Hey, this is John at the Bible Project. We're in the last two hours of our conversation

on the theme of exile in the Bible. We spent a majority of this conversation so far, showing

how the Israelites became exiles when they were forced by the Babylonians to leave their land,

they were transplanted and had to live in Babylon. In Babylon, as exiles, they began to see the

story of all humanity as that of exiles, banished from the good world that God designed for us.

When the Israelites get to go back home, they find that home is not what it should be yet,

not what God had promised them, and so they continue to keep the identity of an exile,

even though they're living in their own land. They've turned the idea of an exile into an

existential identity that you can embrace no matter where you live. This is my home, but there are

powers that keep it from being truly home. And so we've talked about what it means to live a

life as an exile, and we've found that the biblical mandate is surprising. So we're going to be loyal

to Babylon, seek it shallown, pray for it, contribute to its well-being, but there are moments

where identity as God's covenant people comes into conflict with loyalty to Babylon.

This type of loyal subversion is tricky and it takes a lot of wisdom. This week we get to Jesus.

Jesus advocates the same kind of loyal subversion that you find in Jeremiah and Daniel. First of all,

dropping any violent aggression and extravagant generosity in love and seeking the well-being of

people you like and people you don't like. At the time of Jesus, the Jewish people are not under

the occupation of Babylon anymore, rather they're under the oppression and occupation of the Roman

Empire. Now the Roman Empire has Caesar who sees himself as God, and your loyalty living in the Roman

Empire has to be to Caesar alone. So think about this, people are talking about this guy, Jesus,

like he is the true king, not Caesar. Now, surprisingly, Rome doesn't see Jesus as a threat,

because Jesus isn't acting like any king they're familiar with. He has no army, no assassins,

...