Week 2 (Days 281-287): What's blasphemy of the Holy Spirit?

Hey Bible readers! Thanks for joining us this week. I'm your host Kirsten McCloskey and I'm Emma Daughter, also host. Also a host. Very good. And every week we take questions from the Bible Recap or Recaptains group and we're exploring them a little bit deeper. We're diving deeper. And so let's just jump right into our first question. Let's do it. I'm ready. Okay. So question number one this week comes from day 281. The question says, Jesus says, the scriptures bear witness about me. How does this shape the way we read the Old Testament and do our Bible studies? I love this question. Yeah. This is something I'm really passionate about. Okay, cool. Tell us. So when we think about the Bible, we often think the Old Testament is the God of wrath. He's angry. There's all of these wars. And the New Testament, that's when Jesus comes into the scene and it's, it's happy and there's hope. But it's all one story. It's, it's all one book in the whole Bible points to Jesus, even the Old Testament. So here in this verse, when Jesus says, the scriptures bear witness about me, he's actually specifically referring to the Old Testament. Yeah. And I think that's actually really interesting because when we think of scriptures, we're probably thinking, honestly, we might be thinking New Testament or we're thinking, okay, the whole Bible and they did not have the New Testament, obviously. And so sometimes that can seem a little bit like, well, yeah, of course, but I think that that can sometimes be not really the way that we're thinking about it. So when he's talking about himself or when he's talking about this, he's talking about the Old Testament. He's talking about the Old Testament pointing to himself. And so if we are, if we read the Old Testament and we don't see Jesus, we're actually like the Pharisees, the very people that Jesus was condemning. We should be able to read the Old Testament and recognize, hey, this is all one story. So let me give you an example of this. Okay. Genesis three, God's created everything. Adam and Eve, they mess it up, sin enters the picture and we've got a problem. So, so God's addressing, hey, here are the consequence of the fall of humanity. And he's speaking to, to the woman and he says, hey, there's going to be, or the serpent, there's going to be enmity or strife. This is Genesis three, 15, between you and the woman and her seed, but that the child of the woman will crush the head of the serpent. So right there in Genesis three, just like a few pages from the table of contents in your Bible, right? We're reading that Jesus is going to crush the head of the serpent, that the child of the woman will be victorious. And that's how the New Testament starts, right, with the birth of Jesus, the child. But that's also how the Old Testament starts. If victorious child is coming. So the Bible, it's not a collection of disconnected stories. It's all one story that leads to Jesus. So practically, the question asks, how does this shape the way we read the Old Testament or study our Bibles? So there's this idea, it's a big word that theologians use, it's reading the Bible Christocentrically, which just means as we read, Christ should be at the center. So we're reading and we're commonly asking a question, how does this passage point to Jesus? It may be, how does this passage reveal our need for a Savior? Or how does it point forward to the work of Christ? And it's not, to be very clear, it's not forcing Jesus into every verse. Yeah. And that's really important because we want to stay in the context of what's going on in whatever specific book we're reading or a specific passage. Yeah. It's recognizing that he is the climax of the biblical narrative or the story. And you can study the Bible, but it's not even just recognizing that Jesus is a key player. It's like, you could study the Bible and miss the point because you're missing the person. Like you're not reading to connect with and better understand Jesus and his character. So when you said that I can't remember how you phrased it, but you said we could accidentally maybe read the Bible like the Pharisees. Is that what you mean when you were saying that? Yeah, that's what I mean. Like the Pharisees, they were Bible experts, right? They knew the Bible, the law, the text better than anybody else, but their hearts were hard. Yeah. And that's what he's calling out here. Yeah. It's this head knowledge without the heart that surrendered and that disconnect leads to spiritual blindness because they couldn't recognize Jesus for who he was. Yeah. And I think I'm not sure if I said at the beginning, but this was coming out of John 5, 39 to 40. And so what I was just thinking about when you were talking about the Pharisees, this is what we're dealing with here, is that Jesus said to them in John 5, 38, and you do not have his referring to the Father's Word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he sent. So what he's talking about is he's saying, you've been looking in scripture, you've been doing a lot of Bible study, you're experts, but you're totally missing the person that it's talking about. You're missing the plan of redemption that is so obviously evident, and it should lead us closer to Christ. It's a warning for us. It's don't just read the Bible to learn. Yeah. Okay. Read it to meet with Jesus. Now, reading to learn isn't bad, but if that's all we do, we've got a problem, our Bible study. And you and I get this in a personal way because we're in seminary. So we're learning a lot of head knowledge, a lot of facts and truths about the scriptures and about Jesus. But if that study doesn't lead us to a deeper love and intimacy with Jesus, independence on him, we're doing it wrong. Because you can memorize verses all day long, but not actually meditate on truth in your heart or study the context in Miss Jesus, or read for information, but never be transformed. Right. Yeah. And I think that's the thing is we need to be reading to come closer to the Lord. We need to be reading to get to know him. And there's nothing wrong with knowing information, knowing facts. I mean, that's what we're doing. We're teaching, we're learning, we're reading through the Bible. But if it's not drawing me closer to the heart of God, that's a red flag that should go up for me. Am I just interested in my Bible facts? Or am I? Yeah. Or how many verses I have memorized? Like that, even that pride? Am I studying the Bible to puff myself up? You ready for the next question? Yeah. Let's do it. It is coming from days 281 and 282. So we've got a double hitter. Matthew 12, 1 through 14 and Mark 3, 1 through 6. The question is, what are some helpful things we should know about the Sabbath as we're reading the Bible? So I'll read Mark 3, 1 through 6. If that's helpful. Mark 3, verses 1 through 6 says, again, he entered the synagogue. A man was there with a withered hand, and they watched Jesus to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man with the withered hand, come here. And he said to them, Lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or kill, but they were silent. And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, stretch out your hand. He stretched it out and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him. Yeah, there's a lot going on here. So what do we need to know? Well, I think one thing that's interesting to pay attention to as we're reading through the Gospels is that much of the friction between Jesus and the Pharisees or the rulers, friction, it comes on the Sabbath. And so that's what we're seeing in this passage. And Jesus is even asking them, okay, what does the law say about the Sabbath? Okay, so we need to know some things about this. And again, this is such a broad topic. So we are going to dive a little deeper. But this also might be something to even explore more outside of this as well, because we're just going to kind of cover some basic principles. Yeah, exactly. So the Sabbath was first established in the Old Testament. Okay, so we see that God rested on the seventh day after he created the world. That's in Genesis 2. And this day of rest was called Holy. Then in Exodus, we see that the Sabbath was given as a command in the Ten Commandments. And there's some further explanation given around this, which is that so the Israelites can work for six days, but on the seventh day they have to rest, and it's everyone. It's their sons and their daughters. It's their servants and their livestock. Everyone rested. And so God had already made the Sabbath Holy, and then they're resting on that day. And then one more interesting part where we get a little bit more context for this is in Deuteronomy 5, 12 to 15, the Ten Commandments are brought up again. And there's a little bit more context that's provided, which is that the Sabbath was also a reminder to the Israelites that they were no longer slaves in Egypt. So when they were slaves in Egypt, they were working seven days a week, and now they don't serve Pharaoh, they serve God, Yahweh, and he says, you rest on the seventh day. So that's a little bit bringing us up to kind of the New Testament time period. Yeah. So by Jesus' time, the Sabbath had become more about rules than rest, and the religious leaders were adding tons of extra rules to make sure people didn't break it. So in addition to what's clear in the Old Testament, they're piling up more restrictions, more guidelines, and the people, really the Pharisees, were more focused on what they couldn't do on the Sabbath than what the Sabbath was really for, because it was meant to be a gift, but they truly turned it into a burden. They built this hedge around the law, or the fence around the law, people talk about it. It was those additional things, and it was making everything in their life harder. So even Jesus is healing someone in this passage, and the Pharisees are mad because he's working. And Jesus says, and so what's cool about this is that Jesus is bringing them back to the heart of the Sabbath, and he's saying, you tell me, is it lawful? And Jesus is thinking, not your laws that you've made up outside of God's laws, but what is the law about the Sabbath? Is it to do good or to do harm, to save a life or to kill? And the obvious answer is to do good and to save life. Do you think that we still need to be doing this? Okay, so this is a thing. Talk me through some practicals. Do we still keep the Sabbath? It's actually the only of the 10 commandments, the only one that's not commanded in the New Testament. That command isn't repeated, which is really interesting. So some people think that that is because it's assumed that the Jewish believers, the Jews who became Christians, this was already so deeply embedded into their practice that they would have just continued it anyway. And if you're a Gentile, it's like, sweet, we get this day off, we get this day off, we get this day of rest, that it wouldn't have been as big of a discussion. That's one view. Others think, no, Jesus fulfilled the law, keeping the Sabbath, well, one, for sure, it's not commanded as New Testament believers, but it's a good thing. So like, hey, it may or may not have been an assumed practice, but it wouldn't be a bad thing to keep. We definitely need rest. And God modeled that before sin entered the picture, back in Genesis, which is another flag, anything that we see before sin entered the picture, we should pay attention to, that God rested. And I see people, I'm a little bit younger than you. I see my peers, you're welcome. I see my peers, well, this is a diss. So you're going to love that I'm excluding you from this. I see my peers take the Sabbath and apply it as a hard and fast rule. I have to have a Sabbath this week. And sometimes that comes at the expense of working hard. Okay, interesting. I have to rest. So it's more about laziness. It's more about laziness. And it's, it's an, it can be, I've seen it with my peers be used as an excuse to be lazy and excuse to not work hard and an excuse to check out in life in a way that is only applicable if you're a single person. If you're a married person with kids, you could not realistically follow the standard my peers are setting for themselves. But they're believing to be a good Christian. I have to religiously do this. Now, I don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater, but I do think my gen, my generous, I'm okay to say my generation, my peers are taking this to a place that it was never meant to go. Rest is good. We need it. We don't have to hold to the Sabbath as religiously as those in the Old Testament should have. That's interesting. So what do you think? Yeah. Well, I think, I think about this cause I'm, so I'm in school and I have a lot of studying to do and I have always went, so, and I also, I did a Bible school many years ago overseas and we, that was something that this, a lot of the staff said to us, they were like, you are going to be tempted to work seven days a week. And it was always like, take your Sabbath, do your Sabbath. And I appreciated that in that time because I did kind of need someone to almost like give you permission to stop, you know, cause you're studying the Bible. So you're like, I should do this all the time. And I think in my life, I just see it as a way to acknowledge that there will always be unfinished work. There will always be something that I have to do, but I am not the God of the universe. Like I am not responsible for making sure that all the good, all the work gets done at all, you know, at all times and kind of, it's like, it's just putting myself back in that place of saying, God is going to help me get done what needs to get done. And I can also trust him as I rest. Yes. And so I think that's a big, that's a big thing of like, it's like the Israelites thinking, we are not slaves anymore. And so we might be tempted to still live as slaves and work seven days a week, but we're not. So that's kind of how I think about it, but not as like a hard and fast. But that's just, that's how I'm thinking about it right now. It's a valuable practice. It's a valuable practice in the pendulum, pendulum can swing to a place where we're taking advantage of it and being lazy. I need to rest all the time. I'm not getting, I have to get more rest and we're checking out from our responsibilities. It can also swing to the direction of the Pharisees, where it must be kept in a very particular way. And we must do all these roles and the answer is somewhere in the middle. Yeah. I like that. You ready for the next question? Let's do it. All right. We are shifting gears. It's a big one. We are shifting gears. Okay. Question three comes from day 282. And it is, what is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit? You want to read the passage? Yeah. Let's read the passage. Okay. So this was in Mark 3, 22 to 30, and also Matthew 12, 22 to 32. So I'm already in Mark. So let me read this one. And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, he is possessed by billsable and by the prince of demons, he casts out demons. So they're referring to Jesus as the heat. And Jesus called them to him and said to them in parables, how can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed, he may plunder his house. Truly I say to you, all sins will be forgiven, the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin. For they were saying he has an unclean spirit. So what's the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit? I think it's important to distinguish blasphemy in general. Yes. Right. And blasphemy of the Holy Spirit specifically. Yeah. So blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is a specific, serious rejection, not just doubt or disobedience. So this is, if we're thinking about the story you just read, Jesus had cast out a demon by the power of the Holy Spirit. In the Pharisees, we're claiming this was demonic, which is really significant because they're attributing the work of Christ to the devil, which is a huge rejection. Blasphemy of the Spirit isn't just saying something wrong or something incorrect. It's knowingly rejecting, in an intentional decision in one's heart, to reject the work of the Spirit. Yeah. Let me just pause. Should I say what blasphemies we're talking about? Yes, please. Please. Yeah. So when we're just talking about the word blasphemy, that is usually referred to some form of profaning God's name. Okay. So it's an offense against God, rather than a sin against man, but it's oftentimes dealing with taking God's name, which is holy, and treating it as less than. Yeah. Treating it incorrectly. Yeah. Whereas this is truly a rejection of God. It's saying, no, that's not God. That's the devil. And it's not something you do on accident. Like here's some tangible handholds. Yeah, that's good. It's not something you do on accident. It's not losing your temper or having doubts. It is a hardened heart that sees God's power at work and chooses to reject it as evil. So if you're listening to this and you're worried, like, have I, have I committed this sin? Have I blasphemed the Holy Spirit? Like, if that's a concern in your heart, you almost certainly haven't. And it's because the people who commit the sin, they have hard, unrepentant hearts. They do not care that they've rejected God. And if you're worried about it, that means your heart is still soft. Your heart is open to God, which is actually the exact opposite of what, what he's warning about. Yeah. And so any conviction or concern is a great sign of spiritual life. The Pharisees weren't convicted. They were proud, they were blind, and they were defined. Yeah. Well, and I think what's interesting in this context too is that, so blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is not strictly defined. This is, this is what we're, we're assuming that it is based on the context. Yeah, exactly. And the other thing is that Jesus isn't necessarily saying to them, you have committed this. Well, tell me if you think that that's, I think that's what's going on. I think that's good. He's saying, it's insinuated. Yeah. And it's more, I think I was looking at it as a warning where Jesus is saying to them, listen, this is a big deal. You don't want to do this. Right. Because do not say that the work of the Holy Spirit is somehow the work of the devil. Yeah. And so, and so why is he, why is there a potential warning here? Well, some people refer to blasphemy, blasphemy of the Holy Spirit as an unforgivable sin. Yeah. Right. And that, yeah. Why, why do we say that? Okay. Why, why is that an idea people throw out? Well, we could say, Hey, there's, there's no unforgivable sin. You could commit any sin, murder, and the worst you can imagine in there could still be redemption in Christ. That's available to the worst of sinners. We're all sinners, right? But what this is talking about, and the reason why that unforgivable sin phrase is sometimes used in regard to blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is because at its core, this sin is rejecting Jesus. So it's, it's not that, that phrase, I don't know if it's always helpful, but listeners maybe have heard that phrase used in this context. The reason why it could be appropriate is because if you're committing blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, you are refusing to accept Jesus in faith. You're, you're denying the gospel. That's what's, that's what's happening. Yeah. I think that that's a really good, really good distinction. Yeah. I got some more thoughts. Can I keep going? You can totally. Okay. So please run with it. I'm learning. I'm really appreciating this. So like people, people were wrestling with what this idea means. And all throughout history, people have gone back and forth. What does this mean? And I'm glad you made that distinction of like, Hey, this is like, in general, there's not an explicit definition, but this is what theologians have concluded. In the second and third centuries, groups like the Montanists, which were people who believed the Holy Spirit was giving them new extra biblical messages. And they claimed to speak for the Spirit in extreme ways. They, they said, Hey, we need to honor the Holy Spirit, but not claim everything spiritual sounding is from him or that, that was the retort. So the church leaders used this passage to address these people who were, who were actually saying extra stuff that, that wasn't God. So they almost used it like in the inverse, but then, and so they were like, this passage is a really helpful tool to identify heretical teachings. That's the second and third centuries. But then in the middle ages, people were terrified of this. Like they were afraid people listening like that's scary. It does sound a little bit, they're looking around and they're like, people are dying of plagues and persecution. And if I, if I say one wrong word, am I going to drop dead too? And so there's, there was a huge swing of like this being helpful to identify false teaching and this being really scary in, in light of my current, so I think it's just helpful if, if, if somebody's listening and they're like, I just, I don't know what this is. I don't understand it. Look through the church history and, and it's okay to, to say, Hey, I don't, I don't know what it is and I'm not confident that this is what it is because believers have interpreted this passage and used this passage differently throughout history. That's very interesting. Yeah. I like that. Little history lesson. Yeah. History lesson. I mean, two moments in history. I barely covered it. Barely a history lesson. Yeah. All right. You want to go to the next question? Let's do it. I'm excited for you to answer this one. It comes from days 283 and 286, Matthew six, nine through 13 and Luke 11, two through four. And the question is, why are there some differences in the Lord's prayer in Matthew versus Luke? Yeah. This is a great question. So okay. Let's, let's talk about kind of just the reality that there are two different gospel authors here that we're dealing with. Okay. So we've got Luke and then we also have Matthew. And so what we see, if you're looking at these kind of side by side, is that Luke's version is a little bit shorter than Matthew's version. Okay. But what I think is interesting is that Matthew seems to provide maybe a few more details, but they're both, they're both talking about the same thing. The concept remains the same. That's interesting to me because I feel like Luke's gospel account in general is more detailed. Yeah. So that's, I don't know, I don't know what the significance is there, but that just, yeah. Well, interesting. Maybe this is another piece that also I found quite interesting is that when we look at where these, where the prayers show up in the gospel, in Matthew's gospel, this is showing up when Jesus is giving the Sermon on the Mount. So it's like he's at a conference, the keynote speaker at a conference, and he's speaking and he's going through all the different, you know, he's going through the beatitudes. He's talking about different other things. He's giving teaching and he's going to give this Ted Talk on prayer. I love that. Ted Talk on prayer. I get it. Should I say that? Yeah. I'm tracking. You're tracking. Okay. So he's doing that there, but then in Luke's gospel, where the prayer comes in, where Jesus does this, is when his disciples actually ask him. So they come to him and they ask Jesus, Lord, teach us to pray as John taught his disciples. Referring to John the Baptist. Referring to John the Baptist. Yep, good. And so they're asking him, so obviously this is the smaller group of people versus the conference, you know, on the hill. And so there's just maybe something different going on there with the context. Yeah, it's more intimate. And the other thing that I thought was interesting is that it's most likely that Jesus probably said this prayer and taught in this way multiple different times. And so what both of these gospel writers are doing is they're making sure that for their audience who they're writing the gospel to, that it's fitting in the context that they're going to put it in. Yeah. So in general, Matthew is writing to the Jews and his emphasis is really on Jesus fulfilling the law. Yeah. Whereas Luke would be to the Greeks, most commonly thought. So there are, I like that you pointed out, hey, there's different audiences here. Yeah. And not just the context of this prayer being given, but in who Jesus was speaking, speaking to and who the writers were writing to. Yep, exactly. And it's again, it's the same concept. So God is our Father. He's holy. He's in charge. We're asking that his kingdom come. Your kingdom come. Yep. We're asking that he provides for our needs, that he forgives our sin, and that he leads us away from temptation. It's a good summary. And so that's what's happening in both. And then Matthew has a few extra things talking about, okay, God, our Father in heaven. So if you say this prayer, so take for instance, in my church, we actually say the Lord's prayer every week. Okay. My church does not do this. Yeah. And so we say the longer version from Matthew. And I think most people, well, I don't know if I'd say most people, but I think I think when people are memorizing the prayer, yeah, they're generally, they're generally learning the one from Matthew. And I really like, I mean, I personally like doing it every week. Yeah. And I think it's really helpful. Different things stand out to me at different times. But I think also it's kind of, it's kind of begs the question of, okay, is this the way we should pray? Or is this a, like a model? Yeah. So this is so good because we, we're friends. We love each other. We love Jesus, but we go to churches that practice this very differently. At my church, I commonly hear it said, Hey, this is the model prayer. So some listeners out there might be familiar with the axe prayer model, adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication. The idea is that this starts with adoration. Our Father, hallowed be your name, glory to God, confession. We have a need. Thanksgiving, yours is the kingdom. And then supplication, you'd add your request, like God, please help me today, whatever. But, but both are okay. Right. I think I can say that. Oh yeah. Yeah. You can email Kirsten if you, if you'd, if you'd just, oh my gosh. Both okay being it can be used word for word and it can be a model. Yes. I think so. I think so. Yeah. No, I definitely think so. And I, yeah, I think that actually praying through, it would kind of, it reminds me a little bit of like praying through the Psalms as well. Sure. Yes. These are pre written prayers that are very helpful. It's a great comparison. Very helpful. Maybe when, you know, those times where you don't know what to pray or you're just kind of like, God, I'm just saying the same thing to you, you know? So I think it's good to look at the, the models, the, the examples that we can, we can look at and we can include in our lives. What was, as you're studying this, wasn't there something about it being called like it had a different name? Oh yeah. Yes. One came, one commentator said that we should really call this the disciples prayer. Why? Because it's interesting. Well, so because Jesus's disciples come to him and say, will you teach us to pray? And he's like, sure, pray like this. And so the disciples, this is your prayer now. This is what you should, okay, cool. Yeah. Next question. Next question. The last one. Are you ready for it? Question number five. You're asking, you ask me. Okay. I'm ready. Are you? I, I better be. Okay. Okay. Day. Okay. This is coming from day 287. The question is, why was Luke's inclusion of women significant? And so I'll go ahead and read that. So this is coming out of Luke eight, one to three. What it says is, soon afterward, he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the 12 were with him and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities. Mary called Magdalene from whom seven demons had gone out and Joanna, the wife of Chuzah, Herod's household manager, and Susanna and many others who provided for them out of their means. What I love about this Kirsten is that Luke's account is highlighting the women as central to the ministry. They're not just present, but they're, they're actively participating. And he could have stopped at some women. Yeah. He could have just said some women, but he names them, which in the ancient world was, was a big deal. That would not be typical to list the names of all the women. The women weren't background extras. They're playing a role in his, his inclusion is actually unique. Matthew and Mark don't include these details until the, or include their names until the cross and the resurrection scenes at that point. But in a world that often silenced women, Jesus gave them a seat at the table and Luke's making sure I think that, that we see that. And his gospel and generally Luke's is filled with a lot of people's society might overlook. Yes. He loves commenting on the poor, anyone who would be an outcast women would be in that category. It's a really cool theme to pay attention to in the gospel. Yes. So like some examples, Mary, Jesus's mom, praises God for lifting up the humble and casting down the proud Luke, 152 for through 53. Jesus being born in the manger. Well, and even Mary's story. Yeah. Yeah. Mary story, Elizabeth story. So good. And that's in this gospel. The tax collectors, he points out Jesus touches the lepers he eats with sinners. Some, some theologians and, and I guess pastors of past have called Luke's gospel, the gospel of the underdog, which I'd never heard that, but I was like, I love that. So if, if you're like, man, if you've ever felt unseen or overlooked, Luke wants you to know Jesus sees you. The gospel of the underdog. Hello. So, so good. But Luke, Luke is my favorite gospel, to be honest. I like Mark, but I don't know if they're all right. They're all, but I like, I think what's fun is the details, which we kind of mentioned before, that Luke does in his gospels. And then he was a doctor. Things. Yeah. So, yeah. So, so the social status, they were generally second class citizens, which is why they fit into the group of tax collectors, lepers, getting with sinners. Women were seen as less than and in Jewish society, women were more valued than in the general Roman culture, but they had limited legal rights. They were rarely taught the Torah, the Old Testament, and we're mostly confined to domestic roles. So that the fact that they are playing a significant role here is significant. And their testimony wasn't admissible in court. So Luke, including the women here, honestly is, I've heard this taught as a great apologetics argument because if you were going to make up the Bible, if you were going to make up the story of Jesus at this point in time, at this point in history, you would not include women as your key players or as key players at all. Ever. And he didn't, I mean, he could have written this and just popped out these few sentences and the story would make sense. Yeah. Still be the same. But he's saying, no, very important. It's counterintuitive. So I just think again, it's like, gosh, this is a real story that really happened and real people were experiencing it and living it, men and women, which makes it come to life. Yeah. I really like to just kind of, as I was thinking and researching this, the idea that these women had their lives changed by Jesus and they want to follow him. So he healed them, Mary Magdalene, the Castile Seven Demons, and they had their lives changed. And so they're like, please, we want to be with you. We want to follow you. And so it's just cool to see their heart and that, and they were the ones, it seems like, donating to the ministry, which is also kind of interesting because we don't necessarily... And many others who provided for them. Right. And so it's like, these women are funding this ministry, this outreach mission that they're on. And I just think that's really cool. And another thing that I thought was interesting was that one commentator I read said that rabbis refuse to teach women and generally assign them an inferior place. So even though Jewish society would have had them a little bit higher than Rome. Well, and it's more like in the Roman culture, they would have been more sexualized than maybe in the Jewish culture. So it's, they're higher in that they're not being seen as objects necessarily in the Jewish culture, but they still are inferior. Yeah. Keep going. So I just think that Jesus is demonstrating that he's no ordinary rabbi. He's doing things very differently because this would not be the, this would not be what happened with the rabbi down the street. Sure. Sure. Yeah. That's good. How does this, how does this week's reading intersect with you personally? Was there anything that you were like, oh, this really stood out to me or this? Okay. I like that. I mean, I just enjoy thinking about the unique context of the authors of the gospels. Obviously, God, the author of scripture writing through humans. I love the personalities that we see come out. So like Luke gets to write about women. He gets to write about these more detailed things. And I just appreciate that God works with us in that. So I'm kind of a little bit like higher level, but it's just noticing that, yeah, that they're telling the same story, but they're doing it in a way that is unique to them for their unique audience. It's just God is so personal in that way. And so I just really appreciated that. That's good. I liked, you went macro level. I went micro. I enjoyed the digging into the, in the Lord's prayer, give us today our daily bread. Some theologians interpret that as physical provision, like little literal bread referencing back to the manna, maybe in the Old Testament. Others interpret it as spiritual nourishment because Jesus says, man does not live by bread alone. But either way, we need both. And to me, as the Lord is just stirring in my heart this reminder, hey, we have to live with the daily dependence, whether that's spiritual provision or physical. End of the day, we need both. And that was a good reminder. So we got time for that's it. Those are all our questions. Awesome. Thanks for taking a deep dive with us. We'll see you next week as we continue to read, understand and love the Bible and the God who wrote it.