A Light to the Nations

In the gospel of John, the call of Andrew, the apostle with the Greek name, precedes the call of Simon, whose name is derived from Aramaic. For this reason, Andrew is referred to as the “First-Called.” In the narrative, Andrew goes and tells his brother that they have found the Christ. The same pattern is repeated in the call of Phillip - a classic Greek name - who goes and finds Nathanael, who is explicitly identified as ...

On November 21 in the Holy Orthodox Church the feast day of the Entrance of the Theotokos in the Temple is celebrated. The epistle reading assigned for this feast is Hebrews 9:1-7, which speaks of the regulations for worship under the first covenant and describes the two parts of the tabernacle, called the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies. In that text, the author of Hebrews emphasizes that the tabernacle had to be prepa...

This episode looks at the remembrance in the Orthodox Church of Archangel Michael, the Chief Commander of the Bodiless Powers, in light of the reading at Vespers from Joshua Chapter 5. The victory granted to Joshua and the children of Israel is based on their adherence to the commandments of the Lord. The sword drawn in the hand of the supreme commander of the army of the Lord is not merely an instrument of war, but someth...

In the previous passage, verses 21-28, the direction of movement was out. Here, it is in - from the synagogue (representing Judaism of the diaspora) to the “house” of Simon (representing the temple, thus the Judaism of Jerusalem).  And in that house, Jesus does exactly what he had done to the demon-possessed man - he brings healing through the gospel. This parallel is meant to show that the Jews in Jerusalem are in no diff...

In the Antiochian Orthodox Church, St. Raphael of Brooklyn is commemorated on the first Saturday in November. At Divine Liturgy, the assigned readings are from the gospel of John and from the epistle to Hebrews. In Chapter 10 of John, Jesus speaks of himself as the good shepherd, the one whose voice the sheep hear when he calls them by name and leads them out. The emphasis on his leading them out reflects a scriptural moti...

Beginning with Moses and all the Prophets. 

In Chapter 3 of Galatians, St. Paul teaches an understanding of Christ that begins with the Pentateuch (the Books of Moses), via the story of Abraham, and goes ⅔ the way through the last scroll of the Latter Prophets, via Habakkuk. He literally “begins with Moses and all the Prophets” to explain all the things in Scripture concerning Jesus Christ. At the conclusion of the Gosp...

You Don’t Find God. He Finds You.

In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus enters Capernaum, a place whose name means “village of grace.” Scripturally, Jesus is bringing the news of the gospel to the people in that city as a gift. He goes into the synagogue, the place where the Jews of the diaspora gather to be taught, on the Sabbath, the day for that purpose. It is there that Jesus cleanses a man with an unclean spirit with a word of ...

A Light To The Nations - Bonus Episode
The Seed Of Instruction.

In the Bible, biological reproduction is simply a given, and not a matter of concern. What the Bible emphasizes is progeny through instruction, which it presents using the terminology of biological reproduction - see for example the Parable of the Sower from Mark ch. 4, Luke ch. 8, and Matthew ch. 13. This emphasis is underscored in the passage of Phillip’...

In this passage we hear about Jesus passing by the Sea of Galilee and calling two sets of brothers. First, we encounter “Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon.”  It is said that they were “casting a net” for they were fishermen. Mark’s use of the verb ἀμφιβάλλοντας is important to note here. Ballo by itself means to throw; the prefix amphi adds the sense of “around” or “on both sides.” Although there is no direct object, ...

Bonus Episode - A Test Case.

The value of the story in the gospel of John about Thomas’ doubt is that it’s an opportunity for teaching. The gospel proclamation comes to us in a word. We know that Jesus has been raised from the dead because it has been preached to us by the apostle. When we accept it, we do so based solely on the word of preaching. It is our sole reference. The gospel comes to us through this particular venu...

In Mark 1:14, John the Baptist is dismissed from the narrative with a reference to his being arrested. Mark mentions the arrest to close the preaching of John; he wants to move on to his real topic of interest: Jesus and the heralding of the gospel. When he introduced John in verse 4, he omitted the term “gospel,” suggesting that he is reserving it exclusively for the one who is coming after John, that is, Jesus.
Mark w...

In this episode we continue our reading of the Gospel of Mark, covering Chapter 1:9-14. Although Mark had introduced his work as the Gospel of Jesus, calling him “the Christ” and “the Son of God” he qualifies both of these titles, which are parallel, by the phrase, as it is written in the prophets. Mark is telling his hearers that they cannot understand Jesus as Christ/Son of God, in just any old way, but exclusively accor...

In Matthew 17, a boy’s father brings him to Jesus’ disciples to be healed but they cannot do it. Since the man is “from the multitude”, that is a Gentile, his son may be said to represent the second generation of the ekklesia, the Church, the primary addresses of Matthew’s Gospel. This story depicts the Gentiles in need of healing (the gospel), but prevented from hearing it because of the disciples’ “little faith.” Matthew...

In Scripture, God’s people don’t come to him, but he comes to them via the word that he puts into the mouth of his prophets. In Mark, John the Baptist follows this Scriptural pattern by beginning his ministry outside of Judea and Jerusalem. In other words, God appears in the wilderness and his people meet him there by hearing and accepting his words via what is preached by the one he sent, who is John. Mark also tells us t...

Many biblical scholars consider Mark to be the earliest production among the four gospels.
Unlike Luke and Matthew, Mark contains no infancy narrative of Jesus. And compared to the other three, there is little by way of a post-resurrection appearance. What is there (Mark 16:8-20) seems to be compiled from the accounts in the other gospels; moreover, these verses are not found in the earliest manuscripts. When one consi...

What does Jesus mean when he says that, for those who are willing to accept it, John the Forerunner “is the Elijah to come”? How does John function as Elijah in the Gospels? In this episode we discuss the text that is heard in the Orthodox Church on the Nativity of the Forerunner, in which John is said to go before the Lord “in the spirit and power of Elijah” (Luke 1:17).

Koran performed by Delerium.
Photo by Brett Jorda...

The Scriptural God has no representative statue, no temple and no earthly city. As such, he is unique among other deities of the ancient near east; they are made by the hands of men, they reside in temples made of stone, set in fortified cities and governed by a king who, like the statue, is the representative of the deity, his plenipotentiary on earth. By comparison, the Scriptural God seems like an anti-god. He is presen...

Have You Anything Here To Eat?

This episode is the audio of a sermon given on the Feast of Annunciation. The prescribed texts for the feast are Acts 1:1-12 and Luke 24:36-53. In the New Testament, table fellowship (koinonia) between Jews and non-Jews is an expression of the oneness of the Gospel. Peter was taught in Acts 10 that he must not call “common” what God has cleansed, and Jesus continued to teach that to his discip...

Harmonizing the Narrative is a Betrayal of the Text.

The Church considers the complete and necessary depiction of Jesus to be that which is drawn out of all four gospels. Rather than assuming a harmonized narrative that each one gives some little glimpse into, the Church has always affirmed the full authority, and thus the necessity, of all four. This is apparent in Church’s use of similar but different stories involving a ...