Episode 16: Lent 5, 2024

In this episode of Working The Lectionary, a reading from the Gospel According to John, in which Jesus responds to the request by some foreigners for a meeting, is utilised to examine the way in which the ideology of neoliberalism has become modernity's oppressive imperium. And just as the political and religious leaders of Jesus' time were co-opted by the Roman Empire to be the agents of its oppression, this reading examines how church and state in modernity have likewise been subsumed by neoliberalism to become agents of oppressive prerogatives - and how Jesus both commissions and challenges the Church to be the liberating fruit of Jesus' ministry instead.

Theme music: Work Undone by Pearce Roswell. Available through Epidemic Music. Used under license.