BEMA 125: Are You Talking to Me?

Transcription Status

5 Sep 23 — Initial public release

23 May 23 — Transcript approved for release

Are You Talking to Me?

Brent Billings: This is The BEMA Podcast with Marty Solomon. I’m his co-host, Brent Billings. Today we see Jesus go on the offensive, confronting the corrupt priesthood that rules in Jerusalem.

Marty Solomon: We have headed into the final week of Jesus’s life and understanding this week is—this is one of those things I—this is recent history for me that I’ve grown in my knowledge of this stuff. I knew some of these pieces, I didn’t really have my whole consciousness wrapped around the final week well. And within the last, I don’t know, five or six years, those things started to click with me. I was like, oh, my goodness, understanding this week is so critical and essential. I got some more studying to do. To be quite honest, I’m just reading some books now, so who knows, in the middle of our study of the last week, I might even add some new stuff or change my mind. I reserve the right to learn new things, as should we all, so I’ll let you know. I’ll let you know if this book that I’m reading is a recommendation for this time of Jesus’s life, but we’re going to go with what we got on the table at this point.

What I have learned up to this point, and we got to go back and we have to review those five people groups, because this is critical to understanding what’s happening in Jesus’s final week. Jesus has spent three years—and we’re going to actually tag two episodes in the show notes, Brent. We’re going to tag Pharisees, and we’re going to tag Sadducees, just so that we can go back and review those two groups if necessary. If not, great, but if you need to go back and review, go back and review those groups, because Jesus has just spent the last three years with the P’rushim, with the Pharisees. He has been spending all of his time in that devoted religious world, and really, he has been a part of the Pharisee world.

He hasn’t been on the outside looking in. Jesus has been operating as a Pharisee. He’s been operating as a completely different kind of Pharisee. He has been offering a critique of the status quo of the Pharisee worldview, at least a large portion of it, but Jesus has been three years as a Pharisee, in the Pharisaical world, dealing with the religious Jews, and he has been working and working and working at trying to deconstruct the destructive, self-righteous religiosity in all of its forms, and that’s not just throwing the Pharisees under the bus. This would be religiosity in all forms, including today. Jesus would come sit in our churches, and he would spend all of this time trying to deconstruct our religiosity and how it keeps us from the mission of God. Jesus looks an awful lot like the God of Session 2, or the God of Session 1. When we talk in the book of Judges about what kind of a cycle, Brent?

Brent: The redemption cycle.

Marty: The redemption cycle and this God’s never-ending patience. Bottomless patience. This is what Jesus has been portraying.

Brent: Over and over again, we see in Judges.

Marty: Over and over again in Judges and then over and over again through the Gospels. This is what Jesus does in the world of Pharisees. Jesus never loses his mind, he never gives up. He just, for three years, over and over and over again. He starts talking to his disciples after the story of the Transfiguration about how he’s going to go die; he’s now setting his sights on Jerusalem. He’s like, I’m going to go die. I’m going to go die. His disciples are trying to talk him out of it, but Jesus knows what’s going to happen, because this last week of Jesus when he finally gets to Jerusalem, Jesus is going to confront religious corruption. These are two different worlds, and it’s so important to see that. This is no longer the world of the Pharisees.

People all the time talk about how the Pharisees and the Sadducees killed Jesus. No, they did not. A very, very corrupt religious mafia, that mob, that seven family mafia that made up the chief priesthood in that second temple period, they are the ones that killed Jesus. It’s total corruption. It’s not Judaism. It’s not the Pharisees. Now, there are some Pharisees in the story that helped them at different points. That’s in your Gospel texts, but the Pharisees as a whole is the world that Jesus keeps trying to work with, trying to convince, trying to deconstruct, trying to redeem. He is partnering with the Pharisaical worldview. What he is going to critique for one week—for one week he’s going to critique religious corruption and power.

Brent: I was just thinking about what has led up to the content that we’re about to talk about in this episode. He comes into Jerusalem riding on the donkey and it says in Matthew 21:10, “When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, who is this?” Jerusalem is not familiar with Jesus’s work.

Marty: Absolutely, and there could be some more discussion around that, but I totally agree with you. I’m not sure when Jesus gets to Jerusalem, that at the very least the chief priesthood—I don’t know if they even knew who he was. Who cares about this peasant ragtag mamzer Pharisee that’s running around from Lake Galilee. It’s not until he goes in and turns over the tables of their system, I promise you all of a sudden they went, “Whoa, what’s going on?” What we’re going to see today is they have to combat this popular public opinion, because they would just do away with this guy. Who do you think you are? We’re just going to kill you, but all of a sudden, they realize that the crowds, the crowds, the multitudes, they love this guy, and now it’s when chief priests are like, “Who is this?” Quite literally, they came out in our last podcast, and they said, “Where do you get your s’micha? Who are you?”

Brent: Well, when they asked that question, who is this? It says, “The crowds answered, ‘This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.’”

Marty: Oh, great grab. Absolutely. Yes, absolutely. I just have to make that distinction, I’m going to make it again. The Pharisees don’t kill Jesus. The Sadducees killed Jesus. I’m even going to argue Rome doesn’t. They have a part to play in the thing. This is really about this religious corruption and the chief priests. We’re going to see that by the time we get to Pilate, that killed Jesus, but it’s not the Pharisees. Jesus is going to spend three years with the Pharisees. He’ll spend one week—one week!—with the Sadducees, and it’s going to get him crucified and he knows it. He knows that he goes in to die. “I am going to confront religious power. Nobody is going to do what I’m about to do and live to tell the tale.”

He knows that, not because he has his God Goggles on, but because he knows what he’s going to go in there and do, and the disciples eventually pick up on it. What are you doing? On one hand, they want Him to do it, they’re waiting for the revolution. I think they’re a little confused at why he’s targeted the wrong enemy. Wait, why aren’t you going after Rome, but they keep trying to get Him to not keep confronting the chief priests, the high priests, the chief priesthood. That’s your setting here is the energy has amped way, way up.

Brent: Rome carries out the crucifixion for political reasons, not because they have any beef against Jesus.

Marty: Absolutely. We’ll get to that. Right, we’ll get to that in a later podcast. You’re absolutely correct. Absolutely correct. All right, I got some notes that we’ll read through. You got our passage queued up when we need it. Brent? Where are we going to be at?

Brent: Matthew 21. Like we said, Jesus rode in on the donkey, he goes in the temple, drives out the merchants, he curses the fig tree, and then they question his authority. That leads us up to verse 28 of Matthew 21.

Marty: I’m going to interrupt you and give you some introductory thoughts here, okay? I’m going to do what you just did here with some prepared thoughts here. Jesus enters Jerusalem, immediately begins a long week of confronting corrupt religious leadership. Jesus clears the temple, chasing out the money changers and those selling in the temple mount. The next morning as Jesus reentered the city, he curses a fig tree, and that illustrates and portrays a condemnation of religious leadership. We looked at that already, previous podcast. This gets Jesus in quite a bit of trouble, as he’s publicly confronting and condemning a corrupt, religious system of power that has its own mafia to carry out executions of its opponents. This is what will eventually get Jesus crucified.

While the priesthood has to do a political dance, because of the favor that Jesus carries with the people, it will eventually result in his politically forced execution. The priesthood immediately confronts Jesus publicly about his authority, calling into question his training at the end of our last podcast. Rabbinical rites and ultimately the source of his, what was the word for authority, Brent?

Brent: Smicha.

Marty: Smicha. Not that this priesthood cares about rabbinical authority, but they may be trying to sway public opinion about his credibility, as well as find out who else is behind this young upstart’s ministry. After confounding them with his response, which shows them to be trapped in a political corner, Jesus goes on the offensive, which is a rare move for him, and begins serenading the priests with parables. I like that phrase. Serenading the priests with parables. Jesus starts the parable about two sons, the point of which—well, let’s go and read it. Go and give us the first little parable we got here, Brent? It’s The Parable of Two Sons.

Brent: What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, “Son, go and work today in the vineyard”. “I will not,” he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, “I will, sir,” but he did not go. Which of the two did what his father wanted? The first, they answered. Jesus said to them, “Truly, I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you, for John came to you to show you the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.”

Marty: His audience is the chief priesthood and I love His reference to John here after they just asked Him about his authority. He then follows it up with a comment about John, because John was the one that confronted this corrupt—he was from which group, Brent?

Brent: John?

Marty: Yes.

Brent: Being from the Essenes.

Marty: The Essenes, which is that group that critiqued the priesthood and ran away from it.

Brent: Part of the priesthood.

Marty: Absolutely. A really appropriate condemnation coming from John the Baptist. Jesus launches into this parable about two sons. One says no, but does it, one says yes, but doesn’t. Which is the right son? Now, there are a lot of possible remez’s to this parable. We could talk about Jacob and Esau. There’s a lot of stories in Torah alone of just two sons and a lot of good possibilities. I’m not taking anything away from those.

It’s my opinion. Just my personal opinion here, that what Jesus is referencing is the sons of Zadok. They are the sons of Zadok. Zadok and Abiathar are the two sons in the days of David and Solomon that they have to choose from to reinstitute the priesthood. They are the two descendants of Aaron, which is where the high priesthood has to come from, and they have to determine which son after getting everything flubbed up. They have to draw straws and they select Zadok. If you remember from that episode, that’s where the Zadokim or the Sadducees come from. They are sons of Zadok. In my opinion, I think Jesus is calling back to Abiathar and Zadok. Which son is going to get the priesthood? It’s going to be Zadok. I think Jesus is saying, you are just the son that said you’re going to be priest, but you’re not doing it.

What do you think God would rather have? The son that isn’t supposed to be a priest, but is going to be? Now we’re starting to think like Jacob and Esau and all those kinds of things. Do you think God would rather have an Esau or a Jacob? Would He rather have a Zadok in this case or an Abiathar? Which one do you think he wants? I think that’s what His point is here in the Parable of Two Sons, just a flyover of that. Let’s actually dig into some of the next two parables and go from there.

Brent: “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place.”

Marty: All right. We also have in your show notes, the podcast for, which podcast, Brent?

Brent: 1 Isaiah.

Marty: 1 Isaiah. Why?

Brent: Because of the vineyard.

Marty: The vineyard and this is clearly, it’s almost like a direct quote lifted out of it, built a watchtower, a winepress as well. This is Isaiah 5, the vision that God had of His people at the beginning of the book of Isaiah. Undoubtedly, the priests hear this parable completely differently than we do as New Testament readers. The image of course is pulled right out of Isaiah 5, and the vineyard is representative of God’s people. When the priests hear this version of the story, I think they immediately assume that the tenants spoken of would not be—see, we hear it and who do we immediately know the tenants are, Brent? Who has God handed His vineyard over to?

Brent: To the priests.

Marty: To the priests. The story’s going to make clear, they don’t hear it that way. What do you think their assumption is? God’s handed our vineyard over to…?

Brent: Rome.

Marty: The Romans. That’s immediately how they’re hearing it. Like, “Oh, we can’t wait for Rome to get out of here so we can get back to our luxurious ways and not have to worry about the political powers that be.” When the priests hear this version of the story, they immediately assume the tenants spoken of would be the Romans. In other words, God planted His vineyard and leased it to the Romans while He is away. That’s how they hear it. Let’s see what Jesus keeps doing.

Brent: “When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.”

Marty: Okay, hold on a second. He sent his tenants to do what, Brent?

Brent: He sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.

Marty: To collect his fruit, which means the vineyard is bearing what?

Brent: Fruit.

Marty: Fruit. The vineyard is who?

Brent: The vineyard is His people.

Marty: God’s people. This is not a condemnation of Judaism. We have to see this. In Isaiah 5, what was the picture of Isaiah 5? The vineyard was what? I came looking for fruit, but what did I find?

Brent: Betushim.

Marty: I found betushim. God’s people weren’t producing fruit, but now, Brent, they are. The Jewish people are bearing fruit, and God’s come to get it so that the people—this isn’t a condemnation of Jewish people. This is a condemnation of the priesthood. Absolutely the priesthood. God’s coming to get the fruit of the Jewish people, but the tenants aren’t going to let them. Go ahead and continue.

Brent: “The tenants seized his servants, they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time. The tenants treated them the same way. Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said, but when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ They took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.”

Marty: Alright. Now again, I think when the priests hear this, it just fits their setting perfectly. It fits perfectly with the Romans. God’s coming back to receive His fruit and the Romans have mistreated His people. When the rightful heir, who would be in their mind, the priesthood, they would think, “Well, we are the heirs.” In fact, there’s a reference to, “I have called you my son.” It’s a reference to priesthood and kingship. They think as they’re hearing this parable, they’re like, “We’re the son. We’re the son.” They’re not used to people speaking out against him. I think that in their mind they think that the priesthood shows up, but the Romans keep throwing them out, beating them, persecuting them, even killing them. That’s not where Jesus is headed. Go ahead and keep going.

Brent: “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants? ‘He will bring those wretches to a wretched end.’ They replied. ‘And he will rent the vineyard to other tenants who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.’”

Marty: All right. Now, when they hear that—which, I always heard this, and I always assumed the tenants were the priests. I thought, why are they talking this way about themselves? This parable never made any sense to me. Now we understand that they’re hearing the Romans, they’re like, “God’s going to finally get those Romans out of here and we’ll be able to rule appropriately as priests.” That’s not exactly where Jesus is headed with this. Jesus brings a surprise on them. He’s not talking about the Romans. Go ahead.

Brent: Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures? The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. The Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes. Therefore, I tell you that the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces. Anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.” When the chief priest and the Pharisees heard Jesus’s parables, they knew He was talking about them. They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that He was a prophet.

Marty: Jesus comes in and essentially says, “Forget about the Romans. You are the tenants. You are the one hoarding the fruit for yourselves.” We’ve already looked at it in the Sadducee podcast. They’re hoarding all this wealth that God’s people are bringing to the temple. They’re living high on the hog. Total corruption, and not giving—“high on the hog”? That’s an interesting—

Brent: I know.

Marty: Probably

Brent: That’s great.

Marty: Probably not the greatest expression I probably could choose, but they’re not giving God what is rightfully His. While all of this is brilliant, by the way, we’ve been on what level here, Brent, this whole time?

Brent: P’shat.

Marty: We’re just on p’shat. I think Jesus could also be planting a remez. He’s already referenced the obvious one was Isaiah what, Brent?

Brent: Isaiah 5.

Marty: Isaiah 5. I think he could be referencing us back to Isaiah 61, which would be the other end. There’s the beginning of Isaiah, and then there’s the ending of Isaiah. Can you read us Isaiah 61:1 through whatever you got?

Brent: The spirit of the sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn and provide for those who grieve in Zion, to bestow on them a crown of beauty, instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor. They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated. They will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations. Strangers will shepherd your flocks.

Marty: Okay. That phrase “there will be foreigners.” I think Jesus references this passage saying you got it backwards. You think the foreigners are the tenants? The foreigners are supposed to be the tenants in God’s good world. This would be the second time—go ahead and finish off this passage, because it has another reference here to priesthood.

Brent: Strangers will shepherd your flocks. Foreigners will work your fields and vineyards, and you will be called priests of the Lord. You will be named ministers of our God. You will feed on the wealth of nations and in their riches, you will boast.

Marty: Man, I think Jesus is saying, “When you finally remember the mission that God sent you here, you will have Romans tending your fields. You will have pagans in your fields, because that’s the world that God is building, but you’ve got it all backwards. You’ve got the enemy wrong. This would be the second time in two chapters that Jesus has referenced this teaching of Isaiah 61 in light of the vineyard of God being tended by strangers and foreigners. The drash would be a distinct forecast of the fall of the Sadducees and of the priesthood. Jesus tells in this parable and says, and the text tells us that they get quite upset and begin conspiring against Jesus, but Jesus is still talking and he’s not done yet. We have to keep moving to the next parable, Brent. Keep reading us through Matthew.

Brent: Now we’re in Matthew 22. Jesus spoke to them again in parable saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.”

Marty: Okay. In the setting of this parable, especially following the parable of the tenants, it’s going to be much easier to decipher from a p’shat level. The Kingdom of Heaven is like a party, which by the way is a good enough point. We may circle back and dwell on that before we’re done in our podcast today. Just the idea that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a party. Just that idea alone could teach us. This party has been thrown by God. He has invited His people to be the first comers to this party. The first RSVPs, the first invitations go out to God’s people, but just like the elder brothers they are, they refuse to go in. Go ahead and keep reading.

Brent: “Then he sends some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered and everything is ready, come to the wedding banquet,’ but they paid no attention and went off. One to his field, another to his business, the rest seized his servants, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged, he sent his army and destroyed those murders and burned their city.”

Marty: I think it’s interesting that Jesus comes into Jerusalem on this final week, so clearly convinced of the impending doom and destruction of the city of Jerusalem, but he certainly does. He paints a picture of God’s relentless pursuit of his people and an invitation that keeps going out but is ignored, disrespected, and despised but Jesus is totally convinced that Rome is coming to destroy Jerusalem. Go ahead and keep reading.

Brent: “Then he said to his servants, “The wedding banquet is ready but those I invited did not deserve to come, so go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.” The servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find. The bad, as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.”

Marty: All right. Matthew’s agenda. What is it, Brent?

Brent: The mumzer.

Marty: The mamzer. It’s seen again here in full effect in this parable, God will have his party, Brent Billings. He will have his part. While the invitations are initially sent to his firstborn children, he will have his party one way or another, and so He fills his banquet hall with anyone who is willing to come and be a part of a celebration, insiders, outsiders, mamzers. If the first people don’t even want to come, he goes and fills his banquet hall, so he goes out and he sends word and has anybody who wants to come in. A pause here is certainly warranted with only a p’shat level reading, there is much at this point in the teaching for those [of us] who call ourselves followers to consider.

The setting of the parable is one that haunts me routinely. God is throwing a party. Apparently, this party is not the kind of party I am prepared for. It’s not thrown at the right time, in the right way, or in the right place. The religious, the people who claim to speak for God, the ones on the guest list do not seem to be interested in the party God is throwing, and it leads to their demise. I have some just questions for reflection, a little out of the ordinary for us.

Here are some questions for reflection, Brent. Am I insistent that God throw the kind of party I would throw? Next question. We’re giving all of our discussion groups. These are your questions for this week. Alright. Here we go. Everybody’s always asking me for curriculum. You’re welcome.

Am I blinded by the fact that God’s definition of a party isn’t my definition of a party?

One more question here: Am I so distracted by the worries of this world? My own personal agenda and the idolatry of self to hear the invitation to God’s party? Do I even see the party that God’s throwing? Would be an overarching question.

Apparently, religious folks—and I think that’s like you and me, Brent, and probably most of our listeners, probably most, not all, but most—we have a hard time realizing that God is throwing a party. Oh, golly, rabbit trail here. I was just recently with a group back east, in the Midwest, and it was a group on a campus—they will remain unnamed. One of them was asking me, at the very end of our time together, one of the students was asking me how do we make an impact on campus? How do we go on to campus and make a difference? I was just so compelled and part of it was because of all the conversations we had had that week, but I was just so compelled to say, “God’s already doing stuff on your campus. He’s not waiting for you, necessarily, to go start something new—he’s already doing all kinds of stuff. God’s already at work on your campus, you just have to go find it and join in on what’s going on.” There’s already brilliant, good, like of all the places in the world, the university campus is where all kinds of goodness is happening. All kinds of horrible stuff too, but all kinds of goodness is happening. God’s already throwing a party.

Brent: Maggi and I actually used this parable one time. We had a big Easter dinner prepared and all of our people that we invited ended up canceling on us.

Marty: Oh, nice.

Brent: Sunday afternoon, I start walking around campus, we lived right around the edge of campus, started walking around, found some guys playing frisbee or something outside of one of the fraternities, and I said, “Hey, we’ve got all this food, does anyone want to come and eat?” They’re like, “Yes, that sounds great.” None of those guys actually came that I saw, but they sent somebody, only one person, which is so weird. I don’t understand why this guy came by himself, but whatever, and so we had dinner with this guy. It was great.

Marty: Was it a good time?

Brent: Yes, it was great.

Marty: Yes, man, love it. That’s just Kingdom right there. See, I’m tempted to assume that this parable doesn’t apply to me. I think that deep down I know better. I think that over time, I begin to believe that God works for me. He throws the kind of parties that I want, when I want and where I want them, and I’m afraid that I miss out on far too many of the parties that God is actually throwing. Jesus’s point isn’t directed at just anybody. I mean, that was a good pause there on a p’shat level, but we need to finish the parable because Jesus is hurling this parable at the religious leaders of Israel, particularly the priests, and it’s at this point, the teaching takes an incredibly awkward turn. Go ahead and finish off the parable here, Brent.

Brent: “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless. Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot and throw him outside into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth,’ for many are invited, but few are chosen.”

Marty: This is a weird part of the story. The story is all like this beautiful setup like it’s all going to—then all of a sudden, there’s a guest without wedding clothes and he gets tied up and thrown, like what?

Brent: I feel like in the movie version of this, they’re like, “Hey, I don’t have wedding clothes,” and somebody presses a button and this whole closet opens up in the room around them and they just pick out whatever they want.

Marty: Right. Well, I have been told, by the way, that in this world, if a king—and I don’t know, I haven’t been able to validate this. I need to actually talk to one of my teachers that does cultural studies and see if there’s credibility to this, but I’ve been told that if a king were to throw such a banquet, he would also provide the attire. They would get ushered into this room and they would get invited to dress. Part of your attendance would include a willingness to come early and prepare yourself for the celebration. I mean, you would’ve gotten to the king’s palace. If you were an outsider from the streets in the alleyways, they would’ve bathed you, they would’ve given you like, they would’ve dressed you up, given you a haircut, given you a shave, given you whatever you need. I don’t know what it looks like in that world, but you get the idea. You would’ve been expected to dress appropriately.

I have never been able to verify this, and I’m not sure it’s true, but on a p’shat level, it seems as though this might insinuate a person who wants to be a part of the celebration but not recognize God’s desire, design, or authority. He wants to be a part of God’s will, he just doesn’t want to do it God’s way.

I think I’m on that because I think there are far too many of us that probably fit that category, but what have we learned, Brent, if we see something that’s like, man, that’s just weird, that’s a weird turn the story took, that’s really weird.

Brent: Weird is a clue.

Marty: Weird’s a clue. A hint of lights going off on my dashboard, a hint, we call it a remez. This remez, I believe, comes from Zephaniah 1—like it always does, Zephaniah, a little three-chapter prophecy in the Old Testament—but there’s a passage there. Go ahead and read us, tell us what your address says, and go ahead and read us this passage of Zephaniah 1.

Brent: One starting verse four. I will stretch out my hand against Judah and against all who live in Jerusalem. I will destroy every remnant of Baal worship in this place, the very names of the idolatrous priests. Those—

Marty: Say what?

Brent: The very names of the idolatrous priests.

Marty: Oh, the subject matter of Zephaniah 1 is priesthood? Okay. Keep going.

Brent: Those who bow down on the roofs to worship the starry host, those who bow down and swear by the Lord and who also swear by Molek, those who turn back from following the Lord and neither seek the Lord nor inquire of him, be silent before the sovereign Lord for the day of the Lord is near. The Lord has prepared a sacrifice. He has consecrated those he has invited.

Marty: I think there’s that hint that the king would consecrate, that means to set apart, to bathe, to remember a bride bathes before her wedding. I think there’s a consecration there with the king inviting you to a party. Go ahead.

Brent: On the day of the Lord’s sacrifice, I will punish the officials and the King’s sons and all those clad in foreign clothes.

Marty: There’s the reference, foreign or “strange clothes.” I will punish the officials and the king’s sons and all those clad in strange clothes. Go ahead.

Brent: On that day, I will punish all who avoid stepping on the threshold who fill the temple of their gods with violence and deceit.

Marty: Oh man. What are the Sadducees guilty of? That.

Brent: [laughs]

Marty: Go and keep reading.

Brent: On that day, declares the Lord, a cry will go up from the Fish Gate, wailing from the New Quarter and a loud crash from the hills. Wail, all who live in the market district, all your merchants will be wiped out—and Jesus just did that, right?

Marty: Yes, sure.

Brent: All who trade with silver will be destroyed. At that time, I will search Jerusalem with lamps and punish those who are complacent, who are like wine left on its dregs, who think the Lord will do nothing, either good or bad. Their wealth will be plundered, their houses demolished. Though they build houses, they will not live in them, though they plant vineyards, they will not drink the wine. The great day of the Lord is near, near, and coming quickly. The cry on the day of the Lord is bitter. The mighty warrior shouts his battle cry.

That day will be a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of trouble and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness, a day of trumpet and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the corner towers.

Marty: Does that sound like being tossed out to a place of wailing and moaning and groaning and gnashing of teeth and misery? All right, go ahead and keep going.

Brent: I will bring such distress on all people that they will grope about like those who are blind, because they have sinned against the Lord. Their blood will be poured out like dust and their entrails like dung. Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them on the day of the Lord’s wrath.

Marty: Neither their silver, nor their gold—and boy, do they have a lot of it, those Sadducees, but it’s not going to save them on the day that Jerusalem will be destroyed. This, the drash of this parable turns into a scathing retort of the Sadducees. They sure want to be a part of God’s party, but they have no interest in doing it God’s way. God foretells of the doom and Jesus foretells of the doom that awaits them, because they refuse to care for God’s people. They continue to take advantage of those who are trying to find and worship God. Of course, Jesus is still not done interacting with these corrupt leaders.

This is going to be a very busy week for Jesus, but three parables, three really good ones, told very intentionally, directly at corrupt leadership, calling them out for their corruption. There you go. That little portion of the—that little ditty in the Text.

Brent: It’s a lot to digest.

Marty: It is. It is. It’ll give us some time to think and good questions to wrestle with.

Brent: Yes, we do have questions.

Marty: Yes, absolutely.

Brent: Quite a deal there.

Marty: Enjoy those in your groups.

Brent: If you have additional questions or need some clarification, talk to us about it. You can find Marty on Twitter at @martysolomon. I’m at @eibcb. You can go to bemadiscipleship.com, you can contact us there. There’s discussion groups on the map. You can find some other people to talk to about this or start your own discussion group if there’s not one in your area. Thanks for joining us on The BEMA Podcast this week. We’ll talk to you again soon.