Lead:

If someone said something to you 378 times, you might think they mean it!

Intro:

Imma gonna bet you’ve known someone like my grandpa…at least in this one respect. He’d tell the same dang stories over and over, apparently forgetting that he’d told you that one.

Sadly, I might be that grandpa someday!

But what if grandpa was in full possession of his faculties and told you something over and over?

What if God told you something over and over?

The word “chesed” gets rendered something like “faithful love,” means something like “covenant loyalty,” is closely associated with who God is, appears 378 times in the Bible, both Old and New Covenants (Testaments), and half of those are in the Psalms.

So what if God told you something over and over? You might begin to think He means it.

Hey, one quickie tip that came in from a listener who was responding to something I said about these five-day-a-week readings being longer. He pointed out that your podcast app might have a speed control, and if you listen at 1.5X speed, you’ll get through it more quickly. Duh! Works for me. In fact, that’s what I do when I use speech-to-text on my Kindle to listen to textbooks while I’m driving. So there you go.

Sponsor:

Would you kindly give a shout out somewhere? Thanks for spreading the Word.

Old covenant:

Passage: Genesis 28-29
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 57
Words: ~1350

Wisdom

Passage: Psalm 107
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 43
Words: ~706

New covenant:

Passage: Mark 11
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 33
Words: ~698

Commentary:

By Whose Authority?
11:27–28. As guardians of the temple and the status quo with the Romans, the chief priests would see Jesus’ act as a direct challenge to their authority.
11:29–30. Here Jesus argues that his authority and John’s derive from the same source, from “heaven” (one Jewish way of saying “God”). This argument follows the Jewish legal principle that a commissioned messenger acts on the full authority of the one who sent him. If John’s authority were merely human (cf. Deut 18:20; Jer 23:16), they should have taken a firmer stand against him (Deut 13:1–11); if it was divine, God would hold them to account for not having listened (Deut 18:18–19).
11:31–32. The chief priests were politicians—less popular than the politically powerless Pharisees—who had to balance the interests of both their people and the Roman authorities. Thus they had to keep popular opinion in mind when making decisions that might incur the displeasure of the people (11:32).
11:33. Counterquestion (11:29) was a legitimate means of debate; their withdrawal from the rules of debate rhetorically frees Jesus from the responsibility to continue in dialogue with them.(1)
~ Craig Keener

Love you!

-R

ForTheHope is a daily audio Bible + apologetics podcast and blog. We’ve got a passion for just keepin’ it real, having conversations like normal people, and living out the love of Jesus better every single day.

Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in digitally-extended communication and connection, an award-winning speaker, award-winning author, and a passionately bad guitarist. Follow him on Twitter -- @RogerCourville and @JoinForTheHope – or his blog: www.forthehope.org.

Sources and resources:

(1) Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), Mk 11:27–33.

#1003: Genesis 28-29 | Psalm 107 | Mark 11