Transcription

Connor:
You’re listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun and practical ways.

Chris:
Here we are. We are here, and welcome to another episode, another one of The Bible Guys! Of course, that’s assuming that you’re not a first-time listener. That’s right. So maybe you are a first-time listener, and if you are, welcome for the first time.

Jeff:
Well then, congratulations for finding the most amazing

Chris:
Amazingly average. No, that’s not true. That’s not true. Because anytime anybody talks about the Bible immediately classifies it above mediocre. There you go. So today we’re going to start off with a segment and Desiree has written this down because Easter is upon us, isn’t it Jeff? Yes, it is. And so this one says, and by the way, Easter, we’re recording this early. So Easter is five weeks away. So I have no idea. For us right now. For us right now. Yeah. But when you listen to this,

Jeff:
But this is right before Easter.

Chris:
Is it? Yes. Okay. Slotted before Easter? Yep. Because I was thinking, you know what I was thinking? I was thinking, what if it, what if, what if it, what if it airs after Easter?

Jeff:
Yeah, it does raise sharp enough to work that out.

Chris:
Awesome. So Easter is this weekend, she says. So let’s do a draft list of your favorite things that are Easter related. Do rock, paper, scissors. Let’s see who goes first and then pick five things.

Jeff:
Okay. Ready? Ready? Rock, paper, scissors. One, two, three, shoot. Yes. One, two, three, shoot. Both of us got rock.

Chris:
Yes. One, two, three, shoot. Oh, look at that.

Chris:
I always win.

Jeff:
Yes. You always win. I never, I never beat Chris at rock, paper, scissors.

Chris:
Rock, rock. And then I did scissors and I cut his paper. So that’s right. All right. So what are the best five things about Easter? Uh, I’m going to have to go. Um, obviously if you know me, you’ll know what I’m going to do here. I’m going to go set family specifics. Uh, we hide Easter baskets and it’s pretty epic. So I’m going to, I’m going to have to pick that. That’s my favorite thing.

Jeff:
Easter related. It’s a whole thing.

Chris:
It is. You guys.

Jeff:
Yeah. Okay. Uh, so mine is super simple. My very favorite thing. I mean, okay. Chocolate Easter services. Let me say Easter service is my first favorite thing. I love Easter services. So this year, you and I are in what, 14? 14 Easter services, all identical. We have to do Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in order to fit everybody in. It’s going to be super fun. That’s probably my favorite thing about Easter.

Chris:
Yeah. Okay. All right. Well, my favorite thing, my draft is going to be Jesus coming out of the tomb.

Jeff:
That’s number two after hiding Easter baskets. Good job, Chris. I thought that was a given since it is Easter, but okay.

Chris:
I’m going to stick with that.

Jeff:
Right after hiding the Easter baskets and then a close second is the resurrection.

Chris:
I wasn’t planning on going spiritual. I was just doing tradition. But then you had spiritual, so I’m like, all right, I’m going to trump them.

Jeff:
Oh, no, I wasn’t trying to do spiritual. I was saying, that’s what we do. I mean, it’s going to be, you know, 40 hours in three days. It’s going to be amazing.

Chris:
I was lumping that in with assumptions as well. Right? Like, obviously, that’s the coolest part about Easter, right?

Jeff:
Okay. Well, then I’m going to go back super simple now. My very favorite thing, and I can’t get enough of it, is Reese’s Easter eggs. Yeah, that’s, you’ve mentioned that before. Those are… I don’t know why they’re better. And I love Reese’s. I love Reese’s big cups. I love the Reese’s big cups, the big ones. I love those. I love Reese’s. If kids, if my kids are going to give me a surprise, they bring me Reese’s. My daughter just came in the, in the house the other day after being out with her friends and she’d come back and say, oh, dad, I got this for you. It was Reese’s, right? I love it. It’s the love language of my home is Reese’s, but Reese’s peanut butter eggs are better. I don’t know what they did, but they’re better. They’re just better.

Chris:
Wow. Yeah. All right. Number three, uh, I’m going to pick, uh, my family traditionally, uh, has done egg fights and egg fights, egg fights. So have you ever seen the movie, uh, my big fat Greek wedding where they walk over and they smash each other’s eggs? Yes. Okay, that is in that movie, that’s what we do only on steroids. So my family at home in Youngstown, my family would all get together at Chuck’s house and they make a bracket and everybody submits their egg and they have a name for it and everything else. And by the way, that’s the champion that they bring, that’s only after their own egg fights. So Chuckie and his kids will have like traditionally like their egg fights and then they bring the champion. So the champions of every household get together And we’re talking like, you know, logos, decorations, songs, they make songs for their eggs, all these different kinds of things. And so we don’t go that intense in the Michigan Zarbon household, but we do definitely have people over, everybody prepares for it. And then we have brackets and we have a, you know, a huge, you know, winner and all that stuff.

Jeff:
Do you throw eggs at each other? Egg fight?

Chris:
Oh, you don’t know what an egg fight is? So you basically hold your egg, and then you smash it, and when you actually hit eggs, only one will crack.

Jeff:
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Chris:
And then you turn it over, and then you smash that side, and then if the two sides, then that loses, but if it’s only one each, then the good side can defeat the other good side, and then that egg, limping along, will go into the next round. Next bracket. I see, I see. And so it’s just really just as you tap the eggs, only one’s going to crack always.

Jeff:
That’s not nearly as fun as throwing eggs at each other. That’s why I thought you had like an apple fight kind of a thing.

Chris:
No, no, no, not, not like full out egg fight.

Jeff:
Okay. That’d be sweet. Yeah. The eggs do the fighting. Sound like you better be wearing a helmet. You better have like goggles on.

Chris:
The eggs themselves do the fighting. Okay.

Jeff:
Yeah. Okay.

Chris:
That’s a long answer. Okay. Number three.

Jeff:
Number three for me, uh, is, uh, obviously the Easter dinner, right. The, my wife loves to have the big family dinner and, uh, yeah, just having family around celebrating. Of course we’re, we’re both, you and I are exhausted on Easter Sunday, but still it’s, that’s a great, great day.

Chris:
Yeah. So, um, I’m going to go ahead and say, we also do on top of that, we do Easter egg hunt where my wife would hide plastic eggs. And then we have prizes for our kids. And, uh, I’m just going to go ahead and say this. Uh, we do scratch off water tickets. So we, we, we buy the scratch offs, right. And we just give them to our kids. And so, and so, uh, some eggs will have like the different, uh, you open them up, they have little peeps in them. And sometimes you’ll get one with like two and you’re like, Oh, I get two. and that kind of thing. So we do that too. Sweet.

Jeff:
Yeah. All right. I was going to say Easter egg hunt. Uh, so my fourth one probably is the Easter afternoon nap.

Chris:
Oh yeah. So you come home, you have a big dinner and then you zonk out. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that’s pretty good. That’s pretty good. Okay. My fifth one, uh, goodness gracious is I’m going to say, uh, I like the idea of, um, uh, Easter music. So like in the morning, I’ll get up and I’ll drive into church and I will play, and this is a blast from the past, but my favorite Easter song to play. No, no, no, it’s not that.

Chris:
Well, that’s a great one.

Chris:
Yeah. As I sing, Sandy Patty’s, was it a morning like this? Oh, wow. Really? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I do every single Easter. Wow. In fact, I don’t think there’s been an Easter where I’ve not turned the radio.

Jeff:
I thought you were going to say Jesus when you said Sandy Patty.

Chris:
Well, there’s, there’s a lot of different Sandy Patty ones that way, but, but Easter, Easter oriented, was it a morning like this? What’s your fifth one?

Jeff:
Wow. I don’t know that I have a fifth one. Cause I’m already sleeping now at this point. So. I like the fact that you’re running yourself ragged and I’m resting.

Chris:
You don’t have to do chronological, you can back up.

Jeff:
So we haven’t really stacked a lot of like family tradition on Easter, just because since before Bonnie and I got married, it was just all Easter work. Yeah. So Easter doesn’t have a ton of them. Obviously the Easter baskets for the kids were always tons of fun, you know, so that was your first one before the resurrection. But mine after the resurrection is the Easter baskets are a lot of fun with the kids.

Chris:
Just all the joy and the fun of that. We’ll go with that.

Chris:
All right. Well, that’s our time. So let’s move on. That’s so funny.

Jeff:
Okay, so now here’s Caiaphas in Matthew chapter 26, Mark 14, Luke 22, right? These three passages are the only ones. And Jesus leaves Annas’ home and they take him to Caiaphas. And it says in verse 57, then the people who had arrested Jesus led him to the home of Caiaphas, the high priest, where the teachers of religious law and the elders had gathered. Meanwhile, Peter followed him at a distance and came to the high priest’s courtyard. He went in and sat with the guards and waited to see how it would all end. Inside, the leading priests and the entire high council were trying to find witnesses who would lie about Jesus so they could put him to death. But even though they found many who agreed to give false witness, they could not use anyone’s testimony. Finally, two men came forward who declared, this man said, I’m able to destroy the temple of God, rebuild it in three days. Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, well, aren’t you going to answer these charges? What do you have to say for yourself? But Jesus remained silent. Then the high priest said to him, I demand in the name of the living God, tell us if you are the Messiah, the son of God. Jesus replied, you have said it. And in the future you will see the Son of Man seated in the place of power at God’s right hand and coming in the clouds of heaven.” Then the high priest tore his clothing to show his horror and said, blasphemy! Why do we need other witnesses? You’ve all heard his blasphemy. What is your verdict? Guilty, they shouted. He deserves to die. And then they began to spit in Jesus’ face and beat him with their fists. And some slapped him, jeering, prophesy to us, you Messiah, who hit you that time? In Mark chapter 14 verse 53 it says, they took Jesus to the high priest’s home where the leading priests, the elders, and the teachers of religious law had gathered. Meanwhile, Peter followed him at a distance and went right into the priest’s courtyard. There he sat with the guards warming himself by the fire. Inside, the leading priests and the entire high council were trying to find evidence against Jesus so they could put him to death, but they couldn’t find any. Many false witness Many false witnesses spoke against him, but they contradicted each other. And finally, some men stood up and gave him this false testimony. We heard him say, I will destroy this temple made with human hands. And in three days, I will build another made without human hands. But even then they didn’t get their story straight. Then the high priest stood up before the others and asked Jesus, well, aren’t you going to answer these charges? What do you have to say for yourself? But Jesus was silent and made no reply. And then the high priest asked him, are you the Messiah, the son of the blessed one? Jesus said, I am. And you will see the son of man seated in the place of power at God’s right hand and coming on the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest tore his clothing to show his horror and said, why do we need other witnesses? You’ve all heard this blasphemy. What’s your verdict? Guilty, they all cried. He deserves to die. And then some of them began to spit at him, and they blindfolded him and beat him with their fists. Prophesy to us, they jeered, and the guards slapped him as they took him away. Then Luke says, so they arrested him and led him to the high priest’s home. The guards in charge of Jesus began mocking and beating him and they blindfolded him that prophesied to us who hit you that time. And they hurled all sorts of terrible insights at him.

Chris:
So look at Luke. He’s just summarizing everything we just read in the other gospels in like three verses. Yes. So, wow. He did not include a lot of detail at all.

Jeff:
Right. Well, we carved out a piece. So what they did is they carved out 54 through 62 for the book of Luke.

Chris:
What do you mean?

Jeff:
So Luke 22 is 54 and then it picks back up in 63 and 65.

Chris:
Where’d the other verses go?

Jeff:
They’re in the next story where Peter denies knowing Jesus.

Chris:
Oh, because it’s chronological.

Jeff:
Yeah. Yeah. So they’re doing the chronological order.

Chris:
Oh, okay. All right. Yeah. So how about that? Well, but still they’re indicating that these are the only verses that are talking about these other gospel references, right? Yes. So, so this whole story is only… Yeah.

Jeff:
Luke does not include the trial. Luke includes that a trial happened, but doesn’t tell the trial. Right, right, right. But then the other ones here aren’t telling the story of Peter’s denial. They tell that afterwards, whereas Luke put it in the middle of the trial.

Chris:
I find it interesting that Mark is the only one that says false testimony, isn’t he? Yes. Right. Yeah. And he says many false witnesses came and spoke against him and they gave things that they couldn’t get their story straight, which is that an indicator that the high priest tried to fabricate false witnesses at a trial?

Jeff:
Well, absolutely. Because it says in Matthew, the leading priests in the entire council were trying to find witnesses who would lie about Jesus so they could put him to death.

Chris:
Yeah, that’s right. Yeah.

Jeff:
They’re trying to manufacture this thing.

Chris:
Yeah, so in other words, they’re trying and they’re failing. And somehow it’s indicating that they couldn’t get their story straight. So if you would imagine how this would play out, I’m almost wondering if everybody there knew that it wasn’t good enough. Or, you know what I mean? It’s a public display of false witnesses that couldn’t get their story straight in front of everybody. Which is, by the way, that would make sense. Because once he got Jesus to confess, it’s almost as if that wasn’t good enough. So the high priest looks at him and says, just tell us, are you the Messiah? That’s right. Then Jesus finally comes out. That’s exactly how it happened. And then he says, why do we need any more witnesses? Right. Because we were trying to fabricate witnesses. None of that worked. But now we got them. because he said it. And this is the same word in the book of Mark, I AM. And it’s capital I or capital A, right? Oh, that’s right. It looks smaller though in the print, doesn’t it? But yeah, so it’s, it’s the same thing that he said in the garden.

Jeff:
That’s right. Which is what is the name God used for himself with Moses. Yes.

Chris:
And so, and of course they know, they would know that. That’s right. And so, yeah, that’s, that’s why the high priest tears his clothes. It’s a sign of mourning.

Jeff:
So, some people would point out that Matthew said, when he said, are you the Messiah, the Son of God? Jesus replied, you have said it. And then in Mark, it says, are you the Messiah, the son of the blessed one? And Jesus said, I am. Those are two different answers. Yes. So some people would point that out going, well, which one’s true? And we would say, both of them are true. Right. He said, you said it and I am. That’s right. That’s all. So that’s not a problem in my mind. No. And then both of them record the fact that he said, you’re going to see me sitting at the right hand of God. Yeah.

Chris:
And we’re able to do that. And so many of these comparisons in the gospels where somebody includes you know, uh, the fact that, you know, just, just the other day we talked about how, uh, one gospel included that, that somebody cut off some high priest ear. Then another one said, no, he cut off the ear and he healed it. Right. And then the other guy said he cut it off and his name was Malchus. Yes. And the guy who did it was Peter and the guy who did it was Peter, which means that we know that that’s different. I witness accounts for the same story. And so we use all those details. We piece it together and we realize all of it happened.

Jeff:
Right, where you would question if the Bible was true is if it said, then Jesus replied only, you have said it, and nothing else.

Chris:
Or he replied something different, like, I am not.

Jeff:
Right. So if it had claimed that he didn’t say any other words other than, you have said it, then you go, okay, well now there’s a mistake there. There’s a contradiction. Right, a contradiction. But in this case, he just said, you’ve said it and I am. And then he goes on and both of them record the next piece, which is saying, you’ll see the son of man seated at the place of honor at God’s right hand, which is the offensive statement. Right, so him declaring I am would have been offensive certainly, but in the Matthew version of it him saying you said it is not offensive right the Declaration I’ll be sitting at the pot in a seat of power at the God’s right hand the right hand of the king was the future king Right? That in their mind, that’s what they were talking about. Sitting on the throne, you’ve got the king of the universe and at his right hand is the king, right? They both would have been viewed as king. Yes. And that’s the issue that the priests took, you know, the Caiaphas then loses his mind, tears his clothes and says, it’s a blasphemy, right?

Chris:
And then in Matthew, it doesn’t indicate that he was blindfolded. But if you think about it, he has to be blindfolded, because otherwise it wouldn’t make any sense, because this is how it reads. Prophesy to us. Right! It said, some began hitting them with their fists, and they slapped him during prophesy to us, Messiah, who hit you that time. But it doesn’t include the blindfold. Well, without the blindfold, even that explanation doesn’t make sense. Which means that this tiny little section here is an indicator that you have to have the blindfold in order for that to make sense. That’s right. Right? Which means, like, there’s a piece that fits so nicely right in there, so you know that the blindfold is an insertion in Matthew’s story.

Jeff:
Right, and so that’s the benefit of doing these three. So you hear us read a lot of the same words, and you go, you just read the same thing. But in each of these parallel versions, you pick up little details that button up the story for you in a better way, and you get a complete picture of what’s happening in that moment.

Chris:
And so this, this starts the, it’s all, it’s all, uh, it’s on at this point because once the high priest says, Hey, we don’t need anything else. Uh, I’m tearing my garment. Uh, this is it. Everybody cries guilty. And, uh, that’s the trial from the Sanhedrin. Now they have to get Rome to kill him. Right. Right. Because, because they were not permitted to put somebody to death. Is that right?

Jeff:
That’s my understanding. Right. That they only Rome could do the executions.

Chris:
Right. Which means, so think about it. So there’s the Jewish, uh, you know, government, the, the, the religious government, right. And, uh, and, and they decided that he’s deserving of death, but then they have to go to the Roman authorities who were the, you know, again, they were the final authority in that time. And they had to convince them that this guy’s worthy of death, which is why we’re going to see pilots saying, okay, convince me here. I don’t, I don’t see any violation here. And there’s, there’s these conversations, but in their mind, they’re thinking, okay, here it is. He’s worthy of death. So then it’s all, you know, what am I saying? The gloves are off. Right. That’s right. So quite literally they’re, they’re just hitting them. They’re beating them.

Jeff:
And then starts this huge awfulness, which I think is a temptation for people who want to reject Jesus is not only do they want to just go, Oh, I dismiss him. They could have just dismissed him. But a lot of people, they just have to pile on. And I had a guy that was a very vocal atheist that wanted to engage with me for a while, and very interesting, very intelligent, and he just couldn’t quit coming after Jesus. And I went, man, for an atheist, you sure are obsessed with Jesus. I wish most of my Christian friends were as obsessed with Jesus as you are, right? He just needed to beat Jesus down. That’s it. It wasn’t that he was just saying, I reject the idea of a God, and I believe Jesus was just a man. And he could have just left it at that. If that’s all it was, it seems like that, but it’s not. It’s a hatred for Jesus. And that’s why Jesus says, name another God on the planet that is a curse word. Right. Right? How often? I was watching a show the other day and they used Jesus name specifically, Jesus Christ. They probably used 15 times in that show. And I’m thinking, what the heck? What? They didn’t say Muhammad. every time they were mad or frustrated. They didn’t say Buddha every time they were frustrated. They didn’t say Krishna. They didn’t say any other gods. They didn’t even say the devil. Hey, if you want to make a cuss word, make the devil be a cuss word. But no, they make the name of Jesus a cuss word. There’s a hatred, an unnatural, from a Christian’s perspective, but a perfectly natural hatred from a non-believer to just despise the person, the claims of Jesus. And so here, they couldn’t just let it go. They had to punch him. They had to spit him at him. They had to mock him. They had to take every opportunity they could. They couldn’t help themselves. And it’s almost irrational, except for the fact that you have to understand this is a spiritual battle. This is a battle between light and dark. And then we get sucked into it. And sometimes as Christians, we use Jesus name in a, in a, in a, you know, indelicate way or in a cuss word way. And when we do that, we’re just piling on like, like they did.

Chris:
So I had a family member when I was a teenager and I was a Christian. And I remember this family member saying, you know, Jesus, you know, JC, you know, they kind of said that. And, and, and actually, actually, you know what, I think it might’ve been the GD one. But I just said, I go, can you just not do that? And she said to me, she’s like, well, you know, it’s not that bad as it like, well, it is. one of the Ten Commandments. And then finally, don’t take my name in vain, my name in vain. And then finally, after, you know, the habit kept on continuing. Here’s what I said that actually made an impact on her. And I said, I said, OK, how many words are in the English language? Can you tell me? And she’s like, well, I don’t know. I’m like, well, there’s tens of thousands of words in the English language and you choose the one that God says not to do. Right. The one. Right.

Jeff:
Could you just maybe… You don’t think that there’s something spiritual to that? Right. Why is that the word? Right. Right. Why have you developed that? It’s because the devil did that. The devil hates Jesus.

Chris:
That’s an interesting take. Obviously, I would think that intuitively, but to point that out is actually pretty insightful. You know, that’s a spiritual battle that God says not to do it, and somehow we always, you know, it’s in our society.

Jeff:
Satan hates him. It’s amazing to me, on a global level, if you do good deeds with governments, and you say, oh, we do it because we believe in God, most governments will go, oh, okay. But if you do it in Jesus’ name, a lot of governments go, no, we don’t want that. Franklin Graham talks a lot about that with the Samaritan’s Purse, that, you know, they do their work in Jesus’ name. And they’ll have governments go, no, we don’t want your help. But then when none of the other organizations can get in fast enough, the Samaritan’s Purse is right there, finally they go, okay, go ahead. But he wrote a book called, I think it’s called The Name. And it’s about the fact that so much persecution becomes because of Jesus. Lots of people say, oh, I believe in God. They’ll talk in this generic way about God, and that’s not surprising or offensive to hurt anybody. Become a Jesus person. Talk about Jesus all the time. And next thing you know, that persecution will come. And that’s what Jesus said. Don’t be surprised if they hate you because they hated me.

Chris:
Yeah, that’s good. All right. Well, hey, we’re going to pick up the story next time, and we’ll see you then, hopefully, on The Bible Guys.