1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:04,000 Our scripture reading today is Matthew 21 verses one through 2 00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:07,360 11. As they approached Jerusalem and 3 00:00:07,360 --> 00:00:10,600 came to Beth Phage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent 2 4 00:00:10,600 --> 00:00:14,440 disciples saying to them, go to the village ahead of you and at 5 00:00:14,440 --> 00:00:18,960 once you will find a donkey tied there with her colt by her. 6 00:00:19,240 --> 00:00:23,600 Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, 7 00:00:23,880 --> 00:00:27,800 say that the Lord needs them and He will send them right away. 8 00:00:28,520 --> 00:00:31,480 This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet. 9 00:00:31,800 --> 00:00:36,040 Say to daughter Zion, See, your king comes to you gentle and 10 00:00:36,040 --> 00:00:39,680 riding on a donkey and on a colt, the foal of a donkey. 11 00:00:40,320 --> 00:00:43,440 The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed. 12 00:00:43,800 --> 00:00:46,560 They brought the donkey in the colt and placed their clothes on 13 00:00:46,560 --> 00:00:50,600 them for Jesus to sit on. A very large crowd spread their 14 00:00:50,600 --> 00:00:54,720 cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and 15 00:00:54,720 --> 00:00:58,280 spread them to the road. The crowds that went ahead of 16 00:00:58,280 --> 00:01:01,600 him and those that followed shouted Hosanna to the Son of 17 00:01:01,600 --> 00:01:03,920 David. Blessed is he who comes in the 18 00:01:03,920 --> 00:01:06,960 name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest. 19 00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:14,000 When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and 20 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:17,400 asked, Who is this? The crowds answered, This is 21 00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:20,800 Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee. 22 00:01:21,160 --> 00:01:24,760 May the Lord add His blessing to the reading and hearing of His 23 00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:27,720 word. I got good news and bad news 24 00:01:27,720 --> 00:01:32,800 today. It depends on your perspective. 25 00:01:34,760 --> 00:01:39,280 We are either going to be ascending to new heights of 26 00:01:39,280 --> 00:01:43,120 nerddom together or descending to new depths of nerddom 27 00:01:43,120 --> 00:01:46,880 together depending on your perspective. 2 words will 28 00:01:46,880 --> 00:01:49,560 clarify what I'm talking about. Star Trek. 29 00:01:51,160 --> 00:01:55,160 Any Star Trek fans out here? Got any you Star Trek fan? 30 00:01:55,880 --> 00:01:58,680 OK, all right. Now, I, I have to confess, I am 31 00:01:58,680 --> 00:02:01,560 not. There's a huge Star Trek 32 00:02:01,560 --> 00:02:03,960 universe out there now. There's been lots of shows, lots 33 00:02:03,960 --> 00:02:09,759 of movies, everything. I, I, I, I, I, I know way more 34 00:02:09,759 --> 00:02:12,560 than anyone has a right to know about the series Star Trek the 35 00:02:12,560 --> 00:02:14,960 Next Generation. So that's what I'm going to be 36 00:02:14,960 --> 00:02:17,240 talking about here today. Star Trek The Next Generation 37 00:02:17,400 --> 00:02:21,520 was a character in Star Trek The Next Generation who was on the 38 00:02:21,600 --> 00:02:25,600 Enterprise, part of their crew, their chief of security named 39 00:02:25,600 --> 00:02:29,560 Wharf. And Wharf was a Klingon and, 40 00:02:30,440 --> 00:02:33,920 and, and his parents were killed when he was a baby. 41 00:02:34,240 --> 00:02:37,440 And he was raised by humans and grew up within, within, within 42 00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:39,840 within the Federation. That's way too much detail. 43 00:02:39,840 --> 00:02:42,080 You didn't need all of that. But at any rate, it is important 44 00:02:42,080 --> 00:02:43,640 that his parents died when he was a baby. 45 00:02:44,360 --> 00:02:50,280 As an adult now, it has been reported that the reason Wolf's 46 00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:53,800 parents died was because his father was a traitor to the 47 00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:58,440 Klingon Empire and let their enemies in and was killed in the 48 00:02:58,440 --> 00:03:02,400 process. And Wolf is going to go to the 49 00:03:02,400 --> 00:03:06,240 capital of the Klingon Empire and appear before the ruling 50 00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:10,200 council and, and try to defend his father's honor. 51 00:03:10,360 --> 00:03:14,280 Defend his own honor, because as the son of a traitor, he would 52 00:03:14,280 --> 00:03:17,240 be dishonored as well. He gets there, he discovers that 53 00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:19,840 he can't. Not because it's true that his 54 00:03:19,840 --> 00:03:22,560 father was a traitor, but because very powerful people 55 00:03:22,760 --> 00:03:25,560 were actually the ones that were traitors, and they were using 56 00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:29,560 Wharf's father as a scapegoat. And they want to execute Wharf 57 00:03:29,560 --> 00:03:32,600 now for his father's crime since he showed up. 58 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:35,760 But Wharf wants to live because one's day, he wants to set the 59 00:03:35,760 --> 00:03:40,000 record straight. So he offers to accept a fate 60 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:43,240 worse than death for a Klingon. Do you do you remember what? 61 00:03:43,360 --> 00:03:45,440 You know this one. Remember Coy? 62 00:03:45,600 --> 00:03:46,120 No. No. 63 00:03:46,120 --> 00:03:46,880 OK. What? 64 00:03:46,880 --> 00:03:49,440 You probably had original series guy or or. 65 00:03:49,480 --> 00:03:50,200 Yeah. OK. 66 00:03:50,200 --> 00:03:51,160 All right. That's a good. 67 00:03:51,160 --> 00:03:52,920 That's that's a good one. That's a good one, too. 68 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:57,840 He accepts what they call in the Klingon Empire, discommodation. 69 00:03:58,760 --> 00:04:02,400 And for a Klingon, it's a fate worse than death, because it is 70 00:04:02,400 --> 00:04:08,240 the total dishonouring of a person and their family forever 71 00:04:09,160 --> 00:04:13,640 for him and for any descendants that he may have are shamed 72 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:16,279 before the Klingon Empire forever. 73 00:04:16,480 --> 00:04:22,000 And most Klingons would rather die than live shamed. 74 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:27,440 Shame can be a powerful tool for punishment and the Klingon 75 00:04:27,440 --> 00:04:30,440 Empire, it was the ultimate tool of punishment. 76 00:04:30,520 --> 00:04:34,080 It's not a whole lot different in some respects today in in our 77 00:04:34,080 --> 00:04:38,280 culture where shaming is often used to punish you think about 78 00:04:38,280 --> 00:04:41,040 cancel culture and those kinds of things where people will dig 79 00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:44,760 through the interwebs and, and find a tweet or a post or a or, 80 00:04:44,760 --> 00:04:47,720 or whatever from years, maybe decades ago. 81 00:04:47,880 --> 00:04:52,280 And, and, and if it crosses one line or another, that person 82 00:04:52,280 --> 00:04:54,960 might find them cut off from their friends, cut off from 83 00:04:54,960 --> 00:04:58,320 their social group, might find them themselves fired from their 84 00:04:58,320 --> 00:05:03,200 job, all to shame them for what they did. 85 00:05:03,440 --> 00:05:06,120 Maybe recently, maybe years and years and years and years and 86 00:05:06,120 --> 00:05:09,320 years ago. And even if you apologize under 87 00:05:09,320 --> 00:05:11,640 the system of cancel culture doesn't make any difference. 88 00:05:11,800 --> 00:05:12,920 You shouldn't have done it to be. 89 00:05:12,920 --> 00:05:16,320 We're glad that you apologize. You still need to be ashamed and 90 00:05:16,320 --> 00:05:18,400 you're still cut off and you're still cut out. 91 00:05:18,400 --> 00:05:23,400 There's no coming back. Now, Let's be clear, canceling 92 00:05:23,400 --> 00:05:26,000 and shaming happens from the right and from the left. 93 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:29,320 This isn't a, a left wing problem or a right wing problem. 94 00:05:29,320 --> 00:05:33,080 This is a human problem that we do these kinds of things and, 95 00:05:33,080 --> 00:05:35,720 and the left is guilty of it. Sometimes the right is guilty of 96 00:05:35,720 --> 00:05:40,080 it, sometimes of using shame to punish and destroy. 97 00:05:40,920 --> 00:05:43,760 And we've been working through and, and looking pretty closely 98 00:05:43,760 --> 00:05:45,920 at the story of Tamar. And we're going to spend one 99 00:05:45,920 --> 00:05:49,200 more Sunday talking about Tamar. Next Sunday, obviously, we'll be 100 00:05:49,200 --> 00:05:51,520 talking about the resurrection, and then we're going to jump 101 00:05:51,520 --> 00:05:57,200 back into Genesis after that. But Tamar gives us a very 102 00:05:57,400 --> 00:06:02,240 different example than the example that that of what the 103 00:06:02,240 --> 00:06:06,480 Klingons did to Wharf and what cancel culture does to people. 104 00:06:06,480 --> 00:06:11,040 Now, Tamar's example is this. Remember just just briefly 105 00:06:11,040 --> 00:06:13,560 reviewing the story in case you weren't here the past couple 106 00:06:13,560 --> 00:06:14,880 weeks and may not know the story. 107 00:06:15,720 --> 00:06:20,040 Tamar is Judas daughter-in-law, Judah, one of the sons of Jacob. 108 00:06:20,800 --> 00:06:24,480 Tamar is Judas daughter-in-law. She is Judah arranges her 109 00:06:24,480 --> 00:06:27,520 marriage with his oldest son. Err. 110 00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:31,760 The Bible tells us err did evil and God's sight, and so God 111 00:06:31,760 --> 00:06:33,520 killed him. And then, by custom and 112 00:06:33,520 --> 00:06:38,000 tradition, Tamar was then given as to the to be the wife of 113 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:42,080 Judah's next son, Onan. That way she would be provided 114 00:06:42,080 --> 00:06:43,600 for. She would not have to spend the 115 00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:46,280 rest of her life as a widow. She could still have children, 116 00:06:46,280 --> 00:06:48,640 she could still have a family. She would still have people to 117 00:06:48,640 --> 00:06:51,040 care for her and her old age still have the safety and 118 00:06:51,040 --> 00:06:53,200 security of belonging to a family. 119 00:06:53,960 --> 00:06:57,880 The Bible tells us that Onan did evil in God's eyes, so much evil 120 00:06:57,880 --> 00:07:01,480 that God killed him, too. And then Judah, out of a 121 00:07:01,960 --> 00:07:05,640 superstitious paranoia, says, well, the problem must be with 122 00:07:05,640 --> 00:07:07,960 Tamar. Can't possibly be that my sons 123 00:07:07,960 --> 00:07:12,560 are jerks, must be Tamar. So he says, I'm not. 124 00:07:12,600 --> 00:07:15,480 I got one more son. If, if Tamar marries him, he's 125 00:07:15,480 --> 00:07:18,520 going to end up dying too. So he told Tamar, you go back, 126 00:07:18,520 --> 00:07:21,920 live with your family. When my youngest son's old 127 00:07:21,920 --> 00:07:24,960 enough, then you can marry him. He has no intention of ever 128 00:07:24,960 --> 00:07:27,200 having her marry his youngest son, Shayla. 129 00:07:27,400 --> 00:07:31,360 That that not going to happen. And Tamar realizes this when 130 00:07:31,360 --> 00:07:34,760 Shayla reaches marriage, marriage age, and then goes well 131 00:07:34,760 --> 00:07:38,120 beyond marrying age. And she's still not brought back 132 00:07:38,320 --> 00:07:42,200 to marry Shayla. So she, to protect herself and 133 00:07:42,200 --> 00:07:44,560 secure her future, devises a plan. 134 00:07:44,760 --> 00:07:47,800 She dresses a prostitute. She goes to a place out in the 135 00:07:47,800 --> 00:07:50,160 country where she knows Judah's going to be passing by. 136 00:07:50,360 --> 00:07:54,120 Judah passes by, sees her and hires her to provide her 137 00:07:54,120 --> 00:07:57,040 services for him. Doesn't have any money or 138 00:07:57,040 --> 00:07:58,920 anything to give her at that moment. 139 00:07:59,080 --> 00:08:01,720 So she says, well, why don't you leave a pledge with me and you 140 00:08:01,720 --> 00:08:04,400 can pay me later. He leaves his signet ring, his 141 00:08:04,400 --> 00:08:08,320 staff and his cord, his identification and his spare car 142 00:08:08,320 --> 00:08:11,040 keys. In modern terms, something that 143 00:08:11,040 --> 00:08:13,360 would things that would only be tied to him. 144 00:08:14,240 --> 00:08:18,400 So he takes his pleasure, he moves on, he tries to pay her 145 00:08:18,400 --> 00:08:20,520 and get his pledge back, but she's already gone. 146 00:08:20,520 --> 00:08:23,560 Tamar on them, but meanwhile goes back home, takes off the 147 00:08:23,560 --> 00:08:27,000 prostitute clothing, goes back into her widows clothing and 148 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:29,880 waits. And time does its work and 149 00:08:29,880 --> 00:08:33,240 Tamar's belly begins to show that she is pregnant. 150 00:08:33,799 --> 00:08:37,520 And word goes back to Judah. Your daughter-in-law, Tamar has 151 00:08:37,520 --> 00:08:40,559 been prostituting herself and is now pregnant. 152 00:08:41,360 --> 00:08:44,600 And Judah says, bring her here, we're going to punish her, 153 00:08:45,160 --> 00:08:49,400 Turner alive. Harsh punishment, harsh 154 00:08:49,400 --> 00:08:52,480 punishment. And this is what Tamar does as 155 00:08:52,480 --> 00:08:57,440 she's being brought out to be publicly shamed, humiliated. 156 00:08:57,880 --> 00:09:02,120 And before being executed, she sends a private message to 157 00:09:02,120 --> 00:09:04,920 Judah. As she was being brought out, 158 00:09:05,120 --> 00:09:07,200 she sent a message to her father-in-law. 159 00:09:07,680 --> 00:09:10,680 I am pregnant by the man who owns these, she said. 160 00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:14,880 And she added, see if you recognize whose seal and cord 161 00:09:15,080 --> 00:09:19,440 and staff these are. And Judah, of course, recognized 162 00:09:19,640 --> 00:09:26,360 his own seal and cord and staff. And Judah is shamed now, so 163 00:09:26,360 --> 00:09:29,680 shamed that he openly says Tamar's more righteous than I am 164 00:09:30,800 --> 00:09:33,680 because I failed. And my covenant obligations to 165 00:09:33,680 --> 00:09:38,400 her, the responsibilities God had given me to her, I failed in 166 00:09:38,400 --> 00:09:41,280 those. And so Judah repented. 167 00:09:41,880 --> 00:09:44,880 He brought Tamar into his household, not to be his wife, 168 00:09:45,400 --> 00:09:49,520 but to provide shelter and protection for her and for her 169 00:09:49,520 --> 00:09:52,200 and her and his sons that she was bearing. 170 00:09:52,200 --> 00:10:01,840 She was pregnant with twins. Tamar called Judah out for the 171 00:10:01,840 --> 00:10:05,280 wrong that he had done. There was no doubt about that. 172 00:10:05,400 --> 00:10:07,840 She didn't roll over. She didn't play the victim. 173 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:09,880 She didn't make herself into a doormat. 174 00:10:09,880 --> 00:10:12,600 She didn't say, oh, woe was me and there's nothing I can do. 175 00:10:12,760 --> 00:10:15,120 She took action. She did what she needed to do. 176 00:10:15,320 --> 00:10:18,520 And when Judah was, and it was very risky what she did. 177 00:10:18,520 --> 00:10:21,600 That's why I say this. Tamar's courageous example, it 178 00:10:21,600 --> 00:10:25,520 nearly cost her her life. Public shaming and then 179 00:10:25,520 --> 00:10:27,840 execution nearly cost her her life. 180 00:10:30,720 --> 00:10:33,560 But she took that risk. She took that chance. 181 00:10:34,280 --> 00:10:41,040 And when she shamed Judah, she did for Judah what Judah never 182 00:10:41,040 --> 00:10:47,000 did for her. See, Judah was not confronting 183 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:50,120 her privately. He was humiliating her publicly. 184 00:10:51,240 --> 00:10:55,280 He was not shaming her to inspire repentance. 185 00:10:55,280 --> 00:10:59,440 He was shaming her as a justification for punishing her, 186 00:10:59,440 --> 00:11:01,240 for destroying her, executing her. 187 00:11:03,080 --> 00:11:07,800 Tamar shamed Judah in a way that didn't destroy him, but instead 188 00:11:07,800 --> 00:11:11,600 gave him space for repentance and restoration. 189 00:11:12,080 --> 00:11:13,880 And that's exactly what happened. 190 00:11:15,040 --> 00:11:19,000 Judah experienced that shame, rightfully so, because what he 191 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:24,080 had done was shameful. And in that shame, he repented. 192 00:11:25,200 --> 00:11:28,880 And in that repentance, he was able to restore his relationship 193 00:11:28,880 --> 00:11:32,720 with Tamar, Tamar's relationship with his family and his own 194 00:11:32,720 --> 00:11:38,440 relationship with God. All of that because of the 195 00:11:38,440 --> 00:11:41,560 manner in which Tamar called Judah out. 196 00:11:43,760 --> 00:11:48,000 Now, there's no doubt that she shamed him and his open 197 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:50,000 repentance. It was a risk. 198 00:11:50,160 --> 00:11:51,800 He could have covered a whole thing up. 199 00:11:52,040 --> 00:11:54,200 He could have pretended he never received the message. 200 00:11:54,200 --> 00:11:55,800 He could have gone ahead and had her executed. 201 00:11:57,080 --> 00:12:01,360 But instead, he let everyone know, Baby's mine. 202 00:12:02,280 --> 00:12:04,040 This. This is on me. 203 00:12:04,160 --> 00:12:07,080 It's not on Tamar. She's more righteous than I am. 204 00:12:07,680 --> 00:12:09,120 I'm going to take responsibility. 205 00:12:12,680 --> 00:12:14,440 He was shamed into doing the right thing. 206 00:12:15,440 --> 00:12:20,400 Shame gets a bad rap these days. I think they're authors and and 207 00:12:20,640 --> 00:12:24,280 teachers out there, speakers, public, you know, intellectuals, 208 00:12:24,840 --> 00:12:27,240 folks like Brené Brown, who's done a lot of great stuff. 209 00:12:27,240 --> 00:12:30,320 I don't, I in general, I think Brené Brown has done a lot of 210 00:12:30,320 --> 00:12:33,040 wonderful stuff. I disagree with her when she 211 00:12:33,040 --> 00:12:36,640 says, and I've heard her say it, that shame is always toxic. 212 00:12:37,880 --> 00:12:41,960 Shame is always bad. There is no good use for shame 213 00:12:41,960 --> 00:12:44,880 in the world. And I know that's filtering down 214 00:12:44,880 --> 00:12:48,320 but I've cause I've heard counselors say that too on a on 215 00:12:48,320 --> 00:12:51,800 a on a local personal level. Shame is always toxic. 216 00:12:51,800 --> 00:12:55,200 If you're feeling shame, you just need to let go of that. 217 00:12:55,720 --> 00:12:59,920 Work on that because there is no good reason to feel shame. 218 00:13:00,080 --> 00:13:04,960 Shame is always destructive. I have to disagree. 219 00:13:06,720 --> 00:13:13,680 There are cultures, large ancient cultures throughout the 220 00:13:13,680 --> 00:13:18,080 world whose entire ethical and social system is built on the 221 00:13:18,080 --> 00:13:23,280 balancing of honor and shame or the pursuing of honor and the 222 00:13:23,520 --> 00:13:25,960 how you respond to shame and the use of shame. 223 00:13:26,400 --> 00:13:29,400 And I'm not prepared to say that all of those folks now and 224 00:13:29,400 --> 00:13:32,160 throughout history have just been toxic and how they've done 225 00:13:32,160 --> 00:13:34,120 things. And I got a little bit of, I got 226 00:13:34,120 --> 00:13:36,280 a lot of backing on my side. There are people that smarter 227 00:13:36,280 --> 00:13:38,480 and more knowledgeable than me about these things. 228 00:13:38,480 --> 00:13:42,440 One of them is theologian and scholar by the name of Tay Li 229 00:13:42,440 --> 00:13:46,200 Lau, a Chinese American who has written a book called Defending 230 00:13:46,200 --> 00:13:47,600 Shame. If you're really interested in 231 00:13:47,600 --> 00:13:49,960 honor and shame stuff, it's a wonderful book. 232 00:13:50,840 --> 00:13:54,880 It's a wonderful book. And he talks about two primary 233 00:13:54,880 --> 00:13:59,720 uses of shame, two ways that we can use shame as people and as 234 00:13:59,720 --> 00:14:02,960 cultures. And and he says that the first 235 00:14:02,960 --> 00:14:08,360 way one, well, one way is to punish and destroy shame used 236 00:14:08,360 --> 00:14:11,520 punitively. That's what cancel culture is. 237 00:14:11,960 --> 00:14:15,520 The purpose of cancel culture is to punish and destroy. 238 00:14:15,800 --> 00:14:18,880 We used to call it boycotting. Now we call it canceling. 239 00:14:18,880 --> 00:14:21,520 It's you know, there's a lot of it's been around for a while. 240 00:14:21,560 --> 00:14:24,160 It's not a new thing. The name changes and the formats 241 00:14:24,160 --> 00:14:26,800 change because, you know, social media is different and didn't 242 00:14:26,800 --> 00:14:28,960 used to be there, but it's the same thing. 243 00:14:29,520 --> 00:14:33,360 You shame, you publicly humiliate someone to cut them 244 00:14:33,360 --> 00:14:36,120 off, to cut them out, to cut them off at their knees. 245 00:14:36,880 --> 00:14:40,080 There have been presidential candidates who have been been 246 00:14:40,160 --> 00:14:43,640 cut out of politics because of shameful things they've done. 247 00:14:43,840 --> 00:14:47,560 There have been Supreme Court justices and, and the idea and, 248 00:14:47,600 --> 00:14:50,800 and many, many others, business people, private people, and that 249 00:14:50,880 --> 00:14:56,000 the point is always in this use of shame to punish and destroy, 250 00:14:56,640 --> 00:14:59,480 if not to destroy their life than to destroy their career, 251 00:14:59,640 --> 00:15:02,920 destroy their reputation, destroy their social influence. 252 00:15:04,400 --> 00:15:06,560 Period. Get them out. 253 00:15:06,560 --> 00:15:09,360 You've crossed the line. You can apologize. 254 00:15:09,360 --> 00:15:12,480 We'd like you to apologize. It's good for you to apologize, 255 00:15:12,600 --> 00:15:16,400 but don't you believe for a second that apologizing will 256 00:15:16,400 --> 00:15:19,320 will remove your shame? You are still done. 257 00:15:19,320 --> 00:15:21,920 Not going to go to your movies anymore, not going to listen to 258 00:15:21,920 --> 00:15:24,360 your music anymore. You've crossed that line. 259 00:15:26,040 --> 00:15:31,480 That's one way to use shame. Kids use shame a lot that way, 260 00:15:31,680 --> 00:15:32,080 right? Yeah. 261 00:15:32,080 --> 00:15:34,960 I mean, when kids, when adults too, we make fun of people for 262 00:15:34,960 --> 00:15:36,720 certain things. We shame them, we humiliate 263 00:15:36,720 --> 00:15:38,160 them. We find an enemy. 264 00:15:38,160 --> 00:15:40,760 We find ways to talk about them behind their back and make them 265 00:15:40,760 --> 00:15:44,040 look stupid or look foolish. And, and, and so that we can 266 00:15:44,280 --> 00:15:47,680 reduce or minimize their impact on our lives or we can control 267 00:15:47,680 --> 00:15:49,040 them. We can bully them, whatever. 268 00:15:49,280 --> 00:15:52,440 It's this is not a new thing and it's not an uncommon thing. 269 00:15:53,440 --> 00:15:56,720 But Tayli Lau points out that there is a deep, rich and 270 00:15:56,720 --> 00:16:01,400 ancient history going back, you know, to the ancient Israelite 271 00:16:01,400 --> 00:16:05,720 culture, ancient Greek culture, ancient Chinese culture. 272 00:16:06,400 --> 00:16:08,480 Lots of cultures have used this for years. 273 00:16:08,680 --> 00:16:12,960 And that is to use shame to invite people to repentance, 274 00:16:13,160 --> 00:16:18,440 redemption and restoration. And this is what Tamar did. 275 00:16:20,760 --> 00:16:26,040 Judah was going to use shame to punish and destroy Shame Tamar 276 00:16:26,040 --> 00:16:28,400 publicly. That gives me an excuse, a 277 00:16:28,400 --> 00:16:31,280 justification for destroying her physically. 278 00:16:31,400 --> 00:16:34,520 So now I'm free to have my youngest son marry someone else 279 00:16:34,520 --> 00:16:40,160 instead of her. But Tamar's example is 280 00:16:40,160 --> 00:16:42,640 repentance and redemption. Oops, I thought I had one more 281 00:16:42,640 --> 00:16:50,680 slide about Tamar in there. Tamar uses Tamar uses shame as 282 00:16:50,680 --> 00:16:52,680 an opportunity to bring Judah to repentance. 283 00:16:53,960 --> 00:16:56,560 She leaves the door open. She could have done it publicly. 284 00:16:56,760 --> 00:16:59,440 She could have humiliated him publicly, just like he could 285 00:16:59,440 --> 00:17:00,600 have waited. She could have waited till the 286 00:17:00,600 --> 00:17:03,720 crowd was gathered around and held up the staff in the cord 287 00:17:03,720 --> 00:17:07,760 and the ring in front of everybody and made Judah into a 288 00:17:07,760 --> 00:17:11,359 fool and a laughingstock. She might not have been able to 289 00:17:11,359 --> 00:17:14,760 have him executed, but she could have undermined him, you know, 290 00:17:14,760 --> 00:17:18,800 thoroughly and completely. But she didn't do that. 291 00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:24,839 She sent the message privately. She called him out, She shamed 292 00:17:24,839 --> 00:17:27,880 him. But she wasn't doing it to 293 00:17:27,880 --> 00:17:31,120 destroy him. She was doing it to invite him 294 00:17:31,120 --> 00:17:34,000 to repent, to change what he was doing. 295 00:17:34,160 --> 00:17:37,840 And that's exactly what he did. It's exactly what he did. 296 00:17:38,400 --> 00:17:40,160 That's Tamar's courageous example. 297 00:17:40,200 --> 00:17:43,960 Jesus is a courageous example of this as well. 298 00:17:45,320 --> 00:17:49,280 On on Palm Sunday, we see a lot well before Palm Sunday 299 00:17:49,320 --> 00:17:51,640 throughout Jesus's life and ministry. 300 00:17:51,640 --> 00:17:53,920 You read the Gospels, go through and read them carefully. 301 00:17:54,320 --> 00:17:59,800 Jesus employs shame repeatedly with people, not just once or 302 00:17:59,800 --> 00:18:02,680 twice. It's an it's, it's, it's, it's a 303 00:18:02,960 --> 00:18:05,640 regular. Part of how Jesus deals with 304 00:18:05,640 --> 00:18:08,600 people when they get off track is with shame. 305 00:18:09,280 --> 00:18:11,840 When Peter said to him, hey, hey, Jesus, don't talk about 306 00:18:11,840 --> 00:18:15,000 this cross and dying stuff. You're too important for that. 307 00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:17,840 You're too good for that. And Jesus in front of the other 308 00:18:17,840 --> 00:18:20,720 disciples, turns to Peter and says, get behind me, Satan. 309 00:18:20,880 --> 00:18:25,680 That was shaming him. If you don't think so, imagine 310 00:18:25,680 --> 00:18:28,880 him, you know, if your friend called you Satan in front of 311 00:18:28,880 --> 00:18:33,440 your other friends. It's a shaming kind of thing and 312 00:18:33,440 --> 00:18:37,280 and Jesus did that multiple times, but he did it in the same 313 00:18:37,280 --> 00:18:41,560 way that Tamar did it. And we conceived his attitude in 314 00:18:41,720 --> 00:18:44,840 this whole process of what happened on what we now call 315 00:18:44,840 --> 00:18:48,600 Palm Sunday. Jesus was arriving in Jerusalem 316 00:18:48,600 --> 00:18:53,720 as a king, not as a doormat for people to walk all over, not as 317 00:18:53,720 --> 00:18:57,160 a genie that people can get there who will fulfill people's 318 00:18:57,160 --> 00:19:00,680 wishes, not as a Santa Claus who will just give people what they 319 00:19:00,680 --> 00:19:04,280 want and make them feel good. He was coming as a king. 320 00:19:04,480 --> 00:19:07,280 He was coming and saying I am in charge. 321 00:19:07,280 --> 00:19:11,680 You owe me your allegiance, your faith, and your obedience. 322 00:19:13,520 --> 00:19:17,240 But the manner in which Jesus came was completely different 323 00:19:17,240 --> 00:19:21,440 than how kings typically came into a town to claim their 324 00:19:21,440 --> 00:19:25,120 Kingdom and their kingship. Jesus came as a king, but with 325 00:19:25,120 --> 00:19:29,120 humility. Most kings, when they came into 326 00:19:29,120 --> 00:19:32,240 a town to claim their kingship, arrived on a War Horse. 327 00:19:34,280 --> 00:19:40,280 Jesus came in on the donkey. There's not a proud way to ride 328 00:19:40,280 --> 00:19:45,760 a donkey. You can find out on TV once in a 329 00:19:45,760 --> 00:19:47,120 while. You see people riding Don. 330 00:19:47,280 --> 00:19:49,600 There is not a proud way to ride a donkey. 331 00:19:50,640 --> 00:19:53,520 You just look silly riding a donkey. 332 00:19:54,760 --> 00:19:56,840 You don't intimidate anyone riding a donkey. 333 00:19:57,560 --> 00:19:59,640 You certainly don't threaten anyone riding a donkey. 334 00:19:59,880 --> 00:20:03,560 But that's how Jesus came. He didn't come on a War Horse. 335 00:20:04,680 --> 00:20:07,200 There are kings, there are religions who have advanced 336 00:20:07,200 --> 00:20:10,640 their causes and expanded their territory at the point of the 337 00:20:10,640 --> 00:20:12,600 sword. Throughout the history of 338 00:20:12,600 --> 00:20:17,880 humanity, sadly, at times Christianity has done that. 339 00:20:18,840 --> 00:20:22,400 But every time Christianity has done that, we have done that in 340 00:20:22,760 --> 00:20:27,600 contrary to the example and the call of our King, and in 341 00:20:27,600 --> 00:20:29,800 violation of his example and his call. 342 00:20:31,120 --> 00:20:34,560 Jesus didn't come on a War Horse to force people to submit to 343 00:20:34,560 --> 00:20:37,160 him. Jesus came in humility on a 344 00:20:37,160 --> 00:20:42,280 donkey to invite people to surrender to him. 345 00:20:42,680 --> 00:20:46,320 Jesus was heralded by children, not by soldiers. 346 00:20:46,640 --> 00:20:49,560 The King's going to come into a country and they want everyone 347 00:20:49,560 --> 00:20:52,680 to know I'm your king. Now I'm in charge. 348 00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:55,640 And, and part of the way you make sure they know you're the 349 00:20:55,640 --> 00:20:58,080 king and you're in charge is you have soldiers there. 350 00:20:58,360 --> 00:21:00,200 You've got your, your, your hench men. 351 00:21:00,360 --> 00:21:03,040 You've got your strong men, you've got your people there 352 00:21:03,200 --> 00:21:06,440 that always have that threat of violence right there insight. 353 00:21:06,440 --> 00:21:07,800 So you don't even have to say it. 354 00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:11,160 They just know it because there are soldiers lining the streets 355 00:21:11,520 --> 00:21:15,000 with their swords and their Spears saying hail to the king 356 00:21:15,680 --> 00:21:17,320 and everyone else. Of course, hail to the king 357 00:21:17,320 --> 00:21:19,360 because I don't want your sword in my stomach. 358 00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:22,480 That was the wrong gesture to make. 359 00:21:23,360 --> 00:21:28,160 Sorry about that, Don't know what I'm thinking. 360 00:21:31,000 --> 00:21:32,640 That's certainly how that leader came. 361 00:21:32,640 --> 00:21:35,320 Conquering Jesus did not come that way. 362 00:21:36,680 --> 00:21:38,760 Jesus, You know, we're, we're told in the Scripture, Jesus, 363 00:21:38,800 --> 00:21:41,240 Jesus could have called 10,000 angels at the time of his 364 00:21:41,240 --> 00:21:44,480 crucifixion to set him free. He could have called 10,000 365 00:21:44,480 --> 00:21:48,280 angels and had them lining the road to Jerusalem saying hail to 366 00:21:48,280 --> 00:21:52,040 the King. And everyone would have been 367 00:21:52,040 --> 00:21:55,200 shouting then because even folks who didn't believe it would have 368 00:21:55,200 --> 00:21:58,840 been afraid not to. But that's not how Jesus came. 369 00:21:59,080 --> 00:22:01,280 Jesus had children hailing him as King. 370 00:22:01,480 --> 00:22:06,680 Rick talking with the children a few weeks ago about some of the 371 00:22:06,680 --> 00:22:09,680 reasons why we can have confidence that Jesus really was 372 00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:11,320 here. And one of those I'll talk a 373 00:22:11,320 --> 00:22:13,840 little bit about next week with women being the first 374 00:22:13,840 --> 00:22:17,840 missionaries, the first evangelist sharing the good news 375 00:22:17,840 --> 00:22:20,800 of Jesus's resurrection. This is another example of that 376 00:22:20,800 --> 00:22:23,400 because like, like women were not considered credible 377 00:22:23,400 --> 00:22:26,200 witnesses in Jesus's day. Children weren't either. 378 00:22:27,560 --> 00:22:30,200 Children had no credibility. No one was going to believe 379 00:22:30,200 --> 00:22:31,760 something just because a kid said it. 380 00:22:33,360 --> 00:22:35,560 That's who Jesus had heralding him as king. 381 00:22:35,560 --> 00:22:38,800 He didn't have soldiers. He didn't have angels. 382 00:22:38,840 --> 00:22:43,160 He didn't even have adults. Little kids, hail to the son of 383 00:22:43,160 --> 00:22:46,440 David Hosanna. Hallelujah to the King. 384 00:22:48,080 --> 00:22:51,440 Jesus's enemies say and tell those kids to shut up. 385 00:22:52,720 --> 00:22:56,200 He's like Nah, Nah. And you know, if they don't say 386 00:22:56,200 --> 00:22:58,280 it, the rocks will say it. So I'm going to let the kids say 387 00:22:58,320 --> 00:23:01,280 it. Let the kids say it. 388 00:23:03,440 --> 00:23:08,840 Jesus was heralded in humility. He allowed children to be his 389 00:23:08,840 --> 00:23:13,720 heralds as he was riding on his donkey into the city as the 390 00:23:13,720 --> 00:23:16,920 King. Now, we didn't read this part, 391 00:23:16,920 --> 00:23:19,240 but it's in the verses immediately following what we 392 00:23:19,240 --> 00:23:21,280 read. Sometimes it's easy to forget 393 00:23:21,440 --> 00:23:25,760 that that Jesus rode in to town on a donkey. 394 00:23:25,960 --> 00:23:29,520 He got off his donkey, He went into the temple and he took a 395 00:23:29,520 --> 00:23:31,960 whip and he drove people out of the temple with a whip. 396 00:23:32,760 --> 00:23:37,040 That happened on Palm Sunday, comes into the temple, turns 397 00:23:37,040 --> 00:23:39,240 over the tables, drives people out. 398 00:23:40,080 --> 00:23:43,280 Now that feels a little bit more like punishment, right? 399 00:23:43,960 --> 00:23:46,800 That feels a little bit more like shaming for the purpose of 400 00:23:46,800 --> 00:23:49,800 punishing and destroying rather than shaming as a call to 401 00:23:49,800 --> 00:23:53,120 repentance. But it is, it's remember, God is 402 00:23:53,120 --> 00:23:57,280 always as gentle as possible and as forceful as necessary. 403 00:23:58,160 --> 00:24:01,680 And that was the level of force that Jesus saw was necessary for 404 00:24:01,680 --> 00:24:06,080 that situation. And he went in, he did the 405 00:24:06,080 --> 00:24:08,680 scenario right. The the money changers were 406 00:24:08,680 --> 00:24:11,920 there to RIP people off the temple. 407 00:24:12,480 --> 00:24:15,200 Part of cultural differences. We have to remind ourselves of 408 00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:17,800 these things sometimes. For you and I, we've been raised 409 00:24:17,800 --> 00:24:20,680 and taught and we know to be true the simple reality that God 410 00:24:20,680 --> 00:24:23,880 is everywhere and that there's no ground that's any really more 411 00:24:23,880 --> 00:24:27,200 holy than other ground. God can meet a person anywhere. 412 00:24:27,440 --> 00:24:30,720 And we can talk to God and encounter God and pray to God. 413 00:24:30,920 --> 00:24:32,880 And we can, we can do that in the church building. 414 00:24:32,880 --> 00:24:34,520 We can do that at home. We can do that at work. 415 00:24:34,520 --> 00:24:36,880 We can do that at school. We can do that for a hike in the 416 00:24:36,880 --> 00:24:38,080 woods. We can do that when we're 417 00:24:38,080 --> 00:24:41,560 driving in the car. We can do that in Jesus's day 418 00:24:41,560 --> 00:24:45,560 and age. For the Israelite culture to get 419 00:24:45,560 --> 00:24:48,160 closer to God, you had to go to the temple. 420 00:24:49,040 --> 00:24:52,640 That was God's physical house on earth. 421 00:24:52,840 --> 00:24:57,240 When God came to earth, he came to the temple, and if you wanted 422 00:24:57,240 --> 00:25:01,560 to draw close to God, you came to the temple, and that's how 423 00:25:01,560 --> 00:25:04,520 you drew close to God. And that was what the Scripture 424 00:25:04,520 --> 00:25:08,280 taught, and it gave sacrifice specific ways. 425 00:25:08,400 --> 00:25:10,840 This is how you worship God. This is how you offer these 426 00:25:10,840 --> 00:25:14,240 kinds of sacrifices, animal sacrifices, grain sacrifices. 427 00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:17,760 You were to give to support the temple financially and give to 428 00:25:17,760 --> 00:25:20,000 the poor relief that was done out of the temple. 429 00:25:20,160 --> 00:25:22,840 All of these different ways of worshiping and serving God. 430 00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:27,640 But the temple required a specific type of money. 431 00:25:28,640 --> 00:25:31,520 And so every, the, the Jews were scattered all throughout the 432 00:25:31,520 --> 00:25:33,760 region, throughout the Roman Empire, all over the place. 433 00:25:33,760 --> 00:25:36,040 They were coming, some of them from 100 miles away, different 434 00:25:36,040 --> 00:25:37,880 countries with different currencies. 435 00:25:38,040 --> 00:25:41,480 And they were all coming to the temple and to, to most of them 436 00:25:42,120 --> 00:25:44,360 that were doing their, they didn't want to herd a bunch of 437 00:25:44,360 --> 00:25:47,760 sheep and goats and Rams all of their journey with them. 438 00:25:47,920 --> 00:25:50,560 They would come and they would buy them there, they would buy 439 00:25:50,560 --> 00:25:52,880 the grain there, they would offer their money there. 440 00:25:53,080 --> 00:25:56,520 But to do that, they had to exchange for the temple 441 00:25:56,520 --> 00:26:00,360 currency. And the money changers had a 442 00:26:00,360 --> 00:26:03,400 monopoly. Everyone was coming. 443 00:26:04,080 --> 00:26:07,520 Everyone was coming needed to change their money, and they 444 00:26:07,520 --> 00:26:09,440 were the only ones changing the money. 445 00:26:09,640 --> 00:26:14,160 And they were ripping people off with terrible exchange rates, 446 00:26:14,560 --> 00:26:19,680 making themselves rich by putting up false barriers 447 00:26:19,800 --> 00:26:23,800 between people and God. You see, it wasn't just doing 448 00:26:23,800 --> 00:26:27,720 business. They were putting up barrier 449 00:26:27,880 --> 00:26:33,680 people coming to draw closer to God and worship and prayer and 450 00:26:33,680 --> 00:26:36,360 in obedience. And these money changers were 451 00:26:36,360 --> 00:26:41,600 getting in the way and making people pay extra to get to God. 452 00:26:44,920 --> 00:26:49,560 And Jesus was as forceful as he needed to be when he flipped 453 00:26:49,560 --> 00:26:52,000 over those table and drove those people out. 454 00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:56,520 And he said, my house, quoting the prophet Isaiah is to be 455 00:26:56,520 --> 00:27:00,280 House of prayer for all nations. And you've turned it into a den 456 00:27:00,280 --> 00:27:03,720 of robbers. This temple is here to help 457 00:27:03,720 --> 00:27:07,600 people draw closer to God and you've turned it into a means of 458 00:27:07,600 --> 00:27:12,480 robbing them. And Jesus said no. 459 00:27:14,480 --> 00:27:17,480 And when he, when he turned over the tables of the money changers 460 00:27:17,480 --> 00:27:20,320 and drove them out, he wasn't just shaming them, he was 461 00:27:20,320 --> 00:27:24,320 shaming the entire priestly class that was supporting and 462 00:27:24,320 --> 00:27:26,400 implicitly endorsing that system. 463 00:27:28,280 --> 00:27:33,000 And he shamed them all. But again, Jesus could have 464 00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:36,960 called fire down from heaven. Jesus could have killed those 465 00:27:36,960 --> 00:27:38,640 money changers. He could have killed those 466 00:27:38,640 --> 00:27:43,160 priests in the same way that God killed her and God killed Onan, 467 00:27:43,760 --> 00:27:47,240 but he didn't. And when he cleared out the 468 00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:52,280 temple, he taught, he preached, he shared, he explained what he 469 00:27:52,280 --> 00:27:54,640 was doing and why he was doing it. 470 00:27:54,640 --> 00:27:56,680 Why? So he could clear the way for 471 00:27:56,680 --> 00:28:00,680 people to truly come to God, including the people he had just 472 00:28:00,680 --> 00:28:05,160 driven out of the temple, giving them space and room and 473 00:28:05,160 --> 00:28:09,080 opportunity to repent. I just realized I'm really going 474 00:28:09,080 --> 00:28:10,280 along here. I apologize. 475 00:28:13,280 --> 00:28:16,800 I'm getting into this one today. This is what Jesus did for his 476 00:28:16,800 --> 00:28:22,400 entire his entire ministry life. Jesus called, taught, and healed 477 00:28:22,720 --> 00:28:25,720 rather than judging, condemning, and killing. 478 00:28:25,920 --> 00:28:28,960 Always inviting people to restoration, always inviting 479 00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:32,360 people to repentance, always inviting people to be reconciled 480 00:28:32,360 --> 00:28:35,840 to God and to their neighbors and that covenant of love and 481 00:28:35,840 --> 00:28:39,360 fellowship which God intends to be in his Kingdom. 482 00:28:39,920 --> 00:28:43,720 And like his grandmother Tamar, Jesus humbled himself to invite 483 00:28:43,720 --> 00:28:48,640 us to repent and live up to our covenant obligations. 484 00:28:50,480 --> 00:28:54,120 Jesus humbled himself to the point of dying in shame on the 485 00:28:54,120 --> 00:28:59,560 cross. Jesus took all of our shame upon 486 00:28:59,560 --> 00:29:01,880 himself and said, I will shoulder this. 487 00:29:02,520 --> 00:29:08,080 I will bear your shame so that you can be free of shame, so 488 00:29:08,080 --> 00:29:11,080 that when you feel shame and there are time when we mess up, 489 00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:14,480 there are times when it is appropriate and right and good 490 00:29:14,480 --> 00:29:19,880 that we feel ashamed. The lie we have to ignore, the 491 00:29:19,880 --> 00:29:23,880 lie we have to reject, is that in our shame we are hopeless. 492 00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:31,880 We are cut off because Jesus took our shame upon us and he 493 00:29:32,080 --> 00:29:35,600 killed it on the cross along with our sin, so that when we 494 00:29:35,600 --> 00:29:40,120 feel that shame we can repent and we can be restored and we 495 00:29:40,120 --> 00:29:43,360 can be free of it because of what He has done. 496 00:29:44,880 --> 00:29:48,600 Everything Jesus did was an invitation to repentance, 497 00:29:48,880 --> 00:29:54,120 redemption and restoration. Everything all along the way 498 00:29:55,520 --> 00:30:00,680 from from the time of his conversing with the people, well 499 00:30:00,680 --> 00:30:04,440 at the time of his birth, the time of his conception, 500 00:30:05,680 --> 00:30:09,040 everything from all throughout history before Jesus was 501 00:30:09,040 --> 00:30:13,720 incarnated, God was doing this, inviting redemption, providing 502 00:30:13,720 --> 00:30:16,680 repentance, redemption and restoration. 503 00:30:17,200 --> 00:30:21,240 Our King, by word and example, calls us to a triumphalism. 504 00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:26,600 He came in Jerusalem triumphant, but a triumphalism marked by 505 00:30:26,600 --> 00:30:31,600 grace, humility, and sacrifice not and never a triumphalism of 506 00:30:31,600 --> 00:30:34,960 moral superiority, conquest, or domination. 507 00:30:38,320 --> 00:30:46,040 We win by humbling ourselves. We we honor our King who has won 508 00:30:46,040 --> 00:30:50,160 our salvation by humbling ourselves, not by dominating or 509 00:30:50,160 --> 00:30:56,880 conquering others, by serving and sacrificing and joining with 510 00:30:56,920 --> 00:31:00,800 Jesus and taking up our cross and shouldering at times other 511 00:31:00,800 --> 00:31:05,600 people's shame so that they can receive repentance, redemption, 512 00:31:05,920 --> 00:31:11,560 and restoration. Wharf would rather most Klingons 513 00:31:11,560 --> 00:31:16,560 would rather have died then be shamed publicly like that and be 514 00:31:16,560 --> 00:31:20,440 shamed for generations. Wharf took that shame upon 515 00:31:20,440 --> 00:31:26,320 himself, and he did it again. This is Star Trek to prevent 516 00:31:26,320 --> 00:31:32,480 civil war in the Klingon Empire. Jesus took our shame upon 517 00:31:32,480 --> 00:31:34,960 himself. He wasn't guilty, just like 518 00:31:34,960 --> 00:31:39,040 where's Father wasn't guilty. But Jesus took our shame upon 519 00:31:39,040 --> 00:31:43,160 himself so that we could be restored to God. 520 00:31:45,240 --> 00:31:51,840 Not as a lie, not as a deception, not as a scapegoat, 521 00:31:53,000 --> 00:31:59,080 but as a willing sacrifice. A willing sacrifice so that we 522 00:32:00,560 --> 00:32:04,120 can be brought closer to God and closer to each other and reach 523 00:32:04,120 --> 00:32:07,200 out with that same spirit of love and sacrifice to our 524 00:32:07,200 --> 00:32:09,440 neighbors in Jesus name. Amen. 525 00:32:09,960 --> 00:32:10,400 Amen.