In his gospel, Mark presents an alternative to armed revolt: submission to the one God of both Jews and Gentiles. Thus for him, Jesus is both Christ and the Son of God in a very specific way: according to the Gospel preached by the Apostle Paul, which is itself the fulfillment of what was written in the prophets, the second part of Scripture. Here …

The story of Rahab the harlot takes up the bulk of chapter 2 of the Book of Joshua. In Scripture, “playing the harlot” is typically a stand-in for following after foreign gods. Her prevalence here can be understood as an invitation to biblical Israel not to commit “Scriptural harlotry.” She is the example for them to follow if they wish to ensure t…

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 …

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 …

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 back…

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 dir…

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…

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.…

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…

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 him…

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…

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…

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 submi…

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…

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 will…

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 h…

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 …

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 pu…

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 …

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 …

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…

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 s…

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 12:25-1…

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…

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…

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 dre…

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: …

In Scripture, whenever someone is loosed from bondage or raised up, it is for the purpose of submitting to the will of God. When Israel disobeys the ordinances of the Lord, they are left subject to another master, one who enslaves them but cannot offer them life - Judges 2-3. This is the predicament of the woman with the spirit of infirmity in Luke…

In the gospels we often treat Jesus like a magician. We want to dazzled, wowed and amazed by what he offers and we expect others to be as well. But don’t be fooled: real life-giving instruction is not in the spectacle and fireworks, but rather in boring, repetitive words written in a scroll and offered to us. It is to that bread we must submit.…

In the synoptic Gospels - Matthew Mark and Luke - the use of parables to teach is widespread. In comparison, the Gospel of John, in which Jesus doesn’t teach in parables per se, can be more difficult to grasp. On the surface, just hearing the story we might think we can tell what’s going on, but often the real meat of the teaching is found in the s…

We all love to quote Scripture to show other people that we know it. We like to seem educated and knowledgeable about the words of God…until those very words come back to bite us. This episode we take a look at John 3:16 in light of the overall scriptural teaching.By The Ephesus School

The death of John the Forerunner appears in Chapter 6 of Mark interrupting a narrative about Jesus sending out the twelve apostles. It’s intentional insertion at this point underscores John not only as the one who comes before the Christ, but the one who - in contradiction to Jesus’ twelve - perfectly accomplishes his apostolic work by becoming an …

How can I preach when I’m not permitted to speak? “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they see your good works and glorify your father who is in h…

When we hear the biblical story, we should remember that what we are hearing is, first and foremost, a story. Its purpose is to teach, and the teaching is communicated through the words themselves. Any attempt on our part to historicize the text is problematic because it impairs our ability to actually hear the story in the way it was intended to b…

In this episode we compare key details in the marriage stories of Isaac and Jacob in Genesis. Jacob leaves home, works hard to get exactly what he wants and it results in slavery. Isaac, on today other hand, stays at home, does nothing and receives grace. His cycle, a story “about nothing”,” parallels the episode in Genesis 22 in which Abraham’s fa…

In the Gospel of Mark with the so-called shorter ending, the hearer is taken from Jesus’ death on the cross to the expectation of his coming in glory, with little or nothing happening in between. That’s how the narrative moves, and it moves that way intentionally. We might hear the shorter ending and think we are being cheated out of something beca…

In Scripture, no one gets to be exceptional or special. If you are special at all, it is only as an example used for the edification of others. To put it another way, you become the example of what not to do. In spite of your wandering astray, God can and does use your punishment and correction to achieve His purpose according to His will. Your scr…