Exploring the Dynamics of Jesus' First Trial and Peter's Denial

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- Well, good morning, everybody.

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Am I hot?

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Cool.

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Am I good, can you hear me?

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Okay, cool.

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All right, so I am super excited to see

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what the Lord has saved for us this morning,

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and I appreciate, Will, thank you for opening us up.

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So we're gonna continue the journey through John.

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So what we're gonna see today are some events

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that transpired before Jesus finds himself

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in front of Caiaphas.

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So today we're gonna see Peter's first denial.

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We're gonna see also Jesus' first trial.

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So let's jump right in.

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Then the detachment of soldiers with its commander

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and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus.

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They bound him and brought him in first to Annas,

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who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas,

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the high priest that year.

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Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jewish leaders

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that it would be good if one man died for the people.

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Simon Peter and another disciple were following Jesus.

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Because this disciple was known to the high priest,

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he went with Jesus into the high priest's courtyard,

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but Peter had to wait outside at the door.

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The other disciple, who was known to the high priest,

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came back, spoke to the servant girl on duty there,

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and brought Peter in.

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"You aren't one of this man's disciples too, are you?"

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she asked Peter.

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He replied, "I am not."

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It was cold, and the servants and officials stood

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around a fire they had made to keep warm.

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Peter also was standing with them, warming himself.

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Meanwhile, the high priests questioned Jesus

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about his disciples and his teaching.

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"I have spoken openly to the world," Jesus replied.

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"I always taught in synagogues or at the temple,

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where all the Jews come together.

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I said nothing in secret.

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Why question me?

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Ask those who heard me.

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Surely they would know what I said."

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When Jesus said this, one of the officials nearby

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slapped him in the face.

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"Is this the way you answer the high priest?" he demanded.

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If I said something wrong, Jesus replied,

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"Testify as to what is wrong.

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But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike me?"

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Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas, the high priest.

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So there's a lot going on there, right?

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So we're gonna talk first.

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So this command, so obviously we see quite the outfit

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coming after Jesus, right?

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So that the commander was the officer in charge,

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the executive of the Roman garrison.

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And so they're in Jerusalem.

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So there's a number of other cross references

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that use this same term commander.

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So this was serious and strengthens the impression

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that the Romans supported the action of the Jewish hierarchy.

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His bounding, as we read,

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his bounding also shows that they regarded him

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dangerous enough to send many soldiers after him.

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So in custody, when they bound Jesus,

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they treated him as an absolute threat.

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So I don't believe, as we read,

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I don't believe he surrendered to them.

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I don't believe that Jesus did surrender to them.

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I believe in this moment,

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he was surrendering to his Father's will.

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That's what he was surrendering to.

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The hands that had healed the sick,

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the hands that had raised the dead,

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surely could have broken some ropes, right?

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That he was bound with.

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So this was him, this was Jesus.

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Submitting to his Father's will.

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And he remained bound.

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He didn't try to break the ropes.

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He didn't try anything.

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He remained bound.

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So what I thought interesting too,

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as I was reading through John's gospel here,

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is that Judas was not mentioned.

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And so I thought, why wasn't Judas mentioned?

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To me, that seems like an awful important part, right?

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It was part of, to me, the image when I closed my eyes

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and I kind of walked through what was happening.

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The Judas coming up and the Judas kiss

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was always this thing to me.

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So I wondered why.

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And the other gospels obviously

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all talk about Judas' role.

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They talk about the kiss.

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In researching, I'm just curious of what others

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take might've been on that.

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And so there's a few takes on why

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perhaps John didn't mention Judas.

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So there's focus.

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So John was maybe focusing more on the themes

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than the specific details of that event.

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There was an audience element to this.

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So John may have been writing to those

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that were already aware or that already familiar

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with the story from the other gospels.

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And then there's perspective.

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So John may have been presenting the scene

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from the bystanders' point of view

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who may have not known the reason for the arrest.

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So I think one thing we, whoops,

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one thing we can appreciate is what the text says

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and what it doesn't say.

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So we don't have to imply anything

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that the text just doesn't mention it.

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And that's, and I think this was something actually

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that Wayne was, we were talking about

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the last time I was up here is,

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just because it doesn't say it,

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you just have to accept that it just doesn't say it.

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And that's okay.

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And so I just thought it was, there again,

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just an interesting, why didn't John mention that?

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So we see him brought first to Annas,

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just like the Judas omission.

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John is also the only gospel scene that mentions this,

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that mentions this interaction with Annas at all.

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So the other gospels do not mention that.

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So I asked myself, why?

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Why is that?

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The best explanation that I found was that perhaps,

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John did have access to additional details about the event,

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about what was happening.

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And he was focusing on maybe a specific aspect

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of this trial process.

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So then that caused me to kind of ask myself the question,

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so who is Annas?

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So Annas was the former high priest.

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Obviously, as we read there,

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he's the father-in-law of Caiaphas.

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So he was the high priest that was not only

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the religious leader, but also a political figure,

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often interacting with Roman authorities.

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You see that the bullet point here on the patriarch,

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so he was a patriarch of a priestly dynasty,

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in addition to being the leading benefactor

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of the scheme for temple tax and sacrificial sales,

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he was notorious for being a skilled slanderer

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and a seasoned accuser.

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So he was not a nice guy.

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Several of his sons also served as high priests,

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indicating that the family's substantial control

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over the religious leaders.

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But at any rate, the Lord was led to Annas first.

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And I feel sure that there was a motive there for that act.

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If you read, if you dig into a little bit more about Annas,

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you get the sense that he had some priority

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within the peer group that was against Jesus.

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Some of the other words used to describe him

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was malignant and cruel and unfair,

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that he was premier amongst the ministry

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of persecutors of Jesus.

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The Talmud, which is the central text

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of the rabbinic Judaism and the primary source

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of Jewish law, there's a passage there that says

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"Woe to the house of Annas, woe to their serpents' hiss.

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They are high priests, their sons are keepers

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of the treasury, their sons-in-law are guardians

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of the temple, and their servants beat the people

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with staves, Annas and his household were notorious."

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So we're dealing with some not good people here.

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So there's some, this guy was not good.

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And a little bit about Caiaphas.

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So Caiaphas was the current high priest.

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He had previously suggested that Jesus's death

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was necessary for the survival of the nation.

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And we see that in John 45 through 53,

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which I'll read here for us.

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"Therefore, many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary

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had seen what Jesus did, believed in him,

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but some of them went to the Pharisees

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and told what Jesus had done.

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Then the chief priests and the Pharisees

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called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.

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'What are we accomplishing?' they asked.

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'Here is this man performing many signs.

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If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him.

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And then the Romans will come and they will take away

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both our temple and our nation.'

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Then one of them named Caiaphas,

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who was the high priest that year, spoke up.

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'You know nothing at all.

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You do not realize that it is better for you

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that one man die for the people

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than the whole nation perish.'

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He did not say this on his own,

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but as high priest that year,

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he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation,

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and not only for the nation,

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but also for the scattered children of God,

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to bring them together and to make them one.

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So from that day, they plotted to take his life."

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(chuckles)

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So Caiaphas, as I just read,

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so Caiaphas did not say,

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let him be silenced or imprisoned or banished.

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Those would all have been appropriate,

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I guess you could say punishments,

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or it's kind of sufficient to restrain someone.

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But no, they thought dangerous enough that he said,

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no, it doesn't need to be those things, he must die.

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And so he went there.

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In that unknowing prophecy that Caiaphas spoke,

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he did speak it logically,

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that the good of many outweigh the good of one.

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But obviously there was a moral,

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it was not morally, his prophecy was not moral either,

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'cause it was wrong,

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and it was wrong to put an innocent man

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in this case, the Messiah to death.

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So Caiaphas was definitely a cynical politician.

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So I was wondering,

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it's kind of stumbled upon this question in research,

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was it malice against Jesus

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or was it an absolute desire for stability?

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So there's a few mix of motives kind of going on here.

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There's a threat of authority,

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the political concerns, religious disagreement.

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So I thought I'd kind of read through some of these

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that I stumbled upon here.

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From an authority perspective,

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Jesus' focus on direct relationship with God

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and his criticism of religious hypocrisy

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could have been seen as undermining the authority

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of the temple establishment.

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Caiaphas as the high priest

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might have felt his own power and influence,

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challenged and viewed Jesus as an instigator.

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So, oops.

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So Jesus challenged the hierarchies interpretation

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of Sabbath laws.

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And we obviously know that he drove the merchants

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and the money changers out of the temple,

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declaring that they had made it into a cave of robbers.

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We saw that in Luke.

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Some historians believe that those temple markets

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were owned by the house of Annas.

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So perhaps, another reason why Caiaphas

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is trying to protect that,

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trying to silence Jesus in this situation.

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Political concerns.

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So obviously the growing crowds around Jesus

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worried the Jewish leaders.

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So they feared the Roman intervention, right?

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They feared Jesus,

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perceived him as a political rebel.

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Caiaphas concerned about maintaining stability

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might have viewed Jesus's elimination

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as a way of appeasing the Romans.

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Like there's too much noise going on,

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but I got to get rid of this guy, this rebel rouser.

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Then there's the religious disagreement.

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So beyond political considerations,

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Caiaphas might've genuinely disagreed

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with Jesus's teaching, the Sadducees,

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the priestly class to which Caiaphas likely belong.

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They differed from the Pharisees

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and interpretations of some scriptures and the afterlife.

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So we're gonna shift gears.

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So let's check in on Peter and John.

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So I'll read this section of scripture again.

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So Simon Peter and another disciple were following Jesus.

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Because this disciple was known to the high priest,

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he went with Jesus into the high priest's courtyard,

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but Peter had to wait outside at the door.

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The other disciple who was known to the high priest

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came back, spoke to the servant girl on duty there

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and brought Peter in.

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So Peter did embarrass himself in the garden.

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He had the sword,

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he lopped off the ear of the high priest servant.

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So Peter, hoping for a second chance to show his loyalty,

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follows Jesus to where he was being held.

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Now, most believe that this second disciple,

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this other disciple was John himself,

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who had previous connections to the high priest

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and his household.

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John's connection there to the high priest and his servants

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explains how Peter and John had any access whatsoever

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to the courtyard on this night, on such a night.

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'Cause obviously we've got all this going on.

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We've got Jesus now being brought in.

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This is kind of a secret trial happening at night,

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which we'll get to here in a minute.

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But John's connection, we can kind of say that

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that's probably the only reason

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that while they were even allowed into the courtyard.

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So Peter's denial, "You aren't one of this man's disciples

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too, are you?" she asked Peter.

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He replied, "I am not."

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It was cold and the servants and officials stood around

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a fire they had made to keep warm.

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Peter also was standing with them warming himself.

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So we see this as mentioned in this translation,

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a simple, simple servant girl who minded the door

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to the courtyard of the high priest's house,

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kind of questioning Peter.

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So on the surface, this could seem like a super easy test

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for Peter, right?

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You've got this simple servant girl,

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a simple test for his loyalty.

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He could have answered nothing.

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He could have mumbled something.

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He could have said, "I am not," but he didn't.

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But he didn't.

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And then you see this, the two here,

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in other translations, the word also is used.

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It means that if John was the other disciple,

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that John was already known to her as a disciple of Jesus.

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The servant girl, presumably knowing that the other disciple

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to be a follower of Jesus.

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And when she saw him bringing in Peter,

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she can kind of say, "Oh no, kind of not another one, right?

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So here comes another one."

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Following Jesus.

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But we see Peter respond to her negative statement

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with a negative of his own.

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So instead of being loyal to Jesus,

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he denied being his disciple.

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This all kind of seems to have happened at the door,

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perhaps a quick exchange.

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Maybe Peter was caught off guard.

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Maybe it was just a quick response.

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But even so, it was yet a quick and obvious denial

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of association with Jesus.

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There's a sense that, well, we see Peter

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and kind of going to warm himself.

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The sense is that Peter was there by the fire,

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not only because it was cold and he wanted warmth,

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but he also, at this point, kind of wanted to blend in

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and not stand out.

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He didn't want to be noticed.

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Because of everything that was transpiring

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and it was about to transpire,

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it would have been dangerous to kind of be noticed, right?

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So he was a disciple of the man that was being arrested

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and in serious trouble.

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But through this denial,

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Peter had just distanced himself spiritually from the Lord.

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But we see him turn to an earthly means to warm himself.

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And so, as well as he's taken now in the presence

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of those associated with the high priest,

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but the physical coldness of this scene

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reflects Peter's spiritual struggle, right?

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So there's an absolute relatability there for us

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that in this world facing struggles

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and being distanced from the Lord,

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that some do turn to those earthly vices

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to bring warmth and to bring comfort.

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So Peter was now distancing himself from the Lord

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where he had warmth and comfort.

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He denied him.

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Now we find Peter by the fire, right?

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But as we know, all those earthly things

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are subject to elements

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and their comforts will not last.

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This courtyard is also an interesting setting

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for this story.

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It represents a place of his faith being tested,

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a place of judgment and power.

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This location, it definitely provides a dramatic backdrop

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for Peter's denial.

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It emphasizes the gravity of the situation.

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Only those that had connections could enter.

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The high priest's residence was well guarded.

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It was a well guarded complex.

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And it was a place where legal and religious matters

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often were discussed and decided.

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But Jesus being brought here,

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kind of symbolizes the beginning of his trials

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and leading to and well,

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and also the religious leaders' active role

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leading up to Jesus' crucifixion.

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In this tense scene,

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we see Peter go from a declaration of loyalty

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that we heard in John 13, 37,

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where Peter was asked, or Peter asked,

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"Lord, why can't I follow you now?

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I will lay down my life for you."

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And then from that to now in this denial,

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while Jesus is standing strong

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in the face of unjust accusations,

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we see Peter falter here.

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And so I think it's also interesting

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that these kind of two narratives,

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Peter and Jesus, really highlight

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Jesus' fulfillment of his mission

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and then Peter's human frailty, right?

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But as we know,

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there is also a redemption story being constructed here.

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Peter will go on to deny Jesus three times.

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Jesus will go on to be crucified,

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but God is merciful.

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And he's using this dark moment in Peter's life

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to teach him forgiveness,

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to teach him humility.

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It was the Father's compassion

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that showed Peter how to be compassionate

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and the Lord's faithfulness to him,

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even when he was unfaithful,

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that demonstrated him to how to show true faith to others.

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The other gospels go into a little bit more,

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I guess you can say, detail about Peter's emotional

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and psychological state

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in the pressure that he was facing.

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So in Mark, Mark provides additional details

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about the trial, Peter's denial,

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emphasizing that emotional turmoil

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that Peter was experiencing.

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Matthew similarly describes the setting and the events,

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focusing on Peter's fear

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and the weeping after realizing his denial.

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Luke highlights the moment that Jesus turns to Peter

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after his third denial and just, there again,

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closing my eyes and looking,

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just kind of picturing that Jesus,

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after the third denial,

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Jesus literally turning him and looking at Peter.

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And that's when, that's that powerful moment

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that the realization and the remorse

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that Peter felt in that moment.

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So I think we can all relate to those experiences

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of in this situation with Peter,

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not standing up for his faith,

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and going through that, going through denial.

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Meanwhile, the high priest questioned Jesus

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about his disciples and his teaching.

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"I have spoken openly to the world," Jesus replied.

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"I always taught in synagogues or at the temple

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where all the Jews come together.

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I said nothing in secret.

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Why question me?

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Ask those who heard me.

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Surely they know what I said."

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So Annas wanted to know about Jesus' disciples,

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perhaps because of fear or jealousy,

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but then he also wanted to know about his doctrine.

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He wanted to know what Jesus might have,

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what Jesus taught that might be of concern,

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kind of to the religious establishment.

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So Annas basically brought the prisoner in and asked him,

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"Tell us what you're guilty of

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and everyone who is with you."

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So that's what basically Annas is doing in this situation.

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So in his reply, Jesus did not mention his disciples at all.

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He protected them in every way possible.

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So Jesus in this exchange here politely explained to Annas

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that he had nothing to hide.

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The things he said, he had spoken openly to the world.

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None of his teachings were in secret.

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The things he taught were always in public,

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such as the synagogues and the temple.

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Jesus was not in this situation here.

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He was not obligated to respond.

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He was not obligated to respond

Speaker: 00:24:46

to his interrogators' questions,

Speaker: 00:24:48

but he respectfully answered them anyways.

Speaker: 00:24:51

Instead of taking the bait, Jesus answered,

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"I have spoken openly to the world.

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I always taught in synagogues and in the temple

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where all the Jews come together

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as I spoke nothing in secret."

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So why are you asking me?

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So in saying this, and obviously he says

Speaker: 00:25:10

in this particular translation, "Why question me?"

Speaker: 00:25:13

So in saying this, Jesus wasn't being uncooperative.

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He was only asserting his legal right.

Speaker: 00:25:18

He knew the rules, he knew the laws.

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There was to be no formal charge against the accused

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until witnesses had been heard

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and had been found to have truth.

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So this was not a fair trial for multitude of reasons,

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which we'll get to here in a second.

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It was the high priest's duty to call forth witnesses.

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There were proceedings that they were supposed

Speaker: 00:25:44

to be following, beginning with those for the defense,

Speaker: 00:25:49

in this case, Jesus.

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These basic legal protections for the accused

Speaker: 00:25:54

under the Jewish law were not observed in the trial.

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Jesus therefore was claiming that

Speaker: 00:25:59

if the teaching was in question,

Speaker: 00:26:02

evidence should be heard in a normal way, right?

Speaker: 00:26:06

So all the rules were broken in regards

Speaker: 00:26:10

to a fair trial in this situation.

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And I've put up a few of those rules here,

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and I think there's a link in the sheet there

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that explains all the rules.

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I forget how many there were, 15 or 20,

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but I've put up just a few here.

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But the primary, it's clear that they provided

Speaker: 00:26:36

some examples, but the other thing is Jesus

Speaker: 00:26:41

was civilly exercising his rights

Speaker: 00:26:45

in according to this Jewish law.

Speaker: 00:26:47

Jesus was requesting Annas to provide witnesses

Speaker: 00:26:51

and present evidence, and he was legally required

Speaker: 00:26:55

to do that before arresting and interrogating him.

Speaker: 00:26:58

But throughout his religious trial,

Speaker: 00:27:04

the Bible gives no indication that anyone ever came

Speaker: 00:27:08

to the defense of Jesus.

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In fact, it suggests in Mark 14, 64 here,

Speaker: 00:27:16

it suggests that they were all against him.

Speaker: 00:27:21

So the high priest tore his clothes,

Speaker: 00:27:24

which is also another rule that was broken.

Speaker: 00:27:26

The high priests were not supposed to tear their clothes.

Speaker: 00:27:29

Why do you need any more witnesses, he asked.

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You have heard the blasphemy.

Speaker: 00:27:36

What do you think?

Speaker: 00:27:37

They all condemned him as worthy of death.

Speaker: 00:27:40

So they already had all made up their minds.

Speaker: 00:27:42

This was, he was guilty.

Speaker: 00:27:45

When Jesus said this, one of the officials nearby

Speaker: 00:27:53

slapped him in the face.

Speaker: 00:27:55

Is this the way you answer the high priest, he demanded?

Speaker: 00:27:58

If I said something wrong, Jesus replied,

Speaker: 00:27:59

testify as to what is wrong.

Speaker: 00:28:02

But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike me?

Speaker: 00:28:05

Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas, the high priest.

Speaker: 00:28:09

So it was definitely, and this is another rule,

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I forget if it was on that previous page or not,

Speaker: 00:28:15

but it was definitely inappropriate for one of the officers

Speaker: 00:28:19

to strike a prisoner for speaking wrongly.

Speaker: 00:28:23

According to Jewish law, the prisoners were to be treated

Speaker: 00:28:26

fairly and humanely by those who judged him.

Speaker: 00:28:32

This anonymous official here began the physical abuse

Speaker: 00:28:37

of Jesus that would obviously end in his crucifixion.

Speaker: 00:28:43

In his deity, Jesus knew this man's name,

Speaker: 00:28:48

the striker that is.

Speaker: 00:28:50

But as the one of the, but this man that struck Jesus

Speaker: 00:28:55

as one of those who did not know

Speaker: 00:28:57

what they did against the Messiah,

Speaker: 00:28:59

his name was graciously not recorded

Speaker: 00:29:03

in this particular scripture.

Speaker: 00:29:05

However, his crime was, just as we just read,

Speaker: 00:29:08

so this blow was a signal for the indignities

Speaker: 00:29:12

that were about to occur.

Speaker: 00:29:14

This subordinate or attendant of the former high priest

Speaker: 00:29:21

that struck Jesus on behalf of,

Speaker: 00:29:27

on the high priest's behalf,

Speaker: 00:29:30

despite Jesus' respectful response,

Speaker: 00:29:34

the officer offended that a humble prisoner like Jesus

Speaker: 00:29:38

would have the audacity to request someone as revered

Speaker: 00:29:42

as Annas to follow the rules, right?

Speaker: 00:29:44

So the irony here is that in this violent reaction,

Speaker: 00:29:50

that the officer just struck the,

Speaker: 00:29:54

he had just struck the high priest as the Messiah.

Speaker: 00:29:57

Jesus was supreme high priest in the order of Melchizedek.

Speaker: 00:30:02

The officer unwittingly fulfilled the prophecy

Speaker: 00:30:05

that Isaiah wrote.

Speaker: 00:30:08

"We ourselves esteemed him stricken,

Speaker: 00:30:11

smitten of God and afflicted."

Speaker: 00:30:15

You see Jesus here, kind of looking for justification.

Speaker: 00:30:23

Jesus asked both the unnamed official and Annas

Speaker: 00:30:27

to justify this physical abuse.

Speaker: 00:30:29

Jesus exposed the shameful truth

Speaker: 00:30:32

that they did not follow their own standards,

Speaker: 00:30:34

their own rules, their own practices of judgment,

Speaker: 00:30:37

but he did, but he mercifully did not respond in kind

Speaker: 00:30:42

according to this officer's actions.

Speaker: 00:30:46

Instead of punishing him, probably as he deserved,

Speaker: 00:30:51

for striking a person of God, the man of God,

Speaker: 00:30:53

Jesus offered a gentle rebuke.

Speaker: 00:30:56

So Annas wanted to know what Jesus' teaching was,

Speaker: 00:31:06

and he definitely got a beautiful front row seat,

Speaker: 00:31:12

front row display of that teaching

Speaker: 00:31:14

through Jesus' merciful response to this officer.

Speaker: 00:31:19

But Annas was not interested in such things,

Speaker: 00:31:23

especially at this late hour.

Speaker: 00:31:25

The former high priest only wanted really to discover

Speaker: 00:31:28

something about Jesus that he could twist

Speaker: 00:31:33

into an accusation that would be sufficient to murder him.

Speaker: 00:31:38

So Annas' attempt was absolutely unsuccessful.

Speaker: 00:31:44

So Jesus had responded correctly to this tense situation.

Speaker: 00:31:49

He did so with the utmost patience and respect

Speaker: 00:32:03

and love for Annas and his officer,

Speaker: 00:32:06

both of whom bore his divine image, as it says in Genesis,

Speaker: 00:32:13

and were his personal creations, although fearfully,

Speaker: 00:32:16

and they were fearfully and wonderfully made, Psalm 139, 14.

Speaker: 00:32:21

It was apparent that Annas and his officers hated Jesus,

Speaker: 00:32:26

and they were looking there again.

Speaker: 00:32:27

They were looking for something to twist.

Speaker: 00:32:28

They were looking for a reaction out of Jesus.

Speaker: 00:32:32

They regarded him as their enemy,

Speaker: 00:32:34

but Jesus' merciful response to their hatred

Speaker: 00:32:37

was an application of his teachings to his disciples,

Speaker: 00:32:41

and a few of those kind of listed here.

Speaker: 00:32:44

Do not resist an evil person.

Speaker: 00:32:47

Turn the other cheek.

Speaker: 00:32:48

He was slapped.

Speaker: 00:32:50

He did not respond physically.

Speaker: 00:32:52

Loving your enemies, as Matthew and Luke note,

Speaker: 00:32:56

and then being merciful, just as your father is merciful.

Speaker: 00:32:59

And so what we see at the end here is unable to find

Speaker: 00:33:07

anything sufficient during this dark purpose.

Speaker: 00:33:12

Annas decided it was time to move Jesus along

Speaker: 00:33:15

and concluded this preliminary trial.

Speaker: 00:33:18

I also went back and looked, and there was no mention

Speaker: 00:33:24

of Jesus ever being unbound throughout this entire ordeal.

Speaker: 00:33:28

So all the way from his arrest, all the way through this,

Speaker: 00:33:31

Jesus was never, it was never said that he was unbound.

Speaker: 00:33:35

So he remained completely restrained physically,

Speaker: 00:33:39

and according to his father's will

Speaker: 00:33:40

during this whole exchange here.

Speaker: 00:33:43

And at the end, so Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas,

Speaker: 00:33:49

the high priest, for his second religious trial,

Speaker: 00:33:52

which we will hear more about,

Speaker: 00:33:56

and that's where Pastor Allen will pick it up next week.

Speaker: 00:34:00

So I should have told you all in the beginning,

Speaker: 00:34:04

I was trying to get done around about 945

Speaker: 00:34:07

'cause I had a flight to get to,

Speaker: 00:34:08

so I didn't mean to rush us along.

Speaker: 00:34:11

I see 944 back there, and I did not think

Speaker: 00:34:13

it was that well planned,

Speaker: 00:34:16

but the Lord helped with execution today.

Speaker: 00:34:18

But I've got a few minutes.

Speaker: 00:34:21

I'm happy to have some dialogue.

Speaker: 00:34:24

If I do have an answer key up here, like I said,

Speaker: 00:34:26

I know I was going a little bit fast,

Speaker: 00:34:28

and after I printed these out this morning,

Speaker: 00:34:30

I realized that the font point is a little small

Speaker: 00:34:33

for writing, not everybody writes small,

Speaker: 00:34:35

so I apologize if it was a little difficult

Speaker: 00:34:38

to keep track this morning, but thank you.

Speaker: 00:34:41

Will?

Speaker: 00:34:42

- At the beginning, you mentioned that,

Speaker: 00:34:44

I think I know what you meant by Judas

Speaker: 00:34:50

was not being, what's not mentioned.

Speaker: 00:34:53

You're mentioning in that passage, Judas is mentioned,

Speaker: 00:34:57

but the thing-- - The kiss.

Speaker: 00:34:59

Yeah, that's probably more precise.

Speaker: 00:35:03

Yeah, the kiss.

Speaker: 00:35:04

- The story of Judas' betrayal.

Speaker: 00:35:09

- Yeah, in John.

Speaker: 00:35:11

Yeah, not that moment.

Speaker: 00:35:14

Yeah, that's what I meant, really,

Speaker: 00:35:15

just not that moment, which to me is,

Speaker: 00:35:18

I don't know, like I said,

Speaker: 00:35:19

I've always just kind of pictured that happening

Speaker: 00:35:21

and Judas walking up, and that's the one, the one I kiss,

Speaker: 00:35:23

and so, yeah, I just thought it was,

Speaker: 00:35:25

yeah, that's what I meant.

Speaker: 00:35:27

All right.

Speaker: 00:35:30

Well, thank you.

Speaker: 00:35:31

Like I said, I was trying to end early,

Speaker: 00:35:32

so I guess you have a few more minutes now

Speaker: 00:35:34

to meander about, to grab a coffee,

Speaker: 00:35:37

or what have you before Second Service,

Speaker: 00:35:38

so thank you guys for sticking with me this morning.

Speaker: 00:35:42

Thank you guys for being an awesome kind of group

Speaker: 00:35:44

to be in front of, so I appreciate it.

Speaker: 00:35:46

- Thank you.

Speaker: 00:35:47

[ Applause ]