Displaying episodes 1 - 30 of 152 in total
Jesus Challenges Those Who Believed In Him
We discussed how Jesus challenged the “insiders,” those “who believed in Him,” which is consistent with the entire Bible. This approach is different than what we so of...
The Conversion of Saul
We discussed the conversion of St Paul, previously named Saul, as told in Acts 9. We focused on the meaning of Saul's name change to Paul and its implication, which is...
If You Forgive the Sins of Any
We began by discussing the tragic tendency to “individualize” the Gospel, missing not only the fact that the Scriptures were written to a community, but also neglectin...
Food Does Not Commend Us To God
Today we are republishing Episode 109, "Food Does Not Commend Us To God." Right before we begin the Lenten fasting season, the Orthodox Church appoints a reading from ...
The Last Judgment
Today’s episode centered around the readings appointed just prior to the beginning of Great Lent on the Saturday of Souls and the Sunday of the Last Judgment. Fr Aaron...
All Things Are Lawful
We began today by examining the word translated as “lawful” (from the passage “all things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful.”). Through this we see St....
The Publican & The Pharisee
In lieu of a regular episode, this week we are offering Fr Aaron's sermon from Sunday, February 5, the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee in the Orthodox Church.
Zacchaeus & How The Rich May Be Saved
In discussing the story of Zacchaeus, Fr Aaron pointed out the double strike against him as a Jewish tax collector, making him the worst kind of traitor among his fell...
The Ten Lepers
We began by discuss the significance of the Samaritan being the one leper returning to give thanks to Jesus for being healed. We then discussed how all ten lepers demo...
Questioning Jesus' Authority
In Jesus’ refusal to answer the question of His authority posed by the Jewish authorities, Jesus shows these authorities care more about the praise of men than pursuin...
Christmas Homily
In lieu of a regular episode, we are sharing Fr Aaron's Christmas 2022 homily. In this homily, Fr Aaron emphasizes how we celebrate the birth of the King of Peace, and...
The Sunday Before Christmas
We discuss the readings for the Sunday before Christmas, from Hebrews 11 and Matthew 1 (the genealogy of Christ). We highlighted the similarities between the two readi...
Healing on the Sabbath & Exalting the Humble
In discussing Jesus healing on the Sabbath, Fr Aaron explained why this was such a big deal to the Jewish leaders. He also highlighted how Jesus shows that the “law of...
Lighting A Lamp
In today’s episode we began by discussing the apparent discrepancy between Jesus telling us in today’s passage to let our lamp shine, but elsewhere indicating our good...
The Unjust Steward
We discuss the "Parable of the Unjust Steward." This parable often confuses readers because of the poor English translations. Fr Aaron noted the better translation of ...
The Temptation of External Rituals
In today’s episode we discussed how St. Paul urges the Colossians to avoid the temptations of external rituals that lead to self-righteousness, whether they be pagan o...
"Woe to you, hypocrites!"
Today’s episode began with a discussion about Jesus’ statement in Luke 12 relating to the Final Judgement. These verses follow Luke 11 in which Jesus’ conversation wit...
Becoming A Cheerful Giver
Today we discussed how we can become a “cheerful giver.” We first highlighted the need to re-orient ourselves around the biblical teaching of appreciating God’s gifts ...
The Ethiopian Eunuch
In today’s episode, we began by examining the significance of the Ethiopian eunuch and his conversion to Christianity, which highlights the inclusiveness of the Gospel...
Judge Not Lest You Be Judged
We discussed how the teaching of ‘judging not lest you be judged’ is not only Scriptural, but also deeply ingrained in our Orthodox tradition. This teaching of Jesus i...
John's Epistles: Love
In today’s episode, we briefly discussed the background of the three epistles of John and then focused on the reading appointed for his feast day. John’s epistles may ...
The Trinity as Community
Today we discussed Jesus' baptism and the presence of the Trinity. Fr Aaron explained how an important aspect of the Trinity for us to highlight in the community withi...
The Gospel of John
Today’s episode focused primarily on how John’s Gospel differs from the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, & Luke). We stressed that the key difference is that John move...
Honor and Responsibility in Scripture
Today we focused on the urgency of accepting and living the Gospel message as emphasized in the epistle to the Hebrews. Further, we highlighted how in the Bible, one i...
Why Does Jesus Teach in Parables?
This is our final week of re-posting some prior episodes before returning to new content. Today we examined the role of parables in Scripture. We began by stressing th...
The Meaning of Fasting
For the next two weeks we will be re-posting some prior episodes before returning to new content. Today, we discuss the tradition of fasting, dating back to pre-Christ...
Talk Is Cheap
For the next three weeks we will be re-posting some prior episodes before returning to new content. Today, we are re-posting Episode 45, in which we discussed the sign...
Become Like Children
To highlight the significance of Jesus telling His disciples to become like little children, we discussed the role of children in the Roman Empire of Jesus’ time. Chil...
Let Him Who Thinks He Stands Take Heed Lest He Fall
In discussing Paul's admonition "Let him who thinks he stand take heed lest he fall," Fr Aaron pointed out the subtle, yet important, use of the Greek word "stasis" in...
Judging Others & The Roman Household
Today’s episode began with an explanation of how Paul sets up various metaphors to help make his point by using Jewish biblical teaching and well-known Roman concepts ...