Episode 779
Jesus at the Party: Redefining Spiritual Celebration | Ep 779
In today’s episode of "Daily Bible Refresh" with Rev. Dr. Brad Miller, we delve into a thought-provoking passage from the Gospel of Luke (5:33-39) as translated in The Message. This scripture explores Jesus’ perspective on celebration and moderation, providing a rich canvas for listeners to reflect on the broader themes of joy, liberation, and authentic spirituality.
Rev. Dr. Brad Miller begins by setting the stage within the Epiphany season, reading aloud the selected verses: John's disciples and the Pharisees are known for their fasting and prayers, while Jesus and His followers are seen enjoying parties. Through His parables about wedding feasts, fine wine, and new versus old wine skins, Jesus emphasizes the importance of celebration when the time is right.
Key Takeaways:
- The Revolutionary Act of Celebration: Rev. Dr. Brad Miller explains that Jesus’ emphasis on feasting over fasting is a revolutionary act that challenges the notion that suffering equals spirituality. In our modern context, this message affirms that joy and celebration are vital components of a faith-driven life. It underscores that in the family of God, experiencing and expressing joy can be a form of resistance, particularly for marginalized communities.
- Breaking Religious Control: The episode takes a critical look at how religious institutions sometimes use practices like fasting to control and conform individuals. By attending parties, Jesus broke these norms, suggesting that authentic spirituality might sometimes require breaking away from rigid religious rules that hinder human flourishing.
- Embracing a New Paradigm: Rev. Dr. Brad Miller highlights the metaphor of new wine and new wine bottles to stress the importance of creating new structures and understandings for spiritual liberation. He discusses how existing oppressive systems cannot contain the transformative message of Jesus, making it necessary to develop entirely new ways of being and community.
Action Point: Hosting a Liberation Celebration
The episode concludes with a practical action step: hosting a liberation celebration. Dr. Miller encourages listeners to gather people, particularly those involved in community service or justice work, and share in a joyful event. This could include activities like food pantry work or Habitat for Humanity projects, blending music, food, and storytelling. Importantly, ensuring that marginalized individuals have a voice at the celebration amplifies the liberation message.
Prayer and Resources
A heartfelt prayer closes the episode, asking for God's assistance in embracing joy as resistance and creating new, just communities.
Listeners are also introduced to a valuable resource, the ABC 123 Bible Study Guide, available at voiceofgoddaily.com, where the episode archive and transcripts can be found.
Join Rev. Dr. Brad Miller each morning for a refreshing, actionable, and spiritually uplifting start to your day on "Daily Bible Refresh."
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The "Daily Bible Refresh" is presented each day by Rev. Dr. Brad Miller who has a goal of speaking a bit of the bible into two million ears (one million people) in three years (2025-2028).
He is the author of "The A, B, C-1,2,3 Bible Study Guide" Free to you by clicking HERE.
Brad served as a local church pastor for forty years and has a background in radio and podcasting. Moreover, he is a life-long student of The Bible.
He believes in the words of Jesus that “scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21)
The "Daily Bible Refresh" is available seven days a week by 6:00 am ET. The episodes are no longer than ten minutes long and are...
- Understandable: A reading from the New Testament (usually the Gospel) selected from the Revised Common Lectionary using "The Message" translation.
- Relatable: You will have a couple of "points to ponder" from the text which will relate to your life
- Applicable: Every episode includes a way you can take action based on the reading
- A recommended resource to help you go deeper in biblical study and spiritual direction.
- A prayer for your day.
A companion resource to the Voice of God Daily Podcast is the “ABC Bible Study Guide” available by clicking HERE.
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Transcript
Hello, good people. Welcome to daily bible refresh with doctor Brad
Speaker:Miller. This is the daily bible study where we come
Speaker:to you every morning with a fresh reading
Speaker:of the new of the new testament every single day. We read from the
Speaker:revised common lectionary. We're in year c,
Speaker:the epiphany season. We come to you from voice of god
Speaker:daily.com. We love we we make
Speaker:the bible, the daily study of the bible, understandable,
Speaker:relatable, and actionable. We do this
Speaker:by making an understandable by reading you from the new testament
Speaker:version only, the new testament reading selected for today
Speaker:only, from the message translation.
Speaker:Relatable, we have a couple of points to ponder to think about.
Speaker:Understandable is we give you an action point, we have a prayer, and we do
Speaker:so in under 10 minutes or so. Today's reading is
Speaker:from Luke 533 through 39
Speaker:from the message. They asked him,
Speaker:John's disciples are well known for keeping fast and saying
Speaker:prayers, also the Pharisees, but you seem to spend
Speaker:most of your time at parties. Why? Jesus said,
Speaker:when you're celebrating a wedding, you don't skimp on the cake and wine,
Speaker:you feast. Later, you may need to exercise
Speaker:moderation, but this isn't the time.
Speaker:As long as the bride and groom are with you, you have a good time.
Speaker:When the groom is gone, the fasting can begin. No one throws
Speaker:cold water and a friendly bonfire. This is
Speaker:kingdom come. No one cuts up a fine
Speaker:silk scarf to patch old work clothes. You
Speaker:want fabrics that match. You don't put
Speaker:wine in old cracked bottles. You get strong,
Speaker:clean bottles for your fresh vintage wine.
Speaker:And no one who has ever tasted fine aged wine prefers
Speaker:unaged wine. I love
Speaker:this passage of scripture, it's it's really about a celebration.
Speaker:It's about the a celebration, if you will, of the of liberation,
Speaker:of being liberated in Jesus. You might even call it the politics of
Speaker:joy, where Jesus real challenges religious conventions
Speaker:about celebration and transformation.
Speaker:Here's a couple of points to ponder. This is first one is this
Speaker:revolutionary act of celebration. Jesus' emphasis
Speaker:is on feasting rather than fasting, and it
Speaker:challenges the notion that suffering equals spirituality.
Speaker:In our modern context, this affirms that joy and
Speaker:celebration are essential parts of what we do
Speaker:in the family of God, of liberation at work. When marginalized
Speaker:communities celebrate despite oppression,
Speaker:it becomes an act of resistance against systems that would deny their right to
Speaker:joy. Another point is
Speaker:about breaking through or of
Speaker:religious control of how we live our lives.
Speaker:There's a criticism here of Jesus as a partier. There's
Speaker:a criticism of Jesus's party attendants that reveals
Speaker:how the religious institutions of his day
Speaker:often use practices like fasting as a
Speaker:means to maintain control.
Speaker:And progressive Christianity recognizes that when religious rules
Speaker:prioritize conformity over human flourishing,
Speaker:that's not exactly right. That needs to be challenged. So
Speaker:sometimes breaking religious norms is necessary
Speaker:for authentic spirituality. One
Speaker:more point, and that's about embracing a new paradigm.
Speaker:The new wine and the new wine bottles or new wine skins
Speaker:speaks to the necessity of creating new structures,
Speaker:new understandings. We can't force
Speaker:liberation theology into oppressive systems.
Speaker:Sometimes we need to create entirely new
Speaker:ways of being community together.
Speaker:Some great points there, I believe. Take them to the heart. Here's your action
Speaker:step. This has to do with hosting
Speaker:a liberation celebration. That is gather people
Speaker:together doing some good for the community and justice work. It might be like
Speaker:a Habitat for Humanity thing or a food pantry
Speaker:or some other people are doing some good to help raise the
Speaker:greater good. It could be a virtual or in person gathering,
Speaker:but celebrate. Celebrate a win. It might be a small
Speaker:victory or or some joy in the midst of struggle,
Speaker:And include the things you do at a party, music and food
Speaker:and storytelling. And make sure that those
Speaker:people who are marginalized, the people who are being served have a
Speaker:voice in it and they have a space and a voice in the
Speaker:party. And take some pictures and post them on Facebook
Speaker:or some place or, you know, share the good news
Speaker:about joy as a part of your
Speaker:story. Before we pray, I want to tell you about
Speaker:a Bible study resource that we have for you.
Speaker:You can find it at our website, voiceofgoddaily.com,
Speaker:and it's called the ABC 123 Bible
Speaker:study guide. And it's just like it sounds. It makes Bible study as
Speaker:direct and straightforward as abc123.
Speaker:And you can find it at voiceofgoddaily.com. That's where you find the catalog
Speaker:of all our daily by bible refresh episodes over
Speaker:700 now, and you also find, transcripts
Speaker:of our episodes. I hope that it's helpful to you. Let's
Speaker:pray. God of celebration and change, help us remember
Speaker:that joy is resistance. When systems want us to despair,
Speaker:free us from religious guilt that says we must earn our right to
Speaker:celebrate. Give us courage to break with traditions that no
Speaker:long that no longer serve and love and justice,
Speaker:and guide us in creating new ways of being community. New
Speaker:wineskins for the new wine of celebration. May we find you
Speaker:in in in the feast as much as the
Speaker:fast, in laughter and as much as prayer,
Speaker:in dancing as much as kneeling. Thank you for the
Speaker:gift of joy that sustains us,
Speaker:and work for justice. Amen.
Speaker:Well, hey. Fantastic to be with you again
Speaker:here today on Daily Bible Refresh. I wish you the
Speaker:best as you embark upon your day and hope that you'll make the
Speaker:daily bible refresh a part of your day.
Speaker:We come to you every morning before 6 AM EST.
Speaker:You can find everything you need at voice of god daily.com.
Speaker:We'd love to be with you again tomorrow here in the daily bible refresh.
Speaker:Invite a friend to to to to join us, please. Until that
Speaker:time, remember that God's love doesn't run out.
Speaker:His merciful love hasn't dried up. It's
Speaker:created new every morning.
