March Tournament Preview

0:00Recorded live at Tocks and Tasting Studios, it's the ClareClearz podcast. The podcast that shows you what's behind the collar. Let's go. From the Tocks at Tasting Studios, this is the ClareClearz podcast. Podcast that shows you what's behind the collar. This is Bull Hagen. This is Vicar. Peter's here. Hey, Pete. All right. We haven't done like a good group episode in a little while, so let's, let's be a good team today. All right. Yeah, yeah. It's going to be back together and not under the upcoming guys of death more than usual, I mean. Right. Right. And I want to thank you, Vicar, for helping us through the last podcast when we needed you the most. I don't always remember that. Yeah. That's my job. I don't claim to be a hero. I just... You were really there for me when my grandfather died on my birthday, and I just means a lot. And really, when I had cancer, yeah, yeah, of course, I truly try to go above and beyond

1:06for you. I don't look for... Well, it just goes. It doesn't go unappreciated and judging from the last podcast you're on, I think everyone can see that you are ready to take your game up to the next level, Vicar. We did get one email about our hastily created episode. Yeah, we got an email and the email says Sunday, go ahead, Vicar. Yes, it was from Zach, and he said, Sunday's episode was somehow exactly what I expected from clerical errors, my condolences to the Bull Higgins, also almost equal in size condolences to Vicar for having to tape this episode. See, you're connecting with the people. It's an outreach. It's what I try. So... Well, maybe if you worked hard enough, you keep this trajectory onward.

2:06We can have your image on a t-shirt on the clerical errors shop. And then, Sunday, when you go back for a year, maybe you'll run into a picture of your face in the wild of a listener. Maybe the highlight of my life. I know. We love it. Take too long. So, as everybody knows, what are we in the middle of? Very important. Lent. No, March Madness, Vicar, come on, important. You walked right into that one. I know. All right, so, speed top 12 list. Peter, play the intro. Yes, nothing. It's time for Bull Higgins Top 12. All right, these are the top 12 advice that people give for filling out your bracket that would also make very poor theology. Number 12. It's gonna be awesome. Follow your heart. Pick the teams that everyone else is picking. Number nine. Trust the experts. Number eight. If you choose to follow the right team, you will make it to the promised land.

3:07Number seven. Regular season and early season losses matter. You're held to them always. Number six. Pick the teams that you know deserves to win because these are their teams for grandfather and father picked. Number five. Head your bets. Fill lots of brackets and maybe one of them will work. Number four. Trusted style over substance. Number three. When filling out a bracket, brandish a weapon on Instagram. Number two. Make sure you make silly bets and compromises to make a mockery of the whole thing. Number one. Remember, when it comes to sports, that being right is the only thing that matters. All right. So those are tips for filling out your bracket that make bad theology. All right. So you're saying any? You're saying I shouldn't brandish a weapon on the church's Facebook page. Not a good idea. Well, if you were listening, Vicar, it says this is bad advice.

4:07The vice was when filling out a bracket, brandish a weapon on Instagram. So you're saying I shouldn't brandish a weapon. Correct. That's the time. That's pretty funny. That one felt a little shoehorned in. We got to do better than that, man. Okay. All right. When your bracket fails and it will, there you go. There you go. Actually, there's the theological point. I think I saw that the chance of filling out a correct bracket is like one in trillions or quadrillions. Well, it's probably not that high because at least there's chances of like the odds are better than the worst. See, here's the thing. You can't just say it's actually 50-50. There is actually a great theological point in this figure. Yeah. Because when you're filling out a bracket, it actually looks like it's easy. Like one in someone's going to fill out a perfect bracket, right? It always looks that way.

5:08Like, oh, I'm just picking some names and some teams. You know, just narrowing it down. It looks like lots of people should be able to do it, and no one can. Yeah, almost always, they don't even make it out of the first weekend. So what's at the point is people treat, oh, yeah, the law, I couldn't do that, right? Someone can, because it happens. Not. There's your sermon illustration. And if you're going to use that listener, if your pastor's a sermon illustration, make sure before you use that, if you're going to use that as a sermon illustration listener and you're a pastor, one thing I ask is you can only make it if you already know nothing about basketball. Yeah, make sure you name something like a matchup that's not going to happen. Right. Yeah. And you say, all right, it's that crazy time of the year with the crazy times in March where they throw the ball into the bucket.

6:09Yeah, you have to say March madness and then like somehow make it theological about how madness is the problem. Yes. Randy, you somehow incorporate a round ball rock into the liturgy instead of calling it March madness. We should call it, I don't know, March sadness. All right. So I thought because we are recording this before any of the games were played, right? That we should do help people fill out the brackets. Oh, of course. Yeah. Yeah. So Peter, if you would just, I'm using, I have nothing in front of me. You can't see me, but I am. I'm just using on the top of the dome my analysis. He's massaging his temples. All right. Peter, give me a team that you want me to analyze for the tournament. Do you want a team or a matchup? Give me a team.

7:10The team. I want to hear all about BYU. BYU. Okay, they've got a Debonza who could be the number one draft pick. But you surround him with some senior guard play experienced on the wings. And some veteran bench. They got a few people off a NIL outside of Debonza. They somehow lack athleticism. I'm not sure how that is, but they should be a sneaky team. You're going to watch out for BYU. Also, also in the West, can they overcome Wisconsin? Wisconsin. Oh, Wisconsin. Hard knows basketball team. Also great senior leadership on that team. They got a few other guys from the NIL and well coached good fundamentals, solid defense. They might run an interesting zone defense and a coverage press.

8:11But I'm not sure that they have the they have a low ceiling and a high floor. So I'm not sure how they're going to quite do in the tournament. So you're a big fan of the coaching staff over there. You know, great coaching staff. Yeah. They're kind of well known coaching staff for the coaching that they do. So moving on to the South, how do you feel about St. Mary's this year? Oh, St. Mary's. They are they come from a conference that gets a lot of love, you know, outside of Gonzaga, which was once in their conference. They are always saying that the tear below, but they play an exciting up and down type of basketball, solid defense, sneaky athleticism and length, great length, especially in the front court. I think they have a solid chance of doing fairly well in this tournament, although they're going up against a Texas and a and N team that has really road tested a lot of quadrant

9:15one games that they've had to play. So that might be a surprise to St. Mary's in the NCAA tournament, the NCAA tournament. Give me another one, Pete. Well, I mean, another team that a lot of people, I think, underestimate in this tournament, especially is Virginia. Oh, Virginia. Also they got some great players off the NIL deals of some some guys who played in the mid majors that made a name for themselves and are able to jump up to the the ranks of the ACC. So they should play well. Now when you think Virginia, you think defense, you think low scoring games, a little three in the action. So generally speaking, Virginia, which by the way, I believe was a first team, the first one seeded team to lose in the NCAA tournament that doesn't bode well.

10:16So, but Virginia, you think of them, you think hard nose defense and if their threes aren't falling, they're not going to win. It's a classic 314 where you could have a sneaky upset in the NCAA tournament. And I want to hear about Kansas, KU. KU. All right. Okay. I'm going to say this. KU, a little overrated. Nobody knows what rock, chalk, jay, hawk, am I saying that correctly? That even means kind of colloquial, you know, little inside information. But they do have some some good athletes, but underperformed this year, their best player doesn't always play the full game kind of. Let's just say he has a good chance of making in the NBA, but there's also a good chance he will brandish a weapon on Instagram. So be careful, it's a lot of their team might be looking beyond the tournament into their money making days in the NBA.

11:17So they kind of will act like they deserve to be there and they will have, I would say, a rude awakening, although I will say solid guard play and senior leadership in the NCAA tournament. Okay. So in summary for the for the brackets for everybody's brackets, for the first round, do you think Kansas is going to beat Cal Baptist? Uh, yes, uh, Saint Mary is going to beat Texas A&M. Uh, no, no, uh, Texas A&M, way tougher schedule, more battle tested, um, senior leadership up and down the court is Wisconsin going to beat high point, uh, high point, um, I believe they are a team from Colorado, um, I, uh, although, you know, when you think of high point, you think of a team that, um, that is gritty, you know, that they're not going to make mistakes, um, and they play with a lot of heart, a lot of floor flapping on defense,

12:22you know, they're going to win a lot of 50, 50 balls, um, and, uh, great scheme, schematics when it comes to their offense and defense, by the way, but, uh, they may lack the athleticism to keep up with the team like, really playing Wisconsin and high point with Wisconsin, yes. So, uh, you think Wisconsin is going to win her high point? Uh, I got Wisconsin, um, so put that in your bracket listener and then, uh, BYU, I thought for sure that they had an opponent previously, maybe they dropped out. I think, uh, they have a plan. Oh, they're playing. Okay. Yeah. I can analyze a play and game. I really feel passionate about the play and game. Do you think BYU will beat whoever is in the play and game? Yes, they, they will have a, um, they will have a solid shot of beating the, the play and game because, um, although here's the thing about a playing game, bigger, let me explain something to you, okay? There's a lot of jitters in that first game in the NCAA tournament, right? A little left first five, ten minutes of, uh, of a NCAA game, tournament game, a lot

13:29of sloppy play, you know, a lot of turnovers. And, uh, the thing about the playing game is you kind of get that out of your system and that first game. And so if you, once you get by that first game, you kind of have a little more momentum heading into the game. You, you've already seen one win go down, figure. And so you have that opportunity to, to feel gain a little more confidence handing to the game because it's all really, it doesn't really matter how good you are at basketball. As long as you head into the game with a little confidence, you're probably going to win. This is maybe the most self-indulgent, uh, content we've ever produced. Someone's desperately trying to write a sermon right now. And finally Virginia versus right state. Ah, actually, uh, Virginia is kind of the wrong state in many ways. But in this game, they're going to be the right state against the right state. All right. And then, uh, a couple regional quick fires.

14:31Iowa state or Tennessee state. Iowa state, but it's going to be closer than if people think Missouri or Miami, Florida. I'm not just saying this because you're here, Vicar. I actually like Missouri. St. John's and you and I, I think more than Iowa might have to put on a slipper, Vicar. They might be the Cinderella Clemson, Iowa. Iowa, Clemson has a decided advantage in athleticism, but, uh, Iowa's got Ben Sturts. Um, you kind of looks like he plays for the seminary, but a good shooter. And, uh, I kind of like Clemson in that one though. And free choice. Pick one more. Game you want to call Michigan state North Dakota state. I think the bison's their plural North Dakota state. I don't know if you knew that the bison's will have a, a solid, you know, halfway through. They'll be kind of keeping up and then, you know, they, be down maybe 10 by half time. But then, uh, Michigan state, uh, is kind of kind of blow them out battle tested big 10 team.

15:32All right. And the NCAA tournament. There's your bracket update. Get your brackets in just before those games start. And by the way, yeah, if, uh, you know, I, you know, I'm not supposed to encourage people to gamble, but I mean, bank it. I just gave you gold money in your pocket from Pastor Bullhagen. And if you win because of me, make sure you give 20%, uh, to the clerical errors podcast, which you can find on Patreon. So just email the show at clerical errors.org feedback at clerical errors.org. Um, uh, give us a shout out on the ex platform. If you find yourself winning big money because of the show, yep. And, and later today this afternoon, I'll, I'll be posting on our socials, uh, the, uh, the bracket tournament. So all of our listeners can join in and, uh, a play against us in the, uh, the brackets. Right. So get that bracket filled out. Right. By Sunday.

16:32Yep. Any comments, Vickr? Uh, stellar and analysis is always, I think it was very well done. So, yeah, it's, it's really, it would be easy to be a sports announcer, because you can just make a bunch of stuff up. Just add things like solid garplay, three coaching staff, great coaching staff, uh, got some good guys from the portal. You can throw it down to the court side, say, yeah, we've been talking to him in the gym. This is what they've been working on. Been really working at. I think we're going to have a good, good 50 balls. They're really going, going after the 50, 50 balls. They've been working on the shooting. Had some trouble with that this year. So coming in with a lot of confidence, had some problems with the, uh, defensive rebound. But they, we got it under control for this game. I think solid on the pick and roll. That's like what NASCAR, uh, what drivers do whenever they catch them court side, or not courtside track side. And they're just talking about random stuff. I don't know if you ever seen that before. Yeah, I've seen them, but I have never understood what they're saying.

17:34That's not what they have in our pop-in. You know, they're going to be up and up and up and up and up and up and up. I don't know if the wheel came off, but I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, how'd I do? Pretty good. A little bit to understandable. You may need to, uh, up your southern accent. A little bit more. I need somebody to turn that into the, the best base drop you've ever heard for Dubstep wrong. Just slowly pitch that up as you go. There you go. And then she talked about that in a wheel fall off. So, Ficker, what are we pre, what am I preaching on? The Old Testament reading is from Genesis chapter 22 verses 1 through 14. After these things, God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham, and he said, here am I. He said, take your son, your only son, whom Isaac, whom you love and go to the land of Mariah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I shall tell you. All right. So for, as we begin here, uh, there are all two things that already

18:37are confronted here. One is God had promised that, uh, through Isaac, uh, Abraham would be the father of, of many, and it was going to be through Isaac. And now you have the God telling, uh, Abraham to sacrifice him. These are two things that you would think would be competing each other with each other. How can he do that? If, uh, if, uh, how can he, this had this promise happen if a sacrifice is made? Continue, Vicar. So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey and took two of his young men with him and his son, Isaac, and they cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place which God had told him. On the third day, Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place from afar. The Abraham said to his young men, stay here with the donkey. I will, I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on, on Isaac his son.

19:39And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they, then, so they went both of them together. And Isaac said to his father, Abraham, my father, and he said, here I am my son. He said, behold the, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? Abraham said, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son. So they went both of them together. When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order, and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. The Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the angel of the Lord called him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham, and he said, here I am, he said, do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, seeing that you have not withheld your son, your only son from me.

20:46And Abraham lifted up his eyes and behold, behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering of instead of his son. So Abraham called the name of that place. The Lord will provide, as it is said to this day, on the mount of the Lord it shall be provided. All right, and it goes on to continue the promise. Is that text ends there really? Yep. Verse 14. Should have more. But it continues on with the speaking of the promise. And how, because you have not withheld your son, your descendants shall be more than the sand on the seashore, I believe. This is what the example he uses. And through your offspring, all nations will be blessed. And so here, a perfect time as you get close to Holy Week, the Sunday before Palm Sunday. To talk about the purpose of Christ.

21:47Obviously, you have the promise that God made through Abraham, who was an old, old at this time, 100 years old when Isaac was born. And so Isaac, he's even the stronger one because he is the one who's carrying up the wood for his own sacrifice up on the mountain. And so one thing that you might find heartbreaking about this is, is the fact that I think that Isaac had to be pretty obedient here. You know, Moses binding up his son at his age and offering him up. Now, we have some clues that answers the question, Vicar, about the two things that seem incompatible. The promise coming through this son and also the sacrifice. Hebrews reminds us that Abraham believed that even if he were to sacrifice him, that God would raise

22:49him up. And so here you have a picture and a lesson given to Abraham and to all of us. The purpose of everything was the fact that God was going to provide the Lamb of sacrifice for us. And it draws our attention as we approach a Palm Sunday, a good Friday, a Monday Thursday, a good Friday, and Easter. It leads us to all consider what is this promise all about, is about God providing the Lamb of sacrifice through whom all nations will be blessed. And it points directly to Christ. And so when you look at the Old Testament, it all points to the death of Jesus. It all points to the promise that God made and kept. And Abraham learned that he did not have to make the sacrifice that God would provide the Lamb for the sacrifice, which ties really nicely in the Lenten theme. You have any comments on that, Vicar?

23:52No, I was kind of curious why they selected this one for Lent. And I appreciate you kind of bringing that out. So yeah, it's a it kind of shows a lot of forethought really in the sense of this shows a clear understanding of the text. Because everyone has probably heard a sermon about we'll look at look at Abraham and how how he passed the test. And it's all about you have that kind of faith and all turning on to yourself and being strong like Abraham. But it really is less about that. Now Abraham reflects a faith here. Abraham reflects a faith in things he cannot see. And we remember here that Abraham's faith wasn't just, oh, I'm just going to do whatever he tells me. The faith that he was given was in the promise that God had made. And that's what he held on to, even though it was a very hard thing that God asked him to do. He still held on to the promise

24:52that God made. You can see that reflected in Abraham's words, the servants. You stay here. I and the boy will go on the mount to the worship and we will come back to you. He was being honest there. He fully believed that even if he were to sacrifice him, that he would still come back with that son. And obviously in that kind of resurrection that God gave him, it points to to the obedient son who was sacrificed and who did come back alive again. All right, epistle reading, thicker. Epistle is from Hebrews 9 verses 11 through 15. When Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent not made with hands, that is not of this creation, he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.

25:54For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. All right, it's always good when you have a passage like this to understand what a priest does. Okay, particularly in the Old Testament, what a priest does in the Old Testament is, he was one of the people born as one of the people who would be the voice to represent the people to God. And the reason why one is, is because of the sacrifices and you're talking about the vast difference between the righteousness

27:03of God and the sinfulness of men, that it took one to enter the holy place to represent them, and he himself was a sinner. And so when you have a reference to Christ being the high priest, one thing that that centers around and the importance of that is, and you see this all over at Hebrews, the humanity of Christ, that Jesus was one of us, born as one of us in every respect, tempted as one of us in every respect, and yet without sin. And so the one who represents us in the holy place, not just in the temple, but in the eternal holy place, is the one who never had to make sacrifice on behalf of his own sin. But he is the one who pleads for us before the father in heaven. And because we have that high priest, a perfect high priest, who represents us as one of us, we have the full assurance of our standing before God. And in here, I think you

28:13could also bring out in this passage what I actually brought out in my last sermon, where I just got so tired of hearing of Israel and all sorts of people who misconstrue what today's Israel is. And how if you're a Christian, you have to support everything Israel does in some way, that we are bound to that earthly kingdom. You cannot read the Bible with a honest and think that that's that anything of these passages, especially Old Testament, are talking about. Because you have it clear that the temple is not the tabernacle is not the same. The temple is not the same. We're talking about an everlasting kingdom. And Jesus is the high priest. And so any kind of confusion, I think the way I worded it in the sermon was if you tried to use the name of Jesus in any way, to make these kind of political comments, then you are profaning the name of Jesus.

29:14And because that is a misrepresented of who Christ is at what he came to do. I'm not saying that, for example, I'm not making a statement there about policy and all those type of things when it comes to that. But you can't use the name of Jesus in that. If you're going to use the name of Jesus, you can say things like, I know Jesus said, love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. There's something you can go by. If you want to learn from Jesus, how do that handle that situation? You can talk about how Christ himself talked about the destruction of Jerusalem because of the rejection of him. And so you can get a little bit in there because it's a discussion on a new covenant. And that Abraham, David, all were saved by the very same sacrifice that Jesus is a fulfillment of everything that they were pointing out to. So to to to kind of to point to a Jerusalem in

30:20Israel and saying, this is the holy place and you make it devoid of Christ, then it is the opposite. Really. And so all of those points that are made are null and void. They don't apply. Because Jesus himself said, my kingdom is not of this world. And so here he brews definitely points to to all of those things. And it points to a different kingdom, a different high priest, a different temple or tabernacle, an eternal one that Jesus entered as one of us and for us. And he comments on that figure. Yeah, just the point of you said different temple, different priest, different covenant is the word that Hebrews uses here. And I really like that because you know, you brought up the idea of Zionism and things like that. That is trying to shoehorn

31:20the old covenant into the new. Whereas Hebrews brings out very distinctly, this is a new covenant with a new high priest and a new, say chosen people if you want to use that. Right. It is a new new covenant and a new atonement has been made. And I will say this is a Paul talks about some of a lot of this stuff too. That was what I brought out in the sermon. And that is a fact that what does that type of logic do? It directly damages the gospel. It is really an attack of the true gospel when people think they're dropping bombs in the name of Jesus. And they basically say as much. I'm not saying that too, that there's discussion that you could have about whether it's good or not to do and to talk about those things. Just don't bring up Jesus' name as a reason to do it.

32:22When it comes to that, because that also is a confusion of the kingdoms as well. So that might be adding to some things to the text that may not be there. Right. But as far as when it comes to, there is though there, when it talks about a new covenant, it talks about a new holy place that Jesus enters. And it points the fact that it's not what you think it is. All right. Let's go to the gospel reading. I think we're doing the earlier verses with this too. The earlier thing. 42, I think. Yeah, 42 to 59. Yeah. The gospel, holy gospel, according to Saint John the 8th chapter verses 42 through 59. Jesus said to them, if God were your father, you would love me, for I came from God and am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? Is it because you cannot bear to hear my

33:26word? You are of your father, the devil. And your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell you the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God. Jews answered him, are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon? Jesus answered, I do not have a demon, but I honor my father and you dishonor me. Yet I do not seek my own glory. There is one who seeks it and he is the judge. Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death. The Jews said to him,

34:28now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died as did the prophets. Yet you say, if anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death. Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died and the prophets died? Who do you make yourself out to be? Jesus answered, if I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my father who glorifies me of whom you say he is our God, but you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad. So the Jews answered him, you are not yet 50 years old and have you seen Abraham? Jesus said to him, truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am. So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. All right, there's so many things you can bring

35:29up in this text. One is simply the person of Jesus. You have Jesus claiming to be God with the I.M. Statement, which are all over John's Gospel. You have the fact that really it's not rather there. They are intelligent or not or anything like that. It was about who are they loyal to? And Jesus calls, goes out and right, right, says that they have a father, the devil. And so they believe lies. They are murders. He calls them and you do not hear my words. So if you reject the word here, you clearly can see who are you rejecting, rejecting God. And you know, Jesus makes a claim here that he is different than the prophets because all the prophets sinned, but he did not. And so he presents himself as sinless,

36:34which is good because if he is going to be our high priest, he has to be sinless. He has to be one of us. He has to be the eternal God. He also has to be man and he has to be sinless so that his death can pay for our sins so that he can stand as our high priest so he can suffer and die in our place so that a perfect sacrifice can be made. And what's interesting too about all of this is they are projecting on Jesus their own thoughts, meaning they think that he is out for his own glory when he is there for the opposite. He is there to be the least. He is going knows he is going to suffer and die and on a third day rise. So he is there to be the perfect sacrifice. So as they claim, he is out for glory, which is why I think the vehement of his death

37:34is so full on display because they want to show that, okay, where is your glory now? If you are the son, your son of God, bring yourself down. And so he is not allowing himself to be bound to that, but he is a sinless one, but not seeking his own glory, but the glory of the Father and what is the Father's will. We hear earlier in John that the Father would lose none of these that have been given to me. Jesus expressly says that earlier in John. And so you also have a beautiful understanding of the Trinity and the unity of you have in the three persons and one divine essence. That can be something by which you can talk about, but you have in here kind of all leading up to Holy Week, all leading up to what is going to wind up killing him because they pick up stones already. You can already see the vehements against Jesus and against his word. And as Jesus

38:40talks about here, he is not making a claim that they wouldn't be able to see in scripture. When they say you haven't seen Abraham, you can back up his claims just like we saw in Genesis chapter 22, Abraham saw that day. He saw that day in Genesis 22 when he named the place the Lord will provide the Lamb of sacrifice. So when Jesus makes that claim and you don't believe me, he really is making a claim also to the words that were spoken beforehand. They are not just rejecting the person that is there before them, but if they really understood and took the heart, the words that God gave through Moses and the prophets, they would receive him and they would receive his word, which is what you have in John the Baptist. John the Baptist, his proof was in the fact that Jesus was doing what the prophets had said he would do, or you have the parable

39:45of the rich man and Lazarus. In the rich man, the Lazarus, what did Abraham tell the rich man says, he says, go tell my brothers and warn them. And what does he say? Well, they have the Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them. They will not believe even if someone should rise from the dead. And there Jesus makes a claim that what convinces is not just what they see in the person, but the words that have already been given that prove the fact that he is what that word says. But at the same time, even the disciples don't understand it until after the resurrection, when Jesus opens their minds to understand the scriptures. But nonetheless, it leaves them without excuse. And when he says, where have I sinned? That question has to deal with really truth. When he says, who convicts me of sin? Who convinces me of false doctrine and false teaching?

40:51Not just, I've done bad stuff. That really is, show me where I am wrong. Search the words of the prophets and show me where I am wrong. And you can't. So any comments on that? There's a lot there. I mean, there's a ton. You could preach on this text. And I think that's a good direction. So I'll go with what you said. I gave you 20 directions. I think this is a good text, figure to talk about Israel. Go ahead. All right. Well, those are the texts. We have answered one question for the mailbag. Let's tackle another. Can you fire that up, Pete? Unless you want no more NCA talk. I'd love to listen to your insights on more bracket stuff. But I think we covered a lot. Okay. I've already made them big money. Yeah, of course. I mean, there's only there's only so rich some person can be, right? Right. If you make a lot of money, remember,

41:5410% to the church and another 10% to clerical air's podcast. We had previously got Zach sent that email saying condolences to Vicar and us, but mostly Vicar. If you guys remember, he had some potential future topics that we talked about. So we talked about some Bible study topics, I believe, but he didn't have some other ones, which were what to write in the margins of your Bible and the pros and cons of journaling Bibles. Some things every first year seminarian wishes they knew both from pastor and Vicar. And what are some one of the best books you've read lately? So do you guys want to tackle one of those? I have about things every first seminarian wishes they knew. I think it's an interesting one. Yeah. So there's a few things that you can answer about that. You can talk about, you know,

42:55from just a standpoint of information. Like, I wish I had the catacombs fully memorized before I started. That's a good one. Like having the catacism memorized really well and understood really well is would be one of the top things I could recommend. Because if you can explain, like if you couldn't explain various things and even things from the explanation that are kind of basic, you know, things like why, what does Jesus do as a prophet, what does He do as a priest, what does He do as a king? What are the four things that the resurrection proves? What are the five things that the Bible teaches about? And I'm talking about not the new one, where it talks a lot about human creatures and whatnot. I'm talking about the older one because I'm an old, funny dud. And you just can't throw a new catacism expect an old guy like me just to run with it. I'm wrong, Vicar. Anyways, you don't know what I answer that. You'll be the same when they

43:5725 years and they come up with a new edition and you'll be like, uh, and you'll say, I sound just like Bull Hagen. I grew up on the catacism you're using. So that's the only catacism I ever knew until the 17. But simply knowing that, if you're talking just like general knowledge, something that you wish you knew, that is, I would say knowing that even looking through the explanation and giving some basic answers from those things would go a long, long way. And not just knowing and having the catacism memorized, right? But going through it with memory and just making sure you understand each part and seeking clarity. So if there's something in the the catacism that you are struggling with, why does it say this will then make sure you understand everything about it in all the various parts? Because with that basis, that would make everything

45:00else quite a bit easier. So that would be the first thing. And if you're, you got any kind of like that, thicker? The catacisms are really good one. I would definitely keep that in mind. And also have at least a familiarity with the parts of the liturgy. And I know most Lutherans have grown up. They've been singing the liturgy. But there's a difference between sort of having it memorized, like most lay people do, which is a good thing. And but spend some time learning what the parts actually are. Because you'll see them come out in your classes. You'll see professors make references to things. He's like, Oh, I spent the last, in my case, 24 years learning about that, singing about it in the liturgy. So just take some time to become familiar with the different parts. What it is, they're actually doing why they're there. Again, you don't have to be fluent in the liturgy. They'll teach you most of that stuff. But just just take some time to study it and

46:04learn it. The other thing I would say is from if you're talking about just kind of things you knew, like some head knowledge thing, the other thing I would do is have a having a just a good grasp on just a general history of the old and new testament. Because what happens is what you're studying, studying, you know, you get so focused in on little things that don't make sense unless you understand a little better the big picture. And a lot of the seminary training is looking at things with a microscope and not looking at kind of the broader picture in the context. And so having that, just a good basic general scriptural historical knowledge about what happened and when it happened. And, you know, the history of Jesus' life or the work of Paul and where he went,

47:06which you could do fairly easily, I think, if you just give it a couple hours a week, even if it's something you can listen to or walking through that you can gain kind of a general kind of a working knowledge of the history so that you can place everything else in its context would be a good thing that would be good to to bone up on. I'm saying that as someone it's been a long time since I was in the seminary, but I'm going from knowledge nine to graduate started seminary in 94. So when it comes to then the other aspects as far as wish you knew from the point of view of an attitude, the first thing I would say is I would don't be afraid to be humbled. You will very much, very often in that first year, I feel like you maybe aren't inadequate or maybe

48:10you can see some outstanding students in the classmates or you can talk to a fourth year student you're like, there's no way I'm ready to do that. Especially if you come from one of the court of universities that sometimes they can actually be a little too confident. I don't not say anything about you, Vicar, but you know what I mean, right? But I would say the other thing is when you you're in the seminary and I probably could have done more of this because I was just busy, surprise, surprise, doing all sorts of different things. There's a reason why the best seminary train is on campus because some of the best things that you can learn, not the best things, round things that round things out is have a group of people that you bouncing off of and you get used to talking about things and you kind of

49:13in a way that's not threatening, but discussions that you can have that really help you with professors and your classmates and making use of the fact that you are learning on campus and making use of all the things that the campus has to offer. That going to the seminary is not just passing your classes, but it really is a habitus that you learn and an inculturation within it that can prove to be very helpful. As long as there's a caveat to that and that is you can get really lost in those things too and when you go on Vicarage you'll find all the things I was so angry and upset about those first two years. Not once, and Vicarage could probably say the things that we argued about, not once in the last six months has anybody brought that up to me. Why was I so concerned about that? That happens too. So use it, but remember don't get so

50:20lost in the weeds that you forget that purpose because a lot of those discussions you'll look back after Vicarage and say, yeah, I don't know. That was, I can't believe that seems so important to be at that point. Does it have you had anything like that before? Yeah, I would frame what you're talking about as be cognizant of the bubble. Be cognizant that you're in a bubble when you're at seminary. It's a good bubble. It's good to be that way. Like you said, you have people around you that you can talk to and bounce ideas off of, but realize that a lot of the things that a year and a half ago when I was a first year seminary and I was really worried about, I've come out on Vicarage and it's like, well, that's not really as big a problem as I thought it was or people aren't as concerned about that as I thought it was. Just realize that be cognizant of the fact that you are in a special place, a good place where people have the freedom to be able to talk about and worry about those kinds of things and just realize that it's not going to be like that necessarily

51:28when you get out. For example, when you go to chapel, you will see and learn things all about chapel that will be helpful as a pastor, but you can't just automatically just incorporate everything right away like you want to do. Right. I would say, too, one of the best parts that seminary has for doing this is really take the time to get to know and love your fieldwork congregation. For me, that was one of the most important parts because every Sunday I would leave campus drive 30 minutes south and go talk to people who were not in that bubble. I don't want to say necessarily you let your hair down with them because you are serving there, but you get to see how these things play out in real life. You start to realize maybe how silly some of the things you got really worked up about were because you get to talk to real people about them and your

52:31fieldwork congregations are going to have experience doing this. They're going to be really good natured and just take the time to invest yourself in them is what I would is maybe some of the best advice that I have because my fieldwork congregation was fantastic and it's sort of maybe one of the under looked parts of seminary. And with the biblical languages, don't be afraid of them, but if you have an opportunity to study those beforehand, that's always good. Yeah, if we have any high school listeners out there and you're considering college and you are thinking about the ministry, I cannot recommend highly enough taking languages that one of the concordias. Fantastic. So if you are a high school listener, please give that some consideration. But I would say to the cost effective part of me thinks like there there are enough resources like if you wanted to start getting into Greek in Hebrew,

53:39you can I haven't looked but I'm sure there's a ton of online classes or discussions, YouTube videos, even where you could kind of which I didn't have that you could really start to get into some of those things even if you don't go to a concordia where you can because Peter had some experience when he got into his job. Mostly you're learning for your vocation through self-study, right? Yeah, basically, yeah. Not that the Greek and the Hebrew are the same as network stuff and IT stuff, but at the same time, there are plenty of resources out there that if you wanted to start to get into the Greek and the Hebrew and you have a willing spirit to do it and a desire to do it, there are so many things that you can do now that I didn't have

54:42when I was at that time that could have really helped me that could get your dip your toe in the languages so that it's not so frightening when it comes times to learning whether it's in Greek summer Greek or Hebrew. I don't know how I imagine the emphasis is mostly on the reading and understanding of Greek and Hebrew, not necessarily the speaking of, right? But I know that a lot of people will use like Chad GPT to talk to in different languages as kind of a training. Okay, so that's another option. Yeah, I don't know if yeah, I don't know how well that would work in because we don't really talk it or create our own sentences. It's just more of understanding. Right. What Chad GPT is good for that I found the languages is for drilling. So like you can get it to create a list of 20 verbs for you to parse and you can tell it to mix

55:43and match it and you can just do that as long as you want, right? It's never going to run out of verbs. So that's good. Yeah, so it listener, if you know of any online resources that could help get, let us know. We'll be happy to share those with them on the podcast. So that sounds like an episode, Vicar. What do we learn today? Sum it up for us. We learned that the March Madness bracket is a very intense face off this year. We also learned a little bit about exactly what to pick in your bracket and exactly what to pick. That's right. And we learned that now I'm blanking on the gospel. Well, that's good enough. Thank you for this thing. This is full. Hey, good. This is Vicar. And may you not blank on the gospel. Good advice. Thank you for joining us. This podcast is available on iTunes, Google Play,

56:48Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts. Questions, thoughts, concerns. You can contact us on Facebook at facebook.com slash clerical airs podcast on Twitter at clerical airs p for podcast or email us at feedback at clericalairs.org. Thanks for listening to clerical airs. See you next time.