JOHN151 - The Transitive Property. Sort Of.

0:00Hey, Matt's daughter here. I just wanted to say that leaving a rating and review on this podcast really helps and we are grateful for you considering doing that. All right, the transit of property. I think I remember this from when I was a kid. A lot of you were holding your breath right now because you're like, you know what? Sometimes you do okay on the history stuff, but whenever math comes up, it's kind of hidden mess. Yeah, I know. I know, math is hard, right? But I'm trying. I really do think I have this one. The transit of property and mathematics is if A equals B and B equals C, then A also equals C, right? That's an easy one. And I think I got that right. Maybe you formulated different. That's what seems to stick in my head. I especially remember the transit of property because it gets used in jokes a lot when a good football

1:03team loses to a really bad football team. Fans of that really bad football team might be like, well, we beat this great team and they beat the best team ever. Therefore, according to the transit of property, we are the best team ever. Even though everybody knows it was a fluke upset or whatever. The transit of property is also used in comparisons, right? Like when you parent or something, if you have kids, you might give a little speech like, hey, if I can't trust you with this little tiny insignificant task to say, I'll do it and then to deliver on it. How am I supposed to trust you with keys to a car, kid? I can't just like you got to show me on the little stuff and favor the big stuff. Likewise, the transit of property used in this kind of goofball way also comes up in the Bible. Luke 16, this is I think the most famous formulation of the sort of jokie version of

2:05the transit of property, Luke 16 verse 10, whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. It's a little bit tongue-in-cheek. I know it's not exactly how the math works, but you see what this formulation is in the Bible. And Jesus is a huge fan of this formulation. He is constantly building out his teachings, his conversations with this. Well, if this is this way and even idiots know that, Jesus doesn't exactly use that language paraphrases mind just as there. And even idiots know that this is this way. How much more so should followers of God or enlightened people like you geniuses know this thing? Jesus will also use this comparative formulation when he's talking about the limitations of somebody he's talking to. Like if you don't get this, how are you going to get this

3:06bigger important or thing that you want to know about or that I want to commission you toward? And that formulation comes up in John chapter 3 in the conversation with Nicodemus. Remember, the conversation with Nicodemus is a six-moved conversation. Surely this is abbreviated, John's giving it a tightened down version of this thing. Basically, Nicodemus makes the first move. You're pretty special. You're from God. Clearly, Jesus makes the second move. I tell you the truth. No one can see the kingdom of God unless he's born again. Nicodemus makes a move and it's like, well, how does that work? I mean, it's supposed to go back in there and get re that doesn't even make sense. And then Jesus makes the fourth move, which is him saying all of this stuff from the Old Testament that he expected Nicodemus to understand, but the Nicodemus didn't understand. Nicodemus makes the fifth move and doubles down on his ignorance. It's like, how can this be? And then Jesus makes the sixth and final move with this great big statement. Jesus' final remark is bigger than the first five remarks of the conversation combined. Jesus establishes, hey, man, you're supposed to be the one

4:10who knows all of these things and you don't understand this? Okay, I tell you the truth. This is John 3.11. We speak of what we know and we testify to what we've seen, but still you people did not accept our testimony. I've spoken to you of earthly things and you don't believe. How then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one's ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven, the son of man. So there's that formulation and this has got to feel terrible and humiliating for Nicodemus. There's probably no one to maybe five people on earth who could do this to Nicodemus. Out knowledge him, out wisdom him, out understand him, out off the cuff him, out conversation him in the whole world. Zero to maybe five people in the whole world who could do to him what Jesus is doing and the other people on the list, if there are any are all super trained

5:12for it and highly esteemed. And Jesus, I mean, Nicodemus thinks he's from God, but on paper, I mean, kind of just looks like some guy from the wilderness. He doesn't have any of the formal stuff that makes somebody a prestigious thinker. So what is Jesus appealing to to say, I know these things. Then these things are true. And I'm reading the scriptures the right way. Well, his big appeal is I've been in heaven all this time. So I, but Nicodemus, you were saying you went to some classes or something. Oh, I mean, it's, it's a very stark comparison between the two. And it really is kind of a conversation. Ender, I mean, think about how much debate swirls around in the real world and the real internet world. And it just ends up in these kind of goofy stalemates where people who like team A are like, yeah, teammate dominated and people like team B are like team B totally won that one. But really, it kind of feels like nobody ever closes out the argument in a

6:14way that causes people to be like, well, obviously team B is right on that one. But what if in one of those conversations, somebody credibly was like, okay, well, here's here's my first folly. And the other team was like, well, here's mine. Okay, well, here's my next one. Here's mine. Well, here's my next one. And then I was like, well, where do you get off with that? And he said, well, I'm from, I'm actually from heaven. So I've existed outside of time since time was invented and everything that's ever been made has been made through me. I'm the maker and sustainer of all things. I'm writing all of my judgments and I can prove it by breaking the laws of time and space anytime I want to. And I will, but I'm just not going to do it right when you ask me to because it's obnoxious and you don't get to assign me work. Oh, I mean, it's a, it really changes things, you know, in terms of, in terms of how the conversation goes from there. But in the midst of all of this and there is a perfectly valid resume drop in the middle, we testified to what we've seen. You testified in a, to something that you've encountered in a different way. But Jesus says,

7:16I mean, it's man is so much head padding here. Jesus is basically saying, I've dumbed this down for you, man. You're supposed to be the most knowledgeable person here about this. Like in the whole country, I'm just using earthly examples and you're not getting it. What earthly examples is Jesus referencing? Well, a page earlier, he said, destroy this temple and I'll raise it again in three days and Nicodemus presumably was there with all of his buddies and the collective answer of all of his buddies is what? It's taken 46 years to build this temple and you're going to raise it in three days. I mean, didn't even occur to them to think about the Old Testament and what it says about the Messiah. Didn't even occur to them to think about the multiple layers of meaning that might exist with that. You know, okay, I could give them a pass. I probably would have whiffed on that one too. But then Nicodemus comes alone in private and he's like, well, you're pretty impressive. What am I to make of this? And Jesus is like, well, you have to be born again. And again, Nicodemus is like, I'm sorry, I don't really do metaphors. They don't teach us that in school. So

8:21I guess I just don't get it. Could you spell it out for me more clearly? And then a few lines go by and Jesus is like, I have spoken to you of earthly things and you don't believe. How then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? On the one hand, Jesus here is just giving an example. So you could be like, wow, Jesus, you're being a little mean to him. I mean, you gave him a cryptic metaphor and he didn't get the cryptic metaphor. But this isn't just a, on the other hand, we have to acknowledge that this isn't just a knowledge exchange between the two. It is a belief exchange. That is what the conversation at its heart is about, not just intelligence. Nicodemus knows the passages and a lot of the ideas that are in play here overtly and not overtly. But it isn't adding up to a belief or an ability to see what God is doing. So then Jesus launches into one of these comparative sayings like he does so often with the disciples in Mark chapter four. They're like, we don't understand what the parable of the sower means. And Jesus

9:23you don't understand the parable. Well, then how are you going to understand any parable? And the idea is like, that one's kind of right up your alley, guys. I mean, you're from rural agrarian Galilee. And it's the simplest terms possible. He used very small words. It's really pretty obvious. And in fairness to those guys, Jesus explains it and they come around and they get it eventually. Back over in the middle of Luke, Jesus throws out this example of a shrewd manager. And basically rounds out his parable of the shrewd manager saying, the idiots, if the children of the world understand the shrewdness here just intuitively. Man, how much more should the children of the light get stuff like that? Jesus has another formulation like this. It happens in Luke, but just so you don't think it only happens in Luke. Let's go to Matthew. Matthew 16, one through three, the Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and

10:24tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven. Ring a bell. I mean, they've been bothering about that for a long time. Jesus replied, when evening comes, you say it'll be fair whether for the sky is red. And in the morning, today it will be storming for the sky is red and overcast. You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you can't interpret the signs of the times. A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah. And we've talked about the sign of Jonah before which is covered more also in it's Matthew 12, right? Yeah. So I came up with nearly 20 examples of Jesus using these kind of formulations. We're not going to do them all. I don't think that's terribly fruitful, but it's just to say this isn't something unique that Jesus is doing here in John 3. He is constantly intellectually and in terms of belief revealing a little to people and being like,

11:25okay, well, if this nugget, this truth here doesn't make sense, you're going to have a tough time with this truer thing. And so often the people who are the butt of the joke in this transitive property comparison thing that Jesus does are people who ought to know, who imagine that they are the knowers of things, the holders of knowledge, the gatekeepers to the kingdom of heaven themselves, and then with these simple little examples in this formulation that we see again and again, Jesus demonstrates, and you just, you don't know, you can't see it. And what's so punchy about this one is Jesus says, if you can't get this, you're not going to be able to get the bigger thing that you're wondering about. And then right after that, he drops the resume and is like, also, I've, you know, I've lived in heaven forever for all of eternity and I was there before time began and I'll be there after time as we understand it is over. And that's why I have the authority to be saying stuff like this because I am unique and he uses there the term son of man at this point,

12:30Nicodemus is surely tracking works. He knows what that title means, a title we've talked about, and awful lot. Finally, here, I think the dynamic between these two guys is so interesting because not just of the exchange, the exchange is great. That's why we're taking time on it. But it's so interesting to me because it works. In the end, Nicodemus comes around and identifies publicly with Jesus. It isn't even like he's kind of a conflicted Robert the Bruce and Braveheart type who's sneaky and wears a little mask, but discreetly tries to be a double agent and help out team Jesus a little bit. Nicodemus puts it on the line two more times when it's costly to him in the gospel of John. And where did all of that come from? Well, at least in part it came out of this conversation that involved Jesus firmly humbling Nicodemus. I have to imagine that when Nicodemus looked back on this conversation later in his life, he felt like he was Job and Jesus is God. What happens in Job? Well,

13:36Job and all his buddies, they know so much and they're trying to solve all the riddles and everything. And then God enters the chat, just shows up and it's like, well, yeah, I've been here for all of eternity existence. You gird up, put on your big boy pants, buddy. I'm going to take you on a whirlwind tour of the cosmos. And after this tour, your only play will be to trust me as God because you'll be humbled by what you're about to see. Kind of the same thing here. It's quicker, but in a way, Nicodemus kind of occupies the Job role. Jesus occupies the God role because he is God in the flesh. And I have to think Nicodemus made that connection either right here in the moment or after the fact, just realizing it kind of changes the conversation when you're talking to God, to somebody who's seen from outside the system. And I'm also sure that made it a lot easier for Nicodemus to appreciate the way Jesus humbled him in this discussion as opposed to bowing up and stiffening his neck and being rendignant and offended. How could you talk to me like that? Well,

14:38he's got in the flesh. He's the knower of things here. Super interesting. We'll keep breaking it down next time around. I'm Matt. This is the 10 minute Bible Hour podcast. Let's do this again soon.