In Matthew 1111, Jesus says,

I tell you the truth among those born of women there is not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist.

Then Kyle stood up in the back and shouted,

I wasn't born of a woman. I was from my mother's womb untimely

ripped. And then the heavens parted and the angels attended to Kyle and Jesus was

super embarrassed. I joke. That is not what the Bible says at all. I didn't even look at a joke book for that. I just thought of it in my head.

It's funny because it includes a hip cultural reference.

Oh.

Hmm. Hmm. At some point in life, at some point in life, every single one of us have had somebody else go to bat for us, that is vouch for us, and at some point in life, probably all of us have vouched for somebody else.

And the vouch has a very simple, very clear anatomy.

You're taking your credibility

to learn with people over time and you are transferring some of that to another person who maybe has their credibility

wobbling a little bit but you definitely believe in them and you think they belong in the game

they belong at the table you

whatever the scenario might be and in Matthew chapter 11 Jesus is vouching for

his cousin John it sounds almost like a mafia movie he's going to bat for him and

what he's saying according to the age old rule of the vouch is hey he's good for it and if you're not sure if he's good for it well I'm good for it and I'm saying he will be good for it.

You kind of go big.

Like, no, he's great, he's wonderful, you can count on him totally.

But in Matthew chapter 11, Jesus does something really weird

with his vouch.

He says all of this great stuff about John that goes like this.

...