The Bible as Literature

When a person experiences cognitive dissonance, that is, when they find themselves in a situation where exposure to conflicting ideas and information becomes too stressful or mentally uncomfortable, their natural inclination is to seek security in the safety of consonance. Humans naturally avoid, discredit, belittle, and delegitimize the ideas or people that cause them to experience dissonance. Today’s most common reaction to natural dissonance, especially given the avalanche of information overload, is to bury one’s head in the fantasy of suburban bliss. The rise in random acts of public violence is making this much harder, but the white picket fence crowd still manages to hold on to its illusions.Whether one buries their head in the sand to find peace or seeks out new beliefs or ideas that fit nicely with their own — when you reject dissonance, you seek to place your trust in something comforting: a person or a group of people that looks and sounds like you. You trust those who reflect your values and attitudes—whatever makes you feel safe and secure.You know exactly what we call that in Scripture. You know what they are and what happens to those who trust in them.On the other hand, Scripture itself is divine dissonance. God challenges you to go against the grain of human thought by trusting his words, knowing full well you have no control over what comes out of his mouth. He will not say what you want, nor will his words or actions reflect your values or attitudes. He will often say exactly what you do not want to hear as if he knows how to betray and embarrass you personally. Pretty cool for a book written by people who did not know you and were not thinking about you and could not possibly have conceived of the modern world when they wrote it. Like all of Scripture, Luke liberates you from the fantasy of suburban bliss where Herod’s boot is firmly planted on your neck. He challenges you to unplug yourself from the Matrix and accept life in the wilderness, out of your control, but in the palm of God’s hand. Or, in verse 30, you could run from God’s beloved Shepherd toward Israel’s beloved king. Good luck with that. Richard and Fr. Marc discuss Luke 3:30 (Episode 485) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

In today’s program, Fr. Paul reads from the text of Ezekiel to illustrate how hearers of the Bible misconstrue the Book of Exodus.  (Episode 277) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

As in the story of Genesis, for each generation of Luke’s genealogy, the functional names outline the literary framework of a recurring biblical dilemma: without God’s perpetual intervention, life from age to age is impossible. In science and engineering, numerous terms are used to describe similar mechanisms. In physics and thermodynamics, it is referred to as “external energy input” or “external work.” In biological systems, which require food, water, and other resources, it is called “homeostasis.”  Even artificial intelligence requires external input in order to work correctly—though the analogy is not precise—you get the point. In these examples, external input is necessary to prevent catastrophic failure. In the literary reality of the Bible, like a plant without light or water or an iPhone sitting on the shelf in 1905, each generation of human beings degrades and fails rapidly, to the extent that without God’s intervention, there is no possibility of life. In the most obvious of all biblical examples, God intervenes to make a baby when Abraham’s seed fails. As far as the Bible is concerned, nothing helpful is passed down from Adam or Abraham, let alone your grandparents or parents. This also means that you, like your forebears, have nothing valuable of yourself to pass on. Why? Because “your origin and your birth are from the land of the Canaanite; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.” (Ezekiel 16:3) So if the heritage that gets us out from under the boot of Herod does not come from your family, and the inheritance in question is not from your line, where is it, what is it, where does it come from, and who is its beneficiary? Richard and Fr. Marc discuss Luke 3:30 (Episode 484) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

This week, Fr. Paul explains that rest is assigned by God on the Sabbath and in the Sabbatical and Jubilee years, not for the sake of man but for the benefit of the adamah, the animals who do most of the work, the foreigner, and the needy neighbor. (Episode 276) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

When we set out to start a business, a project, a book, or an endeavor of any kind, most of us begin by asking ourselves, who is my audience, and how can I make my work relevant to them? Outside the arena of biblical preaching, these are normal, practical - even necessary - questions. However, for a priest, this line of thinking is inevitably toxic - good for the material well-being of the church but incompatible with the preaching of the biblical story, entrusted part and parcel with the consecrated Lamb placed in your human hands on the day of your ordination.  I can’t tell you how often people have reacted to the gospel’s content by saying, “That’s all fine and good, Father, and I agree, but no one today is interested.” This statement reveals two truths: one, that the person who made it is not studying Scripture, and two, that Scripture itself is again fulfilled because, according to Scripture, no generation is, was, or will ever be interested in Scripture. (I explained last week that no one, let alone the preacher, can agree with or is on the side of Scripture, so I’ll leave that point aside.)Irrelevance is the cornerstone of the biblical genre. I dare say that the mercy of the Scriptural God is that he would pause from his laughter to explain to the human race why he is laughing. His reason unfolds as the content of Scripture:“A generation goes, and a generation comes…That which has been is that which will be,And that which has been done is that which will be done.So there is nothing new under the sun.”(Ecclesiastes 1:4,9)The genealogy in Luke, akin to Ecclesiastes and indeed all biblical anti-history, is shared with humanity to help us comprehend our irrelevance. Only when we understand what is irrelevant can we devote ourselves to the one genuinely relevant thing.Richard and Fr. Marc discuss Luke 3:29 (Episode 483) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

This week Fr. Paul explains that those who are called sons and daughters of God — the insiders, so to speak — are special. Yes, you heard me correctly.  You are special, but not as it is portrayed in our various theologies or, for that matter, any number of religious websites, where special means better than others or “object of God’s compassion.” Only the God of Exodus could make compassion a word to be feared.  (Episode 275) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

For years on this program, in homilies and personal discussions with parishioners, family, and friends — I have explained that there is no such thing as progress. That you can’t earn anything. That nothing you have belongs to you. No one owes you anything, and even what you seem to have will be taken away, so give it away now because you owe God and your neighbor a debt you can never repay. That you are not a victim - on the contrary - you are the abuser, and you should not keep tabs when you help others because your life does not belong to you. I have insisted that Scripture is the Pearl of Great Price. The only treasure of value. It is so precious that any time spent talking about anything else is wasted breath. That is why people are sometimes nervous around me during coffee hour, let alone family gatherings. In recent years I have directed my parish council not to use words like “progress,” “success,” “legacy,” “build,” or “engagement“ during meetings or in printed materials and notes. I have doggedly acted out Pharisaism publicly so that with each breath when I preach the judgment forcefully, everyone present is certain that I am a hypocrite so that on the off chance that anyone submits to the biblical commandment, they are absolutely clear that it is the righteous commandment that guides their steps and not my example. I have ridiculed the abuse, criticism, and disrespect of parents (evangelized by popular culture and Disney children’s sitcoms) not because our parents are good (no one, according to Jesus, is good) but because, as the Good Book proclaims, whatever we are, we are no better, if not worse, than what came before us. I have ridiculed parents, too, because I am a Pharisee, and my job is to preach Psalm 78, like it or not. Richard and I have dismantled our culture, politics, identity, and ideologies of every flavor on this podcast - and still, people want to say, “I agree with you, Father…”Beloved, in Christ, you can’t possibly agree with me. Even I disagree with me. Only the dead agree with Scripture. One day, God willing, Richard and I will have a chance to read the Book of Revelation on this program - a book that handles the function of the martyrs elegantly. In the meantime, with respect to our inability to agree with Scripture, we’ll continue our discussion of the genealogy in Luke 3:28. (Episode 482) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

This week Fr. Paul notes that the subject of the biblical text is determined by the story’s content and not by the sensibilities of those hearing the story.  In Genesis 34, the rape of Dinah, typically emphasized in contemporary Western scholarship, is not the main point of the chapter, which instead condemns her brother’s abuse of the covenant of circumcision as an implement of mass murder.  (Episode 274) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

According to the rule of the Lukan genealogy, the recent coronation of the English king was uncanny in its egregious assault on the biblical proclamation of the Resurrection. On the one hand, those who have stayed with this podcast over the years have (hopefully) come to understand that Scripture is a system of cancellation encoded in literary form. It is a divine story given to undermine everything wrought by the hand of humans, shutting down all that we say and do. We want Scriptural wisdom to be pro-human, but it’s satirical. It makes fun of us. It criticizes us. We want to make the case that it does so for our sake. But it won’t let us. Instead, it insists upon its rule for the sake of the entire creation, of which we humans are but a small part. In the teaching of the Resurrection, following the line of Isaiah, only God’s instruction is allowed to stand out upon the earth. No human being - least of all a king may stand out - hence the crucifixion of Jesus. With this in mind, if you are trying to avoid transgressing St. Paul’s teaching of the anti-Christ, let me give you some helpful advice: Don’t make yourself stand out above all others on international screens with costly pomp and flare. Whatever you do, don’t invite your subjects to swear fealty to you. Don’t publish articles defending meaningless pageantry. Likewise, don’t write a book complaining that you don’t stand out. Don’t do it. And for God’s sake: If you have to be coronated, please do it quietly and not during the Paschal season, when we are warned repeatedly that there is only One whom the Father has anointed to stand out upon the earth.“And he shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom shall have no end.”Richard and Fr. Marc discuss Luke 3:27 (Episode 481) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

This week Fr. Paul highlights examples from the biblical text that deal with humans and animals on the same level, noting that animals are also called to repentance. (Episode 273) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

If you are fortunate to live under the pressure of the Gospel, sooner or later, your life will be reduced to a showdown with the Scriptural God. You will have the opportunity to be embarrassed, admit your failure, lose face, and look foolish in front of the person who preached the word of God to you. The problem is that you, like your teacher (along with everyone else), are no different than King Herod, his Hasmonean predecessors, or the cowards who worshipped them. You are terrified of losing control. Better to hold on and defend yourself. Everything is fine. You are in the right. You are justified. It is you who are the victim. It is others who should be held to account. I’m the boss of me, right?  What’s playing on Disney tonight? I just described the primary mechanism of the point of no return for every potential disciple. Each must face such a moment if we are serious about hearing Scripture. Not once, not twice, but over and over again. The first time, however, is the most critical. It is a kind of make-it-or-break opportunity along the lines of the Parable of the Sower. Why? Because cowardice and self-righteousness are evil twins. You fear the pain of the Bible’s piercing critique, so you choose the comfort and self-assuredness of being in the right and build massive defenses. Some people (actually, a ton of people, unfortunately) build entire religions. They imagine that these religions are “Bible-based” when, in truth, they are “Bible-reactions.” How else could you look forward to the cataclysmic judgment and doom of the Scriptural Kingdom as though it were an upcoming trip to a members-only version of Disney Land? Thankfully, from generation to generation, the Lukan genealogy tells a different story - one that does not bode well for Herod, the Hasmoneans, and all those who are like them, everyone who trusts in them. Richard and Fr. Marc discuss Luke 3:26 (Episode 480) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

This week, Fr. Paul explains that in the Bible, God is the only King and the owner of his children, not his children the owners one of another.  (Episode 272) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Nothing is more painful than watching young parents explain their intention to raise their children differently than their parents or observing young mothers hovering over grandmothers, micro-managing their every move, scolding, correcting, worrying, overprotecting, and gossiping, all based on advice from their therapist or some silly blog post about the "right" way to parent according to the latest study.It’s not that the grandparents are any better than their idiotic children or that their example should be followed. God forbid. I mean, look at what the grandparents produced. According to Scripture, the unfixable root of the problem is that the grandparents, their children, and the grandchildren are all human beings. Let me repeat; according to the Bible, human beings are the problem. (I know, I know. This will never air on PBS.)The hubris of the human being and the naive optimism of young couples that somehow things will be different on their watch is the last laugh of the Scriptural God. Well, not the last laugh, because God gets to keep laughing, again and again, as the Byzantine hymn says, at “every generation…” that dares to bring its dirge before the gospel of his Christ. What we learn from this teaching, in Luke’s account of the genealogy, is that over and over again, in each generation, no matter how hopeful God’s intervention through his instruction, we prove ourselves to be the children, not of God, but of oppression. Worse, we become the progenitors of oppression. Richard and Fr. Marc discuss Luke 3:24 (Episode 479) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

This week, Fr. Paul stresses the importance of fearing God not as an awesome or impressive character but in his function as judge. (Episode 271) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

When hearing the Lukan genealogy of Jesus in English, it's easy for people to adopt anti-scriptural notions of "king" and "priest,” developing incorrect expectations for how Jesus Christ will rule in the coming kingdom. But, as always, the key to hearing the author’s story lies in the meaning of the names. Between two Josephs, who fail miserably at continuing what only God himself can sustain through his teaching, lies a squandered gift and a failed hope of men who claim that Elohim is their God but look instead to the line of priests and kings—institutional functionaries of the very Temple Luke destroyed at the outset of his story. These false teachers and rulers repeatedly lead—not only the sons of Israel—but all of God’s children astray into oppression and slavery. Now, through God’s intervention, their line and the cycle of oppression are finally disrupted with the birth of Jesus Christ. It sounds nice, like something Rich and I made up, but every last bit comes from the functional meaning of the names in the first two verses of the Lukan genealogy and their interaction with Genesis. Richard and Fr. Marc discuss Luke 3:23 (Episode 478) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

This week, Fr. Paul explains how the practice of honoring all mothers or all fathers, as we do on national holidays, undermines the biblical admonition that each person, even if they happen to be parents, is under pressure by Scripture to honor, specifically, the father and mother from whom they originate. (Episode 270) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

The New Testament storyline places considerable emphasis and tension on the question of Jesus's title. The Gospel of Matthew stresses that Jesus is an ordinary Ben Adam (Son of Man), while the Gospel of Mark shows him repeatedly insisting that people not reveal his identity as the Messiah because of their ignorance of his teaching. Throughout the gospels, the biblical writers are careful not to let their audience, like the characters in the story, confuse Jesus with a military or political figure of triumph, highlighting instead the shame, defeat, and humiliation of Isaiah’s suffering servant, emphasizing the weakness of an ordinary “son of man,” in order to elevate the teaching of the crucifixion, in opposition to human kingship. Only in the Gospel of Luke, after having been deprogrammed by the gospels of Matthew and Mark, are the New Testament writers willing to unite the titles Son of Man and Son of David in the storyline. But have we been deprogrammed? To answer that question, we need only look to history to discover how many kings and presidents have painted or still brandish a cross on their flag or a mere “God bless you” on their lips before marching off to war. How many have twisted the meaning of the gospel into an icon of Jesus with a weapon in his hand? Either the Cross means something, or it doesn’t. Richard and Fr. Marc discuss Luke 3:23 (Episode 477) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

This week, Fr. Paul explains that the prohibition, “you may not take the name of God in vain,” is a warning that you may not speak of God as though he exists only as a statue. (Episode 269) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

In the first chapters of Luke, just as the Spirit moves from womb to womb, beginning with the angel Gabriel, the commandment moves from person to person, ensuring that God’s eudokia (his goodwill) is fulfilled—in the spirit of term—to his complete satisfaction. From Zacharias and Elizabeth to Mary and Joseph, and notably, the Shepherds of Israel, the commandment and the Spirit are the main actors in Luke, working overtime to ensure that the will of the Father is fulfilled in the story. As each roadblock falls: the temple, the priesthood, the seeking after signs, the ignorance of the Torah, there remains one final obstacle to the Father’s objective: tribe and king. Along these lines, Herod stands out in the Lukan parade as one who does not receive the Spirit and openly rejects the commandment, shunning the Lord’s prophet and locking him in prison. Has the Father been thwarted? With John out of the way, how can the command established in the beginning by the mouth of the Angel Gabriel be carried forward? Herod, the imposter. Herod, the builder of buildings. Herod, the trifler, who thought he could steal the inheritance of the Kingdom of the Gospel from the Lord’s Christ by sealing John the Baptist up in a cage.To borrow a beautiful title from a beautiful woman, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.” Richard and Fr. Marc discuss Luke 3:21-22 (Episode 476)“Now the Hosts of Heaven,” First Mode (Tetraphonic) was chanted by Nicholas Wesche on April 5, 2023, at St. Elizabeth Orthodox Church in St. Paul, Minnesota. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

This week Fr. Paul laments the way we shortchange the biblical function “steadfast love” in which the scriptural God, a jealous God, who visits the iniquity of the fathers upon children, the compassionate and gracious God, listening to prayers but not necessarily answering them, is the faithful judge whose steadfast love endures from age to age in the heaviness of his words. (Episode 268) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★