A Light to the Nations - Scripture Analysis Podcast

  In the announcement of Jesus’ birth in the Gospel of Luke, what stands out is that God singles out Mary for favor as a sheer expression of his will. In biblical terms we can say it’s a “textbook example” of grace. In that she possesses no special prerequisite or qualifications for being chosen, Mary’s election is throughly scriptural: it parallels Noah’s finding favor in the eyes of God (Genesis...

In the opening scene of Husbands and Wives , Woody Allen’s character references something Albert Einstein once said, “God doesn’t play dice with the universe,” then adds his own snarky, “no, he just plays hide and seek.” Indeed people often cite God’s invisibility or his absence as grounds for disbelief. While classic Christian Theology has made of God’s invisibility a divine attribute, in the Bib...

In all four Gospels, Judas Iscariot is identified as Jesus’ betrayer. Only Luke and John add the detail that “Satan entered him.” In Luke, Satan also has his eye on Simon Peter. Thus the ultimate opponent of the Gospel attempts to undermine it from the inside - seeking to influence two from Jesus’ inner circle. Luke sets the battle against the backdrop of the celebration of the Passover, the remem...

In the genealogy in the first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus is strategically placed following 3 sets of 14 names. With this structure, hearers are meant to recall the Sabbath Year and the Jubilee Year ordinances from Leviticus. Like the produce out of the ground which the sons of Israel were commanded not to sow nor prune, Jesus comes directly from God. Join me in a discussion of Matthew...

In the New Testament, the scribes purport to be in expectation of the coming of Elijah. But in their rejection of both Christ and his forerunner, they de facto reject the authority of Scripture, whose God declares of Jesus, “this is my beloved son, hear him!” in the presence of both Moses (the Law) and Elijah (the Prophets). The scribes are not the only ones without understanding. So are Jesus’ di...

Come And See. On November 30, the remembrance of the Holy Apostle Andrew, we hear about his call from the gospel of John. Andrew first received word about Jesus from John the Forerunner, and then followed him; after being invited to come and see, he is said to “see” where Jesus abides. The Greek word here ἰδεῖν expresses seeing in order to worship. Throughout John, the evangelist uses different wo...

In chapter 9 of Matthew, it is the tax collector, and thus sinner par excellence , who is called to follow Jesus; it is he who responds without hesitation; and most importantly, it is he who is seated at table with Jesus alongside other sinners, merely through God’s grace, which proves to be a stumbling block to the religious authorities. It is this same Matthew that the author will name again in...

In this bonus episode, we look at the gospel reading which is commonly referred to as that of the Good Samaritan (Eighth Sunday of Luke in the lectionary of the Orthodox Church), making one important observation: that the word “good” is nowhere to be found in this biblical text. That might seem like a minor point, but when we consider how Jesus himself rejects being called good elsewhere in the go...

On December 3, 1979, as fans lined up for admission to a concert by the Who at Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati, they grew impatient and began pushing forward, eventually crashing through the metal and glass barriers and prematurely letting thousands of people inside the venue. In the mad rush toward the stage, 11 people were trampled to death and 26 others injured. The unhinged madness and sheer...

From the very beginning, the Gospel of Luke proclaims that it is the Lord , the God of Israel, who has visited and redeemed his people, just as he spoke by the mouths of his prophets. These words, uttered by Zechariah the priest in chapter 1, set the tone for the narrative that will unfold throughout Luke’s gospel. In chapter 4, Jesus is rejected as a prophet by the people in Nazareth, who expect...

In the Gospels, Jesus likens the men of this generation to disappointed children: We played the flute for you and you did not dance, we mourned to you and you did not weep. But there is no we in Scripture. It is always the scroll containing the words expressing the will of God that is the reference; and it is that to which we the hearers must submit. The ones who rejected John, who fasted and dran...

Isn’t It Ironic? If we believe in the sovereignty of the biblical God, then why do we insist on either praising or vilifying the human characters in the story? The reason has little to do with scripture and everything to do with us: we need literary heroes to identify with. We want good guys and bad guys so we can align ourselves with the good ones. In the accounts of Jesus’ trial and crucifixion,...

When Jesus stands up to read from the prophecy of Isaiah in the gospel of Luke, he is rejected by the people  in his hometown. Although he is proclaiming the year of the Lord’s “favor,” the people in the synagogue receive him with “no favor” because they know him: isn’t this Joseph’s son? Jesus’ response - that God’s grace goes to whom ever God wills, even outsiders - angers them so much they try...

In Scripture, function supersedes both individuals and personalities. The purpose of the biblical story is to teach, and it does that by introducing us to characters not as individuals, but rather according to the function of their roles. Sometimes different characters with the same name can function in similar ways. A striking example of this is how the Church, when teaching about Jesus’ mother,...

When we read the Bible, we often do so looking to find some kind of hope. Then we stumble upon the words of our Lord saying, “whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but upon whomever it falls, it will grind him like powder.” That doesn’t sound very hopeful. Isn’t there a third option, Jesus? We are frustrated by Scripture because we expect it to tell us that there is hope in us; that we can d...

In the Gospel of Matthew, we hear a literary tension between heavenly bread and earthly bread, and also between the open wilderness, where the former is to be found, and cities built by the hand of men, which provide the latter. This double contrast is most striking in Chapter 14. In the passage of the feeding of the multitudes, Jesus’ disciples push for sending the multitudes back to the cities a...

For the characters in the Bible, there is no freedom from the will of the Scriptural God. He always gets His way in spite of the failings of the human beings. Likewise with us. As hearers of the Bible, we must pay close attention to the details in the story and make connections with other parts of the Bible. When we do that, we see that God’s will always controls the narrative. Like a shepherd wit...

The Sermon on the Mount encompasses the entirety of chapters 5, 6 and 7 of the Gospel of Matthew. In both its content and delivery, it is meant to recall Moses and the giving of the law, but with some differences. Jesus’ teaching in the Gospel of Matthew may be the same in content to that of the Old Testament, but in the context of this sermon, we hear things we didn’t before. Although the old law...

Let’s face it: the biblical teaching is hard to accept. As much as we don’t like it, scripture teaches that God gives us the law to show that we can’t keep it. In modern parlance, God is setting us up to fail, something we find totally unacceptable. God is also the one who bestows the free gift, which is grace. I am responsible for my sins, and the condemnation that results, but the free gift of r...

In the Gospel of John, the sudden mention  of “certain Greeks” who wish to see Jesus seems odd at first. Their appearance on the scene is a fulfillment of what Isaiah describes in the last chapter of his prophetic book: the Lord brings judgment on all men, spares a few of them, and through the remnant brings in others from far away, some which are specifically identified as “Greeks.” In John, all...

Scripture is relentless against the idols humans build, whether they are physical or mental constructions. Nothing humans build will stand. Everyone is on the same playing field, because no one has status, stature, or power. All will be diminished before the Scriptural God. Join me, Fr. Fred Shaheen, and my guest, Noël Neff, as we hear Acts 12:25-13:12 from a functional perspective. We explore ans...

In the Gospels, the failure of Jesus’ disciples to grasp the teaching of their master is hard to miss. Despite Jesus’ explanations and exhortations, his students show by the way they respond that they just didn’t get it. Peter, James and John often receive the hardest lessons. But the instruction offered by Jesus as a corrective applies to everyone without exception. To use contemporary jargon, Je...

To hear Scripture functionally, we must submit to the written text, exactly as it is presented to us by the original authors for the sole purpose of instruction. In Episode 11: Functionality Redux, Noël Neff joined me to discuss the question: If we are to hear Scripture functionally, are we also supposed to live functionally? Noël is my guest again today. She will read from Ephesians chapter 2 (v....

Often in the biblical story we hear of a character refusing what God has to offer and then attempting to redefine it on their own terms, usually in the imagination of their hearts and by the works of their own hands. In the repetitiveness of the biblical story, indeed there is nothing new under the sun. This mistake of Jacob in the story of his dream in Genesis 28 both looks back to the story of t...

Scripture is functional. Hearers of the Bible are directed to this reality over and over again by the text itself. From the different titles applied to Jesus in different places to the incessant repetition of God's commandments, and even the symbolic value of numbers - all of these point to the functionality of Scripture. The question then arises: if we are to hear Scripture functionally, are we a...