Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Speaker A: From Westside Church in Bend, Oregon. This is behind the message.
In this podcast. We take you behind what we teach here at Westside. I'm Ben Fleming.
[00:00:17] Speaker B: And I'm Evan Earwicker. And. Hi, Lindsay.
[00:00:20] Speaker C: Hi.
[00:00:21] Speaker B: We're all three here again in the new year. Happy 2026, you guys. Yes.
[00:00:26] Speaker A: Yeah. New year. How do you guys feel about New Year's?
[00:00:30] Speaker C: I don't like them.
[00:00:35] Speaker B: Good. I can tell there's gonna be a vibe.
[00:00:38] Speaker A: I don't like them.
[00:00:39] Speaker C: I don't like them.
[00:00:40] Speaker B: Why don't you like. Why don't you like the new year?
[00:00:42] Speaker C: It signifies another year gone, just one less year.
[00:00:46] Speaker A: Oh, like the older thing.
[00:00:47] Speaker C: Yeah. Okay.
[00:00:48] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, that makes sense.
[00:00:49] Speaker C: And I'm never ready.
[00:00:50] Speaker B: Can you.
[00:00:51] Speaker C: Because it's so soon after Christmas. There's no time to prepare. It just happens.
But, you know, I survive each year.
[00:00:59] Speaker B: I like a. Like a fresh start.
Even if it is, you know, in the end, it doesn't really matter that it's January 1st, but I like that, that sense of, like, okay, here we go. Yeah, I think, you know, clean out your junk drawer and, I don't know, fill your car with gas.
[00:01:16] Speaker A: We're going to.
Is that something we all did? Did we all clean the house after.
After Christmas?
[00:01:23] Speaker B: I mean, you gotta dig out Purging. You have to dig out. Cause it just gets crazy with even just the amount of garbage.
[00:01:29] Speaker A: Yeah, a lot of garbage. A lot of cardboard boxes, all that kind of stuff.
[00:01:34] Speaker B: I don't even know what to do with all the garbage right now. It's just piling up pastorally.
[00:01:38] Speaker A: I like any opportunity for people to feel like something can stop and then a new thing can start. I think that's always helpful.
And even if it's kind of this arbitrary calendar change thing, I think that's great. The holiday itself is just like, not my thing. Although Jovi and I got some great father daughter time. She loves the idea of staying up till midnight. Obviously, for an eight year old, it never happens, but New Year's she stayed up. Joel and Rebecca fell asleep on the couches like nine. And Jovi and I watched the floor. Have you watched the floor?
[00:02:11] Speaker B: I've heard about the floor.
[00:02:13] Speaker A: You know, Rob Lowe is wonderful.
And as far as game shows go. Yeah, it's fun. And it gives you a reason to kind of yell at your TV a little bit because. Have you seen the format? So they have duels, like you and me are dueling. There's a topic and then things go up on the screen. You have to identify them.
[00:02:29] Speaker B: Quickly.
[00:02:30] Speaker A: And if the other person's timer runs out before yours, you win. Anyway, we watched this for, like, three hours, and Jovi and I had a blast.
Christmas cookie. Cheering for random people on a game show. And then the ball drop kind of accidentally happened. And, yeah, it was fun, but New Year's just. I don't generally love it.
[00:02:48] Speaker B: This was the first year Jack, who's 7, actually was aware that we usually try to put him to bed before midnight. And so he was having none of that now at 7, he wanted to stay up, so he did for the first time. Because normally we do the nine o'. Clock. You watch New York Live, and you're like, all right, that's it. Happy New Year. Go to bed. This time he was up. He was watching the clock.
But I'm with you.
Do you guys stay up till 12?
[00:03:14] Speaker C: Nope. We watched the Ball Drop from last year at, like, 7:00'.
[00:03:20] Speaker A: Clock.
[00:03:20] Speaker B: That is next level for my kids, like, on YouTube. Good night. Yep.
[00:03:23] Speaker C: Pulled it up.
[00:03:24] Speaker A: Way to go.
[00:03:25] Speaker C: Put them to bed. I think Eric and I watched a couple episodes of our show, and we were in bed around 11.
[00:03:29] Speaker B: Like, you girls aren't that young. Do they not notice that it lights up 20, 25 when the ball drops?
[00:03:37] Speaker A: I don't know.
[00:03:38] Speaker C: We didn't pose it like, okay, it's the ball drop. We were like, oh, well, let's just watch the ball drop and then go to bed. So it wasn't like we were tricking them. But they were not gonna stay up. No. We were all too tired. They've been so sick. So sick.
We were not gonna let them stay up. You need to go to bed.
[00:03:54] Speaker A: No, that makes sense. That makes sense for sure.
[00:03:56] Speaker B: It's really funny.
[00:03:58] Speaker A: I can't do, like, a hype New Year's for sure. Like, the Jovi and me hanging out and cuddling on the couch is about as far as I'm gonna go if I'm gonna stay up that late. Is this like, 10:30 in bed for me now?
[00:04:09] Speaker B: Yeah.
Yeah.
[00:04:11] Speaker A: And the.
[00:04:11] Speaker B: Get a sitter and go out on the town on New Year's Eve. That is a young person's game.
[00:04:18] Speaker A: I'll tell you what, it sounds so bad.
I did the last time I stayed out late, I wasn't at a party. I was Uber driving, and I stayed out till four in the morning. Four.
[00:04:31] Speaker B: Because that's like surge pricing. Yeah.
[00:04:33] Speaker A: Yeah. You get good money.
[00:04:34] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:04:36] Speaker A: And there's just. You can keep going forever. And there were people. That was the funny part, is that they.
The people Getting in my car from, like, 1:30 on were, like, sober and they smelled like.
What's the dumpling? Dump city. Dump. City dumplings. Everyone got into the car smelling like teriyaki and pretty sober.
[00:04:58] Speaker B: Oh, my God, what is going on at 2:40 in the morning?
[00:05:03] Speaker A: So, like, the worst was I was picking up people from like, 11 to midnight where their friends had ordered Ubers because they were way too hammered early. And they were like, get them out of here and pick them up and get them out of downtown or whatever. So you do that. But, yeah, the 1:30 to 4:00am People, lovely folks. They're wonderful.
[00:05:23] Speaker B: I feel like you doing that is. Is like a modern version of, like, what monks probably did in the 1430s or something, you know, like where they're.
[00:05:33] Speaker A: Tending lambs and making beer.
[00:05:35] Speaker B: No, I was thinking, like, helping drunk people off the street into, like, their beds and, you know, like, it's very pastoral work, it seems like.
[00:05:42] Speaker A: I told you that story, right, People.
[00:05:45] Speaker B: Yeah, tell me. Good.
[00:05:46] Speaker A: Yeah, there was a couple that was, you know, a little inebriated. I hear. I'm driving them toward their apartment, and I hear mouth noises, and I'm like, oh, great. They're making out in the back of my car. They're both asleep, and they're both kind of gently snoring. And then I pull up to the apartment, they fall out of the car into the middle of the street. They're laying on the street, and I pick them up, and I took them to their front door, and I'm helping this guy, and I get to the front door, and he goes, this is not my house. And I put him on the furniture on the front. And I said, it's not my problem.
I think it was their house.
[00:06:24] Speaker B: I think it was.
[00:06:25] Speaker A: It was the address that was on the app.
[00:06:29] Speaker B: Very pastoral work. Not my problem.
Put them on their wicker. Why did I leave it out street?
[00:06:33] Speaker A: I didn't leave in the street.
I didn't know what option I had. I'm like, I don't know if you, like, can help people necessarily, but they're laying down in the dark anyway.
[00:06:44] Speaker B: Yeah, no, that's the right call, I think. So pick them off the ground.
[00:06:46] Speaker A: Yeah, but, boy, they were probably the most drunk people I drove.
Yeah, it was a pretty wild experience.
[00:06:54] Speaker B: I want to hear that come up as an illustration. If you. Picking people off the street and carrying them home, literally, at some point. In the Gospel of John, please.
[00:07:04] Speaker A: Yeah, maybe you can help me. It sounds a little bit, you know, like I'm trying to puff Myself up. It was really funnier than it was. Like, noble, I think it was. It was just.
[00:07:16] Speaker B: Are these. Are these, like, very small people, or was it like, you're carrying this guy?
[00:07:21] Speaker A: Yeah. Like, are you just smaller than me?
[00:07:23] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:24] Speaker A: Pretty big.
[00:07:25] Speaker B: Is this guy like, 4, 8 and. Well, not gymnasts.
[00:07:28] Speaker A: You were not gymnasts. The best part was that the next day, they tipped me a dollar.
[00:07:32] Speaker B: Oh, no. They didn't remember. They had no idea what you did for them.
[00:07:36] Speaker A: They had no clue. They have. They did not remember that.
[00:07:38] Speaker B: You should. You should have had a picture of you carrying them. And you probably can't send pictures back to them, but no, the dollar comes in and you're like, yeah. You don't remember this, do you? It's so funny.
[00:07:48] Speaker A: It's so. It's one of those jobs where, like, one time I went out of my way, it wasn't a stop on the app. And the guys were like, oh, my gosh, we forgot ice. And they were going back to their room. I was like, look, we're going by Safeway. I'll pop in. They tip me a hundred bucks.
[00:08:01] Speaker C: Wow.
[00:08:03] Speaker A: For that. And then I pick people off the road and they're like, $1.
[00:08:09] Speaker B: Three stars.
[00:08:12] Speaker A: So funny.
[00:08:15] Speaker B: They complain about you and give you a low rating because you left him on the wrong place, Right?
[00:08:19] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Wrong chair. Jerk. How did he not know?
[00:08:22] Speaker B: I'm on level not one I love. Could this podcast not be about, like, behind preaching, but just talk about stories from Uber?
[00:08:33] Speaker A: Yeah, dude, I have so many. Yeah, it was part of the fun. I like stories, obviously. And, boy, you do one shift in an evening downtown on a Friday night, you've got, like, six stories.
[00:08:45] Speaker B: Yeah. How long did you do that for?
[00:08:47] Speaker A: Like, three years.
[00:08:48] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:08:48] Speaker A: Off and on. Pretty hard for like, a year on weekends just to make ends meet. I can't remember what we were trying to pay for. We're trying to pay something off or something. And so I was using spare time to go do that, and it was good. Yeah. Like, in New Year's, like, you can make quite a bit of money.
Just so many. The surge rates and stuff like that make a big difference. Everybody wants to know what it's like to be an Uber driver. I'm sure that's listening.
Nobody cares.
[00:09:14] Speaker B: And you can find out yourself.
[00:09:15] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right.
[00:09:16] Speaker B: Demo the app. Uh, yeah, that's good. Uh, well, we started John in the New Year, the Gospel of John. We've been doing this three. The past three years. I don't remember the order. We didn't go in order. I know that. I think, why did we do it last?
I think we started with Luke and then Matthew got chosen on its own merit, like, oh, kingdom of God. And. And then Mark because of its kind of episodic, like the right word, you know, where it's like action packed. And so we felt like that was the right thing for 20, 25. And that leaves us with John. But it feels. I'm so glad we're in John right now. Like the season of the church and where we're at, John feels like it's meeting the moment that we're in.
[00:09:59] Speaker A: That's why I asked, because John's kind of the best, right?
[00:10:02] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:10:04] Speaker A: So from all the different perspectives, obviously they all have something to offer. But as a reader, I think John is a more interesting read. How it. How it comes out. There's like a passion and drama to it that feels like it's to be consumed.
You know, it's not for entertainment, but it's the most entertaining and how it's written. It's easiest to preach. I think there's some stories in there going through it. So even as we were talking about it this morning, I was going, man, I wonder why we left John for last. But I'm. Yeah, I'm with you. I'm really glad that we're here now.
[00:10:33] Speaker B: It's interesting. John skips the parables, which are a huge part, that's true of Luke and Matthew and Mark 2, but so he skips over these whole chunks of what the synoptics do cover. But then we get to like the Last Supper and the, you know, that discourse. And it's. I mean, it's beautiful. And it's 14 through 17 or 16, something like that. And just so much. And I referenced this yesterday, but it's like the greatest hits. I mean, it's just back to. Back to back how he's quoting Jesus around the Last Supper.
[00:11:09] Speaker A: Stunning.
[00:11:09] Speaker B: And then we get to, you know, after the resurrection, John 20, and then breakfast on the beach. Isn't that in John as all John, you know, so it's like these really beautiful scenes and the dialogue is just so theologically rich.
[00:11:24] Speaker A: And isn't.
You have the woman caught in adultery.
She's in there. The breakfast on the beach might be the greatest piece of scripture to me, the most important to me because I think you have everything that comes from, not just the crucifixion, but of course, the Resurrection. And then you have the starting of the church from that point going Forward in Jesus, encouragement to Peter and you have this like most sweet fatherly pastoral moment like in scripture. There's just not much out there that I think it holds a candle to that moment of Jesus drawing back in someone that has betrayed him.
What a moment. And you do feel it kind of all, all of the stories that John has culminating in what is the ultimate pastoral moment to me.
[00:12:17] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. And really unique stuff. I mean, starting from the first chapter, all the other gospels either jump like Mark right into the action of his ministry or they start with the birth narratives in Matthew and Luke and John's just like, nope, not going to do that.
[00:12:34] Speaker A: A poem.
[00:12:35] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm going to write a poem about the cosmos and then we're going to talk about his baptism and basically launched into the ministry and.
Yeah, so unique. And it's funny because I talked about this, how we really encourage new believers to read John for these reasons that you're really hearing the heart and the voice of Jesus primarily in John more than if you're starting in Genesis 1. Right. And so we encourage people to do that.
And yet you get into the first verse of John 1 and if you're brand new to faith and you read in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God, you're like, that's a beautiful sentence. I have no idea what it means.
I have no idea what it means. And these are big, huge concepts too. So that's, I think, what we wrestle with. It's not like a beginner's Bible by any means to start in John, but it's rich.
[00:13:24] Speaker A: Yeah. Matthew starts like a documentary. Let me take you all the way back. And here's the family tree.
And then John is something like out of Citizen Kane or something. Right. He's trying to win Best picture with the beginning of his. And can we attribute this to. So I know I can't remember exactly which ones, but I know I believe it's Matthew and Mark written in haste a bit to, to try to get these stories out to the early church so that they can be working with them and they're even get like kind of pieced out because it's a church in hiding.
And so some of the episodic, fast paced writing of them is even due to having to go through the writing process quickly because they're trying to get information out.
And John's is not that.
[00:14:08] Speaker B: Right.
[00:14:09] Speaker A: And you can correct me, I think you know this stuff better than I do. But John's is at the end of his Life, more years have gone past, and he's a different person than he was just at that young disciple age with Jesus. And is that what we can attribute the difference in writing to?
[00:14:23] Speaker B: Yeah, with Luke specifically, Luke, Acts. Right. The two companion books that are written together.
That's probably the most, in my reading, the most cohesive narrative, like Luke is very intentionally telling this from the beginning of Luke 1 to the end of Acts.
He's communicating very specifically and detailed.
Yeah, but Matthew and Mark, they read a little bit more like boots on the ground, you know, things swirling as they're happening. Mark being scholars would say, from the perspective of Peter. Right. And so you're getting kind of this.
More the frenetic energy of what it would be like to walk with Jesus. And yeah, you're right. John is just completely different because he's an old man writing this. He's reflective. He's not.
He's not just narrating what's happening. He's telling us all through it, what it means and how it connects to the bigger story, which is really, I think, makes it, if you're really familiar with the gospel stories, to sit in John. It helps you expand what you're thinking of when you're reading through these things. And not just like, oh, yeah, Jesus walked on water, but like, what is the claim that Jesus was the son of God, and how did he reveal that to these disciples? And what does that mean? You know, those kinds of things come up more, I think, in the reading of John.
[00:15:44] Speaker A: Yeah, there's this reflective, kind of grandfatherly.
I only have so much time left. And I want you to try to understand on a soul level, this thing I'm trying to tell you, you know, you. I'm sure we've all been with grandparents or elders or whatever, and you see them when they get to be with the whole family sometimes at a holiday or whatever, there's this.
This sweet, soft urgency to be like, I know you're so worried about so many things at 18 years old and 30 years old, but let me tell you, like the. The thing you have to grab a hold of. It seems like John's really going out of his way.
And we had a tour guide, somebody showing us around. We were over in Turkey. We went to St. John's Basilica, that overlooking Ephesus, where they say, and all the plaques say over there.
And this is where John was writing his gospel and revelation. And he was even just. He was looking over this city that was just beautiful. Being impacted by the gospel in Ephesus. And Kind of considering all of those people, that community, like children, in the way of this gospel, that hadn't necessarily been with Jesus because he's this old man and he's trying to help them understand what it was like when Jesus walked among them. And there's a. Just a sweetness to it that, again, I don't know that you find a whole lot in scripture all the way across.
[00:17:02] Speaker B: Right.
[00:17:02] Speaker A: Because you have historical books and you have, like, beautiful creativity and poetry and things like that. There's wisdom. And then John is just, like, coming alongside you and putting his arm around you and.
[00:17:13] Speaker B: Well, yeah, And a lot of the apostles didn't make it that long. You know, they die as young men and are killed for their preaching and their work for Christ. And so John, that he makes it to be an old man, I think informs how this is written in a way that the other letters don't, which is cool. And he wrote revelation traditionally from Patmos. Right. So it'd be John first, second, and third John.
[00:17:39] Speaker A: So there's some debate in there that I didn't know. So you're right. I just said that like it was 100% gospel. I think still the, like, overall feeling is that he wrote that from Patmos, but there are some that say some of it was written in Patmos, and then he was released from exile and then he finished it over here.
Maybe St. John's Basilica was trying to take a little bit more credit for.
[00:18:00] Speaker B: Some things, as I think most of those sites do. You know, you're gonna be like, oh, yeah, everything happened here.
[00:18:04] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
[00:18:05] Speaker B: Jesus was born in Bethlehem or this place. You never know.
[00:18:09] Speaker A: This cave, maybe that cave. Come look at our cave.
[00:18:11] Speaker B: Come on, pilgrims. Stop at the gift shop.
[00:18:13] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, exactly. So, yeah, it sounds like it's a little bit more up in the air. And my understanding is that some people even believe that the Gospel of John was written before he was exiled at all, and then it was kind of distributed after exile. So a lot of the timelines, who knows?
[00:18:30] Speaker B: Well, in the authorship of first, second, and third John, there's debate on, are John the Apostle and John the Elder the same person? Are these two different Johns?
All of that, you know, I think, is very interesting. I like talking through all that. And I also, approaching the Gospel of John, I've kind of made the decision, like, I'm not going to get into the weeds of all the controversies around how and authorship and writing, because I want people to focus on what the point is and not just like, is John the Elder different from John the Apostle. Maybe that's a distraction at some point from what we're trying to explore in what is the Gospel of John. Right.
[00:19:11] Speaker A: It's a great conversation.
Terribly fascinating to me.
You know, and it's funny, you can have a lot of these conversations we were talking about this morning. John's open, openly and on the nose trying to make these connections to Old Testament scripture, what we would call Testament scripture, and how often that happens in the references. And then there's stuff in Revelation, so you can take that piece, which is important, and we'll bring up. And then there is the piece of like authorship and dates and times and when and where he wrote these things, which I really enjoy that. You're right, it's not. Didn't preach that well. So I don't know how much we'll get in the weeds on all of it.
[00:19:47] Speaker B: Yeah, but it's good stuff. And at the start of a new year, I do think people feel pressure to like, be better as people, you know, like, I gotta figure out my life. We're into a new year. Maybe it is some of that feeling of another year's gone by and I'm getting older and I haven't achieved what I wanted to achieve or I haven't become who I wanted to become. And so there's all this pressure we have on ourselves. I think John is a great Jesus focused answer to that feeling of I need to do better.
Because with John's expression of Jesus, it's just this radical love that's like a real embracing thing, not just for John in the story, but for all the disciples and all those that Jesus encounters. The woman in John 8 caught in adultery to Peter on the beach and everybody in between. It's just like this, this. I know you haven't become who you wanted to become or who you feel like you should become. And yet I'm here, you know, and it's that closeness and that heart of God expressed through Jesus in the book of John that I think maybe is a relief or like a salve almost to people who are just like beaten up on themselves.
And especially in church and in religious spaces. Like, I feel a lot of that. I hear a lot of that. People coming up after services and or pastoral meetings and just, you can tell people beat up on themselves a lot.
[00:21:10] Speaker A: And what's the response? I'm asking both of you. I'd love to hear your take on this. Lindsay, what's the response to that? Because I even.
I had one or two people talk to me this last Sunday with the best intentions of like, and this is the year I'm gonna. I'm getting it. This is it, man. We're gonna figure. And as a pastor in that moment, I'm almost always like, be careful with that. Like, I don't love that. And also, who's gonna look at somebody in the face and go, trying to work on this stuff and figuring it out. It's a terrible idea.
[00:21:39] Speaker B: Don't do that.
[00:21:39] Speaker A: You know, so what is, what's the response in that? And maybe that's kind of what you're referencing. Lindsay, I don't know. When you talk about the end of the year of like, oh, you feel like the time's past and I don't know, can you speak to any of that?
[00:21:51] Speaker C: Yeah, I think I'm. I'm reminded I talked about this a couple of Sundays ago. Effort versus earning. And there's a distinction, a very important distinction, because our faith requires effort, but we can't earn anything. And I think we also have to remember the role of grace in our lives and the empowering of the Holy Spirit versus, you know, pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. And I can do it. And I just got to get my act together. And then I'll what, achieve the highest glories. Like, I don't really know what our end goal is. To be better humans, maybe. But I just think we have to keep that in mind as we navigate this.
And I caught myself. Even I felt like it was kind of a really turbulent entry to the new year for me. This, you know, over the past week and this morning, I just kind of reminded myself, no, the next few weeks can be slow and gentle and grace filled. And that is actually maybe what I need more than goals and calorie counting or, I don't know, all the things that the new year, like, typically brings. And so I think maybe that's a reminder not just for me, but for everyone. Like, the new year doesn't actually mean new year, new you, but gentle, grace filled introspective is always good, I think. I mean, not navel gazing, but being self aware of our spiritual journey and then adjusting or changing our practices and rhythms accordingly. Like, that stuff. I applaud.
But yeah, I think we just have to remember we can't earn anything in this faith. And the grace of our God is what empowers us to walk closely with him and to continue to grow spiritually.
[00:23:37] Speaker B: Yeah, well said.
Yeah. And it's the mercies are new every morning. Mercies are new every new year.
I Think that's a better Jesus approach than what did I do with my life last year? I got to try harder.
And again, we're not opposed to effort like you said, Lindsay, but it's all in light of. Of grace, right? Yeah.
[00:24:02] Speaker A: Yeah. I don't want to. I think if I'm gonna have some kind of a resolution or thought into the new year, it's. I just. I want to stop getting bored with where I'm at so fast.
And I think about that. We did this remodel on our house, and there were so many days in the trailer where I was like, if I could just have a free freaking bed. Like, that's all I want is just a bed.
And I got the bed. And then it doesn't take that long for me to complain about touch ups on the window, trim on the inside. You know, I get angry about that really quick. And I'm looking around and I'm going, warm water. I have warm water finally. And I have all these things. The longings of my heart for a year came true finally after this long process. And now I'm like, I swear, if the stairs aren't fixed in this little piece by tomorrow, I'm gonna lose my.
[00:24:55] Speaker B: Who changed my sleep number is 87, not 80.
How quickly we become.
[00:25:03] Speaker A: Is peacock buffering again, Lose my mind.
And, like, I want all that stuff to be fixed. That's the effort that, you know, we're talking about. These things need to happen. I need to work on the land. I want to work on the landscaping. But, my gosh, I also want to find the discipline to wash my hands in the sink in the bathroom and go, oh, the water is running and it's warm.
And that's a gift. You know, I want to stop moving past so fast. Then the kids grow up too fast. You get impatient, all the things.
[00:25:41] Speaker B: Yep. That's a New Year's lull in the conversation is what you just heard.
Normally we'd be on it. You know, one of us would have just swooped, but it just created a pause. Maybe it didn't make my we need.
[00:25:51] Speaker A: A pause sentence was done.
[00:25:53] Speaker B: No, I knew it was done. I just couldn't think of anything to say.
Oh, my goodness. So this. This first week, we talked through John 1.
I talked to you about string theory, and I brought a piano onto stage. It was a whole deal. Yeah. And I think I told you this morning, I think I was. I was maybe preemptively trying to counteract the holiday lull, you know, where everyone's kind of Groggy. And I'm gonna bring so much energy.
[00:26:20] Speaker A: And.
[00:26:23] Speaker B: First service, I came out there and I was just trying to talk about string theory, which, you know, I don't know this stuff, and I can't even really talk about this stuff. As preachers, like, we get accustomed to, like Bible language and things. You pivot out of that. And I'm trying to say, like, particle physicist. It's really hard to say at 8 in the morning.
[00:26:42] Speaker A: Did you ever say particle physicist? Did you ever get.
[00:26:44] Speaker B: That was hard. It was very hard. But by the 11, I was warmed up enough. But, yeah, it's funny, I felt very frantic on that first service, trying to talk through stuff after, you know, several.
[00:26:57] Speaker A: Days off and looking behind the curtain of this, just so the listeners know. That's such a tough service. Not that. Not the A15 that weekend. Yeah, that. Not the Sunday immediately following Christmas, which is kind of still a holiday, but sweet Advent kind of feeling. Yeah, yeah. This one is like nobody's back in their rhythms. We're all a little ready for Christmas break to be over and. And for us, we're not in the office, so usually we have this kind of weeks run up and you're prepping and then we have the meetings or whatever. So you're kind of on an island all alone, prepping this or finishing the prep for it, and then you walk into it. I thought you brought the energy. I was impressed. And to go string theory and bring a piano out felt a little over compensatory, but that's fine, you know.
[00:27:42] Speaker B: Oh, he's extra in 20, 26. Y. Yikes. Dial it down, man.
[00:27:46] Speaker A: I thought both of them were great. And what a great use of string theory, which was. I thought it was brilliant, honestly. The connecting, how you connected John 1 to the rest of Scripture.
Really a master class in how you can do that and make it really palatable. And I saw you under the fig tree as a great little mechanism for that. Right. Was that kind of the plan the whole time to talk about that one thing? Yeah.
[00:28:07] Speaker B: I want to give a shout out to our friend Joshua Ryan Butler, who was here a year and a half ago or a year ago.
I found a series that he did on John and he brought in the fig tree illustration and how it parallels the Genesis 1. We always catch how Genesis 1 is mentioned or referenced in John 1:1, but I think in previous readings, it kind of stopped there for me. It was like, oh, yeah, he's referencing the Creation and then he goes on into the Jesus story. But really, if you look at the three movements of John 1, which is the creation, John the Baptist declaring that Jesus is the one who, the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world. And then Jesus calling Nathaniel and saying, I saw you under the fig tree. It is just a spot on retelling of the Genesis narrative. God creates, man falls, the Lamb provides for forgiveness, even though they're covered in fig leaves in their shame, you know. And so to see Jesus stepping back into human humanity's picture to fix what has been broken as the Creator again, I mean, this is what John's trying to do, right? Is saying like that, remember that creator God, Remember Elohim that you guys worship? He's back on the scene and he's fixing stuff. Like, I think it's amazing.
[00:29:19] Speaker A: Yeah, it's really cool. And I think it's fun. Can we say it's fun? I like that he looks at Nathaniel and he's like, I saw you under the fig tree. And I love that. I think reading it as a kid, I was like, oh, Jesus just being very holy. And you know, matter of fact, I think Jesus likes the ideas like, no, I saw you there. And Nathaniel's like, I can't believe it. Oh my gosh. And Jesus like, oh, just wait, this is going to be a fun ride. Yeah, you're going to see way cooler things than this.
And it's. I like those nature of God kind of conversations that draw out not just the humanity of Jesus, but even the holiness of these relational things. And how he's connecting with people and drawing them in and caring for them is a beautiful thing. And it happened so fast. Right. It is like poetry. But it is a really fast retelling of Genesis 1, if you want to look at it that way.
[00:30:12] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. And then he's going to. John's going to jump right in. I know this week he jumps into the water to wine at the wedding in Cana. And then. Let's talk about this for a second. John completely takes things out of chronological order.
He does the first miracle of Jesus ministry, which does happen right after the baptism. Narrative skips over the temptation in the wilderness, by the way, Interesting.
Wedding at Canaan. And then jumps to what happens right before the Passion Week, which is the cleansing of the temple. Why does John do that?
[00:30:48] Speaker A: Well, our conclusion, and what a lot of scholars seem to land on is that he's trying to draw out these themes in a lot of these cases. So he's joining some stories together to give you this understanding of the nature of God again. To go back to that by bringing in these stories, to compare them, to contrast them, and to show a lot of the themes that Jesus is trying to bring in. And so what we're talking about this next week is abundance. So how is Jesus bringing abundance into areas of the world and into people's lives who all of a sudden have found themselves outside of the religious circle or unwelcome or even the water and to wine is just. There's more than you could have possibly imagined here. And Jesus is going to provide that.
So I think we're going to see that a lot as things go on these little themes. And that's the task that we have, is to try to draw those things out and make them be understandable. But it is a wild choice for John to start. Tell us a poem, give us the first miracle, jump all the way to the end of the story.
Like, I can understand grouping some things together because he. If he did the parables right, like, well, okay, we'll do a few parables in a row. This. He just grabs it, pulls it and throws it all the way at the beginning. It's quite a move by John.
[00:31:58] Speaker B: Yeah.
And I think all this is intentional. Like, John isn't just like, I don't remember when that happened. I guess I'll just stick it here.
But yeah, when you're talking about the abundance of Christ and the vision of what it is for the kingdom of God to come, it's this abundant thing where Jesus brings the party, you know, and then to contrast that to Jesus, the temple where people are trying to take abundance for themselves, right? It's these money changers and these thieves that are taking advantage of the poor who are coming to sacrifice. And so they are. They are creating their own abundance for their own sake by selfish and unholy means. Right?
Contrast that to people who are in the middle of a wedding and it seems like they've run out, but because Jesus is there, it never runs out, you know, and, like, what an invitation. I think, for anybody who is kind of in that, like Gene Peterson wrote, you know, burned out on religion, come to me. It's like, if you want real abundance, stop trying to grab it for yourself and, like, step into this party. It's way better than this old temple system where everyone's out to get their.
[00:33:10] Speaker A: Own, you know, like, and the party keeps going, right? There's no this worry. All of us have hosted different things. And you do have that thing when you're going into a party. You go, okay, well, we have this Stuff, there's these three items that people might enjoy that I'm a little worried are going to run out earlier. And there's a little bit of that looming anxiety that can happen if you really want those to be available for however much time people are going to be there. And then the relief sometimes when somebody brings that in or someone's ran to the store and there's a little bit more in the pantry that you didn't know that you had, and it's like, oh, okay, cool. This is all going to work out and it's going to be fine. And for religious people who really were feeling that the resources were finite, right? It was. This is just for the Jews, okay? Inside, just for the Jews, there's these religious people and then there's a hierarchy of the religious people and how much they can actually take in and consume and what's left for, obviously the Gentiles, but the lower on the rung Jews. And this is kind of the context of this looming idea of there's only so much God to go around. And for John to immediately break in and say, the first thing you need to know is that this is for everybody. And then it's not that long before you have John 3:16. God so loved the whole world. And all of a sudden this gospel is getting wider and wider and wider and wider, and it just seems impossible that it could keep going. And that's the Cana wedding story, the miracle behind it.
[00:34:29] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, it's beautiful. And this is the first of the seven signs, the main miracles that John's going to talk about. And in John chapter 20, he's going to tell us. The reason I included those seven signs was so that you might come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the son of God. You know, so John is like, he knows what he's doing and he's including these for a reason. I think that's how we're going to preach through John is to say, why did he take so much of the space on the page to talk about these things, to look at why Jesus said this and not the other things he could have mentioned. And all that matters as we walk through John, which I find it fascinating.
[00:35:05] Speaker A: And again, it's cool that he's sold because, you know, he's thought this through.
Even leading up to a sermon that I'm preaching this weekend, I'm constantly turning it through and in my mind going, well, that could go here and maybe this story would be interesting here and. And then that would be relatable. Tie it all together, you know, that John in exile and walking through his life and meeting people and discipling people and teaching, he's been thinking about this gospel and what it's going to look like and sound like if he ever had the time to sit down and write it and the resources.
So everything is just. Yeah, it's intentional. It's there on purpose. He's really thought it through. What a gift to be able to receive that from someone who had the experience with Jesus, but then also had the time to really sit down and think it. Think about it.
[00:35:49] Speaker B: Yeah, it's gonna be good. And when you talk about things that you never want to run out at a party, I have this thing where I'm always afraid we're gonna run out of summer sausage on Christmas Day.
So I doubled down and we got the big summer sausage. And I've been personally having to eat.
[00:36:06] Speaker A: It for the last week because what's the big sausage?
[00:36:09] Speaker B: People ate surprisingly little amounts of summer sausage.
I think it's. It's over a pound. It's like 20, 22 ounces or something. It's a long summer sausage.
[00:36:20] Speaker A: Did you have enough cheese to go with it?
[00:36:22] Speaker B: We did. Yeah. The cheese held out.
[00:36:23] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:36:24] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:36:24] Speaker A: Yeah, that's great. Yeah. I. I want to know. I was churning this in my mind this morning. What's the best quarter of the year?
So we just entered into this. January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September.
[00:36:41] Speaker B: You're describing seasons.
[00:36:43] Speaker A: No, these aren't seasons. They're not seasons. They're not seasons. No. The quarter. What's the best quarter?
[00:36:49] Speaker B: Oh, a Q1. Q2.
[00:36:51] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Which one do you enjoy the most? It's not. I mean, it's not.
[00:36:55] Speaker B: Okay, but the seasons.
What, Chris. Or winter. Started December 22nd. Okay. So not including the first week of winter, and. Yes, including the first week of spring.
[00:37:07] Speaker A: No, it's not the same.
[00:37:08] Speaker B: Okay. A little different. I don't know.
[00:37:10] Speaker A: Because you can't. Especially here. You can be like, well, spring. Spring's like, what, a month and a half here? Or something like that. It's a weird.
[00:37:16] Speaker B: Yeah, I think. Enjoyment level. I really enjoy Q3.
No, it's such a stupid way to say it.
I like the financials when they come out in Q1.
[00:37:30] Speaker A: July, August, September.
[00:37:32] Speaker B: No, I think I'd have to go the end of the year.
[00:37:34] Speaker A: I like fall.
[00:37:36] Speaker B: I enjoy, you know, coming, building up to the holidays.
I like all that. So probably the quarter four.
[00:37:44] Speaker A: Yeah, let's do it.
[00:37:45] Speaker B: About you.
[00:37:46] Speaker C: Yeah, same, same.
[00:37:48] Speaker A: Really?
[00:37:48] Speaker C: I mean.
Sorry, which one? Summer. Q3.
[00:37:52] Speaker A: See, this is. It's interesting.
[00:37:54] Speaker B: No, this is on you. This is a weird way.
[00:37:56] Speaker A: It's a great way to do.
[00:37:57] Speaker B: A weird way to ask.
[00:37:58] Speaker A: It's not exactly.
[00:37:59] Speaker C: But is it Q3, though?
[00:38:01] Speaker A: You've got April, May, June, all connected. June is a summer month.
[00:38:05] Speaker B: July, August, September.
[00:38:06] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:38:07] Speaker A: It's.
[00:38:07] Speaker B: The warm weather is Q3.
[00:38:08] Speaker C: I like that a lot, but I like the girls being out of school.
[00:38:13] Speaker A: Sorry. I'm listening. I'm listening.
[00:38:15] Speaker C: You don't care.
[00:38:16] Speaker A: I do.
[00:38:17] Speaker C: Q4 followed closely by Q3.
[00:38:20] Speaker A: Closely.
[00:38:21] Speaker C: Very closely. They could even be tied. I love summer. I really love summer.
[00:38:26] Speaker B: My complaint about summer is actually just the pressure that, like, we all feel to, like, go out and do everything all the time. That feels a little bit like, okay, we sat at home today. We gotta get out. The weather's gonna turn. The smoke's coming, you know, I feel like that's my vibe all summer. And I. I don't love that, but I love summer around here is gorgeous.
[00:38:48] Speaker A: Is that a bend thing or is that an organ thing or. I don't know.
[00:38:52] Speaker C: Eric is very much that way. Like, if we don't get outside immediately, we're gonna miss it. We're gonna miss it.
[00:38:58] Speaker B: That's a lot of pressure.
[00:38:59] Speaker C: That's a lot of pressure.
[00:39:00] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:39:00] Speaker B: That's what I like about the fall is, is there's some rainy days where you don't feel bad at all about staying inside. And then you'll have these gorgeous 7 degrees sunny, the leaves are changing color, and it's magical, you know? So you get kind of both.
[00:39:13] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:39:14] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:39:15] Speaker A: You guys know how I feel about summer. I'm not a fan at all.
[00:39:17] Speaker B: Can't even layer.
[00:39:18] Speaker A: I don't. I can't layer. I can't. I don't like that pressure. I'm with you. That's the worst thing. It's like, we have to summer, like, bend people immediately.
I. I can't.
[00:39:30] Speaker B: My toes are not in a Lake by 10:30.
But I like.
[00:39:36] Speaker A: I'm with you guys. I'm a Q4 guy.
Followed by probably followed by quarter one. I like. I like January, February, March. I think it's a bad rap.
[00:39:48] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:39:49] Speaker A: I can't stand spring, you guys. Why do I hate spring so much?
I don't like summer. No. No. I don't know. I like that spring can't make up its mind. But then I like fall.
[00:40:00] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm with you on, like, late winter, early spring is about the worst. It's not Nice.
It's not even, like, cold and, like, oh, let's go skiing. It's. It's like, oh, it's kind of rainy and.
[00:40:13] Speaker A: Yeah, it's, like, humid. Y.
[00:40:16] Speaker B: Here we are complaining about the sleep number again.
[00:40:18] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:40:18] Speaker B: Yeah. I know.
Just months ago, we're like, I just don't want it to be smoky. And now we're like, like. But I just want to be clear.
[00:40:26] Speaker A: We're not talking about the seasons. The quarters divide them up in a more subtle way. Yeah.
[00:40:31] Speaker C: I would put June, July, August together.
July, August, September is weird to me.
[00:40:36] Speaker B: See, I. I disagree.
[00:40:38] Speaker C: June, July, August. I think that needs to be a quarter is what I'm arguing.
[00:40:42] Speaker B: No, right. I think we think it makes the.
[00:40:44] Speaker A: Quarters compelling in this conversation.
[00:40:45] Speaker B: You always think June's supposed to be nice, but a lot of times here, it's still cold and nasty because Ben's weird.
[00:40:50] Speaker C: Everywhere else, it's beautiful.
[00:40:51] Speaker B: But you get to July, and then September is usually nice all the way.
[00:40:54] Speaker C: Through, but everyone's back in school. It's like, kicking off the back to.
You know, I just think waking up.
[00:41:01] Speaker A: Early, which is what we like, right?
Oh, we don't. We don't like that.
[00:41:07] Speaker C: I like sleeping in. I like my girls home.
[00:41:09] Speaker A: You sleep in.
[00:41:10] Speaker C: Oh, well, you know.
[00:41:11] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:41:11] Speaker C: I don't have to wake up to an alarm. I have to set an alarm.
[00:41:13] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:41:13] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:41:14] Speaker A: Yeah, I get it.
[00:41:15] Speaker B: Yeah. I just. I feel like to use quarters to gauge your personal life, it feels like. It just feels corporate, man.
[00:41:23] Speaker A: I'm a little. What? Surprised that you didn't bring it up. Yeah, actually.
[00:41:26] Speaker C: Same. Same. This is shocking. You guys have traded places.
[00:41:30] Speaker B: Yes, because I know quarters have their place, and it's not my personal life.
[00:41:33] Speaker C: It's not a spreadsheet.
[00:41:35] Speaker A: Oh, you don't want to talk about weather with them. You want to talk about finances.
[00:41:37] Speaker B: Oh, okay.
[00:41:38] Speaker A: Well, we do that.
[00:41:39] Speaker B: It's seasons for the weather, stock reports, quarters for reports.
[00:41:43] Speaker A: But that's. We do whatever we want with the seasons when we describe it that way.
[00:41:47] Speaker B: Right.
[00:41:47] Speaker A: You're like, oh, yes. Spring. It's mid April to late May. Not cheating.
[00:41:53] Speaker B: I think some people know winter, six months.
What are we even talking about? I don't know.
[00:42:00] Speaker A: I didn't care about this as much when I walked in here, but I care now.
[00:42:04] Speaker B: That could be true for our relationship.
[00:42:08] Speaker A: That I didn't care about when we.
[00:42:10] Speaker B: First walked through these doors. We didn't care. But everything has changed.
[00:42:13] Speaker A: I've always loved you, Evan. Don't you?
[00:42:15] Speaker B: Aww.
[00:42:15] Speaker A: That's really sweet.
[00:42:17] Speaker B: I've always been impressed by you.
Oh, I almost got a spit tape. I almost got it.
That was so good.
