A Sinner Reads the Bible: An (unofficial Bible in a Year Daily Reader

By Steve Webb

Based on the #1 rated podcast (hosted by everyone’s favorite Catholic priest), "A Sinner Reads the Bible" offers one man’s unique and decidedly unofficial take on the Holy Scriptures. It chronicles the journey of writer Steve Webb (Glitter Girl, A&E’s Biography) as he reacts to the daily Bible readings and reflects on the message of the day. Sometimes witty, sometimes joyful, sometimes full of self-doubt, but always thought-provoking, Webb provides his unfiltered meditations on “the story of how salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today.” What started as a series of short social media posts has grown into 365 daily meditations on God’s Word. They have all been gathered here into one volume, complete with the reading citations necessary to help readers navigate the passages of both the Old and New Testaments. It’s the perfect companion to your own “great adventure”!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Feb 25, 2022
• ISBN: 9781458383297

Steve Webb

Professor Steve Webb currently serves as Professor of Australian Studies at Bond University, Australia. He has worked with the Federal Government and Indigenous agencies extensively, playing a significant role in the repatriation of Aboriginal skeletal remains from Australian and overseas museums to Aboriginal communities. This work has given him a broad understanding of past and present Aboriginal society and the issues facing Aboriginal people.

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INTRODUCTION

A Happy Accident…

I never meant for this book to happen, really. But I guess God had other plans. It was December of 2020, and we were all still mired in the middle of this interminable pandemic. My latest book project was stalled and my editor wasn’t answering my emails (never a good sign). Plus, I was working from home on my day gig, so I had all this extra time on my hands because I wasn’t stuck in LA traffic for an hour or two every day. It seemed like the tumblers of the universe had aligned juuuuust right and it was time for me to take on a new project. Just to keep from going stir-crazy in the house all day if nothing else.

Enter Bible in a Year (BIAY). I saw a post somewhere on social media that there was going to be a podcast from everybody’s favorite YouTube priest, Fr. Mike Schmitz, where he would read the Bible twenty minutes a day and, in a year, you would get the whole enchilada. It sounded to me like just the thing I needed to keep myself from bouncing off the walls while we all waited out this coronavirus business from our respective bubbles. So I ordered myself a copy of Ascension’s Great Adventure Bible, and I subscribed to the podcast (yes, Fr. Mike I subscribed right away!). I bought myself a couple of prayer candles at the 99-cent store, made myself a little corner of the spare bedroom to be my devotional space, and I was ready to roll. And on January 1st, I opened my Spotify app, found Fr. Mike’s smiling face amongst my classic rock playlists and pressed Play. Through my headphones came that mellifluous Midwestern voice: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…"

From Day One, I was hooked. But I knew myself. I am a notorious beginner of things that don’t get finished. Just ask the Duolingo Owl, who at this minute is waiting for me to resume my French lessons. I knew if I was going to see this thing through, I would need to work in some accountability for myself. So, I did what many a pilgrim has done since the Council of Jerusalem: I sought out a community. I went online to Zuckerberg Land, aka Facebook, and searched for others that were also embarking on this same voyage through the Scriptures. I joined an online group called Bible in a Year Friends/Support Group, looking to get some online partners as I set out on this BIAY journey. However, I made a vow that I would try to contribute something to the group every day. And as the days went on, people seemed to respond positively to what I was sharing, so the whole thing sort of built on itself. And here we are 365 days later, and lo and behold I’ve got a book on my hands.

I make no claims to being a Bible expert. I'm just a run-of-the-mill Catholic, and many times not a very good one. However, I tried to react honestly each day to God's word, and put it into my post with a photo that seemed to capture what I was feeling. I haven’t included all those photos here because, let’s face it, it would cost a ton of money for the rights to 365 separate photos. However, I have added an image to the beginning of each period to get the reader in the mood for the passages to come. 

A couple of months into the process, my online friends kept saying You should turn these posts into a book or Why don’t you write a book or things of that sort. And, being a guy who will write a book at the slightest provocation, I was most happy to comply. Of course, all along the way, I’ve been wondering if this is being done for my own ego or for the greater glory of God, but I will let the reader judge how I did on that score. 

As much as possible, I didn’t go back and edit these daily reflections. I cleaned up the text a little as far as grammar and punctuation, but I didn’t want to lose the immediacy of my reactions to the Scriptures, some of which I was encountering for the very first time. I tidied up a few things, but for the most part, you are reading my reflections as they were written down right after I closed my Bible. That means some reflections will be longer than others, some better than others, but that is part of this ride we’re all going on. Our heads are not necessarily always going to be in the same place every time we turn to prayer and this book is a reflection of that reality. Hopefully, my new readers will indulge me on the days that the readings don’t speak directly to them. As Fr. Mike constantly reminded us through the entire process, just keep pressing play. Together, we’ll get to the New Heaven and New Earth together by and by.

How to Use This Book

Since this book is a reaction to certain things (first, the Bible, and second Fr. Mike’s podcast), there is a best practices method to going about the reading:

First things first. I have to admit (if it’s not already apparent) that I’m not connected with Fr. Mike or Ascension Press. This book is as unofficial as unofficial can get. I’m just a podcast listener like you, so I have no particular insights on that side of this experience beyond what I have been able to access online. If I could make a recommendation that helped me, it would be to get a copy of Jeff Cavins and Tim Gray’s book Walking with God. These guys actually are Bible experts and their book will give you a lot of historical and interpretive background on the readings. 

Read the Bible Passages in Advance. If this is your first time using this particular BIAY program, you will notice that the readings are not in order. In other words, we will not be starting on page one and reading directly until the end of the Bible. Instead, the readings have been designed to keep all the historical periods together. So, for example, we read the Book of Kings and the Book of Chronicles simultaneously because they are covering the same period of biblical history. I take no credit for this system. It is the work of Jeff Cavins, who worked with Fr. Mike on the podcast. However, I do think this way of attacking the passages really helped me get through the longer and less dramatic parts of the Bible and it helped me keep track of the storyline. 

Listen to Fr. Mike’s Bible in a Year Podcast. I cannot speak highly enough of this podcast, which is available for free on any podcasting app or at the Ascension website. It’s 20-25 minutes a day and well worth your time. Can this book be enjoyed without listening to the podcast first? I suppose so, but I do react to a lot of Fr. Mike’s commentary along the way, so some of the passages will be a little hard to piece together without first listening to the episode of the day. But I have tried to make this a book that ANYBODY can enjoy, with or without the podcast. However, you may be perplexed as to why I’m talking about ice hockey in the middle of a discussion on the Book of the Maccabees, but other than that, there’s plenty here to chew on.

Read This Book After Listening/Reading. This book isn’t meant to be consumed in big bites. Rather, these are tiny morsels to deepen your own reflections on the Scriptures. It’s about a page of text for each day, so it’s a quick two-minute read that hopefully will enhance your experience of reading the Bible in this unique way. 

What’s with the Title?

The title of this book is a bit of a joke, but not much of one. It’s true that everyone who picks up a Bible is in fact a sinner. But sometimes it seems like books for Christians are written by folks who have it all worked out, and they are dispensing wisdom from on high. I am the opposite of that. I’m down here in the muck with everyone else. It is true that we are ALL sinners, but, me, I am a particularly good example. I really am a sinner in need of God’s grace daily. This book is my way of working through that the best I can.

Bon Voyage!

So there you have it, the motivation, such that it is, for the writing of this book. G.K. Chesterton, the great British writer and convert to Catholicism in the last century, wrote an infinitely better book than this one called Orthodoxy. If you haven’t read it yet, put down my book immediately and get thee to a library and read that book as quickly as you can. It changed my life immensely. Anyway, in the introduction to Orthodoxy, Chesterton calls his book a slovenly autobiography. And I would say that is a pretty good description of this book as well. Hopefully, by sharing my own struggles, doubts, and messy journey away from the Church and back again, you will see some of yourself in these pages. When it comes down to it, all of us are pretty much the same: imperfect people grasping to understand and do the will of a perfect God. And hopefully, this book will help you get further along in your own faith journey as well. 

Good luck!

SRW, January 2022  

PERIOD ONE: Early World

The Garden of Eden, Noah, and the Tower of Babel

The Creation of Adam from the Sistine Chapel ceiling, Michelangelo (Italian, c. 1508)

Day 1: Genesis 1-2; Psalm 19  

In the Beginning 

And away we go! 

I remember once when I went down some YouTube rabbit hole, I found myself watching a video from some professor of divinity from some Ivy League university. And he took the book of Genesis and its two creation stories as proof that The Bible Doesn’t Say What You Think It Does (that was the title of this video). 

As if the fact that the two stories seem to have conflicting orders of events somehow negates both stories. As if this fact never occurred to anyone until this professor came along to kindly point it out for us here in the 21st century. However, I get quite the opposite reaction. What struck me reading Genesis 1 was the fact that Creation was not an instantaneous act, but a process. This aligns with scientific knowledge long before humans had an inkling of such a thing. And what really struck me was the fact that light precedes the creation of the stars, sun, and planets. 

Wow. Kind of sounds like the Big Bang to me. It is always funny to me how shocked people get when they hear that the Big Bang Theory was created by a Catholic priest, Fr. Georges Lemaître. The whole idea of Genesis to me is VERY scientific. After all, what is a big bang but a Beginning? Now believers and atheists can have plenty of debates about WHAT started the universe, but at least we can agree that it was in fact begun. The atheist is forced to believe it just sort of happened. And yet WE’RE the ones who are supposed to be believing things on blind faith. 

So, thanks anyway, Mr. YouTube Professor. I’ll stick with Genesis if it’s all the same to you.

Day 2: Genesis 3-4; Psalm 104 

The Fall of Adam and Eve

Well, that didn’t take long, did it? Human beings and God were living in harmony for a grand total of two and a half pages before things went haywire. Now, we will spend the next fifteen hundred pages trying to extricate ourselves from this mess. The most important part of this story for me was the fact that both Adam and Eve were so open to temptation. They were literally living in Paradise, but somehow, they thought they could get a better deal if they listened to the serpent.

But that is how Sin works, isn’t it? No matter what my situation is, Sin comes along to show me a shiny bauble that will improve my lot in life. And of course, it NEVER works. We are never happier, healthier, or more content after sinning, and like Adam and Eve we always suffer consequences. But we just never learn. We just flit to the next sin thinking THIS is the one that will do the trick, only to be disappointed once again. I think God’s lines to Cain are among the most important ones in the whole Bible, especially when it comes to my own sinfulness:

Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen?  If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is couching at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it. (Gn 4:7, RSV-CE)

Sin IS couching at my door. But I MUST master it.

Day 3: Genesis 5-6; Psalm 136  

Noah’s Ark

A couple of things jumped out at me in today’s readings. First, how it’s so much easier to bring people down than it is to lift them up. Although there was a line from Seth, the so-called "Sons of God (Gn 6:2, RSV-CE) and a line from Cain (the daughters of men), when the two lines mixed and intermarried, it was only a matter of time before EVERYONE was corrupted. Just logically, you would think that SOME of the members of the Cain line would be elevated by their association with those who walked with God" in the Seth line.

I guess it’s just a matter of gravity. Since the fall, we are naturally inclined to sin, so when we get with sinners, it is just natural that we fall into the habits of the sinful rather than make an example for others to follow. To lift somebody up takes work, and often it’s work that I’m not willing to put in. So instead, I feel myself falling into conversations, into ways of thinking that are not at all walking with God. Quite the opposite in fact.

Noah, on the other hand, seems like a guy who wasn’t necessarily the most popular guy on the block. The fallen always hate those who resist the temptation. After all, to think that it was only he and his family that got on the ark to start humanity again means that literally NOBODY else believed him. Nobody else thought the flood was coming until it was too late. How he must have been mocked as he labored away on the ark, how much abuse must have been hurled at him before those first raindrops fell.

But he knew where his loyalties lay, and it wasn’t to the opinions of his neighbors. Noah had his priorities straight. Much straighter than mine at times, I’m afraid.

Day 4: Genesis 7-8; Psalm 1 

The Flood

There’s an old country song that I like called One More Last Chance, about a woman who’s at her wits end with her boyfriend/husband. The refrain, sung by the man goes like this:

Give me just one more last chance

Before you say we’re through

I know I drive you crazy, baby

It’s the best that I can do

That is what I was thinking about while reading the story of Noah and God’s new covenant with humanity. What strikes me isn’t God’s destructive power, although certainly there is that. What strikes me is that after the disobedience of Adam and Eve, and the descent of humanity into corruption that God didn’t just throw up His hands and say that He was done with the lot of us. In that way, it isn’t amazing that God destroyed all of humanity. It’s amazing that He let ANY of us live. After all, God certainly doesn’t need us. But even so, He never gives up on us. And in the same way, I should never give up on myself. And even though I know I’m going to blow it, I need to keep giving myself one more last chance.

Day 5: Genesis 10-11; Psalm 2  

The Tower of Babel

Today’s message, contrasting pursuit of excellence vs. ambition really hit home for me. It all comes down to motivation. Building the tower in itself was not the problem for the people of Babel. It was WHY they wanted to build it that caused all the trouble:

Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. (Gn 11-4, RSV-CE)

Wow. This is something I know I need to pray about and work on in my own life. When I do something, is it for the approval of God or the approval of others? I’ve got a long way to go in that regard. Ever since I was young, I did things specifically so that I would be noticed. Now, sometimes that is not a bad thing, when it involves doing well at a task or excelling in school. But other times, I am just as bad as the people of Babel; I want to make a name for myself. 

Is there a bigger poison pill on earth than the desire to be famous? Especially when you consider that fame barely outlasts a person’s lifetime in the first place. Because the approval of others is nothing but vapors. The approval of God is less sexy to seek, but ultimately the only thing that REALLY matters. 

PERIOD TWO: Patriarchs

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the Foundation of the People of God

The Sacrifice of Isaac, Dominichino (Italian, c 1627)

Day 6: Genesis 12-13; Job 1-2; Proverbs 1:1-7  

Trust in the Lord

It’s interesting that today’s two readings are opposite sides of the same coin. Both deal with undeserved treatment by the Lord, but in different ways. For Abram, it’s definitely good news:

And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse; and by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves. (Gn 12:2-3, RSV-CE)

Pretty sweet, deal, right? Of course, as we know, things didn’t quite work out exactly how Abram had envisioned them when he got this blessing, but still, it is quite a gift to receive. And the interesting thing about this story is that the Bible doesn’t say anything particularly laudatory about Abram prior to receiving this blessing. Unlike Noah, who the Scriptures go out of their way to say is a particularly decent man. Job, as well, is a good man, "blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil." If there were anybody I would want to start a religion with, Job seems to be a much better candidate than Abram. And yet, Job is the guy who gets all the misfortune heaped upon him.

It’s useful to look at both these stories in contrast (Good job, Jeff Cavins!). When we think about it, we have to see that it is ALL from God. Somebody, and forgive me for not remembering who, once said that we always say Why me, Lord? when we have bad luck, but never ask the same question when we have good fortune in our lives. Nobody says Why me, Lord? when they get their dream job, or when their daughter marries a particularly good man.

Because the truth is none of us deserve any of it. The good or the bad. I need not only to be like Job, and praise God when I have misfortune, but realize my blessings are just as randomly distributed. I need to praise God equally, on the good days AND the bad ones.

For it’s all a gift. ALL of it.

Day 7: Genesis 14-15; Job 3-4; Proverbs 1:8-19

God’s Covenant with Abram 

It’s only been recently that the power of the word covenant has become apparent to me. For many years, I thought that it meant a deal or an agreement. And indeed, that is the definition that you would find in the dictionary for the word. But these covenants that God enters into with His people are not agreements in the traditional sense.

In a traditional agreement, both parties have some skin in the game, i.e., I will give you X and you give me Y. But God’s covenants are COMPLETELY one-sided. They come completely out of His love for the world, and His desire that His people be joined with Him forever. John 3:16 is a perfect statement of this.

We don’t deserve God’s love. In fact, in my case, most of the time it’s quite the opposite. But He loves me anyway. And He keeps showing up, time after time after time.

God honors His side of the bargain every day. The least I can do is try to be worthy of it. G.K. Chesterton said it best, Surely one might pay for extraordinary joy in ordinary morals. 

Indeed.

Day 8: Genesis 16-17; Job 5-6; Proverbs 1:20-33 

The Surrender of Abraham

It’s hard to know just what to make of Sarah. She seems all over the place. First, suggesting Hagar as a solution to their childlessness, then getting upset when it actually happened. Then tormenting Hagar so much that she ran away.

I think this story is profound in a couple of ways. First, I think it introduces into the Bible what a powder keg human sexuality is. Sarah thought she was making a rational decision. She was old, Hagar was young; it only made sense that Abraham should lie with her in order to give him the son that was needed for Abraham’s line to continue. But the second it happened, all that rationality went out the window; Hagar’s attitude toward her completely changed. How could it not? And the relationship between the two women became intolerable on both sides.

In addition, Sarah is sort of hoist with her own petard here. She got impatient with God and seemed to forget that God had promised Abraham an heir, and decided to take matters into her own hands (never a great idea). I guess the message is that she should have trusted that God would keep His promise to the couple on His own time.

How many times have I been guilty of the same thing? (not the sex part, of course, because that would be creepy and weird) How many times have I grown impatient with God’s timeline for my life and committed some rash and foolhardy act because I wasn’t content with the place God had carved out for me at that moment. Of course, we don’t want to use God as an excuse for complacency, but Sarah’s story is certainly a warning for us all.

Day 9: Genesis 18-19; Job 7-8; Proverbs 2:1-5 

Sodom and Gomorrah

The story of Lot and his family in Sodom and thereafter is in many ways very disturbing. And one wonders how much living in Sodom has twisted this family since we saw them last. There are scraps of decency left there, but the second after Lot tries to protect the messengers from being raped by the townspeople, he offers up his daughters in exchange. For me it’s a reminder of how important it is to be amongst people who push you toward your better self. We can get into environments that are very unhealthy. That’s what I think happened to Lot, his wife, and ultimately his daughters.

And then there’s the negotiation that Abraham has with God over the fate of the two cities (although we only really hear about the goings-on in Sodom, we can only imagine Gomorrah is just as bad). But this is the first time where Abraham really sticks his neck out to save people. After all, in Egypt, he offered up his wife so that things would go better for him. After his covenant with God, he is starting to grow, and maybe it was just out of family loyalty to Lot, but he intercedes on their behalf. Although his attempt to save the city is ultimately unsuccessful, it reminds me a lot of my own negotiations with God. I’m always trying to get holy on the cheap, bargaining God down to the lowest possible price for my salvation. Of course, God sees through all of it. Sooner or later, just like for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, there will be a judgment on my life. I just hope there is enough goodness in me at that point to sneak in under the wire. 

Day 10: Genesis 20-21; Job 9-10; Proverbs 2:6-8  

Hagar and Ishmael

Wow. The story of Hagar out in the wilderness with her son is so heartbreaking. She has become expendable with the birth of Isaac, and she is treated horribly by Abraham and Sarah. But mostly it is Sarah who is pushing the banishment of the two. And Abraham, who just "made a great feast" for the birth of Isaac, suddenly has only water and bread to give Hagar as she is kicked out of the camp. One would think that he would show at least a little compassion for her. 

After all, none of this was her doing. She was forced into the whole thing by Sarah in the first place. But again, Abraham is shown to be weak in many ways, just as he was with Abimelech. How often do I do the same thing? I know the right thing to do, but I let myself be bullied into doing the wrong thing because of my own unwillingness to stand up for what I know is right?

What was said about Abraham’s failure really hit home with me. It’s so true that we dwell on our sins so much, even if intellectually we know that God has given us a way back every time. That one time out of ten that we fail tends to define our self-image. Those feelings of unworthiness sometimes prevent me from fully partaking in God’s mercy. More work to do!

Day 11: Genesis 22-23; Job 11-12; Proverbs 2:9-15 

The Sacrifice of Isaac

I must say today’s podcast made me look at this familiar story completely anew. I always pictured it as Abraham’s being obedient and taking Isaac to the sacrifice, thinking full well that he was actually going to kill his own son and that was just going to be that. I also imagined his comment to his companions as another of Abraham’s lies. He didn’t want Isaac to know what was going on, so he said, Stay here with the ass; I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. (Gn 22:5, RSV-CE) This always seemed to me a pretense to lose the other two guys so that they would not resist Abraham’s plan. What a revelation it is to see it not as a sign of dishonesty, but an indication that Abraham had complete confidence that the God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.  (Gn 22:8)

Trust. So many of these early stories hit that theme again and again. It’s so essential and for some reason so difficult at the same time. This time, Abraham finally fully trusts in God, no lies, no obfuscation, no hedging his bets. He FINALLY trusted completely. May we all get to that place.

Day 12: Genesis 24; Job 13-14; Proverbs 2:16-19  

Isaac and Rebekah

Kindness to Strangers. It’s interesting that Abraham’s servant chose this method to find a bride for Isaac. But when you think about it, it’s very logical. What better way to find a good person than to pay attention to how he or she treats strangers? When Rebekah showed extra kindness to the servant by feeding the camels as well, he knew that she was right for Isaac, even before he knew about her family. Not a bad way to choose a spouse to this day, I suppose.

I remember reading a book in which the author said that he was extra kind to homeless people because he never knew which one might be a god in disguise. We should probably be kind to everybody, regardless, but I see his point. And I know in my own life, I could use some work on this.

When a cold calling salesman knocks on my door, of course it’s easy to get annoyed. Usually, these people are representing marginal products and use questionable tactics to make a sale. But I also need to consider, maybe this is this guy’s only way to make a living right now. Maybe he’s at the end of his rope and barely hanging on. I don’t necessarily need to buy his product, but maybe I could dial back my indifference and hostility a bit.

After all, he just may be a god in disguise.

Day 13: Genesis 25-26; Job 15-16; Proverbs 2:20-22 

Esau Sells his Birthright

I think one reason that these Old Testament stories are sometimes shocking to us is that we approach the whole Bible with a New Testament focus. And, needless to say, the New Testament is a story of Perfection: God walking among us. Everything that Jesus does can be looked at as a model. But if we look at Genesis through that same lens, we end up sorely disappointed in these characters. They lie, they cheat, they steal, they double-cross their own families. But these are flawed humans, just like we are. They are not meant to be exemplars of perfect behavior. When I started to think about it that way, thanks to this podcast, it really opened up the stories for me.

How many of us have been like Isaac, trying to get away with a convenient lie because we’re afraid where the truth may lead? Or like Esau, willing to toss away something of great value for a momentary satisfaction of our appetites? Or like Jacob, seeing a person in need and using that person’s desperation against him? Yep, it’s not that these Old Testament characters are unreal. It’s the fact that they’re a little TOO real that gets under our skin.

Day 14: Genesis 27-28; Job 17-18; Proverbs 3:1-4  

Isaac Blesses Jacob

Jacob’s trickery,