It’s difficult to be part of any relationship, at an individual or group level, without attempting to exert control. We rationalize to ourselves that we don’t want control, but it's not true. If you carefully examine your relationships in life, the level of control you attempt to exert is commensurate with your level of investment, which, in a culture of excess, precedes your commitment.

In a Roman household, your level of commitment is not optional. If you are living under the pressure of your patron, you’re stuck. Whether you’re a family member or a slave, you must operate within the confines of the sheepfold in which you are found. That is your life. It’s not a question of what you choose or your level of commitment; you are committed. That’s what you do. It’s your job. Most people in the world, in day-to-day life, don’t have the opportunity to ask what entitled Americans ask. They don’t get to say, “I wonder what my purpose in life is,” or, “What is my dream job?” They just get a job if they’re fortunate and are thankful to be able to do something that provides income so that they can live.

So, if you are found in a Roman household, whatever your function or status, you are committed to do whatever you are committed to do. But if your patron has not been baptized by Paul, then your reference is not Christ; your reference is Caesar. This means that the favors your patron provides the sheepfold are not given freely. They come with a price.

Even though you are fully committed and have no power over your station, you still have to earn your spot. There is an expectation that your family gods, your patrician, the broader neighborhood (the familia, or city block under your patrician), and more importantly, your chief god, the emperor, expect an offering from you in order for the grace of Caesar’s favor through his patrician to be maintained.

But in the end, if you act correctly because you know that your gods, your father, or your neighbors are expected to act correctly or give you something in return, is that grace? Are you committed within the sheepfold, under God through Jesus Christ, or are you still somebody else’s slave?

This week I discuss Luke 6:32-36.

Show Notes

• חָנַן (ḥanan): “to be gracious” or “to show favor”
• תְּחִנָּה (teḥinnah): “supplication” or “plea for grace”
• حَنَان (ḥanān): meaning “tenderness” or “compassion.”
• تحنّن (taḥannun): meaning “to show mercy” or “to act compassionately.”

• In Hebrew, נָח (nun-ḥet) refers to resting, settling, or being at rest.
• In Arabic, أَنَاخَ (’anāḫa) “he made camels kneel down”; مُنَاخ (munāḥ) “resting place of camels”. The triliteral ن-و-خ (nūn-wāw-khāʾ) is a different root, but related, according to Klein. This connection underscores biblical shepherdism.

In this week’s podcast, Fr. Marc explains how Luke dismantles Rome’s system of gratia, highlighting three categories of “untouchables” in the American system, all related to control of the land.

This week, Fr. Paul examines later additions to biblical manuscripts, such as Greek breathing marks and the differentiation between uppercase and lowercase letters, which were not in the original texts. He criticizes poor translation choices, like rendering the Hebrew "yarash" as "possess" instead of "inherit." He also discusses Kamal Salibi’s original discovery that the Hebrew consonants for "raven" and "Arab" are identical, allowing for different interpretations. Salibi's work, which questioned specific translation choices, remains unresolved, emphasizing the need to hear the text consonantally and showing that the biblical text resists modern interpretive control and should be read on its own terms. (Episode 328)

If you accept the Bedouin axiom, “The tree begins with a seed”, you have taken your first step to joining the human race; to accepting that pragmatism is the currency of facts. Admit to yourself that it’s a dog-eat-dog world and operate on that basis, or lie to yourself that you aspire to a higher ideal as you continue to operate in a dog-eat-dog fashion, with blinders on.

In both cases, you are squarely under God’s judgment. In the second example, with the added charge, “bearing false witness.”

Whether you console yourself with your fake ideals or justify your sins with the inevitability of pragmatism, the truth is, whatever men build, create or devise, no matter their intention, it ends in moral bankruptcy. System failure is coded in your DNA.

This is why, by design, the sacrifice of Isaac confounds and mocks human ethics and morality.

There is another Bedouin proverb, Habibi, that reflects the actual pragmatism of life, the fact of the anti-philosophical fate in which you are found:

The problem is not interpretation, absolutism, the constitution, authoritarianism, legality, or your ability to adapt to change. The problem is you. You are not and cannot be your own reference.

Learn another saying, Habibi, from the first Bedouin:

People misunderstand the admonition of Luke. Yes, you are commanded to offer the other cheek, but it is not yours to give in the first place, and it given under the pressure of his upper hand, because, as he said, you are wicked.

It is he who found you in utter darkness. In his wrath he is testing you as one in time of battle. He is pressuring you. You are under his judgment, for the sake of his honor.

It is not your enemy who strikes you, then you could bear it. It is him.

This week I discuss Luke 6:29-31.

Show Notes - ​נ-כ-ה (nun-kaf-he) / ​ن-ك-ه (nun-kaf-he)

The Hebrew verb נָכָה (nakhah) means “to strike” or “to beat.”

• “Now it came about in those days, when Moses had grown up, that he went out to his brethren and looked on their hard labors; and he saw an Egyptian beating (מכה, makkeh) a Hebrew, one of his brethren.” (Exodus 2:11)
• “He went out the next day and behold, two Hebrews were fighting with each other; and he said to the offender, ‘Why are you striking (תכה, takkeh) your companion?’” ​ (Exodus 2:13)
• “Thus says the Lord, ‘By this you shall know that I am the Lord: behold, I will strike (נכה, nakkeh) the water that is in the Nile with the staff that is in my hand, and it will be turned to blood.’” (​Exodus 7:17)
• “He who strikes (מכה, makkeh) his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.” (Exodus 21:15)

In Arabic, the root نَكَى (nakā) shares a similar meaning related to causing harm, injury or damage. The noun نِكَايَة(nikāyah) refers to “the inflicting of injury.” ​ن-ك-ه (nun-kaf-he) is rare in the Qur’an but appears in contexts related to harm or inflicting damage, particularly in warfare.

• نَكِيل (nakīl) – punishment, severe retribution. It often refers to a severe or exemplary punishment meant to serve as a deterrent or warning.
• نَكِيلًا (nakīlan) – severe punishment or retribution, often used in Quranic or formal contexts to describe intense chastisement.

• “Indeed, with us [for them] are shackles and burning fire. And food that chokes and a painful punishment. On the day the earth and the mountains will convulse, and the mountains will become a heap of sand pouring down. Indeed, we have sent to you a messenger as a witness upon you just as we sent to Pharaoh a messenger. But Pharaoh disobeyed the messenger, so we seized him with a ruinous punishment (nakīlan).” (Surah Al-Muzzammil 73:12-16)