Episode Overview

Title: The Old World Has Been Shaken
Podcast: Bishop Barron’s Sunday Sermons - Catholic Preaching and Homilies
Date: November 11, 2025
Host: Bishop Robert Barron

This episode focuses on the meaning and impact of "apocalyptic" readings in the Catholic liturgical year, specifically unpacking the so-called "little apocalypse" from the Gospel of Luke. Bishop Barron explains how Jesus’ resurrection “shakes” the foundations of religion, politics, and nature, thereby unveiling a radically new world—an “apocalypse” understood as a revealing rather than a destruction. He urges listeners to order their lives around this new reality, not the old world’s ways.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Understanding “Apocalypse” (00:40-02:25)

• Redefining Apocalyptic Literature:
  Bishop Barron emphasizes that "apocalypse" doesn’t mean the end of the world; it means unveiling or revelation.

  • “Apokalypsis in Greek does not mean end of the world. What it means is unveiling, taking away the calypso, the veil… Something old being shaken and set aside and then something new being unveiled.” (00:55)

• The ‘Little Apocalypse’ in Luke:
  This scripture signals the shaking of the old world and the unveiling of a new one, all rooted in the resurrection.

2. The Resurrection as the Central Apocalyptic Event (02:25-04:30)

• Resurrection upends the Old World:
  The Christian gospel proclaims that through Christ’s resurrection, all previous certainties—religious, political, natural—are “shaken, questioned… marginalized… relativized.”

  • “All of those things that you consider absolute and final, they've been shaken by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.” (03:29)

• The Veil of the Temple:
  The tearing of the veil symbolizes access to a new reality, not just in the temple, but in the very structure of the world.

3. Three "Shakings" and Three "Unveilings"

a. Religion is Shaken (04:30-07:35)

• Admirers of the Temple:
  Jesus’ disciples marvel at the grandeur of the temple (comparable to a Catholic admiring St. Peter’s), but Jesus warns “days are coming when there will not be one stone left upon another.” (06:10)

  • “What did they know in light of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead? They knew that everything they had taken to be religiously absolute has now been shaken.” (07:05)

• Religion’s Old Forms Overturned:
  The resurrection exposes the inadequacies of existing religious institutions and customs, inviting a fuller relationship with God.

b. Politics is Shaken (07:35-10:30)

• Wars and Insurrections:
  Jesus predicts turmoil among nations, reflecting human fixation on politics and power.

  • “All of that is shaken by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead… It means Caesar is not the Lord anymore.” (09:36)

• Kerygmatic Proclamation:
  The primitive Christian message asserts, “You killed him; God raised him.” Thus, empires and political struggles lose their ultimate importance.

  • “Jesus is Lord, not Caesar, not the nations. Nations rise against each other, okay? They come and they go. What matters is Jesus risen from the dead.” (10:08)

c. Nature is Shaken (10:30-12:45)

• Earthquakes, Famines, Plagues:
  Nature itself is seen as an ultimate reality—unchanging, absolute. But even natural certainties are unsettled by the resurrection.

• Materialism and the Limits of Nature:

  • “Nature was it. Nature was the great context for reality… Every living thing that's ever been that we know about dies. It's a basic truth of nature. Yeah, I know. But then there was the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.” (11:18)

• Resurrection Defies Natural Law:
  Jesus’ resurrection means “nature isn’t what we thought it was”—it too is relativized and surpassed by God’s power.

4. Living in the Unveiled, New World (12:45-14:05)

• A Radical Reorientation:
  Believers are called to order their lives around the risen Christ—not old religious forms, not passing political realities, not presumed laws of nature.

  • “What do we do? …We get about the business of ordering our lives, not according to the old religious forms, not according to old political realities, not even according to what we assume is the case about nature, but… in accord with Christ Jesus risen from the dead.” (12:55)

• Christianity’s “Weirdness” Embraced:
  The cross’s poetic and paradoxical logic is a sign of how thoroughly the old order has been overturned.

  • “All of the poetry and weirdness of Christianity is fully on display here… Something in this cross and resurrection of Jesus is unveiled to us. Apocalypsis. Apocalypsis. A new world has emerged.” (13:30)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “All of those things that you consider absolute and final, they've been shaken by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.”
  — Bishop Barron (03:29)

• “What did they know in light of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead? They knew that everything they had taken to be religiously absolute has now been shaken.”
  — Bishop Barron (07:05)

• “It means Caesar is not the Lord anymore… What matters is Jesus risen from the dead.”
  — Bishop Barron (09:36, 10:08)

• “Every living thing that's ever been that we know about dies… But then there was the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.”
  — Bishop Barron (11:18)

• “The gospel is the good news, the euangelion is that something so fresh and new and unexpected and strange has happened that the whole world that we knew is marginalized is relativized, and something new has emerged.”
  — Bishop Barron (12:18)

• “All of the poetry and weirdness of Christianity is fully on display here… Apocalypsis. Apocalypsis. A new world has emerged.”
  — Bishop Barron (13:30)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:40 – Introduction to the concept of “apocalypse” and the Gospel reading
• 02:25 – The resurrection as the “shaking” and unveiling of the old world
• 04:30 – Religion is shaken: the temple’s destruction and meaning
• 07:35 – Politics is shaken: “Jesus is Lord, not Caesar”
• 10:30 – Nature is shaken: the defiance of natural laws in the resurrection
• 12:45 – Practical application: living in the unveiled new world
• 13:30 – Concluding reflections on the radical “weirdness” and poetry of Christianity

Episode Tone & Style

Bishop Barron’s delivery is both scholarly and pastoral, blending biblical exegesis with relatable metaphors and direct challenges. His tone is passionate, urgent, and inviting, repeatedly calling listeners not only to understand the resurrection as a historical event but to reorient their entire worldview around Christ risen from the dead.

Summary:
In this episode, Bishop Barron urges us to let go of the “absolutes” of the old world—religion, politics, and even nature—and embrace the startling, liberating newness unveiled by Christ’s resurrection. The apocalypse is not about destruction, but about encountering the world anew, through the light of the risen Lord.