1 00:00:03,320 --> 00:00:05,760 Hi, everyone. Thanks so much for your support 2 00:00:05,760 --> 00:00:07,520 of the Logical Bible Study Ministry. 3 00:00:07,760 --> 00:00:11,000 What we want to do in this bonus episode is try to respond to 4 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:12,480 some of the questions that have come in. 5 00:00:12,480 --> 00:00:15,000 And there have been quite a few questions lately, which is why 6 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:17,480 we're doing a separate bonus episode. 7 00:00:17,560 --> 00:00:21,280 Thank you to all of those who have benefited from this 8 00:00:21,280 --> 00:00:24,720 podcast, have told other people about it, and have sent your 9 00:00:24,720 --> 00:00:27,000 questions in. So I'm going to have a go at 10 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:30,360 responding to some of these questions as far as I'm able to. 11 00:00:31,600 --> 00:00:34,360 First thing I want to say is if you ever want to know anything 12 00:00:34,360 --> 00:00:37,280 about the Catholic faith, the first thing you should do is 13 00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:39,880 check the Catechism of the Catholic Church and that is 14 00:00:40,120 --> 00:00:42,680 considered to be an official summary of Church teaching. 15 00:00:42,680 --> 00:00:44,760 It's got a dictionary and a glossary. 16 00:00:45,040 --> 00:00:49,000 Cross references in the back, so you'll often find the answer to 17 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:52,680 theological questions in there. catholic.com, which is the 18 00:00:52,680 --> 00:00:56,040 ministry of Catholic answers, is also really good on general 19 00:00:56,040 --> 00:00:58,680 Catholic theology. But we've got a few specific 20 00:00:58,680 --> 00:01:01,320 kind of biblical questions that we want to take a look at. 21 00:01:01,920 --> 00:01:05,600 So a question here from Cynthia. She asks, when Jesus is walking 22 00:01:05,600 --> 00:01:09,400 alone in the Garden of Gethsemane or privately talking 23 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:13,240 to Pontius Pilate, how did the authors of the Gospels know what 24 00:01:13,240 --> 00:01:17,080 he said in order to record it? It's a really good question, and 25 00:01:17,080 --> 00:01:20,240 one that I've wondered. Sometimes too, We can't be sure. 26 00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:22,840 Particularly in the Gospel of John, there's quite a few 27 00:01:23,560 --> 00:01:26,760 conversations that appear to be quite private, and yet somehow 28 00:01:26,760 --> 00:01:29,920 we have the full what appears to be a transcription of the 29 00:01:29,920 --> 00:01:31,800 conversation from the gospel author. 30 00:01:32,400 --> 00:01:34,760 For example, the conversation with the woman at the Well, 31 00:01:34,760 --> 00:01:37,720 supposedly all the other disciples are gone and it's just 32 00:01:37,720 --> 00:01:40,640 Jesus and the woman. So how does that end up in the 33 00:01:40,640 --> 00:01:42,240 gospel? Same with this conversation 34 00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:48,000 between Jesus and Pontius Pilate with the one the conversation 35 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:49,520 between Jesus and Pontius Pilate. 36 00:01:49,520 --> 00:01:52,440 It's a it's a little bit easier to answer that because in a 37 00:01:52,440 --> 00:01:56,560 so-called private conversation between Jesus and Pilate, it's 38 00:01:56,560 --> 00:01:59,000 likely that Pilate would still have people in the room with 39 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:02,200 him, servants, guards, some of whom may well have become 40 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:07,760 Christian later, and who relay the story to to the gospel 41 00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:10,120 authors and. But thinking more generally 42 00:02:10,120 --> 00:02:12,040 about ones that are a bit harder to answer. 43 00:02:12,280 --> 00:02:16,000 For example, Jesus pray in the garden of Gethsemane or Jesus 44 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:19,640 talking to the woman at the Well, one possibility is Jesus 45 00:02:19,640 --> 00:02:22,360 himself may have told them after his resurrection. 46 00:02:22,360 --> 00:02:25,160 Remember, there's a period of 40 days between his resurrection 47 00:02:25,160 --> 00:02:28,200 and ascension. We don't have most of what he 48 00:02:28,200 --> 00:02:32,000 said recorded in the Gospels, but he was with them in various 49 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:36,920 forms and in various types of conversations for 40 days. 50 00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:40,720 He may well have given them further information to include 51 00:02:40,720 --> 00:02:42,840 in the Gospels, including private conversations. 52 00:02:42,840 --> 00:02:46,520 We can't rule that out. There's also one possibility 53 00:02:46,520 --> 00:02:49,280 that I think is fairly convincing, which is John 54 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:54,920 himself in the Gospel of John mentions, or Jesus mentions in 55 00:02:54,920 --> 00:02:59,120 the Gospel of John that the Holy Spirit will come after he's gone 56 00:02:59,120 --> 00:03:03,280 and the Holy Spirit will bring to remembrance all of the things 57 00:03:03,280 --> 00:03:05,080 that he said. So there's this idea that the 58 00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:08,480 Holy Spirit working through the gospel authors will bring to 59 00:03:08,480 --> 00:03:12,920 mind specific things that might include private conversations 60 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:15,440 that Jesus had with specific people. 61 00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:18,480 So that's a possibility as well. So there's certainly quite a few 62 00:03:18,480 --> 00:03:22,200 things for us to work with. She also asks a specific 63 00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:26,000 question about the parable of the 10 virgins or the 10 64 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:29,360 bridesmaids, and she wants to know how it's possible that in 65 00:03:29,360 --> 00:03:31,120 the parable. So obviously the parable's a 66 00:03:31,120 --> 00:03:35,000 fictional story, but it should in some way represent a 67 00:03:35,040 --> 00:03:37,920 situation that would be fairly common in Jewish life. 68 00:03:38,360 --> 00:03:40,960 She wants to know how it's possible that the women could go 69 00:03:41,080 --> 00:03:45,600 out at midnight for oil when no oil markets would be open at 70 00:03:45,600 --> 00:03:47,400 that time. Well, firstly, I don't think 71 00:03:47,400 --> 00:03:49,280 that's known for sure. I think that would be 72 00:03:49,280 --> 00:03:51,280 speculation. It's likely that there would be 73 00:03:51,280 --> 00:03:55,400 some oil markets open at that time, particularly because the 74 00:03:55,400 --> 00:03:58,440 time when you're most likely to need oil is at night time. 75 00:03:58,440 --> 00:04:01,200 So certainly there would be some merchants that remained open at 76 00:04:01,200 --> 00:04:04,160 night time. And she also wants to know she 77 00:04:04,160 --> 00:04:06,760 thought that women were not permitted to walk alone at night 78 00:04:06,760 --> 00:04:09,800 in that era. Again, we don't have that 79 00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:12,960 explicitly mentioned. So it could be, and I think it's 80 00:04:12,960 --> 00:04:16,360 it's likely that women couldn't walk alone, but they could walk 81 00:04:16,360 --> 00:04:19,120 in groups. And the way this particular 82 00:04:19,120 --> 00:04:23,360 parable works is that there's a group of women who go back 83 00:04:23,360 --> 00:04:26,960 together and look for oil. So I think that that resolves 84 00:04:26,960 --> 00:04:28,960 most of those questions about that parable. 85 00:04:29,520 --> 00:04:32,920 We have a question here from Gwen about Elijah. 86 00:04:32,920 --> 00:04:36,360 So she says, my question is since Elijah was taken up to 87 00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:39,360 heaven and did not die, and indeed that is what the Old 88 00:04:39,360 --> 00:04:43,680 Testament says, is he in heaven, both body and soul. 89 00:04:44,240 --> 00:04:47,920 So that's her first question. Now again, we can't be 100% 90 00:04:47,920 --> 00:04:52,560 sure, but the way it's depicted in the ascension of Elijah is 91 00:04:52,560 --> 00:04:55,400 that yes, his body and his soul was taken up to heaven. 92 00:04:56,160 --> 00:05:01,600 The same sort of thing is hinted in terms of Enoch, one of the 93 00:05:01,600 --> 00:05:03,000 first people in the Old Testament. 94 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:05,640 It says that he was taken and did not see death, and the 95 00:05:05,640 --> 00:05:09,120 implication there is that he was also assumed into heaven. 96 00:05:09,520 --> 00:05:14,040 So these two are considered to be prefigurements of the 97 00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:16,680 Assumption of Mary. So they didn't ascend there on 98 00:05:16,680 --> 00:05:20,600 their own power like Jesus did, but their bodies were assumed 99 00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:23,240 into heaven by God. So it does appear that yes, 100 00:05:23,240 --> 00:05:28,480 Elijah's body is in heaven. There's also some speculation 101 00:05:28,480 --> 00:05:30,760 that that might be the case with Moses, although we know that 102 00:05:30,760 --> 00:05:34,160 Moses did die first. But the book of Jude indicates 103 00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:38,320 that something odd happened after Moses died, and there was 104 00:05:38,320 --> 00:05:41,480 some dispute between angels about the body of Moses. 105 00:05:41,480 --> 00:05:45,040 So it may well be that Moses's body itself was taken up to 106 00:05:45,040 --> 00:05:46,040 heaven. Remember that. 107 00:05:46,720 --> 00:05:50,120 And Jesus sees a vision of Elijah and Moses appearing to 108 00:05:50,120 --> 00:05:52,400 him, apparently in their bodies after death. 109 00:05:53,240 --> 00:05:55,720 So yes, I think we have a reasonable case to say that 110 00:05:55,800 --> 00:05:59,640 Elijah and Enoch are exceptions to the rule in that. 111 00:05:59,960 --> 00:06:03,640 And the same with Mary and Jesus in that their bodies are already 112 00:06:03,640 --> 00:06:06,480 in heaven. They're the first fruits of what 113 00:06:06,480 --> 00:06:08,080 will happen to all Christians later. 114 00:06:08,120 --> 00:06:11,120 So it's not that it's impossible to have your body in heaven, 115 00:06:11,120 --> 00:06:12,600 it's just that most people don't. 116 00:06:12,600 --> 00:06:15,720 But there are some exceptions, she then says. 117 00:06:15,720 --> 00:06:18,200 Will there be a time when he will be appointed to die the 118 00:06:18,200 --> 00:06:24,040 same as all mortal men do? I don't think Elijah and Mary 119 00:06:24,040 --> 00:06:28,440 and Enoch do need to die because their body and soul has already 120 00:06:28,440 --> 00:06:31,680 been taken up to heaven. There's possibly a question 121 00:06:31,680 --> 00:06:35,880 about whether their bodies need to be transformed again when the 122 00:06:35,880 --> 00:06:39,120 new heavens and new earth comes. But again, we could say that 123 00:06:39,920 --> 00:06:41,760 it's possible that it's already happened to them as a 124 00:06:41,760 --> 00:06:45,120 prefigurement of the Transfiguration that will happen 125 00:06:45,120 --> 00:06:46,840 to all of our bodies at the end of time. 126 00:06:47,480 --> 00:06:51,200 It seems likely that Enoch and Elijah's bodies have already 127 00:06:51,200 --> 00:06:55,520 been transfigured in that way. So yeah, often we assume that 128 00:06:55,520 --> 00:06:58,000 it's only Jesus and Mary. But the Old Testament indicate 129 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:01,320 that at least Enoch and Elijah also have their bodies in 130 00:07:01,320 --> 00:07:06,040 heaven, so there is certainly a precedent for what happens to 131 00:07:06,040 --> 00:07:09,640 Mary in her Assumption. I've also received a few 132 00:07:09,640 --> 00:07:14,800 questions about this phrase of John the Baptist when he says to 133 00:07:14,960 --> 00:07:18,720 Jesus or says about Jesus, I'm not worthy to untie this strap 134 00:07:18,720 --> 00:07:20,800 of his sandal. A few people have sent in the 135 00:07:20,800 --> 00:07:25,600 same question here because there are some other popular Catholic 136 00:07:25,760 --> 00:07:28,640 biblical scholars who have a different interpretation of this 137 00:07:28,640 --> 00:07:31,400 passage. So the interpretation that I've 138 00:07:31,400 --> 00:07:34,360 offered using the commentaries that I tap into when I'm doing 139 00:07:34,360 --> 00:07:37,920 these exegesis episodes is that when John the Baptist says I'm 140 00:07:37,920 --> 00:07:42,600 not worthy to untie the strap of the sandals, what is basically 141 00:07:42,600 --> 00:07:47,080 means there is that I'm not worthy even to touch his feet as 142 00:07:47,080 --> 00:07:51,560 and in that culture the foot was considered to be the the least 143 00:07:51,560 --> 00:07:53,400 pleasant part of the body to touch. 144 00:07:54,240 --> 00:07:56,840 Or perhaps even you've considered it the least wholly, 145 00:07:56,840 --> 00:07:59,520 almost. But John the Baptist says I'm 146 00:07:59,520 --> 00:08:02,680 not even worthy to touch, that. I'm not even worthy to go near 147 00:08:02,680 --> 00:08:05,880 his feet. Is is sort of the way that a lot 148 00:08:05,880 --> 00:08:08,120 of these commentaries take it, and I think it makes sense. 149 00:08:09,440 --> 00:08:12,520 But there were some in church tradition, and as I said, some 150 00:08:12,520 --> 00:08:15,600 Catholic scholars today who advocate that this is actually a 151 00:08:15,600 --> 00:08:20,440 reference to the bridegroom theology of the Old Testament, 152 00:08:20,440 --> 00:08:23,360 particularly present in the book of Ruth and the Levarite law, 153 00:08:23,440 --> 00:08:29,880 which was that if a man died and left a wife without children, 154 00:08:29,880 --> 00:08:36,080 then his brother was obligated under the law to take that wife 155 00:08:36,080 --> 00:08:40,200 and to give her children. And there's this whole ritual 156 00:08:40,200 --> 00:08:45,400 that goes along with it where if the brother, the surviving 157 00:08:45,400 --> 00:08:49,080 brother, doesn't want to take up this obligation, then what he 158 00:08:49,080 --> 00:08:55,360 had to do was to take off his sandal and give it to the person 159 00:08:55,360 --> 00:08:56,800 who is going to be the new hospital. 160 00:08:56,800 --> 00:09:00,480 It was sort of a visible way of saying I am willing to 161 00:09:00,480 --> 00:09:05,760 relinquish the right that I have to take this wife and give it to 162 00:09:05,760 --> 00:09:07,760 someone else. And in fact, it was considered 163 00:09:07,760 --> 00:09:10,480 shameful for a man to do that, for a man not to take his 164 00:09:10,480 --> 00:09:12,560 brother's wife. That was considered to be quite 165 00:09:12,560 --> 00:09:15,800 shameful. And there's also a version of of 166 00:09:15,800 --> 00:09:19,600 this law where the woman herself can take the sandal off the man 167 00:09:20,040 --> 00:09:23,680 and kind of shake it at him as a way of saying, I disapprove that 168 00:09:23,680 --> 00:09:25,040 you would not take me as your wife. 169 00:09:25,040 --> 00:09:28,320 So there's this whole interesting theology of the 170 00:09:28,320 --> 00:09:30,040 sandal in terms of the Levarite law. 171 00:09:30,480 --> 00:09:34,720 So some in church history have said that when John the Baptist 172 00:09:34,720 --> 00:09:38,880 says I'm not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals, what he 173 00:09:38,880 --> 00:09:42,560 means there is that I'm not worthy to take away Jesus 174 00:09:42,560 --> 00:09:47,320 prerogative as the bridegroom. Indeed, we know from other 175 00:09:47,320 --> 00:09:51,880 passages that John the Baptist does call Jesus the bridegroom, 176 00:09:51,880 --> 00:09:54,200 and he says I'm merely the friend of the bridegroom, 177 00:09:54,440 --> 00:09:56,560 whereas Jesus is the true bridegroom. 178 00:09:56,560 --> 00:09:59,760 So we do have a precedent here for thinking that John the 179 00:09:59,760 --> 00:10:03,880 Baptist thinks in terms of bridegroom theology, so possibly 180 00:10:04,120 --> 00:10:06,000 this might be the right interpretation. 181 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:08,400 I do think it's a little bit convoluted because it requires 182 00:10:08,400 --> 00:10:11,680 us to think that when John the Baptist says I'm not worthy to 183 00:10:11,680 --> 00:10:15,760 untie this strap of his sandal, it's he'd have to be saying I'm 184 00:10:15,760 --> 00:10:19,960 not worthy to take Jesus right as Messiah and appropriate it 185 00:10:19,960 --> 00:10:22,680 for myself. That's a bit of a strange 186 00:10:22,680 --> 00:10:27,840 interpretation, but but it might fit because it is true that John 187 00:10:27,840 --> 00:10:30,200 the Baptist has to repeatedly remind people I'm not the 188 00:10:30,200 --> 00:10:32,240 Messiah. Jesus is the Messiah. 189 00:10:32,240 --> 00:10:34,040 So perhaps there's something to that. 190 00:10:34,040 --> 00:10:38,720 As I said, the particular commentaries that I use haven't 191 00:10:38,720 --> 00:10:42,440 particularly tapped into that, but perhaps that is the right 192 00:10:42,440 --> 00:10:44,000 interpretation. And as Catholics, we should 193 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:46,920 certainly be open to that, particularly when there's a 194 00:10:46,920 --> 00:10:49,800 tradition of the Church fathers interpreting it that particular 195 00:10:49,800 --> 00:10:52,480 way. I've got a question here from 196 00:10:52,480 --> 00:10:56,320 Joe, who wants to ask about the pregnancy of Mary and in 197 00:10:56,320 --> 00:10:58,320 particular, what did Joseph think about it? 198 00:10:59,040 --> 00:11:02,160 So one of the comments that we've made in the exegesis in 199 00:11:02,160 --> 00:11:07,640 these episodes is that initially it seems that Joseph thought 200 00:11:07,640 --> 00:11:10,760 that Mary had become pregnant by someone else, and that was why 201 00:11:10,760 --> 00:11:12,400 he wanted to divorce her quietly. 202 00:11:12,720 --> 00:11:16,360 Now, then the Angel appeared to Joseph and said do not be afraid 203 00:11:16,360 --> 00:11:19,480 to take her because she's become pregnant by the Holy Spirit. 204 00:11:19,480 --> 00:11:24,000 So his question is, does this perspective imply that God and 205 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:27,400 Mary have engaged in sinful action against the marriage vows 206 00:11:27,880 --> 00:11:29,960 that Mary and Joseph made to each other? 207 00:11:30,560 --> 00:11:32,120 And the answer to that would be no. 208 00:11:32,320 --> 00:11:34,960 So the Gospels themselves indicate that the Holy Spirit 209 00:11:34,960 --> 00:11:38,200 will over shadow Mary. Now, that doesn't imply any sort 210 00:11:38,200 --> 00:11:44,280 of sexual relationship between God and Mary, so there's no 211 00:11:44,280 --> 00:11:47,800 sinful action on the part of Mary in her pregnancy. 212 00:11:47,800 --> 00:11:51,560 So there's no no contradiction of the vows that Mary and Joseph 213 00:11:51,560 --> 00:11:53,880 would make to each other. In terms of sexual fidelity, 214 00:11:53,880 --> 00:11:56,280 it's important that we maintain that as Catholics, it's not that 215 00:11:56,280 --> 00:12:00,360 God impregnated Mary in that very physical sense. 216 00:12:00,680 --> 00:12:04,560 It's that there is a miraculous overshadowing by the Holy Spirit 217 00:12:04,560 --> 00:12:06,080 that brought about the pregnancy. 218 00:12:06,320 --> 00:12:09,040 And Joseph seems to have understood that after the Angel 219 00:12:09,040 --> 00:12:12,120 explained it to him. So we're moving through the 220 00:12:12,120 --> 00:12:14,280 questions well here. This next one is a bit more 221 00:12:14,280 --> 00:12:18,280 challenging from David, and it's more of a broader theological 222 00:12:18,280 --> 00:12:21,120 question, and I can only really have a go at this one. 223 00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:26,360 So David says if Jesus is divine, fully God and fully man. 224 00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:30,280 In the Old Testament, we learn the bad things happen when human 225 00:12:30,280 --> 00:12:32,600 sin comes into the presence of holiness. 226 00:12:32,840 --> 00:12:37,360 And presumably, David, there is referring to the occasions where 227 00:12:38,400 --> 00:12:42,000 the Israelite people don't follow the ritual law and 228 00:12:42,880 --> 00:12:45,480 something bad happens to them. For example, when they're 229 00:12:45,480 --> 00:12:49,040 carrying the ark of the Covenant and it slips, and the person 230 00:12:49,040 --> 00:12:52,920 carrying the Ark of the Covenant touches a part of the covenant 231 00:12:52,920 --> 00:12:55,000 of the Ark that he's not supposed to touch, he ends up 232 00:12:55,000 --> 00:12:57,920 being killed on the spot. So we do have examples of that 233 00:12:57,920 --> 00:13:03,200 where God actually strikes people with some sort of illness 234 00:13:03,200 --> 00:13:07,120 or death if they are not ritually clean or if they're 235 00:13:07,120 --> 00:13:11,680 sinful in some way. So he says if that's the case, 236 00:13:11,800 --> 00:13:15,080 Jesus being God, is obviously holy and yet he walked around 237 00:13:15,080 --> 00:13:17,440 and talked with and touched many people. 238 00:13:17,760 --> 00:13:20,800 How is this possible? Was he forgiving the sin of 239 00:13:20,800 --> 00:13:23,800 everyone around him so that they could be with him? 240 00:13:24,640 --> 00:13:28,080 I guess my question is, given our understanding of holiness 241 00:13:28,080 --> 00:13:31,080 from the Old Testament and the reverence and ceremony around 242 00:13:31,080 --> 00:13:34,520 entering into God's presence, how is it then possible for 243 00:13:34,520 --> 00:13:38,080 sinners to be around Jesus before his atoning death? 244 00:13:39,160 --> 00:13:42,240 It's a really good question that is really asking how it's 245 00:13:42,240 --> 00:13:46,120 possible for Jesus as God to be in close proximity to sin. 246 00:13:46,400 --> 00:13:50,600 Given that God and sin are very much opposed, I think part of 247 00:13:50,600 --> 00:13:54,120 the answer here would be we shouldn't really think of sin. 248 00:13:54,720 --> 00:13:59,000 Thinking in terms of personal sin here as as an actual thing 249 00:13:59,000 --> 00:14:02,240 that exists in and of itself as like an evil force. 250 00:14:03,240 --> 00:14:06,400 Perhaps one of the best ways, and the catechism does sort of 251 00:14:06,400 --> 00:14:09,720 point in this direction, is that sin, particularly when we're 252 00:14:09,720 --> 00:14:12,120 thinking of the individual actions a person makes, is 253 00:14:12,120 --> 00:14:15,000 really a deprivation of something that should be there. 254 00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:19,360 It's a lack. So when Jesus is walking among 255 00:14:19,360 --> 00:14:22,880 sinners, it's not that he's repelled by this evil force 256 00:14:22,880 --> 00:14:26,120 called sin that's sort of emanating from people, it's that 257 00:14:26,120 --> 00:14:30,800 they they lack something. So in that sense, sin is not a 258 00:14:30,800 --> 00:14:33,320 challenge to Jesus. It's not going to put him off in 259 00:14:33,320 --> 00:14:34,880 that. In that sense, I think that 260 00:14:34,880 --> 00:14:37,120 might be part of the answer. And we also need to remember 261 00:14:37,120 --> 00:14:40,040 that Jesus mission here is to reach sinners. 262 00:14:40,040 --> 00:14:45,320 He wants to impart his goodness and holiness to sinners and he 263 00:14:45,320 --> 00:14:47,040 doesn't contract their sinfulness. 264 00:14:47,040 --> 00:14:50,000 And a good example of this is when Jesus interacts with the 265 00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:51,560 lepers. The prevailing wisdom at the 266 00:14:51,560 --> 00:14:55,120 time was if you touch a leper, their leprosy will go into you. 267 00:14:55,120 --> 00:14:58,520 But we see Jesus touching the lepers, and His Holiness and 268 00:14:58,520 --> 00:15:01,560 healing goes into the leper. That's probably the way we 269 00:15:01,560 --> 00:15:03,760 should think about Jesus. Interactions with sinners in 270 00:15:03,760 --> 00:15:08,080 general is that His Holiness moves into their sinfulness, and 271 00:15:08,080 --> 00:15:11,360 he overpowers the sinfulness. So there's certainly not some 272 00:15:11,360 --> 00:15:17,120 sort of equivalent here of the sinfulness is equal in power to 273 00:15:17,480 --> 00:15:19,880 God's holiness. That's not the case at all, and 274 00:15:19,880 --> 00:15:23,280 in Catholic theology we see sinfulness as more of a lack of 275 00:15:23,280 --> 00:15:26,240 something. Also, when you think about the 276 00:15:26,240 --> 00:15:30,240 Old Testament sacrifices and what Jesus was trying and what 277 00:15:30,240 --> 00:15:33,160 God was trying to teach the Israelites about holiness, it's 278 00:15:33,280 --> 00:15:36,480 mostly that it's mostly God trying to teach them things 279 00:15:36,880 --> 00:15:40,560 about God's holiness. Rather than there being this 280 00:15:40,560 --> 00:15:45,440 strict war going on between God and sin, it's mostly God giving 281 00:15:45,440 --> 00:15:48,800 them specific laws to teach them about their sinfulness and if 282 00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:51,360 they break those laws God has consequences in place. 283 00:15:52,200 --> 00:15:54,280 I hope that helps answer the question, but it is a really 284 00:15:54,280 --> 00:15:57,240 good theological question. We've got a question here on 285 00:15:57,240 --> 00:15:59,640 Patreon from God. First, he wants to know how to 286 00:15:59,640 --> 00:16:01,680 reconcile two different verses here. 287 00:16:01,920 --> 00:16:07,440 One of the verses is Romans 9 verse 13 as it is written Jacob 288 00:16:07,640 --> 00:16:12,040 I loved but Esau I hated. And then the other verse is from 289 00:16:12,040 --> 00:16:16,680 Wisdom chapter 1124 to 26 which is an extended section where God 290 00:16:16,680 --> 00:16:22,840 says I where the author says God would not have made anything if 291 00:16:22,840 --> 00:16:26,600 he had hated it. He goes on to say you spare all 292 00:16:26,600 --> 00:16:29,120 things for they are yours, You who love the living. 293 00:16:29,520 --> 00:16:31,240 So how can we reconcile these verses? 294 00:16:31,240 --> 00:16:33,840 Wisdom says God doesn't hate anything, he loves all the 295 00:16:33,840 --> 00:16:37,400 living. But the Romans passage says he 296 00:16:37,400 --> 00:16:42,520 hates the person called Esau. I think one key way of answering 297 00:16:42,520 --> 00:16:46,080 this is that God doesn't hate anything that he creates and 298 00:16:46,080 --> 00:16:49,960 it's created form. But humans in particular can 299 00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:53,880 later then sin through their free choice, which can then put 300 00:16:53,880 --> 00:16:57,960 that person in a negative relationship with God, and in 301 00:16:57,960 --> 00:17:01,360 this case Esau. There is a sense in which God 302 00:17:01,360 --> 00:17:07,000 hated Esau after Esau did that particular sin, still loves God, 303 00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:09,280 still loves him in terms of his existence. 304 00:17:09,280 --> 00:17:12,560 He wills Esau's existence, but he hates the choice that Esau 305 00:17:12,640 --> 00:17:14,000 made. So I think when we're dealing 306 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:17,280 with humans there is a sense in which through the humans free 307 00:17:17,280 --> 00:17:20,800 choice and particularly you need to study the theology of Romans 308 00:17:20,800 --> 00:17:23,839 a bit more to get this in terms of the point that Paul wants to 309 00:17:23,839 --> 00:17:27,119 make here. But it is possible through free 310 00:17:27,119 --> 00:17:30,000 choice for then for God to be displeased with someone. 311 00:17:30,400 --> 00:17:34,400 So I hope that helps resolve the those two verses there. 312 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:38,960 We have a question here from Celeste and she's asking a good 313 00:17:38,960 --> 00:17:43,800 question about Luke chapter 2 verse 26 which says and this is 314 00:17:43,800 --> 00:17:48,600 the interaction with Simeon in the temple and Luke here says it 315 00:17:48,600 --> 00:17:51,640 had been revealed to Simeon by the Holy Spirit that he would 316 00:17:51,640 --> 00:17:55,960 not see death until he had set eyes on the Christ of the Lord. 317 00:17:56,240 --> 00:18:00,120 So Celestia is asking about what's this phrase the Christ of 318 00:18:00,120 --> 00:18:02,760 the Lord? Are the Bible translations have 319 00:18:02,760 --> 00:18:06,240 this as the Lord's Christ and she wants to know what does that 320 00:18:06,240 --> 00:18:08,680 mean? Well, it helps if we think about 321 00:18:08,680 --> 00:18:11,760 what does Christ, What does the word Christ mean? 322 00:18:11,760 --> 00:18:14,520 It basically means Messiah. In fact, that's that is what it 323 00:18:14,520 --> 00:18:16,800 means. The Jews in the time of Jesus 324 00:18:16,800 --> 00:18:18,440 were looking forward to the Messiah. 325 00:18:18,440 --> 00:18:20,560 In other words, they were looking forward to the Christ 326 00:18:20,800 --> 00:18:24,480 whom God would send. So when Luke 2 verse 26 talks 327 00:18:24,480 --> 00:18:27,720 about it, it's just saying this is the Messiah, this is the 328 00:18:27,720 --> 00:18:30,600 Lord's Christ, the Messiah that God has sent. 329 00:18:30,840 --> 00:18:32,880 This is the one Simeon has been waiting for. 330 00:18:33,120 --> 00:18:38,040 And Luke is telling his readers that Simeon received a vision or 331 00:18:38,160 --> 00:18:41,800 some sort of information from God that he would not see death 332 00:18:41,800 --> 00:18:45,680 until he had seen the Messiah. So the Lord's Christ is just a 333 00:18:45,680 --> 00:18:48,160 way of saying the Messiah that God would send. 334 00:18:48,600 --> 00:18:51,640 It's a good question, Celeste. We've had a few questions about 335 00:18:51,760 --> 00:18:55,040 why the lectionary jumps around a bit and also why the 336 00:18:55,040 --> 00:18:58,320 lectionary doesn't include all of the Gospels. 337 00:18:58,320 --> 00:19:02,120 As you know, if you've been listening for a while, if you go 338 00:19:02,120 --> 00:19:05,600 to mass everyday for the whole 3 year cycle, you'll hear about 339 00:19:05,640 --> 00:19:09,440 80% of the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. 340 00:19:09,440 --> 00:19:11,480 But there's still 20% that isn't read. 341 00:19:11,920 --> 00:19:15,800 And particularly CJ here wants to know why is that? 342 00:19:15,920 --> 00:19:21,400 Why is why is it that not all of the gospels are read as part of 343 00:19:21,400 --> 00:19:23,200 the lectionary? There's a few reasons. 344 00:19:23,200 --> 00:19:28,120 One is if you add up, well, if you think about the small 345 00:19:28,120 --> 00:19:31,520 chunks, the Goss, the Mass wants to read the Gospel in small 346 00:19:31,520 --> 00:19:36,000 chunks, there's actually still not quite enough days across a 347 00:19:36,000 --> 00:19:40,600 whole one year weekday cycle plus the Sunday cycle to include 348 00:19:41,200 --> 00:19:43,320 the text of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. 349 00:19:43,520 --> 00:19:45,880 In terms of small chunks, there's just not quite enough 350 00:19:45,880 --> 00:19:47,920 time in the year to do that. That's one reason. 351 00:19:48,320 --> 00:19:51,720 Secondly, there's a few passages which is seen as a bit too 352 00:19:51,720 --> 00:19:54,440 controversial to read it Mass or a bit too strong from the 353 00:19:54,440 --> 00:19:57,520 Gospels. For example, some of Jesus 354 00:19:57,520 --> 00:20:00,120 interactions with the Pharisees in the Gospel of Matthew, 355 00:20:00,680 --> 00:20:03,080 particularly towards the end of the Gospel of Matthew where 356 00:20:03,520 --> 00:20:07,120 Jesus says to the Pharisees you will be sent down to hell. 357 00:20:07,880 --> 00:20:11,040 I think the lectionary editors felt that that was too strong to 358 00:20:11,040 --> 00:20:14,680 have Reddit mass and so that might be one of the reasons why 359 00:20:14,680 --> 00:20:18,520 some passages are left out. The Sunday readings are very 360 00:20:18,520 --> 00:20:23,400 carefully chosen because we, the lectionary editors, want to make 361 00:20:23,400 --> 00:20:27,360 sure that they really. Good solid stories or good solid 362 00:20:27,360 --> 00:20:31,680 parts of the Gospels that the priest or the preacher can do a 363 00:20:31,680 --> 00:20:34,640 really good homily from, so they're very carefully chosen. 364 00:20:35,440 --> 00:20:38,120 The weekday readings typically do move through pretty 365 00:20:38,120 --> 00:20:41,200 continuously through the gospels, but there are parts 366 00:20:41,200 --> 00:20:44,080 that have to be read out largely due to time constraints. 367 00:20:44,080 --> 00:20:47,840 That would be my understanding of why the lectionary editors 368 00:20:47,840 --> 00:20:50,480 have set things up the way that they did when they worked out 369 00:20:50,480 --> 00:20:52,520 which gospel readings would go on which day. 370 00:20:53,120 --> 00:20:56,240 And by the way, many of you would know this already, but you 371 00:20:56,240 --> 00:20:59,400 can actually get access to that missing 20% of the gospels. 372 00:20:59,400 --> 00:21:03,960 We have done an exegesis on the missing 20% of Matthew, Mark, 373 00:21:03,960 --> 00:21:06,880 Luke, and John that is available to you through the Patreon page. 374 00:21:07,200 --> 00:21:10,680 If you're willing to support the ministry at $10 a month or more, 375 00:21:10,920 --> 00:21:15,040 you can get access to all the bonus exegesis episodes so that 376 00:21:15,840 --> 00:21:20,120 you can eventually hear all of all four Gospels. 377 00:21:20,320 --> 00:21:24,160 We also have available entire verse by verse, chronological 378 00:21:24,160 --> 00:21:27,000 audio commentaries of the Gospels, which are slowly being 379 00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:28,960 released. So if you want to study a 380 00:21:28,960 --> 00:21:32,160 particular gospel in depth from start to finish, that is 381 00:21:32,160 --> 00:21:35,120 available to you as an audio package, and you can see more 382 00:21:35,120 --> 00:21:38,360 information about both of those things in the episode 383 00:21:38,360 --> 00:21:42,000 description here. We've got a great question here 384 00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:45,840 from Vivian who wants to know a bit more about the link between 385 00:21:45,840 --> 00:21:49,600 Satan's influence and illness. This is something the Catechism 386 00:21:49,600 --> 00:21:51,920 itself mentions, and it's something that we've brought up 387 00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:55,160 in the episodes relating to when Jesus is healing people. 388 00:21:55,440 --> 00:21:58,880 So Vivian's question is, can you please explain what you mean by 389 00:21:59,680 --> 00:22:03,160 in a way, all sickness or illness is a result of Satan's 390 00:22:03,160 --> 00:22:07,600 influence on the world? So firstly I'll refer to the 391 00:22:07,600 --> 00:22:10,680 Catechism paragraphs from the Catechism of the Catholic Church 392 00:22:10,680 --> 00:22:15,720 which talk about this. SO paragraph 1502 says it is the 393 00:22:15,720 --> 00:22:19,160 experience of Israel that illness is mysteriously linked 394 00:22:19,160 --> 00:22:22,520 to sin and evil. And then a few paragraphs later 395 00:22:22,520 --> 00:22:27,320 1505 says Jesus healings were signs of the coming of the 396 00:22:27,320 --> 00:22:30,160 Kingdom of God. They announced a more radical 397 00:22:30,160 --> 00:22:32,920 healing, the victory over sin and death. 398 00:22:32,920 --> 00:22:35,360 Through his Passover on the cross. 399 00:22:35,360 --> 00:22:38,240 Christ took upon himself the whole weight of evil and took 400 00:22:38,240 --> 00:22:41,680 away the sin of the world, of which illness is only a 401 00:22:41,680 --> 00:22:44,520 consequence. So you can hear there that the 402 00:22:44,520 --> 00:22:48,480 Church pretty clearly teaches that illness is a consequence of 403 00:22:48,480 --> 00:22:50,320 the sin that is in the world now. 404 00:22:50,320 --> 00:22:52,840 It's not a direct one to one relationship where if an 405 00:22:52,840 --> 00:22:55,400 individual sins, they then receive an illness. 406 00:22:55,800 --> 00:22:58,800 It's this more kind of cosmic influence of sin on the world 407 00:22:58,800 --> 00:23:02,360 has led to illness. And this would go back to Adam 408 00:23:02,360 --> 00:23:04,120 and Eve. Had Adam and Eve not sinned, 409 00:23:04,120 --> 00:23:07,560 there would not be illness in the world, particularly because 410 00:23:07,560 --> 00:23:09,640 they would have access to the Tree of life. 411 00:23:10,040 --> 00:23:13,560 We can't exactly explain how this works because a lot of what 412 00:23:13,560 --> 00:23:15,480 happened in the Garden of Eden is mysterious. 413 00:23:15,480 --> 00:23:19,160 But the imagery we get is that as Adam and Eve were taking from 414 00:23:19,160 --> 00:23:22,360 the Tree of life, that was preventing them from death and 415 00:23:22,360 --> 00:23:23,960 probably preventing them from illness. 416 00:23:24,160 --> 00:23:26,920 And since Adam and Eve can no longer access the Tree of life 417 00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:30,920 as a result of their sin. And remember, sin is the result 418 00:23:30,920 --> 00:23:34,320 of Satan's influence on them. Therefore, humans are not 419 00:23:34,320 --> 00:23:36,280 protected from illness and death anymore. 420 00:23:36,520 --> 00:23:39,840 It's broadly that kind of link. Hopefully that kind of gets to 421 00:23:39,840 --> 00:23:43,880 what you're asking and Vivian says, But by that inference, is 422 00:23:43,880 --> 00:23:47,400 it logical to conclude that if illness is not healed or demons 423 00:23:47,400 --> 00:23:51,400 not exercised, the Kingdom of God has not come to that person, 424 00:23:51,880 --> 00:23:54,160 or Satan still has a hold on that person? 425 00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:57,640 There's two different things we need to distinguish here. 426 00:23:58,120 --> 00:24:01,000 If illness is not healed in a particular case, it doesn't 427 00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:04,280 necessarily mean Satan has a hold on that individual on an 428 00:24:04,280 --> 00:24:07,600 individual level. Not every individual is due to 429 00:24:07,600 --> 00:24:09,720 Satan's, not in every individual. 430 00:24:09,720 --> 00:24:12,200 Illness is due to Satan's direct influence. 431 00:24:12,480 --> 00:24:14,880 So it's not as simple as saying if they're not healed, then 432 00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:18,800 Satan has power over them. But in the case of an exorcism, 433 00:24:18,800 --> 00:24:21,920 if an exorcism is not successful, then there is a 434 00:24:21,920 --> 00:24:25,480 sense in which Satan does still have a hold on that person, but 435 00:24:25,640 --> 00:24:30,040 often through multiple exorcisms that hold can be weakened, and 436 00:24:30,240 --> 00:24:32,840 it's worth studying what contemporary exorcists have to 437 00:24:32,840 --> 00:24:37,520 say about the influence of Satan over people and how that can be 438 00:24:37,520 --> 00:24:40,320 broken down slowly. I hope that helps answer your 439 00:24:40,320 --> 00:24:44,160 really good question there, Vivian, another really great 440 00:24:44,160 --> 00:24:47,000 question here from Matthew, and this is one that I've wondered 441 00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:50,680 about sometimes too, he says. My question relates to the 442 00:24:50,680 --> 00:24:54,280 demons calling Jesus son of God, and Jesus silencing them. 443 00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:57,360 It seems that most of these encounters are public. 444 00:24:57,560 --> 00:25:01,040 As such, I would expect that some people heard what the 445 00:25:01,040 --> 00:25:04,960 demons said about our Lord. If people heard what the demons 446 00:25:04,960 --> 00:25:08,200 said, how is it that no one seemed to know that Jesus was 447 00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:11,800 the Son of God until later? It's a great question, Matthew, 448 00:25:11,800 --> 00:25:15,360 and I think the Gospel of Mark is a really good one to study 449 00:25:15,360 --> 00:25:18,120 here because there's quite a few encounters early in the Gospel 450 00:25:18,120 --> 00:25:21,960 of Mark where the demons call Jesus the Son of God, or at 451 00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:25,200 least a similar title to that, and Jesus immediately silences 452 00:25:25,200 --> 00:25:29,000 them and says don't tell anyone. Presumably you're right that 453 00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:32,160 some people would hear the demons calling Jesus the son of 454 00:25:32,160 --> 00:25:36,640 God, and particularly because remember, Peter is likely the 455 00:25:36,640 --> 00:25:39,240 source of Mark's Gospel, so certainly Peter would have heard 456 00:25:39,240 --> 00:25:41,720 it and others who were nearby Jesus at the time. 457 00:25:42,520 --> 00:25:45,360 Maybe part of the answer here is remember there's often huge 458 00:25:45,360 --> 00:25:48,320 crowds here. The crowds can't always hear 459 00:25:48,320 --> 00:25:50,400 exactly what's done, particularly if Jesus 460 00:25:50,400 --> 00:25:53,840 immediately silences the demon, and then you know, the rest of 461 00:25:53,840 --> 00:25:57,160 the day Jesus moves around with the crowd. 462 00:25:57,320 --> 00:26:00,400 Not going by that title, I suppose just in terms of 463 00:26:00,400 --> 00:26:04,280 percentage amount of time that people are with Jesus, they're 464 00:26:04,280 --> 00:26:06,920 unlikely to hear Jesus being called the Son of God. 465 00:26:06,920 --> 00:26:10,280 There's really only rare occurrences where he's briefly 466 00:26:10,280 --> 00:26:13,080 called the Son of God and then Jesus immediately silences them. 467 00:26:13,920 --> 00:26:17,200 Maybe that's enough for this title, Son of God, not to enter 468 00:26:17,200 --> 00:26:20,720 into the consciousness of the people who are in the crowd. 469 00:26:20,920 --> 00:26:24,320 Another possibility is that some people did actually think he was 470 00:26:24,320 --> 00:26:27,880 the Son of God, but it was not the dominant theory. 471 00:26:27,880 --> 00:26:31,160 It was more likely that people would think he's a prophet or 472 00:26:31,160 --> 00:26:34,280 Elijah returned from the dead, as we see in that conversation 473 00:26:34,280 --> 00:26:37,880 between Jesus and the and the key apostles. 474 00:26:38,800 --> 00:26:39,960 I hope that helps answer the question. 475 00:26:39,960 --> 00:26:42,800 It's not an entire answer, but I suppose we just have to think 476 00:26:42,800 --> 00:26:46,120 about the dynamics that would be in place with huge crowds 477 00:26:46,120 --> 00:26:49,760 constantly following Jesus around and different opinions 478 00:26:49,760 --> 00:26:51,720 that are circulating amongst the crowd. 479 00:26:52,200 --> 00:26:54,520 Last question we'll look at today is from Jessica on 480 00:26:54,520 --> 00:26:59,120 Patreon. She says Was Mary at the Last 481 00:26:59,120 --> 00:27:01,200 Supper? It seems clear from the Gospels 482 00:27:01,200 --> 00:27:04,680 that she was in Jerusalem, probably for the Passover, as 483 00:27:04,680 --> 00:27:09,280 any observant Jew would be. If not at the Last Supper, then 484 00:27:09,280 --> 00:27:12,760 where was she on Holy Thursday? It's a good question. 485 00:27:13,080 --> 00:27:15,120 Was Mary present at the Last Supper? 486 00:27:15,120 --> 00:27:17,200 Some theologians have thought she might be. 487 00:27:18,040 --> 00:27:21,800 The gospel seemed to indicate that it is only Jesus and the 488 00:27:21,800 --> 00:27:26,000 apostles in the upper room. Now that's not 100% certain, but 489 00:27:26,000 --> 00:27:29,040 in terms of the way the narration goes, in terms of the 490 00:27:29,040 --> 00:27:32,040 instructions Jesus gives the apostles to prepare the room, it 491 00:27:32,040 --> 00:27:34,800 does sound like he's deliberately choosing to just be 492 00:27:34,800 --> 00:27:38,400 there with his apostles, and therefore it's likely that Mary 493 00:27:38,400 --> 00:27:41,800 and other disciples were not with Jesus at the Last Supper. 494 00:27:42,080 --> 00:27:45,240 Now you will find some scholars and theologians who think that's 495 00:27:45,880 --> 00:27:47,640 not the case and that they were present. 496 00:27:48,040 --> 00:27:50,880 But if we assume that Mary was not present at the Last Supper, 497 00:27:51,200 --> 00:27:55,040 we can say that she would be celebrating the Passover with 498 00:27:55,040 --> 00:27:57,840 some of her own relatives. Remember, for the great feasts 499 00:27:58,200 --> 00:28:02,040 of Jerusalem, like the Passover, people would travel in crowds 500 00:28:02,040 --> 00:28:05,280 and in families from where they lived up to Jerusalem. 501 00:28:05,320 --> 00:28:10,440 So Mary would have travelled with people from her hometown of 502 00:28:10,440 --> 00:28:13,360 Nazareth and they would have shared some sort of Passover 503 00:28:13,360 --> 00:28:15,800 together. That's just speculation, we 504 00:28:15,800 --> 00:28:19,480 can't be sure, but I hope that kind of gives you an option to 505 00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:23,600 think about when we consider what Mary was up to in Jerusalem 506 00:28:24,200 --> 00:28:29,400 in the last week of Jesus life. So I hope these attempts at 507 00:28:29,400 --> 00:28:31,400 responding to the questions were helpful. 508 00:28:32,040 --> 00:28:34,640 There've been so many recently that I thought it was worth 509 00:28:34,640 --> 00:28:36,440 doing. As a additional bonus episode, 510 00:28:36,440 --> 00:28:39,520 if you've got another biblical question that you'd like 511 00:28:39,520 --> 00:28:42,080 answered, feel free to send it through either to 512 00:28:42,080 --> 00:28:46,840 logical.biblestudy@gmail.com or you can even leave a voice 513 00:28:46,840 --> 00:28:49,400 message, and there's a link for that in the episode description. 514 00:28:49,880 --> 00:28:52,440 Thanks so much for your support of the Logical Bible Study 515 00:28:52,440 --> 00:28:55,360 Ministry. I'm so glad to hear that this 516 00:28:55,360 --> 00:28:59,240 approach to Scripture is opening up the Bible for so many of you. 517 00:29:00,200 --> 00:29:03,000 Please keep telling other people about it, keep the ministry in 518 00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:05,720 your prayers, and please keep tuning in. 519 00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:07,560 We'll see you for the next episode.