Hi everyone, welcome to this bonus episode of the Daily
Gospel Exegesis podcast. Thanks again so much to all of
you who are supporting the ministry in your prayers, or by
telling other people about the ministry, or by your financial
support through the Patreon page.
It really does make a difference and ultimately it's all God's
work. We do have some new projects
underway for the ministry that I'm hoping to announce very
soon. So keep your eye out for some
more bonus episodes in the coming weeks where I'm going to
talk about the things that the ministry is working on.
And you guys as the listeners, particularly those of you who
are financially supporting the ministry, you are the ones that
make these projects possible. So once again today I just
wanted to share some feedback that's come in about the
ministry. Again, the purpose of this is to
show you how much difference a small grassroots ministry can
make in the lives of people who are searching for particular
resources. And once again, I want to
encourage each of you who think you might have a particular gift
from God, find a way to use it to, to serve the body of Christ.
And for some of you, that would mean making a podcast, making a
website, making particular resources that aren't yet
currently available in the Catholic world.
That's what I tried to do with this podcast.
And it's bearing a lot of good fruit as you'll see today.
Thank you to all of those who have written in with their
feedback. This is just a selection of some
of them. So Ruth says, just wanted to
thank you for doing this. I've been listening to you on
Hello for the last couple of months.
I tried to never miss an episode.
You've helped my husband and I grow our faith.
You've planted the seeds for us to take up reading the Bible and
now have a better understanding thanks to you and this ministry.
You've helped revive our Catholic faith and return to the
Church as well. I enjoy listening to the Mass
and playing your episode after to pick up on things I missed.
Thank you so much for that feedback, Ruth, and it's
fantastic that this podcast is helping you come back to the
church. Never underestimate, I often say
this, but I'll say it again, never underestimate what
studying the Bible can do for people's faith, for their
Catholic faith in particular. Having access to good, solid
resources that help them understand Jesus and the Bible
can bring people back to the church.
And I'm so grateful, Ruth, that this podcast has helped do that
for you. We have some feedback here from
Georgette, who is one of our Patreon supporters.
Your analysis is so satisfying. I'm not a theologian or an
apologist, but I am a litigator and a historian.
And as such, I can recognise the skills of a reader, a teacher, a
persuader. And you have those in spades.
Thank you so much for those kind words, Georgette.
I think if I do have those gifts, then I think it's those
are gifts from God. And I'm trying my best to use
those in a way that will serve the body of Christ.
And Georgette also had a couple of thoughts about one of the
episodes that's worth sharing. She is a student of history.
So in terms of the crucifixion, here's what she says about the
colour that Jesus is dressed in as during his trial before pilot
when Jesus was dressed by the Romans for his crucifixion, a
scarlet cloth was not a reference to the colour, But the
Greek word seems to refer to the weave and the type.
If it meant red and was really expensive, ordinary Roman
soldiers would never have been dressed in it.
Red fabric dye was not that expensive for the Roman
soldiers, first of all because they had access to lower priced
cockney or dye from the shells of beetles the Roman explorers
had access to. And then she provides a link to
some more information about what's meant by the term
scarlet. So that's interesting,
Georgette. I wasn't aware that this
scholarly debate about what exactly is meant by scarlet.
Georgette is saying that it probably doesn't refer to red
because red was a fairly common colour and didn't necessarily
represent royalty. I'm not sure whether that's the
case, but that's something really interesting to think
about. Thank you so much, Georgette.
She also has some comments about the crucifixion itself.
Georgette's got a really interesting background across a
few different areas and she says you'll be aware that there's
some debate about where the nails were placed when Jesus was
crucified. Traditionally we picture the
nails as going straight through, straight through Jesus palms and
his feet. So Georgia here says she's been
involved in death penalty cases and she had to look into some of
the mechanisms of death. She says even with a little seat
on the vertical bar of a cross, there's zero way that one could
nail a person up by their hands and feet and let them stay up
there with their body weight, not pulling them off the cross
almost instantly. She goes on to talk about some
experiments that have shown that trying to nail directly through
someone's hands and feet would not work for a crucifixion.
She says far more likely the nail was placed between the
bones of the wrists and the feet were either nailed through the
heels or sometimes through 1 longer spike through the feet
higher up closer to the ankles. So what Georgette is saying is
consistent with what some recent scholarship is showing about the
likely way that Romans did crucifixions.
And you may well be right. Of course we do have the
traditional images of the nails through Jesus hands and feet,
and indeed we have the stigmata as well.
And we also have visions of people with and in the vision
Jesus hands and feet are literally pierced.
However, we do understand that sometimes visions can show
things are meaningful for people without them necessarily
representing what it was actually like at the real
crucifixion historically. So there's all sorts of
complicated things that go into this.
We may never be able to get a definitive answer, but it's
certainly useful to have access to the historical data that
supporters like Georgia can provide because it makes sure
that we're not just assuming one particular viewpoint.
In this podcast we always want to give you different viewpoints
and I'm always very grateful to listeners to pointing out when
there are different ways of looking at particular passages.
So Mary Lee, who is also a Patreon supporter, says this.
Hello was my beginning finding your gospel exegesis.
I didn't realise how little I knew about Jesus Jewishness.
There are so many unanswered questions about the customs and
genesis of God's chosen people. Your explanations are so
insightful, and I'd like your accent.
Supporting the ministry is important because I get so much
from it, including a sense of grace.
So thank you so much for your support, Mary Lee.
And I'm, I'm glad this podcast is helping you understand the
Jewish context of the New Testament.
Understanding that can be a real groundbreaking finding for a lot
of people when you first encounter it.
She goes on to talk about how she's part of the Shroud Science
Group, which is a group of about 100 international scholars
who've studied the Shroud of Turin.
And she says your podcast adds another layer to understanding
the divine Word of God. When one sees the passion of God
on the Shroud, it can bring tears, even after all of these
years. So I'd encourage all of you as
listeners to look into the Shroud of Shirin.
There are, of course, mixed opinions among scholars about
it, but there seems to be a growing consensus that the
Shroud of Turin may indeed be authentic.
And as Mary says, there's a group of scientists and scholars
that study the Shroud, and there's some really fascinating
findings. Some good resources are
available through Father Robert Spitzer, who does quite a bit of
work teaching Catholics about the Shroud of Turin.
It's it's well worth looking at. We have some feedback from an
anonymous listener here. I'm writing from New York City
and I've been listening to your podcast via Hello and I must say
God bless you and thank you. I believe you're doing the
Lord's work delivering the Daily Exegesis podcast, which I think
helps to add informed context and substance to Bible
scripture. I listen to your podcast on a
daily basis, which helps me to better interpret and understand
gospel readings in their proper context and has inspired me to
read the Bible more. I've been reading the Bible more
over the past year than I have in my entire 40 years on this
earth, and this podcast is a significant reason for that.
What a wonderful gift and a great resource.
Though my faith in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ never
waned, I was a person who is distant from the Catholic Church
for years, but have found my way back feeling strengthened,
renewed and reinvigorated in the Catholic faith.
Keep doing this work for which I plan to continue to support.
Thank you so much for that feedback from this anonymous
person from New York City. It's amazing the amount of
feedback I get from people who are probably a bit older who say
this podcast has helped them understand the Catholic faith in
a way that they would never expose to in all of their in all
of their early life as a Catholic.
We need to do more in this space.
We need to expose Catholics to good Bible resources, encourage
them to study the Bible, come alongside them, do more Bible
studies, do more catechesis. And thankfully, there's more and
more resources available now to do just that.
And I'm glad this podcast is helping people go deeper in
their faith and ultimately in their relationship with God.
Some feedback here from Gina. I listen to your Bible exegesis
every morning. It's always the first thing I do
so that I don't miss a day. That's how important to my life
it is. I found the podcast through the
Hello app and I was pleased that I did.
I'd been searching and trying other courses for a while to
replace a long time Bible class that ended when my teacher
retired. I've studied the Bible for many
years, Bible studies as well as academic courses, and I'm
continuing to learn through your podcast.
One of the recent revelations that I've never heard another
Bible teaching emphasize is the idea that in many instances,
Jesus is talking specifically to his apostles, not to us.
That has given me a new perspective through which to
read much of the New Testament. Thank you so much for that
feedback, Gina. And yeah, it's interesting.
That's something that struck me as I was beginning to study the
words of the Gospels and getting into the nitty gritty.
There's quite a few things that Jesus says primarily just to his
apostles. Now, some of those things Jesus
then wanted the apostles to teach others, but quite a lot of
the gospels are instructions that were at the time just for
his apostles. And I agree that when you
realise that, it helps you resolve a lot of questions you
have, She says. I just wanted to write to say
thank you for your podcast, for your time and dedication that
make it so valuable. I know the Holy Spirit is
inspiring you daily to strengthen the faith of your
listeners. I'm pleased to be a monthly
supporter and tell people about it as often as I can.
Thank you so much, Gina, for supporting the ministry and for
continuing to tell other people about it.
Ultimately, that's the most important thing for grassroots
small ministries. What we rely on is listeners to
tell other people about it. That's how things like this
grow. Some feedback from Albert.
I wanted to drop a note to say that my wife and I are huge fans
of your podcast. We've been avid listeners for
about two years now, ever since it became available on the Hello
App. We truly enjoy everything about
it, from the insightful discussions on the biblical
context times to the thoughtful connections with specific
teachings in Cat in the Catholic Catechism.
Your work is so much appreciated and we've been recommending it
to our friends so they can TuneIn and enjoy it too.
Thank you, Albert, Indeed, Hello is doing a great service in the
way it's making all sorts of audio resources available for
Catholics, from Bible studies to reflections to music.
If you are a listener who's been sort of wanting an app that
brings together some of the best of Catholic audio in a way
that's categorized really well and will help you deepen your
relationship with God, the Hello app is well worth checking out
if you haven't already. We've got some feedback here
from a fellow Australian, Rosanna, She says.
I've been following your podcast in Hello.
I really appreciate your work. It gives me a better
understanding of the Gospels and history.
I appreciate that it explains clearly an interpretation
different from my own. I like the going before
attending Mass. I understand the literal
reflection on the gospel and parables.
I find this very helpful for me. Thank you for doing this
podcast. May God bless you and your work.
Thank you so much, Rosanna. I'm glad this podcast is helping
you as a companion to understanding the readings of
Mass. That's really the point of the
format of this particular podcast is to help you
understand the gospel readings at Mass on in a deeper way.
We've got a quick comment on one of the episodes from David,
who's a Patreon supporter. He says, I had this random
thought that I consider worth meditating on.
In one of the episodes for Matthew's Gospel, you mentioned
that we are fortunate that the gospel writers tell us the
interpretation of some of the parables.
Now that's true. I do tend to emphasize that the
gospel authors often give us an interpretation of the parable
that most of the crowd in Jesus time wouldn't have heard.
So in that sense, we're more fortunate than the crowd.
But he goes on to make a good point.
We need to consider that the people listening to Jesus were
witnesses of several miracles that we aren't.
Therefore, I think there's a trade off between how fortunate
people were or are. Yeah, it's a really good point,
David. It's true that they got to see
some amazing miracles that we would love to see.
The general principle that applies to all of us is the more
revelation or the more information about God that we
receive, the more accountable we are.
And we in our 21st century need to be careful because we have a
lot of revelation from God and information from God through the
church, and we're accountable to God to know those things and to
act on them. So thank you for that wonderful
feedback, David. Quick comment from Brenda.
She says please never stop what you're doing.
I absolutely love listening to you and understanding the Bible.
I have started recommending you to our youth group kids.
Thank you so much, Brenda, and I'm glad you're recommending
this to youth groups. This podcast would be
particularly suited probably to older high school students and
maybe for college students as well.
We do tend to find, and I've seen this as well in my own
work, that as Catholics progress through high school, they get
more and more fed up with simplistic, cheesy
interpretations of scripture and they want something a bit
deeper. And this podcast may be a good
one to give or to tell your teen, your older teenagers
about, to help them start to develop an appreciation for that
deeper level and to give them what they're looking for
ultimately so that they don't get switched off the faith
thinking that it hasn't got any intellectual substance to it.
Thank you for the work you're doing, Brenda.
Quick comment here from Paul. He says, First off, I want to
thank you for this podcast. It has helped me to understand
my Catholic faith greatly. I often try to search on the
Internet Catholic interpretations of scripture but
found it cumbersome and difficult to do so.
I agree Paul, sometimes when you do a Google search it can be
hard to find Catholic interpretations of scripture
because most of the websites out there are Protestant
interpretations. Having said that, there are now
quite a few good Catholic interpretation websites out
there, so it's good that there's things happening in that space.
He says can you consider putting a repeat button on your podcast
so that it will repeat automatically?
I enjoyed listening over and over during the day for pieces
I've missed. So actually, Paul, most podcast
apps that you listen to this podcast on do have a repeat
button that you can use if you would like to go back and listen
to something that you've missed. I hope that's helpful for you.
Next, we're going to hear an audio comment from Joseph in
Ireland, who's also got a wonderful accent.
He's got a comment about one of the episodes relating to Jesus
apostles being in Capernaums. So let's have a listen to what
he has to say about that episode.
Hi, Philip here in Limerick in Ireland.
Just want to say there, I've been listening to the Exhaust
podcast this morning and it was really useful information there
regarding the, you know, how Philip and Andrew or sorry,
Peter and Andrew or Simon and Andrew, how they avoided the
taxes by living in Capernaum so that they didn't have to cross
the border. It's great to hear stuff like
that. Like it's very, very interesting
and it just, I suppose, helps you get a better perspective on,
on the, the time and the culture and just to relate to the, the
story itself. I think the more background
information like that, that we know the better.
So just keep up the good work as usual.
I think they're really good podcasts.
I, I love listening to them because I always see things in a
different light or I, I learn something new.
And it's like, I almost felt like sometimes like, you know,
the way you explain there that Philip and I keep talking about
Philip, Andrew and Peter that they, it said that they were
from Beth Saida. And you were saying then that
like, you know, people wondered, well, why is it mentioned in
other places that they're from Capernaum?
But it was, you know, I can always be blind at times to very
what might, what should appear to be very obvious, like if
you're living in a certain place, that doesn't mean you're
from that place. So even just your explanation
and that meaning, you know, it's, it's great to hear.
So look, keep up the good work and thanks again.
God bless. Thank you so much for sending in
that comment, Phillip, And I'm glad that that podcast episode
helped you understand what has confused some people about how
can Phillip be from both Capernaum and Bethsaida at the
same time. And This is why it's good to
jump into some commentaries, because for a lot of these
seeming contradictions or seeming confusing passages,
scholars have largely resolved them, as they have in this case.
Thank you for sending in that audio message again.
And to all of you as listeners, you can send through an audio
question or a comment if you would prefer to do it that way.
Sometimes your podcast app lets you leave a an audio message
directly through the podcast app, but you can also record the
file and then send it through to the ministry at
logical.biblestudy@gmail.com via e-mail.
We have a comment here from Joseph, who's a Patreon
supporter. He says, this past June while I
was vacation vacationing, I was riding my motorcycle for an hour
each way. During my rides, I explored
Hello, an app I had recently downloaded and discovered the
Daily Gospel Exegesis. From the moment I heard your
voice and approach, I was captivated.
Your literal interpretation of Scripture has fascinated me and
given me a fresh perspective. I especially appreciate how you
connect historical events and make Jesus feel so approachable.
Thank you so much for that feedback, Joseph.
I'm glad this is something that's been helpful to you as
you listen riding around on your motorbike.
And indeed, we're trying to offer something unique with the
approach in this podcast, which is we're looking at the literal
sense of Scripture, seeing what the author was trying to convey
to his original audience. A last brief comment that we'll
look at today from Maricela. She says as a cradle Catholic,
I'm amazed as to how much I'm learning in my older years.
Your work is amazing and changing my life into a true
believer and follower of Christ our Lord.
The explanations are clear and thought provoking for me to
reflect on in my daily life. God bless this ministry.
I'm also supporting it financially.
Thank you so much for those wonderful comments, Maricela.
It's amazing to me to see how this small ministry is trying to
do something simple to help Catholics is really helping
people like yourself become closer to God and become a
better Catholic. Thank you to all those who are
sending feedback in. We'll do more of these episodes
in the future. Please keep the ministry in your
prayers as we start to do some new things in the coming months
and continue to tell other people about the ministry.
Thanks, and we'll see you for the normal episode next time.