Exploring My Strange Bible - Storms and Swine - Gospel of Matthew Part 14

Episode Date: July 30, 2018

We are in the narrative chapters of Matthew Chapters 8 and 9, where Matthew has collected nine stories of Jesus performing a whole number of powerful deeds and acts. Some of them are acts of healing, others of them are acts of creative power. In this episode, we talk about two stories. One is about Jesus calming chaotic waters. The other is about Jesus meeting two dangerous men in a graveyard. Listen in to hear more.

Tim Mackey, Jr. utterly amazing and worth following with everything that you have. On this podcast, I'm putting together the last 10 years worth of lectures and sermons where I've been exploring the strange and wonderful story of the Bible and how it invites us into the mission of Jesus and the journey of faith. And I hope this can be helpful for you too. I also help start this thing called The Bible Project. We make animated videos and podcasts about all kinds of topics in Bible and theology. You can find those resources at thebibleproject.com. With all that said, let's dive into the episode for this week. All right, well, in this episode, we're going to continue exploring the gospel according to Matthew. We are in the narrative section of the gospel of Matthew in chapters 8 and 9, where Matthew has collected together nine stories of Jesus performing a whole number of powerful deeds and acts.

Some of them acts of healing, others of them acts of creative power. In this story we're going to consider two stories that Matthew has joined together real closely. them acts of healing, others of them acts of creative power. In this story, we're going to consider two stories that Matthew has joined together real closely. One about Jesus calming the chaotic waters. He actually is asleep on a boat in the middle of a storm, maybe you know the story. And that's followed immediately by a story of Jesus meeting two very

dangerous men out of their minds in a graveyard. And the story ends with the drowning of a whole herd of pigs. These stories are dramatic. They're powerful. And Matthew isn't just trying to impress us with, like, Jesus is awesome, although that's true. He's actually, through these narratives, making some really important claims about Jesus' identity, who he is, and also about his character, what he's like.

So let these familiar stories, if they're familiar to you, let them become unfamiliar so that you can hear them speak to you with their original power and punch. So let's open up our minds and learn together. open up our minds and learn together. We're going through the gospel according to Matthew as a community, and we're just going right through it, story by story, teaching by teaching, which means that we don't just get to pick the flowery parts that we like. We also come across these stories about Jesus that are strange, and where the story ends, and you're like, what just happened? And that's very odd and bizarre, because it is. And that's okay. You know, not every story has to end like films that Americans make,

you know, which is with some sort of happy, resolved ending. So, but these are two. You may be familiar with these stories. Jesus calming the sea. Jesus healing these two men who were terrorized by spiritual evil. These stories may not be familiar to you. I don't know. What I want to do is what I often do.

These are simple stories. They're not hard to grasp. Is Jesus weak or powerful? He's powerful. I mean, that's basically what you need to get from the stories. And so we could end there, but we're not going to, of course. But you get the basic idea. But there's always layers to these stories in the gospel accounts about Jesus. And so what I want to do is kind of back up and give us a framework for what's happening in these two stories. They go together. You might not think that they do, but actually Matthew's put them next to each other intentionally,

I think. The first story ends with people asking a question about who Jesus is. The next story provides a clear, although disturbing, answer to that question. The stories go together, and they all revolve around water, right? This incredible event that takes place on the water in the boat, and then a story that comes to a disturbing end with pigs drowning in the water. It's just bizarre and it's strange, but they're meant to go together. So let's back up and let's just think about something else for a second. So we just learned I was sick most of the week and so I missed staff meeting where apparently the sunrise service was planned. So I found out about it just like you guys did, right? Just a few minutes ago. I was

like, oh, I guess there we go. I know what I'm doing that day. I'm going to be here really early. So there you go. So Easter, Easter Sunday is coming April 5th. How many weeks is that? Three, four weeks from today. It's the high point, really. Christmas kind of has become that in American culture, but in the historic Christian calendar, it's actually Easter, Resurrection Sunday, I think more accurately it should be called, because that's what it's about, the resurrection of Jesus. And so that whole weekend, I mean, it's the highlight of the Christian calendar. If you're a follower of Jesus, the most important weekend of the year is coming in just three

weeks, and we're going to celebrate it. There's also another major world religious tradition always shares its most important holiday with Easter and Resurrection Sunday, and that's within Judaism. No worries, it's okay. That's within Judaism. And what Jewish holiday always falls on the same weekend as Resurrection Sunday? Passover. Passover. And it's not random or incidental, right? Because Jesus was Jewish, right? And Christianity is a Jewish messianic movement. And what was Jesus doing in Jerusalem the weekend that he got crucified? What was he doing there? He was celebrating Passover in Jerusalem, like tens of thousands of other Jews

would come flock in Jerusalem and so on. And actually, the story of Passover and what happens in the memories and the stories around Passover are helpful, immensely helpful, I think, for helping grasp new layers of significance about these stories that take place near the water. So think of the story. What are Jewish families doing as they celebrate Passover, which starts on the Friday, always on the Friday night, that coincides with Good Friday for Christians? So we're retelling what famous Bible story at Passover? So the Exodus story, right? So the Israelites have been an enslaved people group for centuries to the big bad Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. And he really is, in the precise sense of

the term, enacting a genocide against the Israelites. But within his own territory, he's killing off all of the males and the rest of the Israelites, he's just grinding them into the dirt through harsh slave labor. And he just wants to use them and kill them off. And he's building pyramids and this kind of thing. And so God raises up a deliverer, right? Moses and Aaron, his brother, and through them, God addresses Pharaoh, right? And you may know the story. Ten different times through Moses, God commands Pharaoh to let the people go. He gives Pharaoh a chance, right? To stop his horrible evil and to let the people go, and he refuses all of those times. Actually, three of the times, he does let them go, but then changes his mind about 10 minutes later, right? So interesting

how the stories work. And so after the ninth time that he refused, God decides to send the tenth act of justice, right? The acts of the 10 plagues and so on. And so just like Pharaoh had been killing off all of the males of the Israelites, God announces that a plague is going to sweep through and kill the firstborn of every family. And then this is where the Passover feast comes in, right? So Israelite families were commanded to have a lamb for dinner, but instead of normally just draining the blood and getting rid of it, they take the blood of the lamb and they paint it on their door as this symbol of a life being given in place of the life of the firstborn inside that house. And so when the plague comes at night, this is the story, it passes over those houses with the blood of the lamb on it. That's where the name comes from.

Now what happens next is that Pharaoh, he's finally compelled by this act of God's justice to let the Israelites go, and so they flee. So this is here where the story gets relevant for us. They're fleeing. They flee out of Egypt, and they're not, they don't have an army. They don't have infrastructure. They're a huge band of escaped slaves, right? And they're fleeing out to the desert to go back to the land of their ancestors. And they come through the desert, and they clearly don't know where they're going, because they end up facing a huge body of water, right? And Pharaoh's changed his mind again. And so he, after they all leave, he builds up a huge army of chariots, and he starts chasing after them. You guys know the story? And here's the key moment of the story. We're just going to read it here from Exodus chapter 14. This is the famous Exodus story.

The Israelites, they fled Egypt and they camped by the sea near Pi-hahiroth opposite Baal-Sasson. You know those places, right? So as Pharaoh's army approached, the Israelites looked up, and there are the Egyptians marching after them. So huge body of water, huge army here to annihilate you. It's a bad day. And they're terrified, and they cry out to the Lord. They said to Moses, was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us out here into the desert to die? Why on earth did you bring us out of Egypt? And Moses answered the people, don't be afraid. Stand firm and today you will see the salvation of Yahweh. The Egyptians today that you see, you will never see again. Yahweh will fight for you. You just need to sit still.

Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind. He turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on the dry ground, wall of water on their right and on their left. I mean, this is an epic scene, right? It's one of the most well-known biblical stories, and this is a very vivid epic scene of Yahweh's power over the waters, right? He creates a path in the waters for his people to pass through, which is the salvation of Yahweh, saving his people. And then, I won't go on to read it, but if you know how the story goes, then Pharaoh's armies chase after them, and the Israelites pass to the other side, and what

happens? The waters cave back in and wipe out the army of Pharaoh and so on. And so that's the story. This is the story celebrated at Passover. You guys, the Jewish people have been telling and retelling this story every single year for a whole weekend and a week following after it, every year for over 3,000 years. This is one of the most oldest, most old or one of the oldest religious holidays that humans still observe today. This is of incredible significance. And just stop and think about that. This is Jesus' people, right? This is the culture that Jesus grew up in. Every year, you dedicate a whole week and then a whole weekend specifically to retelling this story. And what is this story about? It's about how the people of Israel, who had no identity except as the children of Abraham,

and they're enslaved in Egypt, and then Yahweh delivers his people through the waters, and Yahweh, their God, tames the sea, right? The wild sea that was just as much of an opponent as the armies of Pharaoh, and they're trapped between the two, absolutely helpless. They're going to be destroyed, armies of Pharaoh, and they're trapped between the two, absolutely helpless. They're going to be destroyed. And the salvation of Yahweh is about God taming the sea and creating a path for his people to be saved. And every year for over 3,000 years, they retell the story, have meals, celebrate, sing about it, and so on. This story is of immense significance. It's sort of, for Judaism, this story is what the death and resurrection of Jesus is to Christianity. It's our foundation story. And within Judaism, this is their foundation story.

It gives them their identity of who they are as a people. And it has to do with God taming the waters to save his people. So you can imagine as the millennia go by, right, within the story, within the history of Israel, this story affected how they think about the world and so on. So an Israelite poet wants to talk about how amazing and great Yahweh, the God of Israel, is. Well, you can bet they're going to be talking about this story. Turn to the book of Psalms and you'll find the biblical poets. Just an example at random, I could show you 12 others. Psalm 106. Yahweh saved his people for his name's sake to make his mighty power known. He rebuked the sea. Isn't that an interesting

poetic image? He rebuked the sea and dried it up. He led them through the depths as through a desert. So the poets constantly retell this story too in their own poetry, but they do more. And this is really interesting. The biblical poets, if you go on and read through the Psalms and the Prophets, which is where most of the poetry in the Bible is, 40% of the Bible is poetry. And if you go through and read the poetry, here's another thing you'll find, is that when biblical poets want to talk about danger or a situation where they're expressing fear or there's things going horribly wrong or whatever, they will very often use the image of dangerous waters threatening them. Just one example at random. I could show you a dozen, but here's from Psalm 69.

Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in the miry depths where there's no foothold. I have come into deep waters. The floods engulf me. I'm worn out by calling for help. My throat is parched. My eyes fail. I'm looking for my God. Deliver me from those who hate me, Now this is such a great example. What's actually happening to the poet? Like day-to-day life. Is the poet actually drowning? Are you telling a story about how he almost drowned? No, it's a poem. But he gives you one

small clue as to what's actually happening, and what is it? People hate him or her, right? It's anonymous. So people hate the poet. And so the person writing the poem, he has enemies. We don't know. We don't know what the story is. People don't like the poet. They're persecuting them and so on. But look at this whole elaborate description. The only adequate thing that the poet can turn his mind to is to recall these stories about the threatening, dangerous, roiling, raging waters. And that what kind of God is the God of

Israel? It's the God who delivers the whole nation, but a God who's also attentive to the cries of individual people. And so being delivered from people who don't like you, you can talk about it as being delivered from raging waters. If a biblical poet wants to talk about how amazing the God of Israel and how he's one and only unique, the one true God and the creator, the poet will do it like this. Psalm 89. This is the last example I'll show you. Who is like you? Yahweh, God Almighty. You, Yahweh, you are mighty. Your faithfulness surrounds you. You rule over the surging sea. When its waves mount up, you still them. So why am I showing all of this to you? I'm showing this to you is first for us to understand how important the story of the Exodus is for understanding the whole Bible, right? Because

the biblical authors that come later are going to always be referring back to it using images or language that are grounded in that foundation story. And so whether they want to talk about their own personal experience of being delivered, or if you want to talk about how unique and amazing God is, you use elements from the foundation story. Who alone is the one true creator God who can still the surging oceans? What image is greater than a surging, broiling ocean, you know? Who wants to be out there in the middle of a storm? For all that human beings are like powerful and, you know, here in the city, we're just surrounded by human ingenuity, you know what I mean? Like we're the main event here in the city because we've designed all this

and we build homes and streets and we run around here focusing on our careers and families and stories. We're the main event. But you go stand where the surf breaks, right? On the beach and you're nothing. You know what I'm saying? Like you're a puny human.

That's what you are, right? And it's a universal human experience. The raging waters of the sea just put us in our place. And so, there's only one, the author of all of creation, the one who redeems his people, only Yahweh, the God, the one true God, rules over the surging sea. How you guys doing? You with me? This is just a given in biblical thought. So when Matthew and the disciples, right, when they want to, they recount an experience, a strange, very powerful experience that they had with Jesus out in the waters, out in the deep waters. And as they tell us this story, Matthew is going to be using language to evoke all of these poems and stories here. And so let's come back to the story,

and I think you'll see the brilliance of what Matthew is doing as he tells us the story. Let's jump back. Let's come back to chapter 8, and we'll kind of work through it. Let's look at verse 23. We're told that Jesus got into the boat and that his disciples followed him. Sorry, let's stop. We just got started and I'm making a stop again. Sorry. So what's happening right now in this storyline, right here in Matthew chapter 8? Remember, Jesus was up on a hillside announcing the kingdom of God. That's his whole deal.

eight. Remember, Jesus was up on a hillside announcing the kingdom of God. That's his whole deal. And then he comes down off the hillside to actually bring the kingdom and the rule and the reign of God into reality in day-to-day life in these fishing towns and villages along the lake of Galilee. And so he's been like, there's crowds. If you've been around with us through the series, you know there's huge crowds of people all the time around Jesus, and they're following him around, and he'll go to a town and teach, and then people flock to him, and he's healing sick people, teaching constantly, answering questions. And so actually, back up, why is Jesus getting into a boat? So put your thumb, go back just up to verse 18, and we're jumping around a lot. Look, in chapter 8, verse 18, Go back just up to verse 18.

We're jumping around a lot. In chapter 8, verse 18, when Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. Does Jesus ever get tired? Tired of people crowding around him? I think so. I think he's escaping the people right now.

And not because he doesn't like people. I mean, he clearly has been healing and teaching and with them, but he needs some rest, you know? He would often retreat up into the mountains at night to pray and to rest. Here he's like, I got to get on a boat. Get out of here, you know? And so there you go. And even then he gets interrupted on his way to the boat, right?

These people come up to him and asking him all these questions. So here we go. Finally, he makes it to the boat. In verse 23, he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Suddenly, a furious storm came up on the lake so that the waves swept over the boat. Now, let me just, we'll geek out again here. Let me show you a picture of the lake. This is helpful, I think. So, Capernaum, which is where he just was, that's where the stories in chapter 8 take place. That was kind of Jesus' home base, and then he would travel around other towns and so on. And so there's the Sea of Galilee, or it's called the Lake of Galilee,

the Lake of Gennesaret. It's a lake. It's a lake. If I had a little mile thing or whatever, I'll just tell you. So top to bottom, it's about 13 and a half miles. And at its widest point there in the middle, it's about seven and a half, eight miles or so. So that's a big body of water. Is that big? It's big. It's not a pond. It's not an ocean. But you can see the other side. But it is really big. It's the biggest body of water in that whole region. And I don't know if you can see on the satellite pictures, this is a Google Earth image, which is why the line is there. It's actually two photos fused together, you know. Google Earth. You guys ever play on Google Earth? Want to waste an hour? Just go. And what's cool is you can, you know,

we're looking straight down, but then you can angle your view of the horizon and back out and just fly around planet Earth and see stuff. It's awesome. So anyway, if you angle it, here's what you'll see. On this, the right side, it's the east side, steep hills go up from the lake, like really steep. It climbs about 1,500 feet right up from the water up to a plateau, and that's called the Golan Heights. And you can just go straight from there right into the desert of Syria and Iraq. If you go to the west, to the left of it here, it's also steep hills, 1,500 feet, climb up. And then it goes into the hill country where Jesus grew up, and then it goes down again to the coast in the Mediterranean Sea. And so it's a unique kind of place in the region because you get this hot air that comes from the deserts, right? And then they come this way and you get these cool movements of air coming from the Mediterranean Sea. All that air, those pressure

movements move down and they meet right there on the lake. And when that happens, what takes place? meet right there on the lake. And when that happens, what takes place? Big storms, right? Big storms. And it's remarkable. It's the same there today. It can be a sunny day, but some movement of clouds will come in, you know, within a couple hours, and then there's raging storms in the afternoon, and then you'll get a nice sunset in the evening. It's calm and clear. It's remarkable, and it still happens today. And so that's what happened, right? They're on the boat. They're crossing here. They're going to be going to this region here, you know, roughly to that area. We're not quite sure. Gadara, look down at verse 28. When he gets to the other side, he comes to the region of the Gadarenes. So it's about a six-mile trip right through the heart, the deepest part of the lake.

And there's this storm that comes up suddenly. They didn't see it coming. It would have taken them many hours to make the trip. It wasn't there when they started. They get out into the middle. It's there. What's Jesus doing? He's sleeping.

That's weird right that's you're supposed to i don't if you're supposed to chuckle if you're supposed to that's odd now why why is he sleeping so he's likely exhausted yeah i mean he's been churning right he's been churning since chapter four you know man needs a break um we're not're not told why. I think we're supposed to infer from the stories. He's sleeping. He's at peace. He's at rest, right? He's away from the crowds and he's at rest. But then it evokes this very powerful image. If you look at the history of Christian art of this scene, the storm on the lake, it's very powerful because it's this image of, you know, these boats weren't big, 25-foot fishing boats, and waves crashing in, and Jesus is sleeping under the stern of the boat or something. You're just

like, what on earth is such a crazy image? So Jesus's peaceful rest contrasts the storm. It also contrasts the disciples, right? Because what are they doing? They're freaking out, right? Look at the disciples. They went, and they're waking him. They're saying, Lord, save us. We're going to drown. Or some of you have a different translation. Not drown, but what? Perish. Perish. Literally, they say, we're dead. We're going to die. Not just drown, we're going to die. So you get this powerful scene here of this surprising storm that has come on the disciples of Jesus. Jesus is sleeping, and then the disciples are so afraid. Their instinct is right, isn't it? Their instinct is right. Go to Jesus.

But then what do they say to Jesus? They ask him for help, and then they inform him of the end game, like where this is all going to end, right? We're dead, Jesus. Do you see that here? Save us. We're dead. And so Jesus, it's an interesting story. Jesus replies, oh, you of little faith, why are you so afraid? Now, let's just stop right there. This is even more comic. Jesus thinks this is a good moment to give a little lecture, right, on faith, you know? And he asked them, why are you afraid? And you're like, well, you know, whoosh, you know? And he asked them, why are you afraid? And you're like, well, you know, isn't it quite evident, Jesus, why we're freaking out? So you might think Jesus is being a little hard on them, right? And I can understand that, but

so there's a few things happening. First of all, there's a story just right before this. For some of you, it might even be on the same exact page. We covered it two weeks ago earlier in the chapter. It was a story about that Roman soldier. Do you remember? And the Roman soldier came to Jesus, and he had a servant who was paralyzed, thought he was dying and suffering. And so he comes to Jesus and says, will you heal them? And Jesus says, yes. And then the soldier, you remember, the soldier says to Jesus, he says, no, you don't even need to come to my house. You're Jesus. Just say a word and it's done. And then you remember Jesus marvels. He's like, this guy, holy cow, you know? And he's like, this guy actually perceives who I am, Jesus says.

He actually has such faith. That's what he says. I haven't found this kind of faith in any Israelite, fellow Jewish person that I've met, Jesus said. So somehow, this Roman soldier, desperate circumstances, but this Roman soldier is so convinced that Jesus is who he says he is, he trusts that all that needs to be said is a word, and it's taken care of. Immense faith and trust in Jesus. Contrast the disciples, who are also in utterly helpless circumstances, and what they do is come to Jesus, which is a right instinct, but then they inform Jesus of what's about to happen.

Right? And it shows a lack of trust. This is what Jesus is pointing out. Why are you so afraid? And it's a bold call. I mean, I'm not going to say I'm not, I am sympathetic with the disciples, right? You have a wave splashing your face in the middle of a huge storm like that. But Jesus, he's called these disciples to a high level of accountability, and they're watching Jesus do these amazing things, and so he kind of chides them and gets into them a little bit. Look what he does next. After the lecture, right, in the storm, he gets up and he rebuked the wind and the waves and it became completely calm. He gets up and he rebukes the wind and the waves. Can you think of any other stories or poems about Yahweh, the God of Israel,

rebuking the stormy waters? Why did Matthew phrase it that way? So we're engulfed in the story and in the events and so on, but we forget. Matthew has composed the gospel according to Matthew after the fact. So Matthew is sitting post-crucifixion and resurrection, and he's convinced about who Jesus is, and he wants you to believe in him, right? And so as he retells the story, he describes what Jesus did, right? He has this memory, because this is what we're listening to the memories, eyewitness memories of the disciples. And as he retells the story, he uses language from the great biblical poems about the Exodus, about God's people being in utterly helpless circumstances before the raging waters.

And he describes Jesus getting up and doing... Actually, so stop and think about this. So in the story, who's crying out to God for help and deliverance in the Exodus story? The people of Israel, right? The people of God. And who is the one with unique power to calm the raging sea in the story of the Exodus? It's Yahweh, the God of Israel. In fact, that experience was so powerful and so marked the Jewish people that, let's go back to Psalm 89 here. If I'm an Israelite and I want to talk about who the only one true God is,

sorry, can we get Psalm 89 back on the screen here? If I'm a poet and I want to talk about who the only true God is, what do I do? I retell the story of the Exodus. I want to talk about who the only true God is. What do I do? I retell the story of the Exodus. I say it's the one true creator God, the only one who's able to calm the surging, roiling sea and still the waves that have mounted up.

What is Matthew doing here? Look at how the disciples respond. The men were amazed. Amazed. Any other translations than amazed? Marvel. Yeah, this is, I mean, amazed is almost too light of a term, right?

They're dumbfounded. They're awestruck, right? Their categories are, it's almost slight terror because look at what they say. They don't say like, that was awesome, do it again, Jesus. They don't say that, right? Their categories are blown, and they ask, here's what they ask, what kind of human is this? They don't even say, who is this? Who are you, Jesus? They say, what kind of human is this?

Even the wind and the waves obey him. Now, if Matthew was like a boring 21st century academic theologian, he could have just written one sentence. Jesus is the one true God. Become a human. That would be a very simple sentence that is also boring. Fortunately, 21st century academic theologians didn't write the Bible. So what the Bible was written by, it's birthed out of the Jewish people in their story, and it's written out of the experience and eyewitness recollections of these Jewish people in their story. And it's written out of the experience and eyewitness

recollections of these Jewish fishermen, in this case, a tax collector. And as he retells the story of Jesus, he puts Jesus in the place of Yahweh, the one true God of Israel. If I'm an Israelite, who is the one? Who is the one God who can rule the surging sea and still its waves? It's Yahweh, God Almighty. And he tells a story based on this memory, and he puts Jesus precisely in that place. And instead of making a statement, Jesus is the one true God become human, he tells this powerful story of this experience that he had, and then he ends it with a question. Who is this human? And that's the end of the story. It's wonderful, right? It's the Bible, right? It's so much more interesting, right, than you would

ever think. And so the question is just pitched right to us, like who is this human, right? Because we've, in the Gospel of Matthew so far, we've seen merciful Jesus pronouncing these blessings on the poor and the spiritual zeros, and we've seen merciful Jesus pronouncing these blessings on the poor and the spiritual zeros, and we've seen Jesus of compassion who moves towards the people with skin disease and the outsiders and so on. We see authoritative teaching Jesus. And then here, it's this new revelation of Jesus's identity. And they're not pleasantly surprised by this. Their minds are blown, and they're actually scared. You know? I mean, you can make light of it. The analogy that came to mind is like, growing up, and you're in your 40s, and then you find out your dad is Superman or something like

that. You know? And all of a sudden you have to like rethink your whole childhood experience, you know what I mean? Like he was away on a business trip or something, like really? No, actually he was fighting, you know, the powers of evil or something. So, but so all of a sudden you have, you realize who this person is and then you have to rethink every moment you've spent with them and see it in light of this. And that's exactly what's happening right now. They're disturbed, right? Slightly terrified even. And so they ask the question, who is this? Matthew doesn't answer it for us. Instead, he tells us the next story, verse 28. So when he arrived at the other side of the lake in the region of the Gadarenes, at the other side of the lake in the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that nobody could pass by that way. They shouted,

what do you want with us, son of God? Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time? God, have you come here to torture us before the appointed time? So let's pause real quick here. Do you see what Matthew's done? Instead of answering the question, what kind of human is this? He tells you the next story, right? Their recollection of what happened next, which is they reach the other side. These two crazy people come storming out of a graveyard that must be near the coast in some way. It's totally isolated because these guys, they've lost it. They're terrorized by evil.

And then they shout, right? We find out that actually it's the voice of the spiritual evil that's terrorizing these men. It speaks to Jesus. And who is Jesus? What do they call him? The Son of God. So who is, what kind of man is this? Jesus' closest followers still don't grasp who he is. But who does know who Jesus is? It's very interesting, It's very profound,

right? And they not only know who Jesus is, they know what time it is, and they know what Jesus is here for. He's come to destroy evil, means to destroy them, and that their time is short because Jesus is here announcing the kingdom of God. Okay, so let's pause real quick here. And I want to address something that is probably hang up for some of us and then we'll come back and we'll finish the story. This is the first story. It's been mentioned twice in Matthew so far that Jesus cast out demons

or cast out evil spirits from people. But this is the first story that gets into the details of one of those experiences. This is the first time Jesus performs an exorcism or casts out demons. And so here's what's happening in the room right now. I know this is what's happening in the room. Is that there's half of us who you see the world in a way very similar to the story, and you're like, yeah, Jesus did that. This is because it's real. And then there's another half of the room who's like, this is weird, and this is a part of Christianity that I've always

had a difficult time with, right? And maybe there's even a third group of people, and you're not Christians at all, and you're like, it's the primitive, silly superstition or whatever. So let's go with that. Let's go with that for at least just a couple minutes, because it's important to think it through. And American culture has a contradiction within it culturally, right? Because there's the very secular reality is only molecules and atoms and cells and so on. And so if it can't be detected with the five senses or microscopes or math, it's not real. It's a very predominant view in our culture. But then there's

the opposite, which is the spiritual but not religious category. Huge, huge number of people in our culture. And for them, the idea of negative or evil spiritual energy or positive spiritual energy and that we interact with spiritual beings or spiritual energy all the time, there's a lot, especially in Portland, right? Portland's actually an interesting mix of both of those in interesting ways. And so the Bible doesn't actually talk in either of those languages. The Bible's trying to tell us something, I think, more profound and just about evil. Let's just stick with evil. So within the worldview of the Bible,

evil is more than just stupid, horrible things that humans do to each other. In the Bible, there is something mysterious that's at work in and through the stupid, horrible things that we do to each other and behind them. Something that's transcendent and that's real. The evil has some reality that is personal and that's at work stirring up all kinds of horrible death and destruction of relationships. In the Bible, evil is about whatever beings are anti-life, anti-humans made in God's image to reflect God's glorious image, anti-relationship, and these beings, this spiritual reality is at work

to distort our thinking, to distort culture, and to destroy human beings and healthy human relationships. That's what these beings do. And they're not detectable to the five senses. That's a claim that the Bible makes about evil. And you just need to sit with it, right? Just sit with it. But ask yourself this question, and because I think the Bible is actually putting its thumb on an experience that we all have with evil. The Bible's claim is that evil is actually not natural to humans, that it's secondary to us, that evil is a parasite on what is meant to be good. And humans are created in God's good image, but it's just all gone horribly wrong, right? By our own choices,

but not only by our own choices, the Bible claims, that there's another reality influencing us. So just think about this. Think about a moment where you had a decision in front of you. An idea comes into your mind to say something to another person. You know it's lame. You know it's going to hurt them. And you know it's wrong, but you do it. And then 10 seconds, a week, a month later, you look back on your own choice and behavior, and you're like, what was I thinking? What was wrong with me? That was so horrible. You guys know what I'm talking about here. Nobody knows what I'm talking about. You're liars, right? You're liars. We all know this, right? You know ahead. The idea comes into your mind. No, no, no. Well, actually, ooh, yes. Actually, yes. And then you do it, and then

immediately you're just like, oh my gosh, no, what's wrong with me? There you go. There you go. It's you, but it's not you. There's something more at work. And you can call it modern, secular, you call it superstition, but the vast majority of humans, throughout the vast majority of human history, look at our experience of evil and say there's something more than just humans being stupid and chemicals interacting in our brain. There's a reality of evil that's greater and that's real, even though it's not detected by math and microscopes. And so in the biblical, there are circumstances, and this is true across all cultures, where an individual gets hijacked

by evil, so to speak. A person becomes so irrational, so self-destructive and destructive to others, so consumed with a presence of evil. And this is not just in the Bible. This is a widespread phenomenon. It's not common, but it happens. And in modern terms, we might say, well, you know, you can connect it to mental illness and chemical imbalances in the brain. And there's actually quite probably a lot of those experiences or examples that fit into that category. But there are also other examples where the doctors and the psychiatrists are just like, I don't know. And people are behaving just like this.

And where the only thing that is effective in helping these people are prayers offered in the name of Jesus. That has to fit in your view of the world somewhere because it's that actually those things happen. And I personally was skeptical about this. This is one of those areas as a new Christian where I was like, I don't know what I think about this, to be honest with you. And so I had an experience with spiritual evil, with someone behaving precisely this way. The doctors and psychiatrists are like, I don't know. And the only thing that healed this person in front of my eyes was prayers offered in

the name of Jesus. I can't prove it to you. I can just tell you that there's more going on here than just primitive superstition. This is actually a very profound view of the human experience and of evil. And in the Bible, it's taken for granted. In the Bible, Jesus is here to confront evil. And so just like when you lift up a rock and all the potato bugs go like this, when Jesus shows up, it's like this heightened conflict with evil. And all of a sudden, the stuff is coming out of people that probably wouldn't come up if I were to show up in a room,

but Jesus shows up in a room and stuff happens. And so here's how it goes. And this whole story is marked by bizarre, absurdity, weirdness, because that's what evil is. It's horrible, it's bizarre, and it's absurd. Some distance from them was a large herd of pigs feeding. I'm not trying to say any of this is normal. I'm just saying this is strange.

The demons begged Jesus, if you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs so that these spiritual evil beings don't want to be without a host of some kind. Jesus respects that offer, right? He said to them, this is the only word Jesus says in the whole story, go. So they came out and went into the pigs. Then the whole herd rushed down into the steep bank, into the lake, and then drowned in the water. That's just very strange. And it's actually a very it's a violent disturbing image hundreds of pigs

gasping and gurgling and drowning in the water it's horrifying right now one one to clear up one thing did jesus kill the pigs it's actually a misreading of the story that i've found is really common here is jesus responsible for the pigs dying? Was pigs dying part of Jesus' deal with them? No, it was just go to the pigs. I'm going to save these two humans here. Who destroys the pigs? These evil spiritual beings do, and they die in the most horrifying way, which is absurd and horrifying. That's evil, isn't it, in our world? That's what evil does. It's human life and God's good world being destroyed in the most tragic, absurd ways. Those tenting the pigs ran away. You would too.

And they went into the town and they reported all of this, including what happened to the two demon-possessed men. Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. Thank you for delivering these men. Thank you for returning stability to our community. Thank you for... No, when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave. And he doesn't ever go back. And that's how the story ends. How are you guys

doing? That's very strange. Neither of these stories ties up nicely. So that's the job I have in the next three minutes, right? What are these stories about? We know that Jesus is awesome. We know that he's merciful, that he's kind, that he's wise, he's brilliant, right? That's what the stories so far have been developing for us. Now, here's two experiences that the disciples have of Jesus, and it just, this is a new category shattering side of Jesus that they didn't have room for. They could call him a prophet. They could call him a teacher. They could even call him the Messiah. But now there's this Jesus as the human embodiment of the one true creator God who has the power to still the seas. Right? The story is making a claim about who Jesus is. I don't know all of you super close. I don't know

what view you have of Jesus, but that is the claim that the story is putting in front. You might already believe that about Jesus. You might not. You might be still sorting through what you think about Jesus, but at least do understand that's what the story is claiming, that he's not just a teacher showing us a way. He's not just a powerful person. He actually is claiming, that's what the story is about, is claiming to be the embodiment of the one true God come among us. He is the way. And he doesn't just have power. He is power as the good, wise author and creator of all that exists. And what is Jesus here to do? He's here to confront evil. And not just evil and like the corrupt Roman empire who's being oppressive to his people. He's here to meet

and confront evil in what he believes is its source, its spiritual source that has twisted and distorted human thinking on an individual level and on a corporate societal level. And that confrontation with evil makes people uncomfortable. It creates awkward situations where Jesus disturbs the status quo. And Jesus confronts and challenges things that will make people uncomfortable. Jesus confronts and challenges things that will make people uncomfortable. And it might actually be so uncomfortable that people want nothing to do with Jesus once they begin to grasp the claims being made about him. Are you with me here?

Like, that's what these stories are saying. They're not meant to make us feel comfortable. They're meant to show us that there's actually, there's something terrifying about Jesus. If you really wrap your mind around if this claim is true and what Jesus is here to do, it's terrifying. And it would remain terrifying if you didn't have all of the other stories to tell you the character and the heart and the purpose of Jesus. He's here to confront evil. And he's here to confront evil out there. He's also here to confront the evil that resides

in all of us and that stains our own heart, and that confrontation with evil is going to be messy. It's going to make lots of people uncomfortable. It will cause people to humbly bow before him in gratefulness for his love and his mercy, and it will also cause other people to be like, leave and never come back. And that's what Jesus evokes in people. And we have to deal with that. We have to deal with it. And this is the first story, really, of Jesus confronting evil and bringing his justice to bear on it.

And it points forward. There's going to be a lot more tension and conflict going on in the story as we move forward into chapters 9 and 10 and so on. And where is all this going? Where it's going is where Jesus fully and finally confronts evil right at its source. And for Jesus, how does Jesus conquer evil in the story? You can go finish the Gospel of Matthew. You can probably read it, you know, in the next couple hours if you wanted to. You can see how the story ends. And it ends with Jesus's conflict. Jesus wins over evil by losing. He actually, he beats

and conquers evil by letting it beat and conquer him. Jesus actually allows the surging waves of spiritual evil and human evil to completely engulf him and take his life. It's like he's allowing himself to be submerged under this whole human tragic mess that we're in. And it just engulfs him.

And that informs Jesus' teachings about how you become one of his followers, that you actually win by losing, and you gain your life by losing your life, because that's the kind of victory that Jesus is here to bring. And that's what Good Friday is about that we'll celebrate in a few weeks. And then in three weeks from now, Resurrection Sunday is where it all comes together. Where because Jesus is the embodiment of the author of all creation, and he is dead set on redeeming and healing and rescuing his world because of his great love for his good world and people made in his image, he will not allow evil to get the last word in his world. And so his resurrection from the dead is Jesus's victory and conquering of evil and death. And he offers his life to those

of us who will wake up to him and wake up to who he is, which is both the best news and the most disturbing news that we can respond to. That's the best I can do for tying this up, you guys. And so this is just the right moment for us to come to reckon with who Jesus is and to meet with him. We believe that he's here by the presence of his spirit. We believe that we're here to meet with him together as we take the bread and the cup to retell the story of his broken body and his shed blood that was for us. And so here's what I encourage you to do. I know that there are a lot of us in the room right now whose lives feel like the storms of evil or the storms of hardship and tragedy are sinking your boat. And so this is a moment for you to meet Jesus

and to call out to him. There might be some of us here who we feel out, just out, totally hopeless with the state of our own hearts and how messed up we are inside or the state of people that we love and care about deeply. And so let's just come to Jesus and recognize who he is

and recognize that he's good and he's powerful and he's here to confront evil with his love and with his power. Amen. You guys, thank you for listening to Exploring My Strange Bible, the podcast. Thank you also, so many of you have been leaving helpful reviews and spreading the word and so on. So that's awesome. Thank you for doing that.

If you haven't done it yet, maybe consider doing it if you found this podcast helpful. Thank you.