Good evening, everyone.

This is a short bonus episode of Ask Pastor John, and we're back tonight because just

a moment ago, over at DesiringGod.org, we published a new article from John Piper and it's

a timely word and a weighty article, and I have Pastor John on the line to tell us more

about it.

It's titled, Why Was Jesus Born a Jew?

The Devastating Mercy of His Ethnicity.

So Pastor John, two questions for you this evening, number one, why did you write the

article to begin with?

And number two, what was your aim in writing it?

Let's take these in reverse order.

The aim of the piece is to show that Jesus was born a Jew to shut the mouth of all ethnic

and racial boasting, including Jewish, or to put it more positively.

The aim of the piece is to show that Jesus was born a Jew to bring every race and ethnicity

to a humbled, happy dependence on mercy, mercy, mercy.

Why Jesus was born a Jew is part of the wider question, isn't it?

The wider question.

If God was aiming at the worship of millions of people from every tribe and tongue and people

and nation, why in the world did he focus his saving work almost entirely on the Jewish

people for 2,000 years from Abraham to Jesus, the Christ?

That's the key question.

If we try to follow the biblical path to the answer to that question, which is what

...