JOHN145 - Campground Episode Possibly With Bears

John 3:1-10

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Music by Jeff Foote

Transcript

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Um everybody, it's Matt. This is the 10 Minute Bible Hour Podcast. And some of you right now are like, is it though? Because it doesn't sound right. It sounds like you're talking real low, and it sounds like you're on a weird mic. And it sounds like you're in West Glacier, Montana, outside of Glacier National Park with your family on vacation. And it sounds like you're trying to be quiet because it's 11 o'clock at night, and you're staying in a little camp thing with little yurts and little huts and stuff, and people are camping and there are camp dogs around, and also you don't want to alert bears that are out in the woods, and so you're just trying to talk real quiet. That's what it sounds like. To which I would say that was incredibly attentive of you. Everything you just suspected is absolutely true. It's all of that. Usually, I'm getting too loud already. I gotta keep it down. And I'm I haven't recorded anything yet today because I waited until things were quiet enough that I wouldn't bother everybody else and I wouldn't clutter up the recording, so I gotta stay quiet. But the deal is usually this is a daily podcast where I record it the day up. So you're getting whatever version of me you're getting on that day. It's you, it's me, it's the text, it's life, it's a part of our daily rhythm. We're just cruising along, whatever we get is whatever we get, right? And well, sometimes uh not able to work ahead when I want to take a vacation. Usually I'll work a few days ahead so I can go with my family and not take a microphone with me. But this time I just couldn't get it done. So I brought a mic with me. And now here I am on this porch. This is the best window I could find, which is kind of awesome. But some of you, because of that, what I just told you, you're gonna be thinking, like, oh, this is like when the substitute teacher is in, and we don't do any work that day. We just mess around. We don't take any ground at all. Well, let me tell you, my friends, it is not going to be like that here. Because I've been thinking about this all day. We're in John 3. I have questions that I want to work through. So, you know, unfortunately, it can't be vacation for all of us. We have ground to take, tasks to accomplish, bibling to bible. So, with that in mind, here's a little story. One time I went to a Bible publisher to make a video. The publisher was Tyndale. They do a nice job over there. They have the New Living Translation. And I got to interview a whole bunch of these rock stars who were involved in the translation, you know, experts in the biblical language with huge reputations. I was a little nervous about it, in part because, you know, if I'm talking to New Testament people, I know enough about the Greek that I don't think I'll get totally embarrassed. But if I'm talking to Old Testament people, uh I think I've been pretty transparent about this in our conversations as long as we've known each other. Yeah, I'm not real great at that. I don't really have any Hebrew left from seminaries, so it can get pretty ugly. I have to really rely on smarter people than me to make sense of what's going on there. Well, I could tell this guy wasn't sure about me and kind of want to feel out whether I was competent or just making crap up. And so he starts writing Hebrew stuff on the board. I can tell he's gonna ask me what it means. I'm like, dude, I gotta, I don't know. I don't know. Then he didn't think that was funny. He was wow, what are they teaching you in seminaries these days? I'm like, dude, you uh you have a point. All your concerns are valid. I'm very sorry for everything. And you know, we got along okay. It turned out to be a nice video. I can't remember if I left that in or edited out to save a little bit of dignity. But you've done this before, right? You have an area of expertise. And if somebody comes along and they're like, oh, I'm into your thing, you might feel them out a little bit by putting something in front of them to just see what they do with it, see if they know anything about it. And I'd like to think that a lot of times I pass those tests, but there's an example of a time I didn't. Likewise, we're looking at an example of a time when somebody didn't pass a test that was put in front of them in John chapter three, because the first couple, I mean, the first move by Jesus that actually deals with anything in the way of theology is he puts kind of a test of Nicodemus's knowledge in front of Nicodemus to see just how conversant he is with the scriptures, which of course at the time the Bible was written, is the Old Testament. So, how do we set that? Oh, you know what? Quick note there is something that I did notice on this, speaking of Bible languages. I so normally I use the 1984 New International Version, not because I think it's the best translation. It's just the one that I have, the cadence and the rhythm in my head. There are lots of good translations. Newer NIV translations are great. But I did notice here on vacation that when I grabbed a new NIV and looked at the end of John 2, in the beginning of John 3, they had um gender-neutralized the language at the end of John chapter 2, in the beginning of chapter 3, which I think on the one hand is a really nice gesture of inclusivity to make sure that everybody would know that everything that's being said in the Bible is for everyone, men and women. But on the other hand, if you overapply that, you can diminish the meaning of the Bible. So in the 1984 NIV, it reads like this: the end of chapter two and into chapter three. Jesus or he did not need man's testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man. Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus. That's how it flows. Do you see what's happening there rhythmically? You know, all these people are believing in Jesus, but they did it just because he's doing miraculous signs. And so there's some ambiguity, there's some question about are these people really believing? Or did they just get their sign and it was enough to you know give them a momentary sense of belief for the time being? And then it says, but Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men. Now, here let me carry the rhythm over from chapter two to chapter three. He did not need man's testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man. Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus. It's like, oh, speaking of men and men who maybe had wavering partial, incomplete belief because they wanted a sign. Here's one, Nicodemus. Remember the chapter and verse stuff, that was all added way after the fact. When John the Evangelist wrote this, it flowed straight from the end of two into three. I think he's doing something on purpose here. But then I went, I looked at the the NIV, the new one, and God bless them, they're trying to tame it a little bit and you know, use modern sensibilities so that they don't, you know, alienate anybody. Again, it's a nice thought, but in doing so, I think they kind of butchered the amazing flow, the beautiful segue from the end of two into three. Here's how it reads in the new version. He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person. Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus, who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. I don't think that's quite as good. Also, what do I know about how to translate a Bible? But just so that you know I'm not making things up, the super literal read on the original Greek would be uh that any should testify concerning the man, he indeed knew what was in the man. I guess very overtly the man, and then you flip over to John chapter three, and it was there was, moreover, a man of the Pharisees. So I think what John is trying to set up for us here is the idea that, you know, okay, well, speaking of men, here's one of those men, and this isn't even a normal one, this is a very fancy one. This is a brilliant man who is, well, as Jesus is going to call him in a minute, the teacher of Israel. This is somebody who should really know the material. And he's coming to Jesus because, like so many others, there's some stirring of belief in him. But this guy's a unique test case because, you know, like Mr. Bible video guy showing up to talk to the Bible translator, should probably know his Hebrew pretty well. Let's put him to the trest. Well, so this teacher of Israel, this teacher of the law, this Pharisee, he ought to know everything that Jesus is pointing to biblically better than most. But Jesus seems to act like he does not. This is the exchange in question, and we're gonna end up breaking it down tomorrow. Look what happened. Okay, I talked too much, whatever. Nicodemus says a bunch of nice stuff. Yeah, Rabbi, we know you're a teacher who come from God, but nobody can perform the miraculous signs you're doing if God weren't with him. And then in reply, Jesus declared, I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he's born again. And then, as we've discussed, Nicodemus is incredulous. How can a man be born when he's old? Nicodemus asks. Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born. There are coyotes, I can hear them. Okay, more Bible. Ooh, and a little like the howling coyote thing. Can you guys hear that? That's a cool sound. Here's the important part. Jesus answered, I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, you must be born again. The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you can't tell where it comes from or where it's going. So it is with everyone born of the spirit. Nicodemus doesn't get it. How can this be? Nicodemus asked. And you don't understand these things? Right there. Man, I remember how I felt when I was making that video, and somebody I really look up to. It's like, you don't know enough. You need to learn more stuff about this ancient language. And I wonder how Nicodemus felt in this moment. Like, dang, Nicodemus' thing is kind of knowing the Bible and all the nuance and all the little undercurrents and catching those references. I mean, you've tried this before, even you know, if you're not like in a professional setting, but still you just drop a reference on somebody that you're like, yeah, they should know this. And then they don't, and you're like, wow, I really thought you'd have that. It kind of seems like Jesus is dropping a reference here that he thinks Nicodemus should have. Now, some people look at this passage and they say, Oh, well, Jesus is clearly talking about Christian baptism, and Nicodemus disappointed Jesus because he didn't understand Christian baptism. But Christian baptism doesn't exist yet. It hasn't been instituted. I mean, Jesus has been baptized, John the Baptist's baptism exists, but that is a baptism of repentance. Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. That's all that is. And later on in the New Testament, we have to clarify and upload that, you know, update the firmware, remember, to the Jesus' baptism, which is the baptism that John the Baptist pointed to and said, No, there's one who sandals, I'm not worthy to untie. He's gonna baptize in the you know this much more complete way. So I guess I I I disagree with the scholars who look at this and hear Jesus saying, I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the spirit. So I guess I respectfully disagree with the people who listen to Jesus say, I tell you the truth, no one can be enter the kingdom of God unless he's born of water and the spirit. I disagree with the people who read that and then are immediately like, oh, well, that's Christian water baptism. Right. But Nicodemus couldn't possibly know what that is yet, because it hasn't been instituted yet. And Jesus then expresses disappointment that Nicodemus, who is Israel's teacher, didn't get what Jesus was saying, which tells me Jesus must have something in view with his remarks from the Old Testament that any first century mega scholar of the Old Testament should have been able to figure out and catch when it comes to the question of how one enters into the kingdom of God. That seems like a really relevant thing that you and I would want to get to the bottom of and figure out and not be caught flat-footed on. So next time around, we're going to go scrape around the Old Testament a little bit and see if we can figure out what Jesus might have had in view as he dropped this reference before Nicodemus to see whether Nicodemus would be able to play ball with it or not. And well, Nicodemus seems to have failed at least that part of the test. I don't think I would have passed it either, much like that time I went and made that video about how to make a Bible and Bible translation, and I didn't pass the test there. I am quite sure I would have not passed the test if Jesus had put that same question to me. But with the benefit of hindsight, maybe we can go and pass it now after the fact, next time around. Also, on a very positive note, there were no bears. I have not been mauled in any way. No one in this entire little camping area has been mauled in any way. At least, I mean, if they were mauled, it was a very quiet mauling. So I think that's a positive, a win that we can both cherish together. Also, joking aside, I get to go on vacation with my family and do a little road trip to some mountains with the people I love the most because some of you support this. So, hey, thank you. It means a ton. And my family's trying to sleep in there, or I would rally them all to the mic and have them say thank you to you as well. But they know and we're grateful. It really means a lot. Okay, more on all of this John and Nicodemus business, manana. A Matt, this is the 10-minute Bible hour podcast. Let's do this again soon.