What Jesus Did

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0:30 So you guys want to know who is participating in the Scripture Study with us over the Internet through the Understanding the Scriptures Podcast? These people from around the world are listening to the Scripture Study, and here are some of the places. Brussels, Belgium, Toronto, Canada, Los Angeles, California, Chicago, Illinois, Northern England, Cabell, Germany, Fremont, California, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Maryland, New York, New York, Lincoln, Nebraska, Austin, Texas, Rochester, New York, Paris, France, Boston, Massachusetts, Knoxville, Tennessee, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Minot, North Dakota. Fullerton, California, Seattle, Washington, Great Coffee, St. Louis, Missouri, somewhere in Australia, Denver, Colorado, Deerfield, Illinois, which is the home of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. So I wonder if somebody at TED's is listening in.

1:25 Madison, Wisconsin, Pleasanton, California, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Cincinnati, Ohio, New Salem, Pennsylvania, Long Beach, California, Belmont, Massachusetts, Ogden, Utah, Mormon country. Organtown, West Virginia, Tucson, Arizona, Owing Mills, Maryland, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Gulfport, Mississippi, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Anderson, Indiana, Yonkers, New York, Noblesville, Indiana, Slovakia, Hammond, Illinois, Winnetka, California, Unionville, Pennsylvania, Oxford, England, Jamaica, in New York. Tyler, Texas, Pleasant Hill, Missouri, Hungerford, England, Mountain View, California, Gas, Kansas, Foxford, Massachusetts, Atlanta, Georgia, Sacramento, California, Tallahassee, Florida, and St. Paul, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Is this what, it's this thing that you do?

2:15 Yeah. When did this go? How much of my... So you're world famous. No, this is, you go to this website at catholicboard.com and you can listen in to what we're doing right now. I'm speaking into this and later on I'll put this on the internet and people can download the scripture study. It takes me a day or two to get it on the internet, right? And so this is what's featured on the back of Breaking the Bread by the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology is the scripture study. So there you go. There's a little bit of an introduction for this evening. Well, don't do that anymore because somebody's going to offer you more money and then we'll go away and leave us. Oh, no, no, no.

3:03 I'm not going to leave you. Oh, no, no. Did you guys hear that? She said that you'll offer me more money. What did Jesus do? Chapter 19. What did Jesus, what Jesus did is the name of this chapter. Well, Jesus did lots of things. Lots of things. And if you guys, if you take a gospel and if you look, if you take a look at it from front to back at each of the gospels, quite a bit is devoted to the passion narratives. Starting with the last supper. Well, actually, starting with Gethsemane. No, actually, starting with the last supper and then Gethsemane and then the trials and then the suffering and the death and the resurrection and the ascension of Christ. So, if that's the case, then we know that that's a very important aspect of what Jesus did.

4:03 But the gospels don't just include that. They include the public life of Jesus. Now, Pope John Paul II did something monumental in the life of the, well, he did lots of things that were monumental. But he did one thing that affected the devotional life of ordinary, you know, Joe six-pack Catholics that, I want for you to tell me what he did. We have this thing that we pray and it has 15 parts, but now it has 20 parts. Right. John Paul II added five new mysteries to the rosary. What are those mysteries that he added? The luminous mysteries. So, they're the mysteries of light.

4:56 They're the mysteries of light. And what's the first mystery of light? No, it's not the wedding feast. It's the baptism. The baptism in the Jordan. So, Pope John Paul II wants for us to, remember, the rosary is a meditation. It's not, you know, just a rote saying of words. The words are a timekeeper. And while you're saying the words, you're supposed to be meditating upon the mystery at hand, putting yourself in that situation, allowing for the word of God and those events to permeate your head and your heart so that you can relive those events, so that you can be like our Savior, so that you can emulate him. So, Pope John Paul II is saying, hey, guys, you know, we left out the baptism of Jesus when we came up with these 15 mysteries of the rosary.

5:50 We have the joyful, sorrowful, and glorious. But between the joyful and the sorrowful, there's a whole lot of Jesus' life that we missed out on. What's the second luminous mystery? Yeah, the wedding feast at Cana. Wedding feast at Cana. And where is that found in Scripture? John 2. Very good. Okay. And then the third luminous mystery. The proclamation of the kingdom. Proclamation. That's not how you spell it. Proclamation of the kingdom. I'm just going to say proclamation kingdom.

6:39 And the fourth luminous mystery, the mystery of light, is the transfiguration, which was a huge event, where Jesus... And in Luke's gospel, in Luke's gospel, do you guys... Jesus at the transfiguration is talking with Moses and Elijah. Moses and Elijah. And what does Luke say Jesus was discussing with Moses and Elijah? It's very key. I'll go ahead and tell you. His exodus. In the Greek, his exodos. It says that he was speaking with Moses and Elijah about his exodus.

7:30 This is very important. I want you to keep that in mind. Okay, what's the fifth luminous mystery? The institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper. Do this in memory of me. Institution of the Eucharist. Okay, wonderful. So, Pope John Paul II is saying, guys, you know, we think about Jesus in the manger. And then there's Jesus suffering and dying, you know, on the crucifix. But what about the rest of his life? You know, Jesus could have offered his life at the age of seven, at the age of reason. Somewhere between five and seven we know today from, you know, psychology. Jesus could have offered his life for our salvation and that would be sufficient.

8:21 We would be saved. But Jesus didn't do that. He waited until about the age of 30 to start his public ministry. 30 years. St. Irenaeus, who I've talked about a lot in the scripture study, tells us that Jesus wanted to live the different stages of human life so that he could sanctify us whether we're young, middle-aged, or old. And it's because he wanted to sanctify all of human life. All of our lives. Every aspect of it. But then he had a public ministry from the years of 30 to 33. And Jesus didn't just say, okay, time to redeem the world. Let's go to Jerusalem. But rather, he spent three years of ministry, principally up in Galilee. Why?

9:12 I mean, why didn't he just go do it? Why didn't he just go do it? Well, we're going to find out tonight. Okay, so we have the baptism in the Jordan, wedding at Cana, John 2, proclamation of the kingdom, the transfiguration, the institution of the Eucharist. Now, tonight, we're going to cover, because I wish, you know, you have to sit there for at least 80 minutes. So, I don't want to, by the way, is there anybody here who's brought any of those little foam pads to sit on? That you bring to football games? Next year, I need to sell some. You know, I need to have those. That would be a great money maker. Great money maker. Tonight, we're going to focus on the baptism, the wedding at Cana, and the proclamation of the kingdom. And we're going to look at these events with all of its rich biblical typology and background in mind.

10:08 So that when you guys look at these events again, and you listen to these being proclaimed in the liturgy, or you read them in your reading of the Gospels, you're going to see them in a whole new light. You're going to see them in a whole new light. And it's going to, and you're going to begin to read and look at these events more according to how the original authors intended for you to read them and to see them. Because so often, we read these events with our own 21st century, contemporary, post-modern paradigm. It's a big phrase, big word. Let's begin with Mark, chapter 1, verse 1. The beginning of the Mark in Gospel.

11:03 Okay, Barbara, I know you've read quite a bit in the past. How's your voice? All right, let's read from Mark, chapter 1, verse 1, through verse 11. The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you. He will prepare your way. A voice of one crying out in the desert, Prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight his paths. John the Baptist appeared in the desert, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. People of the whole Judean countryside and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins. John was clothed in camel's hair with a leather belt around his waist.

12:00 He fed on locusts and wild honey. And this is what he proclaimed. One mightier than I is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals. I have baptized you with water. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. It happened in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized in the Jordan by John. On coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens being torn open and the spirit like a dove descending upon him. And a voice came from the heavens. You are my beloved son. With you, I am well pleased.

12:48 At once, the spirit drove him out into the desert. Okay, that's good. Thank you very much. Wonderful. Okay, so Mark begins his gospel immediately with a quotation from the Old Testament. And it was a popular rabbinic thing to do back then to merge several separate passages from the Old Testament together. This was a popular rabbinic thing to do. And Paul does it all the time. Mark does this by, he takes Exodus 23, 20, Malachi 3, 1, and Isaiah 43, 40, verse 3, together. And he begins his gospel basically by saying the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet.

13:41 Boom! He's already quoting the Old Testament. He quotes Isaiah. Principlely, Isaiah chapter 40, verse 3. Chapter 40 in Isaiah begins a new section. In fact, biblical scholars will call the part of Isaiah before chapter 40, Proto-Isaiah. And the part after chapter 40, Deutero-Isaiah. First Isaiah and second Isaiah. Because there's like a split here, and there's a new theme that's brought up. And so 40 on talks about the salvation to come, the redemption to come, the restoration to come, specifically as a new exodus. A new exodus.

14:32 And so we'll see why, you know, at the Transfiguration, this is why Luke has Jesus talking with Moses and Elijah about his exodus. His exodus. So this Isaiah chapter 40 and on is talking about this new exodus, the salvation to come. This is what's really important to note. Is that the Old Testament, and we saw this as we studied the Old Testament up till now. We've seen that the Old Testament is a story in search of an ending. The story in search of an ending. It's like it's just waiting to be completed.

15:22 There's this huge expectation in the time of Jesus for this ending to come. And this is why around that time, apocalyptic literature was very popular. So we have these apocalyptic type of Jewish literature being written in this time period because there's like this anticipation for this great climactic event to occur. It's a story in search of an ending. It's a story in search of an ending. And what Mark does, scholars have noted, is that he begins his gospel by saying, guys, it's here. The fullness of time has come. It's here. As Isaiah wrote and he prophesied and he was expecting, the end has come. The answers to Israel's hopes and dreams and longings is here in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.

16:21 And this is how he begins his gospel, which is the ending to this story. With a quotation from Isaiah. Behold, a voice of one crying out in the desert, prepare the way the Lord makes straight his paths. And so he's basically saying what Isaiah is prophesying, it's here. And what's the first event he brings up that we just read about? Baptism in the Jordan. Baptism in the Jordan. Jesus is sinless. He's God. He's the son of God. He's not just the son of God in time, like he's just adopted by God, but he's eternally the son of God, we know. He has no sin.

17:10 So why was Jesus baptized? To set an example, for us, he needed to be anointed. That's very key. He needed to be anointed. But why a baptism of repentance? Why didn't he just have somebody come and anoint him with oil? Like what had happened with David to Solomon. Why did he submit to a baptism of repentance for sinners? To identify with his human side? With our human side. The prophets in the Old Testament would do something very key. They would act and speak like they were one of the sinful people.

18:03 They would act like a representative of the people. So they would say, oh Lord, have mercy on us, for we have sinned against you. Well, the prophet hasn't sinned. He's upright. But he's identifying himself with the people. This is a prophetic action. And by submitting himself to a baptism of repentance, Jesus is following the Israelite prophetic tradition of associating yourself with those whom you represent. So in a certain sense, Jesus is uniting himself with sinful humanity by being baptized. But even more than this, as even a larger backdrop, is at this point in time, the Israelites, more specifically the Jews, those from Judah, and among them the Benjaminites and the Levites, have the sense of exile. This is like the huge curtain behind the stage, is the exile.

19:01 Because in 142 B.C., the Jews got their independence. And they had their own independence. And they had the Hasmonean dynasty. And then what happened? I wish I had a skirt and a little helmet and a sword that I could come in on. Because what happened? Pompeii, the Romans, conquered all over again. They're still under subjugation to pagan people. The exile, even though that some of them had returned to the land, but not all of them. I mean, could you guys imagine if maybe, you know, you got kicked out of, let's say, you know, basically someone destroyed America. It was just, there was nothing here for you.

19:50 And so they led us off to Europe, where there's fine wine and cheese. And then a prophet arises, and he says, let's go back, and let's rebuild America. Well, some people would go, but a lot of people would be like, no, that's a dangerous journey. I want to stay back here, you know, in Europe. Well, that's what a lot of Jews did. They stayed in Babylon. They didn't return to the land. So there was a partial return from exile, but even then they were still being oppressed. And so there was this huge sense of exile among the people. And why did the exile occur? Was it, you know, they were just really bad at politics, didn't have a strong army? Why was Israel, first the Northerton tribes and the southern two tribes, along with the Levites, sent into exile? What are we told?

20:37 What's the reason for this? False gods? And what does that mean? They weren't faithful. And what do we call that? It's a nice, simple three-letter word. Sin. The exile occurred because of sin. And it came about to show Israel its sinfulness. Israel is sinful. And so the tradition among the prophets at this time continually points out Israel's sin. And so what is John the Baptist doing? He's saying, repent. Change your ways. Turn to the Lord. And the prophets talk about the end of the exile is going to occur when there's forgiveness of sins.

21:31 We saw this in Jeremiah and Ezekiel when we covered the prophets. When there's a forgiveness to sins, exile will end. And so here's Jesus associating himself with the sinful people, a baptism of repentance. It's dealing with sin. And Jesus is basically saying, I'm coming to deal with this sin problem. And what does that mean for the nation of Israel? The exile is coming to an end. What the prophets have been prophesying, what Isaiah had prophesied in Isaiah 40 on, exile is about to be done away with. No more exile. And the prophets use different images to talk about this end exile. And I'm going to write these key phrases up here on the board.

22:24 First of all, it's going to entail the forgiveness of sin. Forgiveness of this idolatry. Again, these are the prophets. Forgiveness of sin. The other word that's associated with that is redemption. Redemption. The Lord will be the redeemer. And that comes from the root word, redemire, which means to purchase back or to buy back. There's also the theme of a new exodus. These are differentiating in order to unite. I'm separating and dividing in order to show the unity. These are all the same event. A new exodus. Another aspect of the prophetic tradition is that this will be like a new creation.

23:16 A new creation. And here's a key term. And here's a key term. Restoration. Where the people are going to be restored. Back to even greater than it was when you had Solomon. When you had Solomon, you had the Messiah. And who is the Messiah in Solomon's day? Who was the Messiah in Solomon's day? Solomon. Yeah. Solomon was the Messiah. We read in Psalm 2 about the Lord's Messiah. The Lord's anointed. Who is the son of David. First it was David. Then it's Solomon. In Rehoboam's day, who was the Messiah? Rehoboam. Right.

24:02 And so, but we're going to have a restoration, guys. Because what had happened is that Israel in 7, actually in 930, what happened? Do you guys remember 930 BC? Seventy years after the Davidic covenant. The kingdom divides. Civil war. Strife. Remember, there were 12 united tribes. 12 united tribes. That had been divided in 930 BC. And in 930 BC, you had the 10 northern tribes. And the two southern tribes. And then you had Levites. Among both kingdoms.

24:51 The northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. So you could say that there were three tribes in the south. Even though that you could also say two tribes. So you had two in the south. Ten in the north. The ten in the north were sent into exile. Not to Babylon, but to Assyria and to other pagan lands. By the Assyrians. In 722. Starting in 722 BC. They were sent into exile by Assyria. Never to be found again. Okay. They lost their national identity. And they were assimilated among the... And I want to put a G up here and circle it. They were assimilated among the Gentiles. And those who remained in the land.

25:39 And intermarried. And intermixed with the foreign people. That the Assyrians brought into the land. Were known as the... Samaritans. Or the Samarians. And... But the southern tribe continued to thrive. And they got very prideful. They said, well, we have the successor to David. Therefore, we won't be overthrown. Uh-uh-uh. What did Solomon do? He sinned. Big time. Worse than his... His father committed adultery. Solomon committed idolatry. A much worse sin than adultery. You know, it's really... It's really uncanny how today as Christians. We think of... What's the worst type of sin? I mean, what are we always worried about with regard to sin?

26:28 What type of sin are we always worried about? And we're always... You know, we always notice. Adultery. Pornography. Fornication. Right. But guys, guess what? Guess what's even a worse... I mean, that's... Yes, that is sin. But an even worse sin is idolatry. Not putting the Lord first. And so often we think of the worst types of sins as sexual sins. But actually the worst kind is not praying to God. Not trusting in God. Not putting God first. That's worse than a sexual sin, believe it or not. It'll make you rethink. Okay, so these two southern tribes, they ended up falling into sin. And just because they had a Messiah, they had an anointed one, the son of David, the king on the throne.

27:19 Does that mean they're not going to be exiled? No. They end up going into exile by the Babylonians. In 586. 586 B.C. But eventually, some of them come back to the land, so they retain their national identity. And this is why we no longer refer to them as Israelites, but we refer to them as Jews. Because the vast majority of them were from Judah. And where did this exile that started with Assyria begin? Where did Assyria begin attacking? Remember, Assyria is up in the north.

28:07 And this is the northern kingdom. So if a northern pagan empire comes down to attack the northern kingdom, where does the attack begin? Where does the subjugation and the conquering and the exile begin for the northern kingdom? No, Jerusalem is down in the south. Oh, I thought you said they came south. They came south. It first starts in the northern part of the northern kingdom. In the land of Zebulun and Naphtali. In the land of Zebulun and Naphtali. And I want you to remember that, okay? Write this down. Put a little star next to it, because we're going to revisit this in just a moment. This began at Zebulun and Naphtali. Now let's take ourselves to the time of the exile. When the prophets are saying this.

28:57 The Lord is going to reunite all twelve tribes. He's going to bring them together as one people. Under what figure? Under who? Who's going to unite the twelve tribes again? The Messiah. The descendant of David. This is restoration. But the prophets tell us that this is not going to be just the twelve tribes. But it's also going to be... Who is also going to be united with the twelve tribes under the Messiah? The Gentiles. The Gentiles are part of the plan. The Gentiles, twelve tribes, reunified under the Messiah.

29:49 Now we come to Jesus' day. And Jesus is getting baptized. He's associating himself with sinners. And he's getting baptized, but not just anywhere. Where is the baptism occurring? At the Jordan River. Which is where Israel had crossed over when it entered the promised land. And when it was still united. You know, there were still twelve tribes all together. And what does water also remind us of? Who also passed through water? Moses. Moses and Israel. And when we studied the Exodus. In the Old Testament. What was Moses and Israel going through water? What did that remind us of? What happened before that reminded us of? Where a whole bunch of bad people died.

30:37 Noah. And when we studied Noah. What did that remind us of? When God commanded Noah be fruitful and multiply. Adam and Eve. So we have this new creation theme occurring over and over and over again. So Jesus going under the waters harkens back to this tradition that's been occurring over and over and over again. It's like history keeps repeating itself in a certain kind of typological pattern. Jesus is submitting himself to baptism. And what's... John in his gospel. John the Apostle. Not John the Baptist. But John the Apostle in his gospel. He's also known as John the Evangelist. He talks about John the Baptist. Seeing Jesus for the first time. When Jesus is coming to get baptized. And what does John the Baptist say about Jesus? Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

31:33 Happy are those who are called to his supper. Right? No. Just the first part. I just... That's what we say at Mass. That's what we say at Mass. Well, we don't say it. The priest says it. Right? But he's using scripture. He's using the beginning of John's gospel. That's what we hear every day at Mass. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Happy are those who are called to his supper. Okay? So we have... Behold the Lamb of God who takes away... What lamb? Jesus isn't a lamb. He's a man. What does he mean? Yeah. The Paschal Lamb. And what is the Paschal Lamb offered for? Sin. So again, we see Jesus coming to deal with sin. Okay? I'm not going to... Dwell on this too much. Okay.

32:19 And then there's another theme happening. Let's turn to 1 Samuel chapter 16. 1 Samuel chapter 16. Where is Samuel? That's a great question. I think he's in heaven. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The first... After Ruth. So you have the... They're in line, you know. You have Ruth and then you have Samuel. Then you have some kings standing in line after them. 1 Samuel chapter 16. 1 Samuel chapter 16. And I want for you guys to turn to verse 13. Verse 13. This is Samuel. Samuel is sent to Bethlehem to anoint a Messiah.

33:12 To succeed Saul. Because remember, Saul sinned two times. Well, he sinned a lot more than that, I'm sure. But two mortal sins. The first sin caused him to lose his dynasty. The second sin caused him to lose his kingdom. His first sin, God said, okay, your son won't reign after you. That's a dynasty. But the second sin said, okay, I'm just going to take you off of the throne. You're going to lose your kingdom altogether to one of your servants. In fact, it's going to be your armor bearer. And so Samuel is sent to a key place, which will be key for the New Testament. Samuel is sent to Bethlehem. Which is known also as the city of, no, city of David. Right. Bethlehem literally means house of bread. But it's known in the scriptures and in the New Testament as the city of David.

34:03 So Samuel goes to Bethlehem. And this is what he does. The Lord gives him this command. There, anoint him, anoint David. Verse 13. Then Samuel, with the horn of oil in hand, anointed David in the midst of his brothers. And from that day on, the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David. The Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David. At Jesus' baptism, what happens? Mark tells us that the heavens are schizo. The heavens are schizo. Actually, it's schizo minu. Schizo minu.

34:51 Which means that they were... What other word sounds like schizo? Schism. Yeah, schizo. There you go. Sorry, Barbara's turning red here in the front. I wish you guys could see this. Yeah, schizo. They were ripped open. And in Isaiah, there's a prayer that Isaiah gives. That you would tear the heavens. And that you would sin down your spirit. This is a prayer Isaiah makes. And this is God answering Isaiah's prayer for the heavens being ripped open and the Spirit descending upon Jesus. And a voice came from heaven saying, you are my beloved son.

35:40 Who was considered the son of the Most High in the Old Testament? David's son, Solomon. Remember 2 Samuel 7, the Davidic Covenant? God says, he will be a son to me. I will be a father to him. When he does wrong, I will chastise him. But I will not take away his throne like I did to your predecessor, Saul. Okay? So he's declared a son with whom he is well pleased. And you can look at Isaiah 42.1. You can just write that down and you can look up Isaiah 42.1. But Jesus is anointed, not with oil, but with the Spirit. Just as David was and as Solomon was and as the Davidic kings were. And what does the Spirit take the form of?

36:29 A dove. And what does a dove remind us of? Yeah, Noah's Ark. The new creation. Water. Sin. New creation. So here's the theme of the prophets as being fulfilled. The new creation, a dove. And Jesus, guess what guys? Until his baptism, Jesus is not the Messiah. Jesus is not the Messiah up until his baptism. Because what happens at his baptism? He's anointed. Which makes him the anointed one. And in Hebrew, what is the anointed one? Messiah. And in Greek, what is the anointed one? Yeah. The Christos. The Christ.

37:16 So Jesus becomes the Messiah at his baptism. He becomes Messiah. He's anointed to be king. Now, in the early church, there was a heresy called adoptionism. This is a heresy, guys. This is not the faith. So I'm marking this out. But there was a heresy called adoptionism. And that heresy taught that Jesus was not God's son before this event. But that he became God, adopted the human Jesus as son at this point in time. And then somehow that was when Jesus became divine. Was that his baptism?

38:03 So it's like the Holy Spirit came down and made this man, Jesus, you know, part divine. And that's a misunderstanding. Jesus is eternally the son of God. He's the son of God eternally. Not according to the flesh. Okay? This is not a physical, paternal type of relationship because he's literally born. No. Sonship is metaphysical. It's not sexual. And this is how the author to the epistle to Hebrews can say, can talk to women out there and can say, for the Lord disciplines you as sons. What? No. What about daughters? Well, because, you know, this is a divine sonship. He's the son of God before he even is conceived in Mary's womb.

38:52 And he's the son of God up until his baptism. But then he's declared as God's son, as Messiah, at his baptism when he becomes Messiah. So Jesus is anointed, Messiah, just as David was anointed, Messiah, by Samuel. And Samuel, what tribe was Samuel from? His mother was Hannah. His mother was Hannah. And so what tribe? Remember, Hannah was praying for his son, and so she got Samuel as a son. So she put him into the service of Eli. Remember, he heard a voice, and he went to Eli, and he's like, did you call me? And Eli's like, no. Did you call me? No, I didn't call you. The Lord must be calling you. Next time, tell the Lord, speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. What tribe was he from? Levi.

39:39 He had to be, because he was going to serve, you know, in the temple. He was a Levite who anointed David. And so Levites anointed the Davidic kings, and guess what tribe John the Baptist is from? Levi. So we have a Levite baptizing, anointing Jesus. And John the Baptist is wearing camel's hair. He's wearing a leather belt. It's like Halloween, you know? He's like wearing this thing that somebody else wore in the Old Testament. It's kind of like if I dressed up with a robe, you know, and I started speaking in parables. You guys would be like, man, you're acting a lot like Jesus. Well, who was John the Baptist acting like? Elijah. Because there's a prophecy in the Old Testament, and then it continues very strongly in Israelite tradition, that Elijah would return before the Messiah.

40:33 And so if John the Baptist shows up, and he's dressed up as Elijah, and he says, you know, there's someone coming after me who's, I'm not even worthy to untie his sandals. You know, what does this mean? Who's coming after John the Baptist? The Messiah. Again, this all points to the Messiah. All points to the Messiah. And I want to read to you guys what St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote in the early church. We've looked at St. Ignatius of Antioch before. Who ordained St. Ignatius of Antioch, the Bishop of Antioch? Peter. Did you guys know that Peter was the Bishop of Antioch, where they were first called Christians, before he was the Bishop at Rome? You know, he continued his travels.

41:20 He moved on from Antioch. But Peter was Bishop of Antioch before Ignatius. But Peter ends up ordaining Ignatius. Ignatius was just a little child when Jesus was alive. Ignatius learned most all of what he knew from St. John the Apostle. Why don't we only have 27 books in the New Testament, and we don't have 35? The seven epistles of Ignatius, as well as his epistle, the Polycarp, his friend Bishop, the Bishop of Smyrna, St. Polycarp. Why don't we include Ignatius' seven letters, epistles, plus this other epistle? Yeah. He's not close enough to the apostles. He's not close enough. Guys, he was ordained by St. Peter.

42:08 Come on. Again, this shows the veracity of the Scriptures. If St. Ignatius, who grew up under St. John, was ordained by St. Peter, and his epistles aren't included in Scripture, then you would think that what is included would be very verifiable, right? It would be very authentic, very historical. How old was Peter before he died? Peter, how old was he before he died? Oh, I don't know. I don't know. You can easily find out. You can go to this website. You can go to newadvent.org. Peter Knight runs it out of Denver. Newadvent.org. And there's a search box. You can just type in St. Peter, and it'll tell you everything you need to know about him. Go ahead.

42:55 Sure. I just don't, I didn't realize if they would, if his short lifespan didn't come up with the term bishop, and the Christianity was so young. Yeah. Yeah, and that's what a lot of scholars will say, too. But Ignatius' letters, Ignatius specifically talks about how there are deacons, presbyters, and episcopoi, bishops, overseers. And so in Ignatius, we see this threefold, you know, three different types of ministries, the three levels of ordain. And even in one passage, he talks about the three. He talks about how the deacons are the servants of Jesus Christ, and there's the council of the presbyters, as there was the council of the, you know, of the apostles. And then there's the bishops who stand in the place of Jesus Christ. And I don't have the exact passage in front of me, but you can, but it's there. Okay, so Ignatius of Antioch, he wrote somewhere between these seven epistles and his letter to Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna.

43:53 And Polycarp was martyred, and his followers gathered up his bones and wrote an account of his martyrdom, because he was very famous. But St. Ignatius wrote between 105 and 110 A.D. And so sometimes you'll see his epistles dated 105, 107, 110. And this is what St. Ignatius says about the baptism of Jesus. Our God, Jesus Christ. Did Ignatius believe that Jesus Christ was God? Absolutely. Was he an Arian? Was he a Gnostic? No. He was right in line with the Chalcedon definition of Christ's nature that they came up with in 451. Our God, Jesus Christ, was born of Mary according to the plan of God.

44:47 Both from the seed of David and from the seed of the Holy Spirit. Okay, so he has his humanity, which descends from David, and he has his divinity, which comes from the seed of the Holy Spirit. Actually, in Greek, do you guys know what in Greek the word for seed is? Sperma. That's where we get the word from. Sperm. It means seed. He was born and baptized in order that by his passion, okay, that's his suffering, he might cleanse the water. And I guess, you know, we have Paul's epistle to the Ephesians.

45:47 If this was included in the Bible, we'd call it second Ephesians, I guess. Ephesians 18.2, as he wrote to the church in Ephesus. This is one of his seven epistles to different churches. Ephesians, if you guys ever want to look this up on the internet, you can find his epistles, you can read it more in context. But so he talks about Jesus being from the seed of David. He's Messiah. He also is divine. He's God. Our God, Jesus Christ. He was born and baptized in order that by his passion, he might cleanse the water. And we'll get to that in just a moment. We'll get into that more deeply. Okay. Now, at the very beginning of this class, I mean, this was, this was in the very beginning.

46:35 We talked about covenants. And we talked about, by the way, what is the Latin word for covenant? There's a new one and an old one. Testamentum. So when we say testament, we're saying covenant. And God deals with us by way of covenants. And the word for covenant is testament. They're interchangeable. And how do you enter into a covenant? What's the driveway up to the covenant? How do you enter into the covenant? An oath. Swearing an oath. And, and what is the Latin word for oath? What is the Latin word for oath?

47:24 Sacramentum. Okay. Sacramentum. So you have to take a sacrament in order to get into a testament. You have to take a sacrament to get into a testament. And today, we have all sorts of people swear oaths. Why do we have people swear oaths? Why do we have judges, military officers, policemen, witnesses, senators, representatives? Why do we have all these people raise their right hand, put their left hand on the Bible, and say, I swear to God? Why? So they'll keep their promise. Because according to Judeo-Christian tradition, note Judeo-Christian tradition, you know, this is where our, our culture and our political system comes from.

48:14 It's not, it's not secular. And if you try and secularize our society, we're going to come up with something altogether different than what we're used to. Okay. We have them swear oaths. We have them take sacraments so that they will get blessing to fulfill their duty. And if they don't fulfill their duty, they are cursed. Okay. Blessing and curses. And again, this is, this is part and parcel with the Hebrew mind. There are blessings and curses to the covenant. And so, you know, when Moses gives the Deuteronomic covenant, he says, if you keep the covenant, here are your blessings. But if you transgress the covenant, here are your curses. And we learned that Jesus, you know, became a curse for us. You know, he took on our curse.

49:02 He took on suffering and death. The curse that, because Adam transgressed the covenant with God, so Adam brought suffering and death to us. And Jesus comes to suffer and die in order to deliver us from the Adamic curse. But he doesn't deliver us totally from it. We still suffer and we still die. It's that Jesus doesn't take away suffering and death. Note this. Jesus does not take away suffering and death. Rather, he empowers our suffering and death so that when we suffer and die, we might be saved. He doesn't take away the curses. He rather makes them redemptive. He transforms the curses. He becomes a curse for us so that when we suffer and die, that we'll be born with eternal life. And this is why, this is part of the reason why Jesus still has wounds in eternity in his resurrected body.

49:51 Okay, so Jesus is baptized and what does he immediately do? Goes into the desert. He goes into the wilderness. The wilderness. And how long is he there? Forty days. He's there for forty days and forty nights. And who else in the Old Testament was in the desert for a number of forty? Moses and Elijah and... But who was there for forty years? Israel. Israel was in the desert for forty years. Forty years. Let's turn to Matthew's gospel. Let's turn to Matthew... chapter four. Matthew chapter four.

50:54 You have the temptation of Jesus. And by the way, I once was talking with one of my friends and he knew this priest once who thought that, you know, reading the gospel time and time again at Sunday Mass just was kind of boring and the people weren't really paying attention. So this is how he read the gospels. Matthew chapter four, verse one. Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights. And afterwards he was hungry. The tempter approached and said to him, If you... The tempter approached... Excuse me. The tempter approached and said to him, If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread.

51:46 He said in reply, It is written, One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God. Everybody would be just rolling in their pews. People would just... They'd be like... They wouldn't even be able to take the homily seriously, right? Isn't that great? Okay, so Jesus combats the devil by quoting scripture. Where does he quote from? Psalm what? Does Jesus quote from? Psalm... Psalm 91. Let's see here. No, that's not Psalm 91.

52:36 That's what we see later on. But what does he quote from that first time right there? Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy what again? 8.3. Okay, so Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 8.3 to the tempter who is trying to tempt him. Deuteronomy 8.3. And then the second time Jesus quotes... Let's see here. He quotes... Let's see here. The devil says if you are the son of God throw yourself down you know for it says in scripture Psalm 91 he will command his angels concerning you and with their hands he will support you lest you dash your foot against the stone. So the devil quotes Psalm 91. The devil quotes scripture, guys.

53:25 Have you guys ever heard of Jesus Christ man? This new guy who's arising who claims he's Jesus. He's in Florida. Okay, he has 100,000 followers already. It's really amazing how people follow quacks like this. But if you ever get a chance look up Jesus Christ man in the... He's already had an interview with CNN. It's really funny. But... And he's quoting scripture left and right. It's just... It's mind-boggling how people even follow this guy. But Jesus answers by quoting what book in the prophets. What prophet did Jesus quote for the second time he gives scripture? Your book says Deuteronomy 6.16 it's not a prophet?

54:12 Oh. Okay, Deuteronomy... What is it? 6.16? Okay, wow. That's pretty close to 8.3. Okay, and then the devil goes on and he took him to a high mountain and said, I'll give you all these kingdoms if you worship me. And at this Jesus said to him and Jesus quotes what book that was written during the exile? Now, which one of the later prophets does Jesus quote? Or which one of the Proverbs? What does Jesus quote from? The Lord your God shall you worship and him alone you shall serve. Where is that? What? It says Deuteronomy 6.13? Is that what you said? Huh. Deuteronomy 6.13. You know, Jesus has the old, whole Old Testament.

55:01 He could quote from anywhere, but he quotes these three times really close to each other. You know where these were given? Who gave these three commands? Someone who fasted and prayed for 40 days. Who gave these three commands in Deuteronomy? Who wrote Deuteronomy? Moses. Yeah, that's where the tradition comes from. Moses. And Moses gave these commands to Israel and he said, heed my commands. Heed these commands of the Lord. And Israel systematically through the book of Numbers transgresses these commands. Jesus goes through the desert. You know, Israel went through the desert right after he came up out of Egypt. I'm sorry, Israel came up out of Egypt and went through waters and they went into the wilderness and they transgressed the commands of God.

55:54 But Jesus comes up through waters, he goes through the wilderness and he succeeds in the instances that he quotes from. He upholds the commands of God. He fulfills the commands of God. Jesus is perfect. He's sinless. And so, by his perfect obedience we're saved. And we call this the faithfulness of Jesus. Paul calls this the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. His faithfulness, which means he's obedient. This is what saves us. Okay. Let's go back to John's gospel real quick.

56:40 John, after Jesus is baptized, he eventually shows up at a wedding. I want for you guys to, John includes some clues in his gospel that we're supposed to clue in on to understand what he's saying. And I'd like for you guys to tell me how does John 1.29 begin? John 1.29 Okay. It begins with the next day. This is the first occurrence of the next day in John's gospel. How does verse 35 begin? John 1.35 The next day. Okay.

57:26 How does John 1.43 begin? The next day. Wow. So we have the next day given to us three times. And then John 2.1 When does the wedding feast occur? On the third day. So it occurs on the third day. But if we're counting from day one, the first instance of the next day is on what day? Day two. It's the next day. So the next day would be day what? So the third occurrence of the next day would be on day what? So three days from that would be day what? Seven. So the third day is also the seventh day. If you're looking at the way that John is writing.

58:14 And John remember begins his gospel in John 1.1 John chapter 1 as a new creation. How long did it take for creation to occur in the Old Testament in Genesis? Six days. And on this let's see here the seventh day. On the seventh day which is the third day there was a wedding feast in Cana and they have no wine and so Jesus transforms miraculously six stone water jars that were there for what? Jewish ceremonial washings. John is not wasting ink. He wants you guys to pay close attention. Jesus at a wedding changes how much wine?

59:04 Six stone but we find out how much they each holding 20 to 30 gallons is my translation. So Jesus basically creates about 180 gallons of wine. Jesus was not a teetotaler guys. He didn't drink Welch's grape juice. Back then Welch was the guy who invented pasteurizing grapes so that you could have grape juice instead of grapes that had been fermented. Grapes begin fermenting on the vine and they keep fermenting unless you stop it. This didn't happen until Welch. Jesus did not use grape juice at the Last Supper guys. He used oinos, wine. Jesus was known as a drunkard because he drank wine with sinners. Okay? Jesus didn't get drunk but he did get a little buzz.

59:52 The Son of God got a buzz. It's not sinful to drink a little bit of alcohol. It's not guys. He did. And he transforms 180 gallons of it. 180 gallons. Oh, wait a minute. I want for you guys to turn back to where the ceremonial washings are prescribed in Numbers chapter 19. Let's turn to Numbers 19. Numbers 19. Numbers 19 talks about how a heifer, how a heifer, a female cow, has to be sacrificed for sins. And this heifer is sacrificed and then you're supposed to take the ashes of the heifer and you're supposed to use it for purification.

1:00:44 Now, we know that all sacrifices point to Jesus and Jesus is the ultimate sacrifice. And right in the middle of this instruction, we read starting in verse 10 of Numbers 19, verse 10, he who has gathered up the ashes of the heifer shall also wash his garments and be unclean until evening. This is a perpetual ordinance both for the Israelites and for the aliens residing among them. Whoever touches the dead body of any human being shall be unclean for seven days. He shall then purify himself with water on the third and on the seventh day. I want for you guys to skip down to verse 18. Then a man who is clean shall take some hyssop, baptize it in this water, and do something with it.

1:01:39 This is one of the few times in the Old Testament were the future tints of baptismo in the Greek Old Testament, the Greek translation, the Septuagint, were the future, you know, the future, well, the word baptismo is used, but here are the future tints, baptizei, is used. Baptize it. So we have one of these few instances of baptism being used, specifically for, this is what these six ceremonial jars are being used for. How many jars? Six. But on the seventh day, which is also the third day, Jesus transforms them into wine. What's the symbolism here? John has already told us. Turn to John chapter one. John has already given us the theme that he's trying to draw upon.

1:02:26 John chapter one, verse sixteen. The gospel of John, chapter one, verse sixteen. From the fullness of Jesus, we have all received grace in place of grace. Because while the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. As there were six days for the old creation, and there were six jugs for what had to fulfill the law of Moses, this work of the law. So now we're to the seventh day, the day of the new creation, salvation, grace and truth. The water is being turned into the best wine, we're told.

1:03:15 This is what the head waiter tells the bridegroom. You have served, you have saved the best wine until now. The head waiter tells the bridegroom. And we've already discussed in this Bible study, who does John want us to see the bridegroom as being? Jesus. And who represents the bride? The church, but who represents the church in this instance? Who accompanies Jesus and is called woman like the new Eve? Mary. And then we're told that John the Baptist in John chapter 3 verse 29, John chapter 3 verse 29, the one who has the bride is the bridegroom, the best man, who stands and listens for him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice.

1:04:06 This joy of mine has been made complete. He must increase, I must decrease. John the Baptist calls himself the best man to Jesus, who is the bridegroom. So the head waiter tells the bridegroom, and John tells us who the bridegroom is in John 3 29, tells the bridegroom, you have saved the best wine until now. When normally they would serve the best wine in the beginning until they get a little tipsy, then they serve an inferior one, because no one can tell the difference, because they're a little tipsy. So again, God has saved grace and truth for the New Testament. John is showing how the Old Testament prepares to and is fulfilled in the New Testament. So we have this theme of baptism for Numbers 19. And right before John chapter 2 and John chapter 1, we have Jesus being baptized, and before that John the Baptist says, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

1:04:54 And let John chapter 2 verse 23, John chapter 2 verse 23, while Jesus was in Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, many began to believe in His name when they saw the signs He was doing. But Jesus would not believe Himself to them. They would believe themselves to Jesus, but Jesus would not believe Himself to them because He knew them all and did not need anyone to testify about human nature. He Himself understood it well. Okay, all these people are believing in Jesus, but Jesus won't believe in them because He knows human nature.

1:05:44 Huh? But I thought we're saved by faith. But it says that people believed in His name, they believed, but Jesus wouldn't believe Himself unto them because He knows human nature. Well, how does John 3, 1 pick up? Now, there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a man, oh, I'm sorry, now there was a, and this is what John's gospel says literally, now there was a man of the Pharisees, a representative of these people who believed unto Jesus, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. He came to Jesus at night and said to Him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you are doing unless God is with him. Jesus answered and said to him, Amen, I say to you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.

1:06:33 Of course, the people think that he is using the other meaning of onothin, which is again, Jesus means onothin above, but onothin has a double meaning, it also means again, we have covered this. Nicodemus said to him, how can a person grown old be born again? Surely he cannot reenter his mother's womb and be born again, can he? Jesus answers, Amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and the spirit. Being born from above with water in the, he's talking about one event, he's talking about two events, like the amnionic fluid from your first birth and then later on from the spirit, no he's talking about one event born of water and the spirit. Well, where was water and the spirit just in John's gospel? Baptism. What does Numbers 19 talk about?

1:07:23 Baptism. Jesus talks about being born from above by water and the spirit because he knows human nature and he won't believe himself unto people who have this old human nature, they have to be recreated, they have to become a new creation. And then John chapter 3 verse 22, right after he gives this long discourse to Nicodemus, what does John 3 22 say? After this, Jesus and his disciples went into the region of Judea where he spent some time with them baptizing. The whole theme is baptism, guys. The whole theme, the whole theme is baptism. And then you'll see in verse 25 now a dispute arose between the disciples of John and a Jew about ceremonial washing.

1:08:09 So again, there's the ceremonial washing that comes back into play. Okay, we have very little time to go, so I'm going to go ahead and move on here. Now, again, I'm going to point out that in order to enter into a covenant, you need to take a sacramentum, an oath. We know that you baptize, we're told at the end of Matthew's gospel, Matthew 28, verses 18 and on, we're told that you baptize in the name of the, you baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the name of God. You call upon the name, what does Paul say in Romans chapter 10? Whoever so blank shall be saved. Whoever so calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

1:08:55 Calling on the name of the Lord, this is an oath. This is baptism. Baptism is a sacramentum by which you enter the testamentum. And you guys are all speaking Latin with me, right? Okay, good. Okay, so Jesus is then, you know, later on, he's, well, we found out that he was tempted in the desert. In Matthew's, let's go back to Matthew's gospel, I'm sorry, Mark's gospel real quick. I'm sorry for switching between the gospels so much. I apologize. I'm sure you guys are getting cross-eyed by Mark's gospel. What happens right after the temptation in the desert? John, I'm sorry, Mark chapter one, did I just say John again? Man, I'm stuck in John.

1:09:43 Mark chapter one, verse 14. John was arrested and Jesus starts preaching and what is the first thing Jesus says in his whole public ministry? Hey guys, how's it going? It's good to know you. No, what does he say? This is the time of fulfillment. Remember the Old Testament, a story in search of an end? This is the time of fulfillment, what? The kingdom of God is at hand. What kingdom? Herod the Great's kingdom, the heavenly kingdom? Jesus is the son of David, what kingdom? He's born in Bethlehem, what kingdom? He's anointed as Messiah, what kingdom?

1:10:30 The Davidic kingdom. Jesus is coming to preach not any old kingdom, but a specific kingdom, the Davidic kingdom, with all that it entailed. And what did the prophets promise? That the twelve tribes would be reunited under the Messiah in this new kingdom, and Jesus starts preaching this. Let's turn to Matthew's gospel. Let's turn back to Matthew's gospel, and let's turn to the, let's turn to Matthew chapter 4 verse 12, and Matthew tells us where Jesus says this. Matthew chapter 4 verse 12, when he heard that John had been arrested, withdrew to Galilee, he left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali.

1:11:20 key location. And in Matthew quotes, ding, Isaiah again, Isaiah 9, 1 through 2, where Isaiah says that right where Assyria started the conquest of the northern kingdom, so would the salvation, the redemption, and the restoration occur. Jesus starts preaching the kingdom of God in a key location. And if we know our Old Testament, we should know about the land of Zebulun and Naphtali. And then what does Jesus do immediately in both Mark and Matthew's gospel in Matthew chapter 4 verse 18? Right after he says that, what does he do? What's the first thing he does after that? He chooses 12 apostles. Jesus chooses 12 apostles.

1:12:07 And Matthew, what apostles mentioned first in Matthew? Watch in all the gospels he's the first apostle mentioned. He first sees Simon who is called Peter and his brother Andrew. He says, come after me and I will make you fishers of men, quoting Jeremiah 16, Jesus, why 12 apostles? Why not 11? Why not 13? Why not 20? 12 tribes. We're told by the prophets that the Messiah will restore all 12 tribes and Jesus writes down a rule book and says, everybody follow this rule book, right? No. Jesus takes men and a real motley crew by the way. Fishermen.

1:12:54 Not the scribes, not the Pharisees, fishermen. 12 of them forms them around himself symbolizing the 12 tribes of Israel. No, they're not all fishermen because like, for instance, Matthew is a tax collector, Levi. And he's even looked down upon if you want to see. This is a real motley crew. What is Jesus doing? He's restoring Israel. And if Jesus is going to restore Israel, guess what? Most of the Jews in his time were from only three tribes. Judah, Benjamin, and Levi. What about the Asherites, the Gadites, the Issacharites, the Manasseites, the Ephraimites, and on and on, the Simeonites, and the Levites, on and on and on. What about these other ten tribes?

1:13:42 They're not gone. Where are they? So if Jesus wants to reunite all of Israel, who has to become members of the kingdom? Gentiles. Because when Judith Einstein becomes a Christian, she's from the tribe of Judah, okay, that's great, but what about Andrew Robinson, who doesn't have a Jewish background at all, but he's actually one-eighth from the tribe of Asher, because his great-great-great grandfather was one of the Israelites. How is God going to be faithful to those Asherites who are now, you know, they lost their national identity, but they're Gentiles. Brings them into the kingdom, so when Andrew Robinson, or Tom whoever, you know, Tom Deer, for instance, becomes Christian, he comes into the church, the restoration is occurring.

1:14:43 And what do the twelve apostles do? They go out and they preach to Jew and Gentile. Jew and Gentile, because the restoration is occurring. And next week is going to be called chapter 20, where what Jesus taught, and we already saw some of what Jesus taught, but we're going to continue with this theme. We're going to continue to look at the Gospels in a new light, looking at the Old Testament and how it just unveils, how it just unveils, and is just made fresh in the New Testament. The New Testament, it was hidden in the Old, and it comes to light. Isn't this exciting? Yeah, and I didn't even begin with the prayer, and you didn't even notice. You guys want to start all over again?

1:15:29 I don't know, I think they need to play basketball or something, they probably don't. You guys want us to start over again? No, they're giving me booze. Okay, let's go ahead and close in prayer. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen. Lord, we thank you for the gift of St. John Bosco, who we celebrate today on the liturgical calendar, a priest from Turin, Italy. We thank you for his zeal in preaching to the youth, and for founding the Salesians to reach out to the young people of Turin, Italy. Lord, we thank you for St. John Bosco. Teach us how to be like him, how to be like St. John Bosco, who is like Jesus. Lord, thank you for this scripture study. Thank you for understanding the scriptures.

1:16:17 Thank you for the Gospels. We ask for a restful night, for the time to read and to study, and for the grace to humble ourselves, to follow these difficult yet simple words. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen. God bless you.