Curt Harlow [00:00:00]:
Hey, everyone. Pastor Curt here again with my very favorite podcast. That's right. Of the millions of podcasts, this is.
Brannon Shortt [00:00:07]:
My absolute favorite one in the ocean of them.
Curt Harlow [00:00:09]:
It is the Bible study pod where we just talk everything correct. Bible study. How do you get the original meaning out of the text and apply that to your life? Where's those scales from? And the way we do it is we follow the text that Bayside church is teaching in all of our campuses week by week. If this is your first time here, congratulations and God bless you. If you're taking notes, and I hope you are, pull out a sheet of paper. We are going to be in Acts 21. Just three verses today. 21, 17, 18, and 19.
Curt Harlow [00:00:40]:
If you're driving, no sheets of paper. Just keep your eyes on the road and be safe. But I hope you get a lot as you listen to this. As always, I've got the frontal lobe of Bayside with me. Dena Davidson. How you doing, Dena?
Dena Davidson [00:00:52]:
I'm excited to be here.
Curt Harlow [00:00:54]:
Good. I bet you're going to be awesome on this particular topic today. I know that because we've been texting back and forth, and then for the first time.
Brannon Shortt [00:01:01]:
For the first time.
Curt Harlow [00:01:02]:
Were you ever on the old Bible study?
Brannon Shortt [00:01:04]:
Yes.
Curt Harlow [00:01:04]:
Okay. First time on the new manifestation.
Brannon Shortt [00:01:07]:
That hurt me.
Curt Harlow [00:01:08]:
We have Brannon short of Folsom campus. Folsom, Bayside. How you doing, Bron?
Brannon Shortt [00:01:13]:
The not frontal lobe today. I. I told these guys I want two hours of sleep, but I. I'm glad to be here. Honored to be asked and thrilled to represent Folsom.
Dena Davidson [00:01:23]:
Two hours of sleep because of your son. Right.
Brannon Shortt [00:01:25]:
You being a great dad. Getting a molar. You know, it's hard being a baby.
Curt Harlow [00:01:30]:
It's hard being a baby.
Brannon Shortt [00:01:31]:
Teeth cutting through your gums.
Curt Harlow [00:01:33]:
You're growing a whole body.
Brannon Shortt [00:01:34]:
You're growing an ent body. All these organs, a brain, and t.
Curt Harlow [00:01:37]:
A lot of brain growth. So I would say you are like the larynx of the Bayside.
Brannon Shortt [00:01:45]:
Yeah, yeah.
Curt Harlow [00:01:46]:
Very, very talented larynx. All right, thank you. Let's get into it. We've been going through the book of Acts. A lot of geography in this last section, and I want to do something I normally Dena don't recommend people do.
Brannon Shortt [00:01:56]:
Oh, here we go.
Curt Harlow [00:01:57]:
Which is. I want to kind of focus on one word of this passage. There's a few places where I think that's legit, but sometimes when you just dive in. Here's the Greek. And here's the background. Here's the meaning. You. You get off of the 50,000 foot big thing.
Curt Harlow [00:02:12]:
Yeah, but I'm going to read the passage and I'm going to let the listeners guess which is the word. I want to do a deep dive in. Of course, we're in the spring, we're in and around all the Easter resurrection season. So here it is.
Brannon Shortt [00:02:24]:
Yes.
Curt Harlow [00:02:24]:
Starting in verse 17. When we, Paul and his company arrived at Jerusalem, the brothers and sisters received us warmly. The next day, Paul and the rest of us, Luke the crew, went to see James, that's the brother of Jesus, and all the elders were present. Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. So you, you kind of already know, but what's, what's the word we're going to focus on here?
Dena Davidson [00:02:57]:
We're focusing on Jerusalem.
Curt Harlow [00:03:00]:
That's right.
Brannon Shortt [00:03:00]:
Oh yeah, that's right.
Curt Harlow [00:03:01]:
See, what happens is we read a passage like this and we're so familiar with this word Jerusalem. It's a city. In our news every day we kind of just go, oh, I understand. And we skip through it and we were like, who are those brothers and sisters? James the brother, who were the elders? What Gentiles? What's the problem? And the rest of the chapter does go into the Gentile issue quite a bit, but in context, this word Jerusalem and the fact that Paul wanted to get there so badly. This has been happening since chapter beginning of chapter 20. We need to pause there and actually ask the question. Here's where I'm start with you, Dena. Why did Paul want to go to Jerusalem so bad?
Dena Davidson [00:03:43]:
Yeah, well, I, in preparation for this, because you cued me. You were like, oh, this is what we're going to talk about. I did some study and one of the things that I found, and I had never thought about this before, is that in particular, the Luke Acts narrative is all about getting to Jerusalem. Like I happened on this great sermon by Don Carson that he was giving to the Gospel Coalition. He said, basically from Luke 9 on, Luke is chronicling Jesus going to Jerusalem. And much of Acts is about launching out from Jerusalem and then coming back to Jerusalem and then once again going out. So Jerusalem plays such a pivotal role in, in the mind of Luke. And it's something huge that he wants us to understand, which is important for us because Luke is, Luke is a Gentile.
Dena Davidson [00:04:32]:
He, he is not actually Jewish. So even for this man who's not Jewish himself, this place still played, played a pivotal role in the story of Jesus and the story of the church. So I didn't answer your question, but I Just say, it's really important to Luke that we understand that Jerusalem is important in the story of God.
Curt Harlow [00:04:51]:
Sometimes when we divide up the scripture in our daily devotion sort of idea. I got one chapter today and five verses tomorrow. Yeah, we. My old Bible study guys that taught me said, sit down, read the whole book once in one sitting. Because you will miss. And by the whole book, I mean you got to read Luke and Acts together.
Brannon Shortt [00:05:09]:
Right.
Curt Harlow [00:05:10]:
You miss that big theme. Let's get to Jerusalem. Jesus, that's one big thing. Let's get back to Jerusalem. Paul, that's another big thing. How would you answer the question, Brannon? Why is Paul. He's like, there's guys coming up to him going, you're going to be beaten, you're going to be whipped. The guy who owns this belt, he's going to just be bloody and bruised.
Brannon Shortt [00:05:29]:
Right.
Curt Harlow [00:05:30]:
Paul's like, I don't care. I am going to Jerusalem. Why is Paul so desperate to get to Jerusalem?
Brannon Shortt [00:05:35]:
One of my favorite scholars, you says a lot of times that we can't ignore the weird in this and the passage, and it catches our attention. But I can't help but think about what Paul mean. Sorry, What Jerusalem means to Paul.
Curt Harlow [00:05:47]:
Yes.
Brannon Shortt [00:05:48]:
So from birthplace, Tarsus, but comes up under Gamaliel in Jerusalem. So when I look at the person of Paul 1, there's no, like, getting away from the exegetical fact that he feels compelled by the spirit to go.
Curt Harlow [00:06:03]:
Right.
Brannon Shortt [00:06:03]:
So even though people continue including the spirit, to warn him that wherever he goes, prison and beatings await him, so he feels compelled. He's following the voice. And that's really important, that even if nobody else understands that he's following it. But I can't shake the fact that it's not only where Paul kind of comes into prominence and is a home for him, but it's also the place that he got. He got it wrong. Like, I can't. I even think of my own story. And we don't have to go into that per se, but like, I think of my own story and the desire to go back to the place I got it wrong.
Brannon Shortt [00:06:38]:
And I mean wrong, wrong and go back a new creation. Actually, can I tell you one? I think you'll appreciate this. I was at a Bojangles, if you know what Bojangles is in the Southeast, it's Cajun filet fried chicken. So it's like, it's.
Curt Harlow [00:06:53]:
It's a health food place.
Brannon Shortt [00:06:54]:
Yes. It's a very farm to table, organic place to eat. And I pull up in my hometown And a guy named DL, literally, I mean, stands for something. His name's DL's working in the window and looks at me and says, be short. I haven't seen you in, like 15 years. What are you doing now? And I said, I'm working at a church. And he goes, that's why I don't go to church. I said, why do you say that? And he looks at me and says, because it has to be corrupt if somebody like you leads them.
Brannon Shortt [00:07:19]:
Because he knew me right before I knew what grace was. He knew me in a creation before, and he didn't know me after I met Jesus. He knew all of the rebel. He knew all of that. And though Jerusalem clearly knows who Paul has transformed into, though there's still some bad reputation of Paul there, I can't imagine erasing his humanity to say, yes, he feels compelled by the spirit, but he knows that's home, and he knows he's done a lot of bad there. He's got some stuff wrong there. So compelled. And he's got to be thinking in a way.
Curt Harlow [00:07:48]:
Paul's. His reputation is getting hammered from both.
Brannon Shortt [00:07:51]:
Sides the whole time.
Curt Harlow [00:07:53]:
He still has a lot of his former colleagues, friends, peers, schoolmates, totally, that are like, you are a. You gave up. You're a loser. Convert to the enemy.
Brannon Shortt [00:08:07]:
Yes.
Curt Harlow [00:08:07]:
And then he's got a bunch of Christians that are like, you don't love the Old Testament law anymore.
Brannon Shortt [00:08:12]:
Right.
Curt Harlow [00:08:13]:
You're teaching all these Jews to not follow the law. And that's the whole rest of the chapter, is what the Jewish elders in James Church advise him to do to get rid of. So. So he's trying. Trying to overcome two defense. Where were you? Where were you born, Brannon?
Brannon Shortt [00:08:29]:
Winston, Salem, North Carolina.
Curt Harlow [00:08:30]:
Okay. And where are you from?
Brannon Shortt [00:08:32]:
Winston Salem, North Carolina.
Curt Harlow [00:08:33]:
Okay, watch this. Where were you born?
Dena Davidson [00:08:35]:
Ventura, California.
Curt Harlow [00:08:36]:
And where are you from?
Dena Davidson [00:08:37]:
Not from there.
Curt Harlow [00:08:38]:
Not from there.
Dena Davidson [00:08:39]:
Yeah, I'm from northern Nevada.
Curt Harlow [00:08:41]:
Yeah, you are. You've kept your northern Nevada. You're Minden, Nevada.
Dena Davidson [00:08:45]:
That's right.
Curt Harlow [00:08:45]:
You are not a Ventura. You're Minden. So one of the interesting things about Paul, and I think this is my answer to why does he want to get back to Jerusalem? And it's. It's just affirming what you just said, Brannon. We know Paul raised in Tarsus, and he brings us up, but he grew up from a child. He started his schooling early in Jerusalem. So he's born in Hellenistic Jewish land.
Brannon Shortt [00:09:12]:
Yes.
Curt Harlow [00:09:13]:
And he is thoroughly a Jerusalem Jew. He is not a Hellenistic Jew. He's a Jewish Jew. He's a. You know, all the Jewish Jews in and around Jerusalem were worried that all of the Jews outside that had been scattered all around the Mediterranean were being too Greekified. Okay. So who is better to walk this tension between, like, the very first controversy, the Jewish Greek widows are not being served. Who is better to walk this tension than a boy who was born in Hellenistic Jewish territory, but identifies from Minden, Nevada? And, you know, he's Jewish.
Curt Harlow [00:10:01]:
He wants to go back home. And then the other thing you gotta understand here is both the cultural and the cultural disconnect and the cultural importance. So the cultural disconnect is he's been in the Greek peninsula mostly during the whole second. So the food's different.
Brannon Shortt [00:10:18]:
Yep.
Curt Harlow [00:10:18]:
The gods are different. The poetry's different. The Jews there are different, too. They are Hellenized Jews. The language is different. The accent's different. The clothing's different. The promiscuity is way different.
Curt Harlow [00:10:31]:
Very, very different. The how you touch gentiles, how you eat gentiles, food, all of those rules, that would have been completely different in Jerusalem. And I don't know if you're like me, but even when I go on a vacation to an incredible place right around day six, I'm like, I want my bathroom.
Brannon Shortt [00:10:51]:
Yes.
Curt Harlow [00:10:52]:
I want my bedroom.
Brannon Shortt [00:10:53]:
Yep.
Curt Harlow [00:10:53]:
I want to go to Mikuni.
Brannon Shortt [00:10:55]:
Yep.
Dena Davidson [00:10:55]:
Yes.
Curt Harlow [00:10:56]:
I don't want to eat. This food is good. I don't want any more hummus.
Brannon Shortt [00:10:58]:
Like falafel for 20 straight days on the falafel train.
Curt Harlow [00:11:03]:
I. Paul just wants to go home.
Brannon Shortt [00:11:05]:
Yes. I feel that.
Curt Harlow [00:11:07]:
Then you add the Jewish layer to this.
Brannon Shortt [00:11:08]:
Yep.
Curt Harlow [00:11:09]:
There's only one city for practicing Jews that love the Lord. There's only one city. All the other cities we were forced out of, we were scattered to. We were. There's only one place we want to be. And this goes right to the headlines today. Why a Jewish state? Why are Jewish people so passionate about this? Secular Jewish people that I know that live in Israel feel this way deeply.
Brannon Shortt [00:11:32]:
Yeah.
Curt Harlow [00:11:32]:
And they're completely secular, even atheistic. This is the city of God. This is the center. This is where. So all the way from, David wins the battle of David versus Saul. And the first thing God tells me, your first act as the one king over all the tribes is, I don't want you to rule from your tribal headquarters. I want you to go capture, recapture the city of Jerusalem and unite the whole nation under Jerusalem. So the significance of that, I don't know.
Curt Harlow [00:12:08]:
What would a parallel in our culture be like that? Like, I don't feel that loyalty to where I grew up. I like it. I like going back there, and I like leaving. But there's. This is something. I don't know if there's a parallel to that in our culture where that they're tied to a geographical spot so deeply.
Dena Davidson [00:12:28]:
I don't know if there is a great parallel, because in some ways it's coming back together, to be honest. But in some ways, in America, we have really tried to separate religion and politics, and obviously there's.
Curt Harlow [00:12:41]:
And geography.
Dena Davidson [00:12:42]:
And geography, right. We can move from place to place. You know, go take the west, move to the East. But for Paul, it wasn't just the sacred. It was also connected to the kingdom. And it was all like the land and the city and the presence of God. It was in this one place. And I think that there's no parallel to that we don't like.
Dena Davidson [00:13:05]:
The best analogy that I was able to come up with is if I was out there and this happens for a lot of people, preaching to everyone, like, giving my soul to save the world and preach the gospel. But I had not been able to preach the gospel to my husband. If I had not been able to preach the gospel to my parents, to my kids, this is what it would have felt like for Paul. Yes, I'm out there winning the world for Jesus, but what does it mean to me? Because those closest to me, those are the ones my heart yearns for the most. I have not been able to preach. And I'm the one that used to be right beside them. I was, you know, the person among the person, like the highest leader in their society. And now I have no access to them.
Dena Davidson [00:13:51]:
So I think there was this deep longing that Paul chronicles when he's in Rome, when he's writing the epistles. Just saying, like, I would rather count myself a curse and cut off from Christ.
Curt Harlow [00:14:01]:
I'll give up all my benefits in Christ, all of it.
Dena Davidson [00:14:04]:
If the Jews would simply come to Jesus and the center of that, where he knew that if I can just reach those in Jerusalem, this will trickle out. Because we have to think like, every place that Paul has gone, he's hit.
Curt Harlow [00:14:18]:
A wall with Jews.
Dena Davidson [00:14:21]:
There have been some who've converted, but his greatest success has been with the Gentiles. He's the apostle to the Gentiles, but he keeps hitting wall after wall. And he knows if he can just get to the leaders inside of Jerusalem, revival can come and it will spread. And I think that's his heart here. That's why it was so important for Him.
Brannon Shortt [00:14:38]:
I love what you talk about.
Curt Harlow [00:14:38]:
Well, how courageous is that for Paul too? Because, okay, I feel that exact same thing. I came, well, left Washington, came to California and started leading campus ministries on California universities. And I was so much more bold with an 18 year old from Cal State Stanislaus or the University of Pa exact state. So much more I'm living my faith out loud than I was with my brothers and sisters and high school friends during Christmas break. And it was just a big risk. So Paul here, not only does he want to get back to Jerusalem so passionately, I think you've nailed it, Dena. This is again to the courage of Paul. He's like, this would be dangerous for me.
Curt Harlow [00:15:26]:
I'm going to get hit from both sides. But I cannot see my brothers and sisters go either from the Jewish Christian mistake, go off into legalism or to not hear the gospel at all. For those that didn't believe that Jesus was the Lord.
Dena Davidson [00:15:45]:
Can I read you something from Acts 22, jumping ahead a little bit in the story, but it's Paul saying his story.
Curt Harlow [00:15:52]:
You can read it, Dena. But if you're saying now I don't have to listen to the next podcast. No, I'm not saying that at all about chapter 22. Shame on.
Dena Davidson [00:16:00]:
You cannot miss. It's Paul's speech. When he gets imprisoned and he's basically, it's not going to work. He gets one opportunity to do this, one opportunity to preach to the people that he loves. And one of the things he says is, when I returned to Jerusalem after he is converted, I was praying at the temple. I fell into a trance and saw the Lord speaking to me quick. He said, leave Jerusalem immediately because the people here will not accept your testimony about me, Lord. I replied, these people know that I went from one synagogue to another to imprison and beat those.
Dena Davidson [00:16:36]:
And he goes on, and the Lord said, go, I will send you far away to the Gentiles. Paul is essentially saying, like, my heartbeat has always been Jerusalem. I left because God told me to leave. But this has always been my heart to preach to you here. And it's crazy. He gets one shot, one shot to do this.
Brannon Shortt [00:16:56]:
I love that Curt brought in the courage piece because again, we can't fully know. Like, I always giggle a little bit when some people will go, well, what Paul meant in this moment was this. And I'm like, did you. He told you that? That's what he meant. That's amazing. And there's stuff we can know, right? I'm not harking on the fact that we can't know. But I love the courage that Curt brought up. Courage.
Brannon Shortt [00:17:15]:
Because I try to think about the psychological effect it is walking back in there, too. And I can't imagine, like, Paul knows. Paul is humble enough to call himself the chief of sinners. Like, Paul knows. I can only imagine. Does his body just get full of chill bumps when he walks past the place that he good and well knows? He's holding coats for dude as they bludgeon a young man to death? Like, the secondhand trauma, the way that that comes back up, does his chest tighten? And he knows he's different. There's been forgiveness, but there's so much courage and bravery. And the difference that it's.
Brannon Shortt [00:17:47]:
There's something different. The fact that it's at home, like. And that it is that on family. Greg Laurie, when we were down in Southern California, used to have this line. He goes, I really wrestled with God that in that day and time we would do all these events, these evangelistic events and stadiums, and tens of thousands of people would meet Jesus. And I just absolutely could. I hadn't seen my mom come to Faith. And I was like, God, why? Why are tens of thousands of people listening? And you won't.
Brannon Shortt [00:18:12]:
I mean, literally that kind of line, but you won't. Can you please just use me to get through to my mom?
Curt Harlow [00:18:18]:
Right.
Brannon Shortt [00:18:19]:
And that passion of, it's home, it's family, it's this one shot. I've been going all over the world and seeing this happen, but here it is. And he talks about she actually does come to Christ on her deathbed, end of life type thing. But I do, I think erasing the. This is not purely strategy. Like, there's so much here that's human, full of the spirit.
Curt Harlow [00:18:39]:
Yeah. It is Paul's personal reckoning with him. It is love for the Jewish people.
Brannon Shortt [00:18:45]:
That's a great way to say it.
Curt Harlow [00:18:46]:
And I think it's also Paul's spirit led. This is again the theme over and over again.
Brannon Shortt [00:18:54]:
Right.
Curt Harlow [00:18:54]:
I am going to wake up each day and not that I don't have plans, but I'm submitting those plans and I'm open to editing. Okay. I want to switch a little bit. Do it to a question that I think I started thinking about correctly maybe three to five years ago, and it had to do with when I first got to go to Israel. So Jesus coming in. Talk about another person coming into Jerusalem weeping over it. A third of the gospel stories are the Holy Week. We're in that season right now here in spring, which takes place in Jerusalem, which takes place in Jerusalem, and he comes into that Holy week.
Curt Harlow [00:19:34]:
Now, every Jewish male was required to go to three different festivals in the Jewish Council on the calendar. I mean, but they only really enforced one. And the one they enforced was this one, Passover. So every Jewish male, you know, Jerusalem swells to millions of people. And this is why on the day of Pentecost, there were so many people there from all nations, et cetera, et cetera. So the other passovers, Jesus had to come to Jerusalem. Why didn't great crowds form around him then? And why didn't he get a donkey then? And why didn't they shout Hosanna then? Why of all of the 33 passovers that Jesus had to make it to Jerusalem, why does this happen then? And I'm learning on this. Glad to hear your theories.
Brannon Shortt [00:20:30]:
Okay, come on. You go first, though. Though.
Curt Harlow [00:20:32]:
Okay, I'll go first. I feel like that's going to be the right answer.
Brannon Shortt [00:20:35]:
Wrong.
Curt Harlow [00:20:36]:
I'm going to go. I'm going to go really short on my answer.
Brannon Shortt [00:20:38]:
No, do it.
Curt Harlow [00:20:39]:
I think the other passovers, during his earthly ministry, he snuck in.
Brannon Shortt [00:20:45]:
Nice. A little incognito.
Curt Harlow [00:20:47]:
No, I think he didn't. I think he didn't want the disciples. He didn't want it to happen yet.
Brannon Shortt [00:20:53]:
Y. Y.
Curt Harlow [00:20:54]:
Because he was not done with the apostles.
Brannon Shortt [00:20:56]:
Yeah, yeah.
Curt Harlow [00:20:57]:
And so I think he snuck in and he snuck out. I think he obeyed everything right down in the court of the law. But I think he snuck in and snuck out, and he did anything but sneak this time.
Brannon Shortt [00:21:08]:
Yes. So that would be where my theory would go. It's not that this hasn't happened in the past and other places in Jesus ministry, but I am struck by the fact that in this last one, he raises Lazarus. So this is not just, oh, here's this dude I'm thinking about from the perspective of the religious leaders at the time. This is not just somebody we're afraid of that has political power. They can mess our occupation up, our allegiance with Rome, even the oppression conversation. Like, this is not just a political threat. Lazarus was dead and has been risen.
Brannon Shortt [00:21:44]:
And we good and well know the wages of sin is death. And now he has power over that. So there's something about the tension of this one, too. I don't know all the reasons, and I love that theory about the ones before this, this, but I do think there's something really unique that he just. He just raises somebody from the dead walking into this place.
Curt Harlow [00:22:02]:
Now, just think about this. Not only is it ra I. You're dead on. Right. Not only does he raise Lazarus from the dead, but he gets the note.
Brannon Shortt [00:22:10]:
Y.
Curt Harlow [00:22:10]:
The one you love is about to die. Come quickly. And he waits.
Brannon Shortt [00:22:15]:
Yes.
Curt Harlow [00:22:15]:
Three days. Right?
Brannon Shortt [00:22:16]:
Yes.
Curt Harlow [00:22:17]:
Three days. To which Mary and Martha are absolutely betrayed.
Brannon Shortt [00:22:21]:
Yes.
Curt Harlow [00:22:22]:
What, Lord? Lord, what are you doing? This is the question we have for God all the time.
Brannon Shortt [00:22:26]:
Yeah.
Curt Harlow [00:22:26]:
And he's like, well, I'm creating the angst that will create a crowd. I mean, think of it. This is a. This is a. While the whole group of people is around Lazarus going, where is he? He's supposed to be coming. This is create. This is the opposite of sneaking in.
Brannon Shortt [00:22:43]:
No. Yeah.
Curt Harlow [00:22:43]:
This is deliberately holding back till it's a. Tension.
Brannon Shortt [00:22:47]:
Right.
Curt Harlow [00:22:47]:
And. And then, of course, I totally agree. The tension then. Then mounts to. I have so much. You're afraid of my authority. I'm gonna have to tell you that I got so much more than you think I have.
Brannon Shortt [00:22:58]:
Right. No. I can beat death. Like, in him and in me.
Curt Harlow [00:23:02]:
By the time they get. By the time that they get done raising Lazarus from the dead. The Jerusalem Times has one story they've printed on all 77 pages, right. Of their new. And the weather section's gone. The comics are out. The sports section's gone. It is Carpenter's Son gathers Mob at Resurrection.
Curt Harlow [00:23:32]:
That was the Jerusalem headline. So tell me, Dena, why is that? Why did Palm Sunday happen in your theory? What can you add to that?
Brannon Shortt [00:23:41]:
Love it.
Curt Harlow [00:23:41]:
Yeah.
Dena Davidson [00:23:42]:
I mean, I remember hearing, like, experiencing Palm Sunday, reading the story and being so confused.
Brannon Shortt [00:23:46]:
Abuse.
Curt Harlow [00:23:46]:
Yes.
Dena Davidson [00:23:47]:
I was like. As a kid, I'm just like, what is happening? Like, one minute, branches, baby, branches. There. It seems like everyone loves Jesus.
Curt Harlow [00:23:55]:
They're very happy.
Dena Davidson [00:23:56]:
The next second, they're crucifying. It's like, man, they would. They have a personality break, like, what happened here? And it really. It was just. I. When I took a New Testament class, I understood they were welcoming Jesus as a messiah that they wanted. They did not want him to be the Messiah that he actually was. And when they realized that who Jesus was didn't align with who they expected him to be, that's when they shouted, crucify him.
Dena Davidson [00:24:24]:
Crucify him. So this moment is a moment where Jesus, usually. He's fighting the crowd and their expectations. He's. He's running from the crowd. He's saying hard things to the crowd to thin them out. This is a moment where he lets the crowd do what the crowd wants to do. They want to usher in the Messiah.
Dena Davidson [00:24:44]:
They want to welcome Jesus into the city. So I think it's a moment where Jesus is saying, I'm going to go along with the freedom of the choice of the people, and we're gonna let this story play out. Yeah, I know what the end of it is going to be. I know that they are welcoming me right now in this moment. But also I can stand outside the city and weep because Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you. How often I have longed to gather you as a hen gathers the chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. And I think this is a moment where Jesus said, your will. This is your will.
Dena Davidson [00:25:25]:
Welcome me into the city. It will be done. Because it was prophesied. And from the dawn of time, God was always going to use your human choice to accomplish his sovereign will. Your will be done. But ultimately, the crucifixion is coming, and God's sovereign will is going to be accomplished.
Curt Harlow [00:25:40]:
Okay, Bri, I got to make a note of this. Bri, our frontal love of the Bible study podcast. I want to do a whole Bible study podcast on why Jesus stood outside of town and wept and wept. Cuz there's so, so much there. Here's. I'm going to blow your mind, Dena.
Dena Davidson [00:25:53]:
Blow my mind.
Curt Harlow [00:25:53]:
I'm going to blow your mind. I'm going say something very controversial. Do it every time. We have filmed and reenacted Palm Sunday on. On all of our films for forever. We got it wrong.
Dena Davidson [00:26:06]:
Help my childhood mind.
Curt Harlow [00:26:08]:
Yes. Okay. Your childhood mind is Jesus crests the hill on the donkey foal, and the crowd is partying and they're putting the palm branches down and they're laying their coats down, and they're shouting, hosanna. Hosanna. And they're going, this is a. See, I think the way they think about it is, oh, at Bethany. He's got a big enough crowd now.
Brannon Shortt [00:26:32]:
Y.
Curt Harlow [00:26:32]:
This crowd is stronger than both of the Romans and the Jewish leaders that are in collusion with the Romans. This. This crowd can do it. This is an army. So praise God. Yay. Now, if you just understand the passage at that level, that's. That's the film that we've seen that we film over and over again.
Curt Harlow [00:26:54]:
But the donkey fold. They don't take it into account. When a Roman commander conquers a city, he would siege it. He would take all the water, he'd take all the food. And then when the city capitulated, he would come in either riding a war horse himself or in a chariot led by giant war horses. If you go to The Roman Coliseum to this day. You could see Titus arch, who is AD 70, conquered Jerusalem. And there is a picture of Titus chariot and the war horses that are leading him in.
Curt Harlow [00:27:30]:
Think of the contrast between these four massive horses and this, which is the. I don't know what is M2 tank? If that's a tank, that's a tank, right? M2 tank. The best tank ever. This is what the chariot was cresting over the hill. And the city saying, we could. You are our leader. We capitulate Jesus. They're shouting.
Curt Harlow [00:27:54]:
They went and got the branches. They're. They want to party. They've got their coats throwing them already on the road. Is he coming? Can you see him? Yes. Hosanna. Hosanna. Can you see him? Yeah, I think.
Curt Harlow [00:28:04]:
What? What? He's riding a baby donkey. I think I went like this. Hosanna. Hosanna. Hosanna. Hosanna.
Brannon Shortt [00:28:14]:
Gloria got in the. What?
Curt Harlow [00:28:16]:
That. Crucify him. Crucify him. Started right there.
Dena Davidson [00:28:20]:
Wow.
Curt Harlow [00:28:22]:
You're not taking over anything on that baby donkey.
Brannon Shortt [00:28:25]:
Right?
Dena Davidson [00:28:26]:
Wow.
Curt Harlow [00:28:26]:
And Jesus, I think, is just right in their face. I think he's doing exactly what you said, Dean. And he's gone. By the way, you have so misunderstood, and you're so outside of what God's plan is. And I would just like to start off, here's my agenda. I will rebuke you for getting the Messiah wrong by riding in on a baby donkey, even though it's right there in the Old Testament. And then I'm going to rebuke you for keeping the Gentile nations out of the temple. And the first thing I'm going to do is make a whip and I'm going to go, you know where the money changers were set up at? They're set up in the court of the Gentiles.
Curt Harlow [00:29:03]:
So changing money is not against the Old Testament. It's excluding the nations from the temple of God so you could have more convenient commerce. This is what is making Jesus so mad. And so he. From day one, he's like, listen, all y'all have got it wrong. And I. Now, this is my. This is my.
Curt Harlow [00:29:25]:
I'm gonna tell you what I really mean. I'm not just telling these 12 guys. And so I always imagine that the crowd kind of ends up stunned as the baby donkey walks by with a grown man on it.
Brannon Shortt [00:29:39]:
Him.
Curt Harlow [00:29:40]:
And then they start going, oh, yeah, I don't think this is going to.
Brannon Shortt [00:29:44]:
This is not going to work.
Dena Davidson [00:29:45]:
Not the conquering king.
Brannon Shortt [00:29:46]:
We are not going back to David.
Curt Harlow [00:29:48]:
We have done We've gotten too much fun. There's so many things we can say. Okay, application thought. The city of Jerusalem. Why should. What should Christians do about it? What we should learn about it? Should we all just give up our citizenship? Go over there? That's controversial. What's your application thought, Dena?
Dena Davidson [00:30:04]:
I would say Jesus set his faith to Jerusalem because he set his face towards the cross. Not because Jerusalem was the end all be all, but because he himself was God and he had come for a mission and for a purpose. Though Jerusalem is significant in the story of God, it was the same reason for Paul. He. He set his face towards Jerusalem not because Jerusalem was Jerusalem. Jerusalem is an important part of the story of God, like I just said, but he set his face towards Jerusalem because he loved the people of God and he wanted to save them. He wanted to preach the gospel to them. So I think the question for us is, are we concerned for the people who do not know Jesus? Because that is what made Jesus go to Jerusalem, and that's what made Paul go to Jerusalem.
Dena Davidson [00:30:56]:
It was out of a heart of love for those that did not know the truth of the gospel. So as you're thinking about Palm Sunday, is your heart beating about who you're going to bring to Easter, or are you just like, yay, Palm Sunday is. This is wonderful. I've got my Easter dress picked out. Or are you thinking about the person that you need to bring here, Rose.
Curt Harlow [00:31:16]:
For me and not thinking any thought beyond that?
Dena Davidson [00:31:19]:
Right. I mean, I'm tempted as a mom to put a lot more thought into my Easter basket situation for my three kids.
Curt Harlow [00:31:25]:
Wow, that's getting real then.
Dena Davidson [00:31:27]:
I am. And by the way, I've already prepared my Easter baskets.
Brannon Shortt [00:31:30]:
Just to be clear.
Dena Davidson [00:31:31]:
Just to be clear.
Brannon Shortt [00:31:32]:
They done.
Dena Davidson [00:31:32]:
I'm just confessing, like, I have not prayed about who God wants me to invite to Easter. So it's a gut check. This was right in Jesus life. Obviously, Jesus. This was also right in Paul's life.
Curt Harlow [00:31:46]:
If we understand Jerusalem, it gives us a heart for those that are lost, not just all this archaeological, historical, theological layers.
Brannon Shortt [00:31:54]:
That's right.
Curt Harlow [00:31:54]:
Very good. I like that. I like that a lot. B.
Brannon Shortt [00:31:56]:
There's a universal. I don't have anything to add to Dena's point there. I think there's a universal application in those verses that when he gets there, regardless where it is, though I take nothing away from Jerusalem. You just so adequately expressed it. He gets there. And what's he do? Guys, you're not going to believe what God's been doing. You're not going to believe what God's been doing in all these places. So showing up and telling the stories, that's eventually going to say that they greatly rejoiced the Lord because they heard the stories of what God had done in his life and through their life and in the world.
Brannon Shortt [00:32:25]:
So I think one of the universal applications on top of what Dan just said is would we go about sharing the stories of what God has done?
Curt Harlow [00:32:31]:
Yeah, the power of story.
Brannon Shortt [00:32:32]:
Yeah.
Curt Harlow [00:32:32]:
So we just went through rooted in our first semester here at Baysite. And my favorite part, if you're familiar, Rooted Bible study program. A lot, a lot of churches use is just the part every week where one person told their story. And I just went, God's doing more miracles than I ever thought. And miracles among my friends that I've been friends with for a long time that I didn't know that miracle happens.
Brannon Shortt [00:32:53]:
Agreed.
Curt Harlow [00:32:53]:
Very true. True. The story of the Gentiles had to be just powerful. Okay, mine's really, really practical. And here it is. I think people should buy a Bible dictionary. Ungers, what's a good Bible dictionary? Dena, what would you recommend?
Dena Davidson [00:33:08]:
I'm terrible with names. I can't even remember one.
Curt Harlow [00:33:10]:
Yeah, go find a good Bible dictionary in a varsity press. And here's why people often say to me, you know, I want to get a commentary so I can understand this. And I'm like, that's a great instinct. I love that you want to go deeper in your Bible study. But a commentary means that you want to go get one person or at the best, an editor and one person's view of this passage. And there's some editors I love, and there's some scholars I love, but it's kind of cheating shortcut to go right to there. What I love about Bible dictionaries, or sometimes you'll hear them called Bible handbooks, is their topical. So you could just look up the word Jerusalem here, and you would start to learn that David couldn't build the temple in Jerusalem.
Curt Harlow [00:33:55]:
God calls David to bring the holy of holies there. But he couldn't build a temple for the holy of holy because he had blood on his hands. And that Solomon builds this temple. You would learn that later Herod remodeled Solomon's temple. You would learn that that unified the whole nation of Israel for one of its only times it was unified. And that comes full circle to that Ark of the Covenants that David brings, that Solomon builds the temple for that Jesus, when he says it is finished. The curtain protecting the Ark of the Covenant, the Holy of holies from the rest of the world is ripped in two. And you would read that all in one article under the heading Jerusalem.
Curt Harlow [00:34:40]:
And I just think that's a way better study tool. If you stop me and you go, what is a denarius? What is the city of Ephesus? Why is it. Why does there more problems with meat sacrificed to idol and sexual immorality in Corinth than anywhere else? And so my practical application is if you really love studying the Bible and want to get the original meaning, get a good Bible dictionary and stop every time you're studying a passage and you don't fully understand a word or a place and look it up and the Bible will come alive to you.
Brannon Shortt [00:35:11]:
Love it.
Dena Davidson [00:35:11]:
Love it.
Curt Harlow [00:35:12]:
Thanks, you guys. This is really sad to me every time of this episode because we wanted to do 30 minutes, by the way, if you want us to go longer than 30 minutes, you write in the comments. Curt, ple. I remember when the Bible study used to be an hour and a half, and if it wants to go shorter than 30 minutes, I guess you could write that too and go find somebody else. Okay, I will listen to it. Who do we all know? Do we know we're kind of a little jumbled up. Do we know who's coming next?
Dena Davidson [00:35:40]:
Easter is next. The Easter episode.
Curt Harlow [00:35:42]:
Okay, so, yeah, a couple special things I want to say to you. We're doing a special Easter episode. It's just, what does the Resurrection mean? It's Dean and I of 1 Corinthians 15. And we're just going to do a deep dive on the meaning of the Resurrection and why it's the one doctrine. If you reject it, all other doctrines fall. It is the linchpin of all good theology and good Bible study. Also. Also, we're going to do a thing where Deana's just going to do one of these by herself about how to study the Bible for all it's worth.
Curt Harlow [00:36:13]:
And so instead of looking at a passage, we're going to go through hermeneutical and eisegetical and exegetical principles. And if you don't know what those words mean, that podcast will be for you. So look for those coming up. And also make sure that you check out all of the incredible podcasts that we're producing here at the Thrive Network. You got the Leadership podcast by Mark Clark and Ray Johnson. You've got Am I Doing It Right? With Leslie and Morgan, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Go check them out. The Thrive Network.
Curt Harlow [00:36:46]:
Other than that, I just want to say thanks for liking subscribing and listening.