Did Jesus eat fish—and should that question shape Christian ethics today?

In this episode, we explore the sources behind the Gospel of Luke, beginning with Luke’s own claim that his account is a compiled narrative. We take a closer look at the resurrection scene in Luke 24 where Jesus eats fish, asking where this story comes from, why it appears only in Luke among the canonical gospels, and what its absence elsewhere might suggest.

Using source criticism, we trace this passage to the Gospel of Marcion, compare it with Mark, Matthew, and John, and examine manuscript variations that point to later additions. We then widen the lens to other fish stories in the gospels, including feeding miracles and the puzzling post-resurrection scene in John 21.

The conversation turns to Paul’s letters, especially 1 Corinthians 8 and Romans 14, questioning whether appeals to liberty and conscience actually support eating animal flesh—or whether love and example point in another direction. Drawing on early Christian evidence, we consider whether abstaining from animal flesh was closer to the ethic of Jesus’ earliest followers than modern Christianity often assumes.

Can vegans actually survive off the grid? And if not, does that reality justify eating animals as a default? Is thanking an animal for its “sacrifice” enough to absolve us of responsibility for its death—and does that kind of gratitude truly align with God, sovereignty, or ethics?

In this reaction episode, Bailey responds to a recent tangent on veganism from Alec Zeck and Jess Caldwell, who argue against veganism and in favor of eating animals. Using their conversation as a jumping-off point, Bailey examines the deeper philosophical and spiritual assumptions underneath these claims: survival vs. choice, gratitude vs. justification, and what it really means to be sovereign, self-responsible beings in relationship with other life.

If our freedom requires imposing our desires—up to the point of death—onto others, is that sovereignty… or something else entirely?

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Music: Let Linger by Birocratic

In this episode of Following Jesus, Craig and Bailey sit down to discuss the activism of Zoe Rosenberg, a 23-year-old woman charged and convicted of felonies for rescuing four sick and injured birds from a slaughter farm in Sonoma County, California.Through a biblical lens, they ask whether Zoe’s actions—and others like hers—mirror Christ’s disruption of the Temple before His crucifixion, and whether our justice system is truly bent toward righteousness or instead protects those who profit from cruelty. This conversation challenges listeners, especially Christians, to examine where they stand when mercy is punished and the innocent are silenced.

Connect with Following Jesus on IG @followingjesuspod

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Music: Let Linger by Birocratic