Scripture Uncovered

In this week’s Christmas Podcast, Dr. C. offers you a reflection on Joseph, “The Quiet Man at the Manger.” Featuring Michael Card's "Joseph's Song": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KT4VDAIaMwU&t=61s

This past Sunday marked the 3rd week of Advent, the month-long run-up to Christmas, the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Advent is from the Latin, adventus, which means “coming”; Advent is the four weeks anticipating the “coming of Christ,” a celebration of his birth in a stable in Bethlehem. In liturgical churches the color purple sets the Advent tone. Purple is the color of royalty, welcoming the coming into the world of Christ, the King. It is also the color of fasting, penitence and suffering used during Lent and Holy Week. The dual association is not accidental: Jesus’ birth cannot be separated from his death, burial and resurrection. The purpose of Jesus’ incarnation is to reveal God’s love and grace through Jesus’ life and teaching, of course, but also through his passion: his crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection. Hence, the same color for the two seasons. In fact, in the early church, Advent was a time of fasting and penitence, much as during Lent. During Advent, many churches bedeck their sanctuaries in evergreen boughs, evergreen trees and wreaths, symbolizing new and everlasting life brought through Jesus Christ. The Advent wreath takes a prominent place in most churches. It consists of a circular evergreen wreath with five candles, four around the wreath and one in the center. The circular wreath symbolizes God himself who is without beginning or end and who is everlasting. The white candle in the center represents Christ, the light who has come into the world, while the four outer candles represent the four weeks anticipating his coming. Of the four outer candles, three are purple or violet and one is pink or rose. The violet candles represent the royalty of Christ the King, and they link that royalty to his death, burial and resurrection, celebrated during Lent and Easter. The first violet candle is lit on the first Sunday of Advent and the first and second violet candles are lit on the second Sunday of Advent. On the third Sunday, the Rose candle is added to them. The third Sunday—the one that we celebrate this week—is traditionally called Gaudete Sunday (from the Latin gaude, meaning “rejoice,” the first word of the introit of Sunday’s Mass: “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say, rejoice . . .”); it represents an easing of fasting and penitence and segues into rejoicing and celebration. The fourth violet candle rounds out the season. It seemed appropriate to me on this 3rd week of Advent, to share with you a reflection on the season. On Saturday, I attended a meeting of the Western Lieutenancy of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, a Roman Catholic order of knighthood, founded in 1113—nearly 1,000 years ago—to protect and support Christians in the Holy Land. As you know, I’ve led teaching tours to the Holy Land for years; in fact, our tour coming up on January 4th will be my 59th Israel teaching tour! Many of you listening to the Podcast have traveled to Israel with me. If you haven’t, check out the Travel section on logosbiblestudy.com, and come along with us. Our Israel teaching tours are educational, profoundly spiritual . . . and they’re a whole lot of fun! In any case, at our meeting, Msgr. Dennis Mikulanis led us in a morning reflection that he titled, “Promise Made and Fulfilled,” a reflection using Scripture and song. It’s a great way to celebrate Gaudete Sunday. So, here goes!

On this week’s Podcast, Dr. C. remembers his colleague, mentor and friend, Dr. John X. Evans, who passed away on December 1, 2018 after a long illness.

Over the past several weeks, Dr. C. has been taking a look at women in the Bible. This week he turns his eyes on Ruth, his favorite woman in the Old Testament. This week’s Podcast will be a real treat!

“Meet the Women of the Bible—Deborah and Jael” After the conquest of Canaan in Joshua, we settle the “Promised Land” in Judges. The Israelites are little more than a loose confederation of twelve tribes, however, living separate lives, more or less isolated from one another. But when danger encroaches, the tribes coalesce and a leader emerges to deal with the threat. In this profoundly patriarchal culture, the fourth leader to emerge is a woman, Deborah, assisted by another woman, Jael. Together they save Israel from the hands of Jabin, king of Canaan. So, what happened to all the men?

If we’re to understand Scripture within its proper historical and cultural context, we must recognize that the world of the Bible is profoundly patriarchal: men control everything, men are the “head”; but women are the “neck,” and they can turn the head any way they want! In a profoundly patriarchal, tribal culture, women wield power and authority using very different strategies than men. In the next few Podcasts, Dr. C. will explore some of the women of the Bible, telling their stories from their point of view. This should be great fun!

If we’re to understand Scripture within its proper historical and cultural context, we must recognize that the world of the Bible is profoundly patriarchal: men control everything, men are the “head”; but women are the “neck,” and they can turn the head any way they want! In a profoundly patriarchal, tribal culture, women wield power and authority using very different strategies than men. In the next few podcasts, Dr. C. will explore some of the women of the Bible, telling their stories from their point of view. This should be great fun!

In this week’s podcast, Dr. C. continues cleaning up his Q&A inbox, looking closely at a question about Isaiah the prophet! In answering the question, he investigates how biblical prophecy in general works, and specifically how Isaiah should be read.

Over the past several podcasts Dr. Creasy has offered a 4-part series on Mary and last week’s discussion on “Who Wrote the Bible,” in which he explored how the canon of Scripture took shape in the early days of the Church. All during that time, your questions have piled up in his in-box. This week, Dr. C. works through some of the more difficult ones!

In this week’s Podcast, Dr. Creasy introduces a new course, one that he has never taught before: The Deuterocanonical Books. Those are the books of Scripture that are in Roman Catholic and Orthodox Bibles, but are not in Jewish or Protestant Bibles. In this Podcast, Dr. C. explores how some books of Scripture became “canonical,” while others did not. This is a great introduction to this new study that you can attend, either in “Live” classes or online as a “Remote Student.”

In Part 4 of Dr. Creasy’s Podcast series on “Mary, the Mother of Jesus,” he explores the role of Mary in Scripture, starting with Jesus’ crucifixion, resurrection and ascension and moves into how the Church has thought about Mary over the many centuries ever since. He closes the Podcast with a very personal note about his own relationship with Mary.

In Part 1 of Dr. Creasy’s Podcast series on “Mary, the Mother of Jesus,” he explored the Annunciation, God’s offer to Mary to become the mother of God’s son, Jesus. Her “yes” demonstrated not only her great faith, but her great courage as well. In Part 2, Dr. C. examined Jesus’ birth in a stable in Bethlehem, an most unlikely place for the son of God to be born! Here in Part 3, Dr. C. will follow Mary’s involvement in Jesus’ public ministry, beginning with his baptism in the Jordan River by Jesus’ cousin, John; Jesus’ move from Nazareth to Capernaum; his teaching and preaching in Galilee; and his final journey to Jerusalem and the cross.

Last week Dr. Creasy began a 3-part Podcast on Mary, the Mother of Jesus, focusing on the Annunciation. We learned that Mary’s “yes” not only demonstrated great faith, but great courage, as well. With the Annunciation, Mary was the first person to place her faith in Christ, the child she would bear. This week, Dr. Creasy explores Jesus’ birth and his childhood, from Mary’s perspective, giving us insight into Mary as a mother.

Last Wednesday was the Feast of “The Assumption of the Virgin Mary,” a teaching in the Roman Catholic Church that Jesus’ mother, Mary, “having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.” The teaching was defined by Pope Pius XII on November 1, 1950. In this week’s Podcast, Dr. C. explores Mary, her role in Jesus’ life, her role in the Church and her role in our lives today. This Podcast is Part 1 of a 3-part series!

This past Monday we celebrated the Feast of “The Transfiguration of the Lord.” The feast remembers when Jesus took his inner circle of disciples—Peter, James and John—to a high mountain, and there in the presence of Moses and Elijah, Jesus was transfigured—literally metamorphosed—like caterpillar to butterfly, as the voice of God says: “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him” (Mark 9: 7). Dr. C. peers behind the veil of this remarkable story, probing its inner, deeper meaning.