectrum, when you look at what Jesus did on a daily basis, he actually was way more functional about helping all people in all circumstances, no matter what had happened from race. You know, it is kind of interesting. Give your money to Caesar and who was it? It was Caesar or the other, where do you say do it?

Give to Caesar what is Caesar? Yeah, give to Caesar. Yeah, what is good. But it's pretty funny that that's the only time. that money ever came up the whole time he was there. Right. Yeah, it really is. Well, and it's kind of like the deal about,

and we know, we talk about giving a lot, give to churches, give to charities. But really, I mean, his point here is that God doesn't really need your money. No, he does. There is the story about the, when Peter, you know, they tried to trap him about, you know, pay on a different kind of tax. And he said, I tell you what.

That was a temple tax. Yeah, go catch a fish. because I think this is I don't want to make light of it but it's almost comical I almost like chuckled when he said give to Caesar what his season I mean give him his little coin

that he made but you give to God what is God's well wouldn't the answer to that to be everything it's like yeah you can give him everything but you can give him his little coin with his little face on that's okay with his divine reference

because look I hate paying taxes. They're way too high. But guess what? With the Corinthians that they were a little bit stingy. When I get my tax bill, I'm like, take your little coins and do whatever it is you're going to do with it because I'm pretty sure it's not going to be very, very good, because I'm just looking at the track record.

But I'm not going to go dig a hole and bury it and live alone the rest of my days because I'm so fed up with the tax system, even though it is ridiculous. The reason you don't like it. and all of us don't is because our country was founded on two basic principles. The first one was religious liberty. I mean, a lot of people came here so they could worship God without the king overseeing them. And then not long after that, it was because we didn't like to pay taxes. So we started throwing stuff off the ship.

But I think that's why there's stories in here about the widow, because I'm like, you want to do something with my tax money? How about go help some widows and some orphans? I'll be for that. Yep. And I think we can get in discussions about tax reform. and I don't think that's bad. I think the big thing is is when it becomes a, like, that is your allegiance.

Yeah. Is to these political movements and causes. I mean, I've certainly, I mean, I've got political beliefs and I have economic philosophy that I hold to and I think I'm right. And sometimes you get caught up with it. Right. I mean, you can find, I think it's if you put it in perspective. And you ain't budging. Look, if you give your allegiance to God, but you also pay your taxes.

Yeah. But you're realizing that this is way down the list of where your allegiance lies. And you do it. And I think you justify it by what he said. And you can find the positives, you know, bridges and roads and different things that are happening that you can find a few positive things. You know, I mean, you don't want to be walking around. Because if you start reading in a lot of these bills that are passed on where the taxpayer money is going, I mean, look, there's whole shows and networks that run 24 cycles,

and they just tell where the money's going, and it just enrages people. If you want to sit up to that table every day of your life, you're going to walk around, grumpy and mad. That's why I'm like, just turn it off. Why are you doing this to yourself? And I think that needs to be sad. I mean, one day I'll tell my full testimony on this subject,

because it's been an incredible journey, and I could write a book about this. It would be controversial. It would be limitations to run out or? Yeah, I got to think about all that. But I will tell you that at some point, you just get, you have to ask yourself this question, do you want to be angry all the time? And I just, I think we have to have a different discussion as believers about,

and I'm not saying I have the answer yet, but we do, I think we have to rethink how we're having a discussion about, political things. I don't think, I think what's been happening is, it's put us in such a spot as believers. And I just think that there should be more transformation and joy. I mean, that I, well, Jesus is the one that transform. And I, the underlying current here is that by his death, he is going to accomplish power and success and he's, his love and all these, you know, his glory and goodness is going to be passed on to us through the Holy Spirit. And that's where we camp out. So it puts it in perspective in the world that we live in.

So, but why are we here? Why doesn't he just come back? Why? Oh, you know, because people, they'll watch the news for an hour and come tell me, the world's fixing the end. This is it. Yeah. I just watched it.

I mean, everything, we don't know a male from a female and we're giving taxes to, you know, whatever. People just get so upset and they're like, the world's fixed to end. And I'm like, this last election cycle, death of democracy, democracy is on the balance. It's all going to be over if we don't vote the right way. I'm like, the world is going to end when God has looked down and we have done what he wants us to do, which is making Jesus look good to the world, bringing people together, no matter what their culture or what their behavior or whatever you can come up with that divides us.

Because all these passages in the New Testament are going to come to light. There's neither male or female or social class or he brings people together at the foot of the cross he gives us grace he gives us love he gives us hope he brings us into a family i mean you just think every problem in the world he addresses right he gives a solution to and an answer and it's permanent it's not just we're going to see that in the next because they're going to come up with the afterlife and it's like you see how their mind's wearing they're like all right we couldn't get him on politics we couldn't get him on religion let's try the afterlife it's it's It's just one thing after another that they're trying to get it.

Just throwing spaghetti against the world. And you know what? I think, nope. I don't know the answer to all the questions, but I do know here's one answer. That when Jesus answered all these questions, the one word that I would say describes what he said was transcendent. It was just above it. It was above it. It was a whatever plane they were on, they were asking down here.

And he was answering up here in another world. that they were just like. And it was camouflaged through the opposite. He redefined success as they know it because we know what political powers do. Yeah. It's all about this life. It's all about your bank account. How many people follow you?

And like, I mean, you remember Jesus started this whole thing. If you put him in the social media world, I mean, look, he's got 12 followers. Yeah. I did see, I did see that Jesus had a verified Twitter account now. Go look up. Blue check. They got the blue check. Go find me an important person on Facebook or Twitter or whatever who has 12 followers.

Nobody would deem that as successful. Yeah. And that's why I think he turned this whole thing on its head because he came at it from a spiritual angle. Which is kind of funny you said that because I was thinking about that conversation he had with his siblings when they said, you know, if you're going to be a public figure, you got to get out and mingle. You know, I'm paraphrasing. No, they tried to help. That's what I'm saying. His little PR firm there.

They're like, you know, they didn't. didn't even believe in him, right? Exactly. Which is amazing. All right, we're out of time. We're going to flesh a little more of this in overtime. Oh, I did forget one thing. If you want to know about the movie, you got to, I'm going to say this on every episode.

Okay. Okay. Tell us. Tell us. You got to go, you got to go to the blind movie.com. The blind movie. Jason's going to go and put your email in saying keep you updated on everything. Emma?

Yeah. Yesterday. I'll get some people on. Get some people on it. I'll have my people car, hear people, and we'll do lunch. All right, so the blindmovie.com. If you want to follow us over to overtime

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