The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - Jesus Is No Olympian

Episode Date: January 19, 2024

Zeus, Poseidon, Aphrodite...perhaps, you are familiar with these names as they are three of the twelve Olympians of Greek Mythology. During his travels to Greece, Jeff Cavins shares his thoughts on the Olympians and marks some of the major distinctions between them and the one, true God. Jeff also discusses some of the "false gods" in the culture today. Snippet from the Show You can count on God. He is consistent. He is present. God will not abandon you. Email us with comments or questions at [e-mail]. Text “jeffcavins” to 33-777 to subscribe and get Jeff’s shownotes delivered straight to your email! Or visit ascensionpress.com/thejeffcavinsshow for full shownotes!

Welcome to the Jeff Kaven show, where we talk about the Bible, discipleship, and evangelization, putting it all together in living as activated disciples. This is episode 359. Jesus is no Olympian. Welcome to the show, my friend, this week coming to you from Greece. We are in the middle of of our pilgrimage throughout Greece. Originally, we were going to the Holy Land, but that got canceled due to October 7th, and a good number of the people wanted to go to Greece. And so we're here, and we have been traveling around, and it's just so encouraging to go back to some of these places that are so familiar to us in the Bible, in the New Testament,

places like Philippi and Corinth, Paul's letter to the Corinthians one and two. and Thessaloniki. Paul wrote two letters to the Thessalonians. And I really like coming here and going to these places and then taking them more of a deep dive into Paul's writings. Oh, by the way, before I go any further, if you do want show notes from today's episode, I'm going to be talking about some of the things that I've been thinking about on this pilgrimage. And if you would like the notes and you're not getting them, all you have to do is text my name, Jeff Kaven's. that's C-A-V-I-N-S, one word, Jeff Kavans, and you can text it to the number 3-3-7-7. It's quite biblical, 3-3-7-7. We'll get those notes to you, and if for some reason you're not getting them anymore, maybe there was a glitch in the tech or something,

go ahead, do it again, we'll get you signed up again. Saves a lot of time in writing, or if you are running or driving in the car, we certainly don't want to interrupt you there. Okay, so we have been going around the country and revisiting some of these sites and focusing on the footsteps of St. Paul. And one place, one place really caught my attention, a place I've never been before, but this time we decided to go, and that is Mount Olympus. Mount Olympus, have you ever been there? It's a mountain, the tallest one in Greece, 9,000 feet above sea level.

and it is the home of the 12 major gods in the pantheon in Greek mythology. Greek mythology is interesting and that there are all of these so-called gods with a small G gods, and each one of them is responsible for certain areas of life, and they have their strengths and weaknesses. And for the most part, they stem from some kind of relationship with, Zeus. Now, the reason I find this so fascinating is that most people would say, well, Jeff, I don't, I don't worship Zeus and I don't worship Apollo or Artemis or I don't worship Athena or, you know, any of these other gods, Hafistus, for example, or Hermes. But when you look at our lifestyle in the West, many times we make God. out of the things that these 12 gods were known for.

And so in a way, we have created modern Greek gods, a modern pantheon that we pay homage to and we buy and purchase and spend our time talking about without even realizing that there were actually Greek mythological gods that people believed in. Some didn't, but some did, and some still believe that those gods are alive. Now, where was their home? Well, their home was at the top of Mount Olympus. And Mount Olympus, as I said, was 9,000 feet above sea level. So about 80% of the time, they tell me over here in Greece,

about 80% of the time you cannot see the top of the mountain for the clouds are in the way. But good news. We were part of the 20%. we could see all the way to the top, and at the top we could look down and we could see the Aegean Sea and all of the different villages down there. So it was quite a sight. It really was. And so what I want to do is take a look at some of these gods in Greek mythology, and then

I'd like to take a look at Jesus and see just how different he is from these gods that we cannot depend on. And again, small G, it's not a true God. it's not true at all and we know that so we need to live like we believe that for sure now in greek mythology there were 12 gods as i said and the head of the 12 is zeus how did he become the head well zeus overthrew his father cronus and after overthrowing his father he drew lots with his two brothers Poseidon and Hades to see who would be the supreme leader among the gods. Well, Zeus won and was known for being the Lord of the Sky, the Rain God,

and the one who had a habit of hurling thunderbolts at those who kind of got under his skin. Now, these 12 gods were known as the Olympians. Kind of wonder where that title comes from next year in France. We're going to have the Summer Olympics, and Olympians will be coming to, you know, run and jump and box and everything else. They'll be doing gymnastics and so forth. And once they've been a part of the Olympics, they will be entitled with the Olympian. They are an Olympian, not necessarily a gold or silver or bronze winner. But nevertheless, they're Olympians.

Yay, okay? And these gods were known as the Olympians, and 12 Olympians are the major. deities. So, their names are Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, Dometyr, Aphrodite, Athena, Artemis, Apheistus, Hermes, and either Hesstia or Dionysus. So some of these names you're probably somewhat familiar with, but others might be kind of knew. Well, while Zeus beat out his brothers, Poseidon became the god over the sea. You remember that movie, The Poseidon Adventure. He became the god over the sea, and his brother Hades, who received the worst lot, became the god of the underworld. Hestia was Zeus's sister, and according to historians, she really didn't have much to do. She was the god

the hearth the home hera is zeus's wife and she is the protector of marriage ha ha which is funny because zeus was promiscuous so anyway his wife was the protector of marriage aries is the son of zeus and he is the god of war and later on you know in the uh the roman empire we know that mars was the god of war. And so Ares is a bloodthirsty god, but considered by most to actually be quite a coward. Athena, you know, the city Athens is named after Athena. That's another daughter of Zeus, and she has no mother. Now, she is the god of the city. She's the god of the city. She's also the god of handicrafts in agriculture. And another son of Zeus is Apollo. Now, Apollo is kind of different because Apollo has an awful lot of things that are credited to his power and his influence. Apollo is

considered the god of music. Now, certainly in our culture, we can make music a god in our life, for sure. He played a golden liar, and he was also an archer, kind of a sports, We can make a god out of sports, to be sure, and he shot with a silver bow. Now, the god of healing, he was the god of healing who taught man medicine, and he was also the god of light, and the god of truth, who could not speak a lie. Sounds like an interesting guy, doesn't he? Apollo is his name. Now, there's also Aphrodite, and she's the goddess of love, desire, and beauty.

Now, we know for sure that our culture has made a god out of promiscuity, out of sexual behavior. You can see this in our entertainment. You can see this in our schools, in our government, and so on. In addition to her natural gifts, she has, and get this, a magical girdle that causes anyone she wishes to lust after her. So she's quite talented. That's Aphrodite. There's Hermes, and he's the messenger of Zeus, and the reason for that is that he's the fastest of the gods. Maybe you've seen him depicted as wearing the sandals with wings coming out of the sides of the sandals. He also carries a magic wand.

Now, Hermes is the god of thieves. He is the god of commerce and a guide for the dead to go to the underworld. and he invented the liar, and he invented the pipes and the musical scale, astronomy, weights, and measures, boxing, gymnastics. And he had a little side hustle going on olive trees. He seemed to know a lot about olive trees, busy guy for sure. Now there's Artemis, and Artemis is the daughter of Zeus and the twin brother of Apollo, and she is known for being the lady of the wild things.

She is the huntsman of the gods. She is the protector of the young. And then rounding this off, we have Hephistus, and he's the son of Zeus and Hera. He is the only God to be physically ugly. Boy, that's rough. And he's also lame. Some claim that Dionysus,

the god of the wine, takes the 12th place rather than Hephaestus, that's up for debate, totally up for debate. Now, the difference between the gods, these false gods of the Greeks, and the God of the Bible, is that the Greek gods live above the clouds. They are above the clouds, and they treat humans rather poorly. They really do. They scoff at humans. They distance themselves from humans.

Wouldn't have anything to do with humans or be compared with humans. they take advantage of humans. The God of the Bible, on the other hand, Yahweh, comes down from the mountain and dwells among us. I want to take a look at that on the other side of the break and take a look at how the God of the Bible is so different than the mythological gods in Greece and the gods that we have created in our own culture today, which so often disappoint and steal hope from our hearts. So we're going to take a look at that. You are listening to the Jeff Kaven show. Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz.

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search for Ascension app. I am telling you, if learning about the Bible and the catechism is important to you, then this app will change your life. Welcome back. We're talking today about about the fact that Jesus is no Olympian. Who are the Olympians? Well, they're the 12 false gods in Greek mythology. And while we say, well, Jeff, I don't believe in those false gods. When we really look at our lives, we might find that we have actually made gods of sports and technology and sex and entertainment and everything else because we give so much of our time to it and our heart to it and our thinking to it that it is in effect a God that we serve. But I would argue that it is a God that will never pay, never really pay off and give you

what you really need deep down in your heart. So I was mentioning this prior to the break in contrast to the false gods. of Greece, we have Yahweh in the Bible who comes down from the mountain. He doesn't stay above the clouds, but he comes beneath the clouds down to dwell among Israel, the people of Israel. In the Old Testament, God dwelt in the midst of his people. You remember the tabernacle and God would come to them in the tabernacle. He would lead by a pillar of fire at night and a cloud by day. And all of Israel would surround the presence of God and the purpose of God being in the midst of Israel was that Israel would become like God. God made himself accessible. He made himself available so that we

would know who he is and we could depend upon him because he's faithful. In fact, he has covenant faithfulness. We call that Chesed in Hebrew. He is faithful to his covenant. He is not a God who just does whatever he wants to do at all. You can count on him. You can count on him. He doesn't say that I will love on Monday and Tuesday. He's somebody else. He is consistent as the New Testament says yesterday, today, and forever he is the same. So this God, Yahweh, is the one who's accessible and exercised mercy, compassion, and assistance in living. And in an act of Shear kindness and sheer love and beauty. God becomes a human, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, second person of the Trinity.

God becomes a human and he lives among us and he shows us how to walk with the Father. And ultimately he takes on the punishment for sin, our sin, and he dies a death instead of us and then invites us to become sons and daughters and to participate. in the love of the Trinity. You talk about different. This is radically different than what we find in the Greek mythology. It is so different. And so today I can take and you can take great comfort in knowing that Jesus is so much more than the Olympians of mythology.

Again, I'll say it, Jesus is no Olympian. He is God. and he's the only God, and he's the God who loves you, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. So Jesus is the real deal, the all-sufficient, omnipresent, omniscient God who loves us. The Olympians, well, like the modern gods of music and technology and sex and sports and business, they have nothing to offer but empty dreams

empty promises and stolen hope there's a scripture that says hope deferred makes the heart sick and doesn't it hope deferred makes the heart sick and you put your hope in the gods of this world or the pantheon in Greece man you're going to be disappointed it's enough to be taken advantage of by other people

but who needs to be taken advantage of by false gods. Now, Jesus appointed the 12, the real 12, and I think that's interesting. In the Old Testament, you have 12 tribes, and then in the New Testament you have 12 apostles, and the Greek mythology has 12 gods. Copycat. So Jesus appointed the 12 to do what? To go out into the world and contribute to Jesus' messian.

mission, to be lights that shine as witnesses of who God is and his faithfulness, his word, and we are to become like Jesus. And that's what discipleship is all about. We've talked about that many times on the show in the past, that we are called to be witnesses and to let that light shine. We are called to live with the mind of Christ. What we do and what we say should be what Jesus does and what he says. And so you're chosen, my friend, by God. You're chosen by God to reflect him in the world. And hopefully you can say that when others see you, they see Jesus. Now, to kind of conclude this today, I want to encourage you that if you're putting more hope in the things of this world and what's important in this world, may it be sports or sex and promiscuity or

technology, entertainment, whatever it might be. Don't put your hope in the false gods of this world because truly you will be disappointed, but I know this. You will never, ever be disappointed in Jesus, who is faithful yesterday, today, and forever. And so if what I'm saying today fits, and you need to make that change in your life and to say, I've had it with pointing, my hope in sports, then make that change and put your hope in Jesus Christ. May Jesus be the center of your life. Now, I like sports as much as the next guy, but I'll tell you what, when sports and your own team losing ruins your day or your week, you might want to check your heart. You might want to check your heart. Because even if my team loses,

I know this. Jesus will never disappoint. You'll never disappoint. Let me pray for you. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Lord, I lift up my friend to you today. And I ask you, Lord, to help them search their heart and see where they are as far as their commitment. Who is God in their life? I pray, Lord, that you would show that to each and every one of us. And if our hearts are truly depending on the God's small G, this world, we would make a change.

We would repent and we'd put our trust completely in you, Jesus, who doesn't, who doesn't disappoint. Lord, we love you and we want to move forward with you as the only one that we worship and the only one that we put our hope in. We thank you, Lord, that you do not disappoint. In Jesus name, amen. Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen. Lord, thank you for blessing your people. And my friends, I'll continue to pray for you while I'm in Greece here. Hope you can go on a pilgrimage sometime with us, Emily and myself. We love it.

We love spending time with you either in Israel or Greece or France or Poland, wherever we end up. So have a wonderful week. Look forward to talking to you next week. Thank you.