All Episodes
Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 in total
Nothing But The Text.
In Galatians, Paul maintains that God’s promise to Abraham was implemented in Christ; and that this “freedom from the curse” was accomplished specifically through his ...
I Am Not Ashamed.
What’s Your Problem?Hearers of the gospel often put too much emphasis on Jesus’ death as death. In Scripture, death itself is not an issue since all are dust to dust. ...
Against Hope In Hope.
When we insist on historicizing the biblical text, we diminish its value as a teaching. “Did that really happen?” we often ask and then look for verification. It is li...
Ode To The Torah.
Scripture In Four Parts.In the Torah, when the Lord delivers Israel out of Egypt, he gives commandments and statutes which they are required to keep; this Law is under...
Naked Deception, part 2.
Naked Deception! part 2: Nothing New Under The Sun.Recently my son, who is 10, was asking about God - does he love us and does he punish us? I said yes, both of those ...
Naked Deception, part 1.
Naked Deception, Part 1:Smooth Criminal.You don’t need a theological degree to understand the Bible. If you have ears to hear what the text is saying, the message can ...
Son Of Man.
You know what he said. So what are you doing here? In the Gospel of Luke, the women go to the tomb and do not find Jesus; they meet two men who remind them what Jesus ...
A Common Table.
Episode 43 - A Common Table.In the culture of the ancient Near East, to sit at a table and share a meal with someone means you are at one with that person. It is with ...
Jesus Is Lord?
“The Lordship of Jesus is on you if you trust in the word of the gospel and you become doulos xristou.” This is an extract from an audio commentary on the Gospel of Ma...
A Mouth And Wisdom.
Chapter 21 of Luke parallels the mini-apocalypse in Mark 13. Whereas Mark warns his hearers against joining in the revolt and against putting their hope in the earthly...
The Finger Of God.
In the Gospels, miracles and marvelous works are not signs in and of themselves. They must be based on something else. Jesus’ opponents even accuse him of casting out ...
No Breathing Room.
Was Jesus A Carpenter’s Son?The word tekton, translated “carpenter,” appears first in the Gospel of Mark. Its only other occurrence in the New Testament is in the para...
Scripture In Nutshell.
Scripture In Nutshell.Each of the synoptic gospels handles the choosing and sending out of Jesus’ twelve disciples differently. Matthew, the last of the four gospels t...
The Nativity Of The Forerunner.
Emasculation of the Priesthood.In the Orthodox Church on the Feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist and Forerunner, the gospel reading is complied from Luke. I...
The Gospel Never Ends.
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...
Rahab The Harlot.
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 fore...
Favor With God.
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...
The Absentee Landlord.
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 add...
From Among The Twelve.
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 Si...
An Intervention.
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 r...
Canceled By The Text.
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 ...
Come And See.
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 Jo...
A Last Call.
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 imp...
There Is None Who Does Good.
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 Orthod...
It Is A Fearful Thing.
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, eventu...
He Has Visited And Redeemed His People.
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 o...
Repentance And Forgiveness.
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 ...
Isn’t It Ironic?
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 reas...
Without Favor.
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 t...
Which Mary?
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 n...
