--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using the Great Adventure Bible timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: It is day 314. We're reading from Luke chapter 3, 4, and 5. We're also reading Proverbs chapter 25, verses 27 through 28.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: As always, the Bible translation I'm reading from is the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: If you want to download your own Bible in a Year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: You can also, if you're interested, subscribe to this podcast by clicking on subscribe and receiving daily episodes and daily updates.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Okay, there are some who, for convenience sake, they do not subscribe. There's others who have a good reason not to subscribe for whatever reason. It's a good reason, I'm sure.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: And there's a third kind of people who are probably more like me. It's because I keep telling you, hey, you can subscribe. I'm not telling you what to do. I'm just telling you you can.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: But, you know, we're sometimes us contrarians. You know, we just because you told us that we need to or you want us to or because you told us that most people are doing it. I'm not going to do it.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: I understand. I get it. I get it.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: So I'm praying for you because I know what it's like. I'm the same way.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: As I said, today is day 314. We're reading Luke chapter 3, 4, and 5, Proverbs chapter 25, verses 27 and 28.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): The Gospel According to Luke Chapter 3 The Preaching of John the Baptist
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Echuria and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the wilderness.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And he went into all the region about the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be brought low.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And the crooked ways shall be made straight and the rough ways shall be made smooth.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): He said therefore to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): Bear fruits that befit repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, We have Abraham as our father.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): Every tree, therefore, that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And the multitudes asked him, What then shall we do?
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And he answered them, He who has two coats, let him share with him who has none.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And he who has food, let him do likewise.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, Teacher, what shall we do?
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And he said to them, Collect no more than is appointed you.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): Soldiers also asked him, And we, what shall we do?
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And he said to them, Rob no one by violence or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): As the people were in expectation, and all men questioned in their hearts concerning John whether perhaps he were the Christ,
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): John answered them all, I baptize you with water.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): But he who is mightier than I is coming, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): But the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): So, with many exhortations, he preached good news to the people.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): But Herod the Tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias, his brother's wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done,
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): added this to them all, that he shut up John in prison.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): The Baptism of Jesus
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): Now, when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying,
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form as a dove,
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): and a voice came from heaven.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): You are my beloved son.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): With you, I am well pleased.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): The Ancestry of Jesus
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about 30 years of age, being the son, as was supposed, of Joseph, the son of Heli, the son of Matat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jani, the son of Joseph, the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos,
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): The son of Nahum. The son of Esli. The son of Negai. The son of Maath. The son of Mattathias. The son of Sama'in. The son of Josech. The son of Jodah. The son of Jo'anan. The son of Rasa. The son of Zerubbabel. The son of Sheltiel. The son of Ner'i. The son of Melki. The son of Adi. The son of Cosam. The son of El-Madam. The son of Ur. The son of Joshua. The son of Eleazar. the son of Jorim, and the son of Matat, the son of Levi, the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonan, the son of Eliakim, the son of Meliah, the son of Manah, the son of Matatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David, the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salah, the son of Nashon, the son of Amenadab, the son of Admin, chapter 6. the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah, the son of Cainam, the son of Arphachsad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaliel, the son of Cainan, the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): Chapter 4. The Temptation of Jesus
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit for forty days in the wilderness, tempted by the devil.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And he ate nothing in those days, and when they were ended, he was hungry.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): The devil said to him, If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And Jesus answered him, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time and said to him, To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will If you then will worship me it shall all be yours
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And Jesus answered him It is written You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And he took him to Jerusalem, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, He will give his angels charge of you, to guard you.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And Jesus answered him, It is said, You shall not tempt the Lord your God.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Jesus begins preaching and teaching in Galilee.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and a report concerning him went through all the surrounding country, and he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): The Rejection of Jesus at Nazareth
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And he went to the synagogue, as was his custom on the Sabbath day.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And he stood up to read, and there was given to him the book of the prophet Isaiah.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): He opened the book and found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And he closed the book and gave it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And he began to say to them, Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And all spoke well of him and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And they said, Is not this Joseph's son?
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And he said to them, Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, Physician, heal yourself.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here also in your own country.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And he said, Truly I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his own country.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): But in truth I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And there came a great famine over all the land.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath, and they rose up and put him out of the city and led him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, that they might throw him down headlong.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): But passing through the midst of them, he went away.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): The man with an unclean spirit.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And he went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee,
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And he was teaching them on the Sabbath, and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word was with authority.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, Ah, what have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us?
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): I know who you are, the Holy One of God.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): But Jesus rebuked him, saying, Be silent, and come out of him.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And they were all amazed and said to one another, What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): Healings at Simon's House
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And he arose and left the synagogue and entered Simon's house.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): Now Simon's mother-in-law was ill with a high fever, and they asked him about her.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And immediately she rose and served them.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): Now when the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to him and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And demons also came out of many crying, You are the Son of God.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak because they knew that he was the Christ.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): Jesus preaches in the synagogues of Judea.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And when it was day, he departed and went into a lonely place.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And the people sought him and came to him and would have kept him from leaving them.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): But he said to them, I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): Chapter 5. Jesus calls the first disciples.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): While the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And when he had ceased speaking, he said to Simon, Put out into the deep, and let down your nets for a catch.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And Simon answered, Master, we toiled all night and took nothing.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): But at your word I will let down the nets.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And when they had done this, they enclosed a great shoal of fish, and as their nets were breaking, they beckoned to their partners in the other boat to come and help them.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And they came and filled both boats so that they began to sink.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): For he was astonished in all that were with him at the catch of fish which they had taken.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And Jesus said to Simon, do not be afraid.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): Henceforth, you will be catching men.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Jesus cleanses a leper.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And he stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, I will be clean.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And immediately the leprosy left him, and he charged him to tell no one but, Go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing as Moses commanded, for a proof to the people.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Jesus heals a paralytic.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): On one of those days, as he was teaching, there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by who had come from every village in Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And the power of the Lord was with him to heal.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And behold, men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they sought to bring him in and lay him before Jesus, but finding no way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And when he saw their faith, he said, Man your sins are forgiven you
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question saying Who is this that speaks blasphemies Who can forgive sins but God only
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): When Jesus perceived their questionings, he answered them, Why do you question in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, Your sins are forgiven you, or to say, Rise and walk?
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins, he said to the man who was paralyzed, I say to you, rise, take up your bed and go home.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And immediately he rose before them and took up that on which he lay and went home glorifying God.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Jesus calls Levi.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): After this, he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And he said to him, follow me.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And he left everything and rose and followed him.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others sitting at table with them.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And the Pharisees and their scribes murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And Jesus answered them, Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: The question about fasting.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And they said to him, The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And Jesus said to them, Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: And he told them a parable also.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it upon an old garment.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And no one puts new wine into old wineskins.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, the old is good.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: The book of Proverbs, chapter 25, verses 27 and 28.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): It is not good to eat much honey, so be sparing of complimentary words.
--:-- The Narrator (Voiceover): A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Father in heaven, we give you praise and glory.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Thank you so much.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Thank you for this day.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Thank you for this second day of the Gospel of Luke.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Thank you for showing us your love manifest, your love incarnate in Jesus Christ, our Lord, who's the second person of the Trinity, who comes with power, who's anointed with the Holy Spirit in today's Gospel, who comes from you and is spoken over by you.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Lord God, help us to get near to your Son.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Help us to get near to the one with whom you're well pleased.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Help us to receive your spirit as well in an even more abundant way.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Gosh, Lord God, please help us to love you and follow you, to say yes to you with everything we have and with the power that comes because of Jesus Christ and comes to us in the Holy Spirit.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: I'm going to get back to the gospel in just a second, but occasionally there are these proverbs that just knock you on your tail.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: And this is one of those, chapter 25, verse 27.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: It is not good to eat much honey, so be sparing of complimentary words.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: There's something about that that just thinks, oh, yeah.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Do you know anyone who over compliments?
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: When it comes to love languages, you know, there's the five love languages.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: There's words of affirmation.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: There's gestures of affection or physical touch.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: There's gift giving.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: There's acts of service and quality time.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Those are kind of generally speaking the five love languages.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: And I really appreciate words of affirmation.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: And I think I'm the kind of person who likes to give them as well.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: and yet I know that there are times when it's like, okay, that's a little too much.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Like honey is good, but going on and on and on, like too much honey is not great.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: You ever do that?
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Maybe honey on peanut butter.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: If you've never done that before, it'll change your life, but not as much honey as there is peanut butter because that will also change your life and you will not like it anymore.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: There's something about a little bit is great.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Too much, it becomes, as he says, be sparing up complimentary words.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: but the next proverb is the one that I just think, ah, this is, what a gift.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Isn't this completely true?
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: You know, I remember years ago, I was speaking with this woman.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Her name was Anastasia.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: I just remember her name because that's such a unique name.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Her name was Anastasia.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: And at one point she was asking her own dad about how do I choose a man to marry?
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: You know, when it comes down, I'm not sure how old she was when she asked him this, but her father said this piece of advice I thought was so wise.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: He said, find a man who can fast.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: That was it.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Find a man who can fast.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: And there's something about this, that record, we obviously every single person that we know is broken, right?
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Every single person that we know is made good, but it's fallen.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: And so we're all going to struggle and no one's going to be perfect.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Even someone who, who prays regularly, even someone who tithes well, even someone who, you know, shows up again and again.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: And so none of those things, right, are guarantees that a person is going to be virtuous.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: And in fact, there's nothing because we recognize that any given moment we can fall down flat on her face, even if we're pursuing the Lord with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: And yet there are certain markers.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: And one of those markers is the ability to say no to oneself, the ability to fast.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: And so her dad saying, find a man who can fast is very similar to this proverb, this proverb that says, you know, a man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls, like completely defenseless.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: if I don't have self-control, then I'm going to be defenseless against any attack.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Today, you might find yourself in a place like, gosh, I am without self-control, or I'm in a place where I'm open to attack.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: And maybe it's always the same place.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Actually, the reality most likely is that where Satan has attacked you is going to be the same place again and again.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: You know, sometimes I'll talk to people who say that they're so frustrated they have to go to confession for the same thing over and over again.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: My word of encouragement is take comfort in that.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Take comfort in the fact that you have to bring back the same sins to the Lord for forgiveness every single time.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Why? Because it would be really frustrating.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: It would be incredibly discouraging if every single time there was a whole new set of sins.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: I always use the example of, say, someone who's a batter in baseball or softball.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Imagine that, yeah, it says, you know, I always drop my elbow.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: I don't know anything about this, but I'm just going to say, I always drop my elbow.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Your coach is always saying, oh, you're dropping your elbow again.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: You're dropping your elbow again.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: That's good because you can focus on keeping your elbow high or whatever the thing is you need to do.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: It be horrible if one day it was you dropping your elbow
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: The next day is you not leading with your hips
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: The next day is that you do whatever the thing is
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: That would be frustrating because how in the world do you ever work on something like this
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: But when it the same thing over and over again when it not there are no walls but when it's, ah, the enemy always attacks me through this one part of the wall.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: It's always this one weak spot and the wall surrounding my heart that the enemy always attacks.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Then you can be prepared for the attack.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: I think that's wisdom, right?
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: It seems to me to be wisdom.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: And it's really interesting because here's Jesus who also is attacked today.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Now, this is the fourth gospel that we've gone through.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: So we've already seen the temptation of Jesus, but I want to highlight a couple of things.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: One is the preaching of John the Baptist leading into the baptism of Jesus.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: One of the things we recognize is not only is Luke situating the arrival of John the Baptist and the arrival of Jesus in time, right?
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Chapter three, the first line is in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being the governor of Judea, et cetera, et cetera.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: What Luke is telling us, right?
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: He's a Greek and he wants us to know this is when it happened.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: This is not a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: This is not once upon a time.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: This is in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: We can nail it down.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: This is the time and this is the place.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: John the Baptist appeared in the region about the Jordan.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Now, why would he go to the region about the Jordan for baptism?
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Well, we know that there was a number of different Jewish groups at the time of John and Jesus.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: There were the Sadducees.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: We know that.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz:
