"Jesus' Private Trip to Jerusalem"

It's good to see you here tonight. Good to see you all close enough where I can actually see you. That's great. And it's, you know, our crowd changes through the year and it's good to see our fall crowd back. It's good to see those of you who haven't been able to be here for a few weeks. We're just delighted that you're coming and able to be here tonight. One of the difficulties in being in a longer series of studies is that it's difficult to keep continuity with, especially with folks who are not able to be here regularly. So let me just kind of catch you up on where we are in our study of the life of Christ. This is, I think, our 46th study. And so we've covered a lot of ground in the life of Christ. And where we are right now is at a critical juncture. As we'll see tonight, we're wrapping up a major section of our Lord's ministry and we'll be next time starting a new section of our Lord's ministry to position us. We are six months before the cross. And Jesus has just spent six months of His ministry training His disciples. For 18 months prior to that, He'd been doing very active and intense ministry in Galilee. And followed that up with six months of kind of pulling away from the crowds and focusing upon what is often called the training of the 12, focusing on the 12 apostles and training them, spending more time with them, teaching them all of these miracles, change their purpose from being sign miracles to convince people that He was the Messiah, to being miracles of compassion to people through which He would teach lessons to the apostles. And so there's a big change in our Lord's ministry over the last six months. And we're coming to the end of that time period now. And the Lord is going to break away from focusing on the 12 to again, more of a public ministry and also a different location. He's going to go right into the hotbed of the opposition. He's going to go straight to Jerusalem. And so we're going to find some interesting things happening in the next few weeks by way of opposition to our Lord. But tonight we are going to talk about Jesus' private trip to Jerusalem. And the reason for that, you'll see in a moment from John chapter 7 as He does not go as He is encouraged to go in a group but goes privately. So John chapter 7, let's begin there. Verse 1, after this, after this, after what? Now John's gospel leaves out almost all of the last six months that we've talked about. The first event that we saw in this six month stretch of focusing on the training of the 12 was the feeding of the 5,000. Now that was back sometime late spring, early summer, I guess, feeding of the 5,000. That's in John chapter 6. And so the follow up to that where Jesus preaches the hard sermon that drives away the crowd and begins to pull away from the crowd and train the 12, that's in chapter 6. And so we have a six month gap between John chapter 6 and John chapter 7. And it is after this, after this feeding of the 5,000 and the sermon that follows it, verse 1, Jesus went around in Galilee. There are six months packed into those words. He went around in Galilee. And also outside Galilee, around Galilee into Gentile territory as well. But that little statement summarizes six months of our Lord's ministry. And then the reason it's given purposely staying away from Judea because the Jews there were waiting to take his life. And we've already looked at the fact that Jesus was staying out of Jerusalem in Judea. He had been almost two years now outside of Jerusalem, at least as far as the public record of his ministry goes. He's done 18 months ministry in Galilee, six months in and around Galilee with his disciples. And so we're setting a scene now for a major shift in his ministry. Verse 2 says, but when the Jewish feast of tabernacles was near, and this helps us date where we are in the Lord's ministry because the Jewish feast of tabernacles or feast of booths took place in October of the religious calendar for Israel. In fact, let's look at this look at the screen and look at the series of feasts. There were seven feasts. They're described in numbers 23 or excuse me, Leviticus 23. But they are the first for Sabbath, Passover, first fruits and weeks. And you can see that the time for them Sabbath was every Saturday. These three were spring feasts. And the significance of them Sabbath was to reflect on God's creation and his day of rest, setting a pattern for us and then pass over the salvation of the people, the deliverance from Egypt, the first fruits, dedicating the first fruits of their crops, indicating that God had given them their crops. And when the first crops start coming in in the spring time, by the way, Israel had a different seasons than we do. They actually had two different crops, two different seasons and different crops that came in at both times. So the first fruits came in, they dedicated those to the Lord and then the feast of weeks with dedication of the rest of the harvest, the grain harvest to the Lord. Now the next slide gives us the other three which are fall festivals and the feast of trumpets, the day of atonement and the feast of booths. And that's where we are in John 7, right here in October. The purpose for the feast of booths or the feast of tabernacles was, as it says here, joyful remembrance of the Lord's historic guidance. Basically what it was remembering was the guidance that God had given the people through the wilderness after he brought them out of Egypt. This was an amazing festival. It was a week-long party. I'm not kidding, it was a week-long celebration. The people would come to Jerusalem and there were lots of things that would take place. This was a Thanksgiving for the final harvest that would come in for the year. There was a joyful commemoration of God taking the people through the wilderness. And so in memory of that they would live in booths, like they were in the wilderness and they were intense or whatever. They would set up these little booths made of little saplings and wooden shelters and they would live in those all week. And two million people would converge on Jerusalem for this festival. It was a big deal. There would be ceremonies in the temple every day. There was a festival of light where the inner court of the temple was lit up to commemorate the pillar of fire by night that would rest in the camp. They had a celebration of torches that would come into the temple to celebrate the pillar of a cloud by day that would move in front of the people. They had a pouring out of the water ceremony, the final day of this feast and we're going to find something very interesting Jesus does during that part of the festival later in John 7. But on the last day they would pour out water indicating the water that would come from the rock in the wilderness and how God would deliver the people and provide for the people something to drink. There were all kinds of neat things happening. But it was a festival. People joyfully ate and shared food with their friends and family during this time. There were parades. I mean, there are all kinds of things going on. It was just a joyful celebration for a week and every Jewish male was required to be there. Most of them brought their families during this time. So the city swelled by over two million Jews coming into Palestine and into Jerusalem during this time. And so this is the feast that we're talking about. Now that's the reason for the trip is the feast that's taking place. Now I want you to look at verses 3 through 5 at the challenge from his brothers. The challenge from Jesus' brothers as this feast is drawing near verse 3, Jesus' brothers said to him, you ought to leave here talking about Galilee now. You ought to leave here and go to Judea so that your disciples may see the miracles you do. And the other one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret since you're doing these things, show yourself to the world. And then look at verse 5, for even his own brothers did not believe in him. Okay, now this is Jesus' brothers, literally half brothers, you know, obviously born of the same mother. So these brothers are telling Jesus, go to Jerusalem, show yourself there. Do your miracles because they did not believe in him. What do you think they're encouraging him to do? What's going on here? I mean it sounds to me like they must believe in him if they believe he's doing miracles and they want him to show his miracles to people. Why do you think the Bible says they didn't believe in him and what do you think they're trying to get him to do? There might have been some jealousy there. I wanted to get him to do that. Okay. Alright, may have been some jealousy. I'm sure growing up with the Son of God in your home would create some jealousy. There's no doubt that there was some personal jealousy on the part of these brothers. I mean just ask my sisters, there was enough of that with... No, no, don't ask them. Please don't say a word to them about that. Yeah, Daniel. Did you raise somebody raise your hand over here? I'm sorry. Okay, Benny. Were they trying to bless him thinking that he... I mean wouldn't you go and do this? Trying to call his bluff? Trying to... Okay. That may be part of what was happening there, Steve. Okay, remember at one point they did come after him and thought he was out of his mind because he was... He wasn't even taking time to eat. He was so pressed by the crowd. That was a little earlier in his ministry. So we know there was that dynamic going on. Okay. All right, there's a real tricky thing going on here because yes. In Jerusalem could have known the danger would be in. He could say it away from Judea because they were coming and they wanted to go to Judea. Yeah, they were wanting to go to Jerusalem. Judea, go up to this feast. Maybe get killed. Did they know he was going to get killed? They want rid of him. Maybe, maybe, maybe a little bit of that. Okay, let's try to put together. You're mentioning a lot of good things here. Let's try to pull it together now. The Bible says they did not believe in him. But they did believe some things about him. They believed he was doing miracles. They didn't question that. I mean, you know, if you have a King James, it may say if you are doing these things in verse four, but it's in the Greek it's a first-class condition or three kinds of subjunctives. And the first-class condition means if as is the case, in other words, since you are doing these things and the NIVs got it translated right, since you're doing, they believed he was doing miracles. They had no question about that. They believed that. But they did not believe in him. So how do you put those two together and how does that fit with what they're trying to get him to do? That's really the crux of things here. Maybe they were embarrassed by him. Okay. Yeah, I think there's some of that. Maybe I wanted to cash in on some of these fame. Okay. It's obvious they did not believe in him in the sense that John speaks of believing in him as the Son of God. Okay. I know it's been a while since we've been in John 6. But remember at the end of that sermon, Jesus had preached away the crowd and he turns to the disciples and he says, you're going to leave also and Peter says to whom shall we go? You're the one who has the words of life and his disciples, his 12, 11 of the 12, obviously, truly believed that he was the Son of God. It's obvious that his brothers did not believe that. They did not believe he was the Son of God. And I think that's the sense in which John says even his own brothers did not believe in him. They did not believe in him as the Son of God. I think they may have had a similar perception of him that the crowd did. They believe he's doing miracles. He's got great power. I think they may have they may have believed in the sense that he was a political deliverer. He would be a good Messiah figure. He could overthrow the Romans. Let's go ahead and come on, Jesus. What do you do and tell them the crowds to go away? If you're going to present yourself as a public figure, if you're really doing all these miracles, if you really are who you said you were in the beginning, quit fooling around, quit telling the crowds to go away, quit telling people you heal, not to tell anybody about it. Now's your chance. Go up to Jerusalem. There's going to be 2 million people there. Show who you are. And maybe there was some of, we want to cash in on that. He's our brother after all. If he is the ruler, then maybe we'll get in on some of that. I think they had a very secular, worldly, unbeliever kind of view of the Messiah, just like most of the people in Israel did. And that's why most of the people rejected him. It's why the religious leaders rejected him. But they did not believe in him as the Son of God. They knew he was doing miracles, but they did not believe in him as the Son of God. He had power. He would make a great deliverer from the Romans, but not the Son of God. I think that's the difference. Steve? Yeah, and it's difficult to understand on one level, and it's very easy to understand on another level. Mary telling people he's the Son of God, that's a very convenient story for her to tell, and most people's mind. Sure, yeah, that gets you off the hook. And I think that's probably why most people would respond to her story. And maybe it was the reason why she kept it inside. She knew nobody to believe it. Now, there were a few people who believed it, obviously, Elizabeth and so forth, but I think there was a lot of that. She kept a lot of it to herself. But there was a lot that she didn't even understand. Remember when the brothers came to getting that day, she was there with him. And she was trying to get him to come home too. And so there are a lot of things she didn't fully understand. Mary is a very godly woman, but don't make, don't canonize her like the Roman Catholic Church has done. She was not perfect. She probably was confused about some things herself. Maybe he could turn her into a woman. She knew he had power to do that. Yes, she had confidence in him to do that. She probably knew more than what she felt like she could convince others of. So maybe that's what was going on. Steve, yeah. But there's a challenge here. And I think the challenge is now is your time. Come on. If you're, if you're doing all these miracles, then go on and claim your throne. And you're going to be two million people there. It's a good time to overthrow the Romans. I think that's what they're saying. But they have no conception of the spiritual nature of Jesus kingdom. No, no idea because they don't believe in him yet as a son of God. You got a question, John. I can see one brewing. Were they expecting something more? We have the privilege of knowing what Jesus was like. They're looking for the Messiah with no example. Yeah, they're basically the Jewish nation at this time was looking for a Messiah that would release them from Roman bondage. They were looking for purely a political king. And they missed completely the Old Testament teaching about the suffering of them, the Messiah. And the spiritual nature of Jesus kingdom, they dismissed that. So they did not, they did not understand or did they accept and they were not expecting the kind of king he was and the kind of kingdom he was presenting. So in that sense, yeah, they were expecting more. If you're looking for a son of God, you would expect something. You're not just a person walking around like the rest of them. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, maybe they were looking for something. Someone like most of the artists have portrayed him with a glow and a halo around his head. Yeah, that's the son of God. We can tell we're just looking at him. And even the prophet Isaiah said that there was nothing comely about him. There's nothing that would naturally attract you to him and you would automatically say, well, if I ever saw the son of God, that's him right there. There was nothing like that. He looked very normal. Okay, real quick. And then we got to move on. I've heard it pretty frequently actually that Jesus comes to initially. He was leading the board the kingdom on earth until the rejection and then the rejection then turns the guy to go gone. That initially just involved in the event to read the two things to a message and a kingdom. Oh, yeah. Then after the rejection, he turned the board back. That's exactly the way it happened. It was a long, that's the way it would happen. But the offer of the earthly kingdom at his first coming was genuine. It was genuine. It was not like, you know, I'm just kind of throwing this out. I don't really want this. No, it was a genuine offer. And if they had accepted him as the Messiah, he would have, he would have set up the kingdom at his first coming. If they had accepted him as Messiah. He still would have had to die. He would have had to die because he was claiming to be king then. So he still would have had to die for our sins. But it would have looked very different as far as the kingdom. But in God's sovereign plan, that's not the way it was laid out. And he knew that it would not happen that way. But the offer of the kingdom was genuine. There's a difference between the two. There's a difference between the two. The other thing is perfect. Yeah. In God's mind, they're perfectly united. No problem. But even the first Peter one says that even the prophets who prophesied these things did not understand how the sufferings and the glory of the Messiah. I went together. Didn't understand the timing of it. Even the Old Testament prophets didn't understand that. So there's a lot of mystery there. But in God's mind, it was perfectly united. No problem. Okay. So the brothers are trying to push Jesus to go ahead and claim his throne and be the king. And notice what Jesus answer is. The answer from Christ in verses 6 through 8. Therefore Jesus told them, The right time for me has not yet come. For you, anytime is right. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that what it does is evil. You go to the feast. I am not yet going up to this feast because for me the right time has not yet come. Jesus answer basically is the right time, not the Greek language is so beautiful. There are two words for time. It's not chronological time. It's not like, well, 25th of October at 6 o'clock is not the right time. The word for time here is the word for the right season. The opportune moment is not here. You see, Jesus operated by the Father's timetable. And he knew exactly the progression of the Father's timetable and when he should do what? He knew how much time he had left. And he knew that it was not time for him to publicly display himself as king. That opportune time had already passed and that had been rejected. So Jesus says, no, I'm operating by the Father's timetable. And then when he says about his brothers, anytime is right for you. Basically he's saying, you have no spiritual mindset. You do not understand anything about the Father or his timetable. So just seize the moment. You know, anytime you want to take something, take it. It's yours. If you want to go get your kingdom, go get it. There's no consideration in their mind of the Father's plan or the Father's timetable. And that's the big difference. See, they're not saved. They're not believers yet. And so they have no understanding of what the Father is doing like Jesus does. And so Jesus says, I'm going by the Father's timetable not yours. That's basically what he's saying there. And that's his answer. And he says, I'm not yet going to the feast. Some translations have, I am not going up to the feast. The word yet is not in there. It depends on which copy or manuscript you're looking at. Most of them actually do not have the word yet. And so when Jesus says, I'm not going to the feast, he doesn't mean categorically. I'm not going because he ends up going. What he probably is saying to his brothers is, I'm not going now. I'm not going with you. I'm not going in the way you're suggesting. I'm not going as I would always go to feasts before. And that was with the family. You always went, family groups went together. And they always traveled in great companies of people. And Jesus says, you all go ahead. I'm not going. And what he means is I'm not going now with you. I'm going to make my own secret trip to Jerusalem. Okay, we don't know that yet, but that's what happens. So that's his answer. Then notice the action of Christ in verses 9 and 10. Having said this, he stayed in Galilee. However, after his brothers had left for the feast, he went also, not publicly, but in secret. So he's not going into great hordes of people that are traveling from Galilee along with other family members. He's going to go with just his 12 disciples, just them. In fact, they're going to go a different way than most everybody else is going, as we'll see in the next passage. And that's going to create some problems. They're not going to go along the normal path. At least they're not going to start out that way. Normal route. Okay, any question about this challenge from his brothers? Any other comment you'd like to make before we move on to the next scene, which is the very last one in this phase of our Lord's ministry. Kishti? Is this expression of time, was that the similar experience that it was expressed in the fullness of time? Yes. It would be the same kind of time. In the fullness of time, Galatians 4, 4, her false says, in the fullness of time, when the moment was just right, all the things that God had prepared for human history were just right. It was the opportune time. It was the right season. And that's the same idea. It's not like, oh, it's December 25th. That's the time on the calendar. It's not calendar time. It's opportune time or season of time or the right point in history. Yeah, so the same idea as Galatians 4, 4. Okay. The one Greek word is Greek word, cronos, which we get our word chronology or chronological time. And that's the sequence of time, day after day, date on the calendar. The other word is chyros, or chyros, which means season or period of time or opportune time. And that's the word that's used here. So that's what Jesus means. It's the season. The right time has not come. Okay. Anything else before we leave this story? All right. Let's look at Luke's Gospel, Luke chapter 9, for the next event. And here is where we find a significant transition and turning point described. What we're going to find here is a challenge to his disciples. That's at least the way we're going to title this section, challenge to his disciples. So Jesus is going to go to the feast. John 7 tells us that. He left after his brothers left. And notice this map because we'll come back to the map maybe a couple times Greg. But the map shows us the way most people would come from Galilee to go to Jerusalem down here. Would be to come around the south side of the Sea of Galilee, cross right here and go down the east side of the Jordan River. Because nobody wanted to travel through Samaria. The Samaritans hated the Jews. The Jews hated the Samaritans. And there's a long, long history there. Goes all the way back to 722 BC when the Northern King of Israel is taken into captivity. And the Assyrians repopulated that whole Northern Kingdom area with people from all over their empire. They intermarried with the remaining Jews. And the Jews from that time on saw them as kind of a mongrel, half breed race of people. They hated the Samaritans. I mean, you talk about racial prejudice. The Jews and the Samaritans hated each other. And it was racially motivated. It was ethnically motivated. And so most people, the Samaritans hated the Jews. They had their own worship center. It was on Mount Ebal and Mount Gerazim. I'm looking for that. It's in here somewhere, right in here somewhere. Well, they had their own worship center because no Samaritans wanted to go to the temple to worship. And so Jews that were coming from Galilee, traveling through Samaria to go for one of the feasts at the temple. I mean, if you hated Jew, you hated me even worse when he's going to worship in Jerusalem. And so most people didn't go that way, but Jesus did. Remember, he's not going to go with the crowds. At least not going to start that way. He's going to start this way. And he's going to go into Samaria. Now that's what we're going to find, Luke 9. Let's look at Luke 9, then. Verse 51. It's very gripping when you see how this is stated. Verse 51, as the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven. Jesus, resolutely, set out for Jerusalem. There is no, I don't think, any more gripping verse in the Gospels than that one. As the time, the season, the right time, approached for him to be taken up to heaven. That's an expression that has to do with everything surrounding his death, death, burial, resurrection. Okay, as that time approaches, and Jesus knows how the clock's ticking down. He knows the time he has left. As that time approaches, Jesus resolutely set out that, I think the King James actually translates it best. Set his face, doesn't it say set his face like a flint or set his face to go to Jerusalem. The idea is a steely determination I am going through with this. Okay, he sets his face. To go to Jerusalem, he knows what he's getting into. He's leaving behind the past six months, which a lot of it was seclusion with his 12 men. And he's going to go right into the teeth of the opposition. He's got six months before the cross. And most of that six months is going to be spent in and around Jerusalem with opposition trying to kill him every chance they get. And so there will be another time when he pulls away, but he doesn't go far. He just goes across the Jordan River to Korea and ministers for a while there. But in this last six months, he knows, as part of the Father's plan, for the opposition to reach a fever pitch until they are ready. Until they are ready to kill him, even if it's at a Passover feast, even if even if, and that's when they'll do it, even if it's at a time when they fear that the crowds might rally to his side, they will be so white hot with anger and hatred. They will kill him. And he knows all of that. So he resolutely sets his face to walk with the determined step into the teeth of that opposition. He knows everything he's doing. It's an amazing scene here, but nobody else knows it. Nobody else sees it. And there's a sense in which this steely determination is in isolation. And it's one of the verses that I think most highlights Jesus loneliness. His brothers don't understand. His own family doesn't understand. They're trying to get him to go up because there'll be two million people there that will help him overthrow Rome and put him on a throne. And he can do more miracles and maybe put them on his cabinet. That's all they're concerned about. His own disciples don't understand. Every time he's talked to them about his death, they've said, Lord, this is crazy talk. You can't you can't mean this. They're confused. They don't understand. Jesus at this point is the only one who understands what he's doing. You talk about loneliness. You talk about loneliness. Not even your own family supports you. That's lonely. But he sets out with that face set like a flint. Nothing will turn him or deter that purpose. He's headed for Jerusalem. Wow. Verse 52. And he sent messengers on ahead who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him. In small Samaritan villages or any village at that time, a group of 13 men could drain the resources of a town if there wasn't some preparation. So he sent someone ahead of time, probably to prepare food, lodging, kind of arrange things for them to come to this first place where they will stop for the first night of their journey. Verse 53. But the people there did not welcome him because he was heading for Jerusalem. Okay, exactly what we were talking about earlier. Because he's going to bypass their worship center because he's a Jew that's going to Jerusalem to worship. We don't want any part of you around here. You're not staying in our town. And so Josephus, the Jewish historian tells us that sometimes people were run out of town if they were Jews trying to travel through here. It was like you stay and take your beating or you go find somewhere else. And so the people don't want to stay there and notice what his disciples do. Verse 54. When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them? And some manuscripts as Elijah did. John and James are called the sons of thunder. Jesus called them that when he first called them into that little band of disciples. And they're showing it here. The sons of thunder wants some thunder to come down from heaven, so lightning to come down from heaven and just consume this town. It's interesting. James and John were two of the three that were on the Mount of Transfiguration with Jesus. They had just seen Elijah not too long ago. And so that is still in their minds. And maybe they've been thinking about Elijah as they've been traveling. Maybe they've been talking about the Old Testament stories, Second Kings I, where the King of Israel sends three groups of soldiers in each group to come take Elijah. And first two groups Elijah calls down fire from heaven, consumes them. Maybe they've been talking about that. Lord, you want us to call down fire from heaven like Elijah did. Notice Jesus answered. By the way, that shows some good things, doesn't it? About these men? What does it show about them that's good? They were protective of Jesus. What else? Yeah, they have faith to believe that could happen. Yeah, I mean, I don't think they were bluffing. I think they believed that, okay, Lord, if you want us to, we'll call down fire and it'll come. I think they had faith. Yeah. What else? They knew their Bible, didn't they? They knew the story about Elijah. And they knew that Elijah was standing for the zeal of the Lord God of hosts. And they felt they were doing the same thing. It shows they also believed Jesus really was the Son of God. And they were going to take up for him just like Elijah did for Jehovah. Yeah, there were a lot of good things about their response. We're quick to criticize. There were a lot of good things about their response. They're fiercely loyal to Jesus. But Jesus points out the area where they still need to grow. There's some good things in this response. But there's some areas that need some correction. And remember, Jesus is still teaching them, training them. And so what he's teaching them here is about a gracious spirit. And notice how he does it in verse 55. But Jesus turned, by the way, the word for turned there means to turn quickly. It's a term that was used in New Testament times of a dramatic act, an act that had some flourish to it. It's not like Jesus kind of turned around. I mean, he wheeled around. And I'm sure that itself caught their attention. And now that he's got their attention, Jesus turned and rebuked them. Verse 56, and said, you do not know what kind of spirit you are of for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. Again, remember, when you have a section like this, and some of you have other translations, that's not in there. Remember our study on the doctrine of the Bible and the different early manuscripts and copies of the originals. Some of them added things in, and they made their way into the King James version, because they were using later manuscripts. The earliest manuscripts don't have that, but certainly in reflecting on the story about Elijah, it certainly fits. You don't know what kind of spirit you're up for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. What Jesus is saying, even by his actions, because verse 56 says, and they went to another village, Jesus is basically saying, your zeal for the glory of God must be tempered by a gracious spirit. And a lot of folks don't understand that. A lot of fundamentalists don't understand that. You're zeal for the glory of God, calling down fire on everybody. You know, I'm one standing for the faith. That must be tempered by a gracious spirit. And sometimes the Christ-like act is to take the rejection quietly, and just go to another town. Just go to another town. Don't raise a ruckus. Don't try to make it look like you're the one that's really standing for the truth. Just go to another town. That's not easy to do. That's really what shows strength. Not all the blustery, bellowing, call down fire from heaven. That doesn't really show any strength. That just shows a spirit that is not Christ-like. The Christ-like spirit, the gracious spirit that Jesus was calling for was, just okay, that's all right, we'll just go to another town. You know what that's called? What character quality does that remind you of? What's that called in the Bible? That kind of response. There's a word for it in the epistles. I know I'm running a rabbit trail here. Long suffering, that's very close. Yes. The meat-ness is the word I was looking for. I think that's the word meat-ness, or sometimes it's translate gentleness. That's the word that describes what we're seeing here. It's the ability to take unkindness, ungraciousness, and graciously respond and just go on. And to have the strength to be able to take that and to respond gently, that's what Jesus is doing here. And that's called meat-ness or gentleness. Power under control. Yeah, that's a good way that it's been described quite often. It's almost like some people have used the illustration of the power of a horse that has been tamed or broken. The power is still there. I mean, that horse could throw the rider off at any moment, but it's under control. It's been tamed. And that's the spirit we're seeing here. Jesus wants his men to learn that kind of spirit. That kind of gracious spirit. Steve? It seems to be a kind of threat to the simple, but it's not a threat. Again, the people are against the odds. This is merely a person who is there. And they're doing it here and there. Yeah. This is in a different category than the cleansing of the temple. Different category. Different type of offense. You're exactly right. Okay, so we want to teach him about a gracious spirit. Secondly, well, no, we're not going to have time. We're not going to have time. Verses 57 to 62. Basically, can we go back to that map, Greg? What happens is Jesus goes to another village and probably what he does because the very next thing we're going to find is some other people join him and start asking him questions or offering to become a disciple. And that kind of thing. So probably what he does is he goes back over into Jewish territory. Comes down like most people would do the east side of the river Jordan and then across to Jerusalem. But most of the crowds have already made their way up. There will be three people that will come alongside him. And Matthew tells us one of them is a scribe, a religious teacher who is evidently on his way to Jerusalem also for the feast. Three people will come alongside him and make offers to follow him. And what Jesus is going to do is he's going to teach his men through these examples. You better count the cost. The three that are going to come to Jesus have no idea what they're getting into. So Jesus makes very hard, very narrow the call to follow him because these guys don't know what they're getting into. Jesus, remember, he knows what he's getting into when he gets to Jerusalem. And so that's why Jesus is going to say some things that to us, you know, let the dead bury their dead. Don't bury your father. Come on and follow me. He's going to make sure they understand. Okay, but we got to get to that next week. You could say to clot your kids are already bouncing off the walls down there. And the one leaders are crying for us to finish up up here so you can come get your children. So we've got to get to that next week. You know, I'm going to have to say, I'm going to have to let you know what they're doing. I'm going to have to let you know what they're doing. So you can come get your children. So we better do that. All right, let's pray.