Jeremiah 23:16-32

16 Thus says the LORD of hosts: Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you; they are deluding you. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD. 17 They keep saying to those who despise the word of the LORD, “It shall be well with you”; and to all who stubbornly follow their own stubborn hearts, they say, “No calamity shall come upon you.”

18 For who has stood in the council of the LORD

so as to see and to hear his word?

Who has given heed to his word so as to proclaim it?

19 Look, the storm of the LORD!

Wrath has gone forth,

a whirling tempest;

it will burst upon the head of the wicked.

20 The anger of the LORD will not turn back

until he has executed and accomplished

the intents of his mind.

In the latter days you will understand it clearly.

21 I did not send the prophets,

yet they ran;

I did not speak to them,

yet they prophesied.

22 But if they had stood in my council,

then they would have proclaimed my words to my people,

and they would have turned them from their evil way,

and from the evil of their doings.

23 Am I a God near by, says the LORD, and not a God far off? 24 Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them? says the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth? says the LORD. 25 I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, “I have dreamed, I have dreamed!” 26 How long? Will the hearts of the prophets ever turn back-those who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart? 27 They plan to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell one another, just as their ancestors forgot my name for Baal. 28 Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let the one who has my word speak my word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? says the LORD. 29 Is not my word like fire, says the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces? 30 See, therefore, I am against the prophets, says the LORD, who steal my words from one another. 31 See, I am against the prophets, says the LORD, who use their own tongues and say, “Says the LORD.” 32 See, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, says the LORD, and who tell them, and who lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when I did not send them or appoint them; so they do not profit this people at all, says the LORD. (Jeremiah 23:16-32, NRSV)

On March 25, 2007 (The Fifth Sunday of Lent, Year One), comments were repeated from March 13, 2005 (the Fifth Sunday in Lent, Year One); they are repeated here with editing and supplement:

Today’s reading continues a section of what Mark E. Biddle calls “oracles concerning the prophets. “Jeremiah,” he says, “was not the only active prophet claiming divine authority (see chs. 26-29). Others proclaimed messages affirming the status quo. Here, following the similar collection devoted to condemnation of Judah’s unrighteous kings, a series of oracles dealing with false prophets has been gathered together (see also 4:9-10; chs. 27-29)” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., 2001, on Jer. 23:9-40). In yesterday’s reading, Jeremiah expresses anguish over the false prophets (Jer. 23:9-10). Speaking for the LORD, he expressed disgust at “the prophets of Samaria” who “prophesied by Baal / and led my people Israel astray” (v. 13). But, what is “more shocking,” says the LORD, the prophets of Jerusalem “commit adultery and walk in lies; / they strengthen the hands of evildoers,/ so that no one turns from wickedness” (v. 14a, b, c, d, e) After comparing these prophets to Sodom and Jerusalem’s inhabitants to Gomorrah (v. 14f, g), the LORD pronounces judgment: “I am going to make them eat wormwood, / and give them poisoned water to drink; / for from the prophets of Jerusalem / ungodliness has spread throughout the land” (v. 15).

On Jeremiah 23:16-17

In a shift from poetic lines to prose, Jeremiah presents the words of the LORD, saying, “Thus says the LORD of hosts: Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you; they are deluding you. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD” (v. 16). The false prophets deceive the people. “They keep saying to those who despise the word of the LORD, ‘It shall be well with you’; and to all who stubbornly follow their own stubborn hearts, they say, ‘No calamity shall come upon you’ ” (v. 17). We may compare this to a hypothetical situation: suppose that a person has serious cancer, perhaps of the lungs, and is told by a charlatan doctor, “It’s nothing, a three-day cold perhaps. It won’t last.” Jack R. Lundbom considers other views, but treats verses sixteen and seventeen as a unit of prose with judgment on the prophets for “lies” denounced earlier (v. 14):

Yahweh in this oracle tells people not to listen to the prophets who are prophesying to them, i.e., prophets currently enjoying the limelight and to whom they are listening. These prophets are only enhancing their vanity, articulating visions they have conjured up and not speaking words from Yahweh’s mouth. They keep repeating them, telling them to people who in fact are spurning Yahweh and are stubbornly self-reliant, saying all will go well, and evil will not come. (Jeremiah 21-36, Anchor Bible, 21B, p. 192 on Jer. 23:16-17)

On Jeremiah 23:18-22

In a return to the use of poetic lines, Jeremiah asks, “For who has stood in the council of the LORD / so as to see and to hear his word? / Who has given heed to his word so as to proclaim it?” (v. 18). Lundbom regards verses nineteen and twenty as an “inserted poem” in which the speaker is Jeremiah, a kind of parenthetical aside in the LORD’s speech (vv. 18, 21, 22) (ibid., pp. 193-194, on Jer. 23:18-22). Supporting that interpretation, he translates the last line of verse eighteen as “Who has hearkened to my word and heard?” following the kethiv (written text) “my word” rather than the qere (scribal correction) “his word.” (cf. “his word” in KJV, RSV, NIV, NRSV). “The final ‘and heard’ is an ordinary [qal] imperfect, meaning “really heard” (pp. 196-197; cf. KJV, RSV, NIV). The NRSV translation, “so as to proclaim it” is based on the hiphil pointing in a critical footnote, fam9w4y0av9 wiyyashmia’ (K. Elliger et W. Rudolph, Liber Jeremiae, Biblica Hebraica Stuttgartensia [BHS], 1970, apparatus to Jer. 23:18, note e).

The oracle continues, with what Lundbom calls an “inserted poem” (noted above): “Look, the storm of the LORD! / Wrath has gone forth, / a whirling tempest; / it will burst upon the head of the wicked. The anger of the LORD will not turn back / until he has executed and accomplished / the intents of his mind. / In the latter days you will understand it clearly” (vv. 19-20 = 30:23-24, cf. BHS apparatus to vv. 19-20, note a, and Biddle, op. cit., on 23:19-20). “The storm,” says Biddle, “is imagery frequently used to represent the coming of the LORD as a warrior (Ps. 29; Hab. 3)” (ibid.).

If, as Lundbom suggests (above), verses 19-20 are the voice of the prophet (cf. “the LORD,” 3^rd pers. ref., vv. 19, 29, not necessarily v. 18), we return to the voice of the LORD, who claims that the false prophets do not represent his message. “I did not send the prophets, / yet they ran; / I did not speak to them, / yet they prophesied” (v. 21). The LORD explains: “But if they had stood in my council, / then they would have proclaimed my words to my people, / and they would have turned them from their evil way, / and from the evil of their doings” (v. 22). “For the role of the prophet in the divine council, see 1 Kings 22:19-23),” says Biddle (NOAB, 3^rd ed., 2001, on Jer. 16-22). According to Lundbom, “If they [the prophets] had stood in the council, which these prophets had not, they would have brought Yahweh’s true message to the people. Then, just maybe, they would have turned the refractory souls from their evil ways. Since the audience will be made up of these very people, the speech . . . will end up being an indictment on them” (op. cit., p. 199). Lundbom compares this to Jer. 5:31, “my people love to have it so, / but what will you do when the end comes?”

On Jeremiah 23:23-32

For the remainder of the chapter (and 24:1-25:29), we return to prose style, as discussion of the false prophets continues. God knows what has been going on. “Am I a God near by, says the LORD, and not a God far off?” (v. 23). The form of the question in Hebrew, introduced by -ha (ha-), may imply that a negative answer is expected or “the questioner is uncertain as to the answer to be expected” (E. Kautzsch and A. E. Cowley, Gesenius’ Hebrew Grammar [Ges.], 1910, 18^th impression 1985, sec. 150 d)–the LORD is uncertain? However, sometimes “the use of the interrogative . . . serves merely to express the conviction that the contents of the statement are well known to the hearer, and are unconditionally admitted by him” (ibid., sec. 150 e, citing Gen. 24:23; 1 Sam. 9:11). The Septuagint apparently understood it this way and presents the Hebrew question as an emphatic statement. qeo;V ejggivzwn ejgwv eijmi, levgei kuvrioV, kai; oujci; qeo;V povrrwqen (engizō egō eimi, legei kyrios, kai ouchi qeos porrōthen), “I [emphatic] am a God near by, says the Lord, and not a God far off” (Jer. 23:23 LXX).

The next verse continues with the LORD’s questions. “Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them? says the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth? says the LORD” (v. 24). This pair of questions, joined by the conjunction - va (wa-), is introduced as the second of two “disjunctive questions” that are “as a rule, introduced by Mx9—h3 [h^a- . . . ’im]. However, “double questions . . . need not always be mutually exclusive; frequently the disjunctive form serves (especially in poetic parallelism . . .) merely to repeat the same question in different words, and thus to express it more emphatically” (Ges., sec. 150 g, h). God is not “far off” (v. 23), rather, he “fill[s] heaven and earth” (v 24), so mere mortals cannot hide things from him. “I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ ” (v. 25). Elliger and Rudolph suggest an emendation that transforms the first two words of verse 26 into the final word of verse 25. ytamA 0dfa (‘ad-mātay, “How long?” v. 26a), becomes the the third repetition of yT9m4lAH (chālāmtî, “I have dreamed!”; BHS, apparatus to v. 26). They cite 7:4 and 22:29, where triple repetitions are used for emphasis. But Lundbom, who acknowledges the “taunt” with “repetition for emphasis” here, says, “there is no reason, with Duhm (and BHS), to emend the beginning of v. 26 to get a threefold repetition here” (op. cit., p. 206, on v. 25). “The term ‘I have dreamed’ (spoken once) may well be stereotyped,” he adds, and cites a Midianite (Judg. 7:3) and other instances.

“How long? (ytamA 0dfa, ‘ad-mātay)” the LORD asks. “Will the hearts of the prophets ever turn back–those who prophesy lies and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart?” (v. 26). Where the NRSV continues with a statement, “They plan to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell one another, just as their ancestors forgot my name for Baal” (v. 27 NRSV), the recent Jewish translation combines both verses as a question. “How long will there be in the minds of the prophets who prophesy falsehood–the prophets of their own deceitful minds–the plan to make My people forget My name, by means of the dreams which they tell each other, just as their fathers forgot My name because of Baal?” (vv. 26-27 NJPS 1985, 1999). “Dreams,” says Marvin A. Sweeney, “were a standard means for receiving divine revelation, but these false prophets only claim to have dreamed; they speak whatever their own minds devise” (The Jewish Study Bible, 2004, on Jer. 23:25-32). The LORD says, “Let the prophet who has a dream (MOlH3, ch^alôm) tell the dream (MOlH3, ch^alôm), but let the one who has my word (yr9bAD4, d^evārî) speak my word (yr9bAD4 rb0eday4, y ^edabbēr d ^evārî) faithfully” (v. 28a). God compares his word to “wheat” and the so-called dreams of the false prophets as “straw.” “What has straw in common with wheat? says the LORD?” (v. 28b). According to Lundbom,

the contrast is not, as Overholt (1970:68) maintains, between dreams and words that call a wayward people to repentance, on the one hand, and dreams and words that lead people astray on the other. It is between the true word of Yahweh and dreams that are false. The ‘grain and straw’ image gets a different but not entirely contrary twist in the Talmud (Nedarim 8a-8b), where, in a discussion about how a ban placed upon one in a dream might be lifted, Rabbi Acha is said to have posed the question to Rabbi Ashi: ‘What if one was both banned and freed from the ban in a dream?’ Rabbi Ashi answered: ‘Just as grain is impossible without straw, so is there no dream without meaningless matter.’ (op. cit, p. 208, on v. 28).

The metaphor changes and strengthens as the LORD compares his word to “fire,” and to “a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces” (v. 29). According to Sweeney, “And like a hammer that shatters rock! [v. 29b NJPS] refers to the tremendous power and danger of biblical prophecy. In rabbinic tradition, however, this is a central phrase, suggesting that God’s words may be interpreted in a wide variety of legitimate ways (b. Sanh. 34a). Lundbom says, “the ancient Hebrews, along with other peoples of preclassical antiquity, are said to have understood the spoken word as creative energy (Thornton 1945-46), i.e., words were invested with enormous power, enabling them to create and destroy, as well as to be self-fulfilling. Once spoken, words could not be called back” (loc. cit., on v. 29). After some discussion of various perspectives on this point, Lundbom adds:

Yahweh speaks and the world comes into being (Gen. 1:3; Ps. 33:6); in Jeremiah’s mouth, Yahweh’s words destroy and recreate (Jer. 1:9-10; 5:14; 23:29). Yahweh’s word is also self-fulfilling (1:12; 4:28), and once spoken, it does not return to him void (Isa. 55:10-11. Yet Yahweh’s word can be revoked when the human condition changes, as we know from Jer. 18:8-10, and more dramatically from the tale about the prophet Jonah. Jeremiah attests to the power of the divine word more than any other prophet, at times providing rare glimpses into his inner self, where the word is said to have overcome him in his call (1:6-7), strongly affected his senses later on (23:9); when at one point he tried holding it in, he found he could not (20:8-9; Grether 1934:105-6). (op. cit., p. 209)

Through the prophet, the LORD’s speech continues. “See, therefore, I am against the prophets, says the LORD, who steal my words from one another. See, I am against the prophets, says the LORD, who use their own tongues and say, ‘Says the LORD (Mxun4 Umx3n4y09va, wayyin’ ^amû n^e’um)’ ” (vv. 30-31). The recent Jewish translation of verse 31 says, “I am going to deal with the prophets–declares the LORD–who wag their tongues and make oracular utterances (Mxun4 Umx3n4y09va, wayyin’ ^amû n^e’um)” (v. 31 NJPS). The combination plays on the frequent prophetic claim “says the LORD (hvhy Mxun4, n^e’um YHWH)” (e.g., v. 28). Lundbom translates the phrase, “and oracle [verb] an oracle [noun],” and refers to “another cognate accusative [cf. ‘sing a song,’ or ‘dance a dance’ in English] . . . where yin’ămû (‘they oracle’) may be Jeremiah’s own coinage (Bright)” (op. cit., p. 209, on v. 31).

Today’s reading concludes with the LORD’s summary repudiation of these false prophets. “See, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, says the LORD, and who tell them, and who lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when I did not send them or appoint them; so they do not profit this people at all, says the LORD” (v. 32).

Lundbom points out that:

Mendelssohn in Aria #17 of his great oratorio ‘Elijah,’ after the descent of heavenly fire on Mt. Carmel, the confession of the people, and Elijah’s command that the prophets of Baal be seized and killed by the Brook Kishon (1 Kgs. 18:38-40), introduces these words from v. 29):

Is not his word like a fire, and like a hammer that breaketh the rock, a hammer that breaketh the rock, that breaketh the rock into pieces? Like a fire, like a fire! Like a hammer that breaketh, that breaketh the rock? His word is like a fire; and like a hammer, a hammer that breaketh the rock. . . . (op. cit., p. 211, in summary on Jer. 23:25-32)

According to Lundbom, “One can also hear the breaking of rock and incendiary lightning in Leonard Bernstein’s ‘Jeremiah’ (Symphony #1; 1942)” (ibid., p. 212).

1 Corinthians 9:19-27

19 For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. 20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law. 21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law) so that I might win those outside the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.

24 Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it. 25 Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one. 26 So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air; 27 but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified. (1 Corinthians 9:19-27, NRSV)

On February 29, 2008 (Friday in the week of the Third Sunday of Lent, Year Two), comments for 1 Corinthians 9:16-27 were repeated with editing, supplement and adaptation from earlier comments, specifically from March 25, 2007 (the Fifth Sunday of Lent, Year One), and from October 5, 2007 (Friday in the week of the Sunday closest to September 28, Year One), and from earlier comments mentioned on those dates (see the Archives for those dates).

Paul has asserted his rights “to food and drink” (1 Cor. 9:4), later explained as a living income in payment for his ministry (cf. vv. 6-7, 11-12a, 14), and “to be accompanied by a believing wife” (v. 5). But he has also stated that he has “not made use of this right [with reference to monetary income], but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ” (v. 12b). Paul adds that he has “not made use of any of these rights” (v. 15).

In continuation, he explains: “If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation (ajnavgkh, anagkē) is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel!” (v. 16). His ministry is not a matter of free choice, but rather, of his commissioning by the Lord. “For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission” (v. 17). What is his reward? “Just this: that in my proclamation I may make the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my rights in the gospel” (v. 18). According to Richard A. Horsley, in the phrases, “an obligation is laid on me . . . do this of my own will, the terms in Greek are ‘necessity,’ the constraints of ordinary human affairs, which the enlightened Corinthians believe they have transcended in their ‘liberty,’ and ‘free will’ to act without the constraints of necessity, which only the wise person possesses. Paul asserts that he was entrusted with a commission like the biblical prophets” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., 2001, on 1 Cor. 9:16-17).

After explaining his reasons, including his desire to proclaim “the gospel free of charge” (v. 18). As John Knox and John Reumann put it, Paul is “free to waive his apostolic rights” (NOAB, 2^nd ed., 1994, on 1 Cor. 9:15-27). His explanation continues. “For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them” (v. 19). He adds, “To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law” (v. 20). On the other hand, he says, “To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law) so that I might win those outside the law” (v. 21). This is apparently his main point and relates to the issues of relating Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians. But for good measure, he adds, “To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak (v. 22a), and summarizes: “I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some” (v. 22b). This he does, “ for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings” (v. 23)

It would be wrong to criticize Paul as inconsistent here. It is important to observe what Paul does not say he will do in this passage. According to Ben Witherington III, “In vv. 19-23 Paul indicates his modus operandi. He sees himself as free of obligations from all persons, yet he has made himself a slave to all in order to win over more of them. He accommodates his style of living, not his theological or ethical principles, to whomever he is with so as better to win that person to Christ” (Conflict and Community in Corinth, 1994, p. 211, on 1 Cor. 9:1-27). Paul will be careful about Jewish scruples (v. 20)–when, we may assume, it is not a matter of requiring circumcision for Gentiles (the issue in Galatians). He will become “weak to the weak” (v. 22), but. as Witherington says, not

strong to the strong, probably because it is the “strong” Christians to whom he is directing many of his corrective remarks in this letter. Furthermore, his accommodating behavior has clear limits. He does not say that he became an idolater to idolaters. or an adulterer to adulterers. But in matters that he did not see as ethically or theologically essential or implied by the gospel, Paul believed in flexibility. (ibid., p. 213)

Witherington adds that this shows that the phrase “all things to all people” was rhetorical, “not to be taken literally” (p. 214). In Paul’s world, “taking a lower station or place in society was not seen as a virtue. It was seen as slavish and servile behavior, not the sort of thing to which the upper crust would ever aspire. Paul is saying that he deliberately moved from high status to low status, not least because he wants to produce an attitude adjustment among some of his converts who have an all too worldly vision of Christian leadership” (Witherington, p. 211, citing D. B. Martin).

From this position of a certain “weakness” or “lowliness,” Paul moves on to describe his engagement in Christian ministry by the metaphor of strenuous physical training for athletes. “Do you not know,” he asks, “that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it. Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one” (vv. 24-25). Paul compares his energetic efforts to fulfill his missionary calling to the training undergone by those athletes. “So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air; but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified” (vv. 26-27). It shows that Paul took himself very seriously as a spiritual leader, pastor and missionary (i.e. in his apostolic calling. “At the Isthmian games, held near Corinth every two years, the winner’s crown was made of withered celery. The imperishable wreath stands for one’s ultimate salvation” (Victor Paul Furnish, HarperCollins Study Bible, rev. ed., 2006, on 1 Cor. 9:25, citing Phil. 4:1; 1 Thess. 2:19 and other references). For the athletes, being “disqualified” means loosing the victor’s “perishable” wreath, but for Paul, it would mean loosing “an imperishable [wreath],” that is, knowing “Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead” (Phil. 3:10-11).

Mark 8:31-9:1

Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection (Mt 16.21-28; Lk 9.21-27)

31 Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

34 He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 36 For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? 37 Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? 38 Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”9:1 And he said to them, “Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.”

On February 5, 2009 (Thursday in the week of the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany, Year One), comments for Mark 8:27-9:1 were repeated from March 6, 2008 (Thursday in the week of the Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year Two), when comments were based, with editing, combining and adaptation on comments from February 3, 2005 (Thursday of the week of the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany, Year One), from March 30, 2006 (Thursday in the week of the Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year Two), from February 1, 2007 (Thursday in the week of the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany, Year One), and from comments on Mark 8:34-9:1 from August 8, 2007 (Wednesday in the3 week of the Sunday closest to August 3, Year One). The combined comments are repeated again here:

The parallel passages in Matthew and Luke for this reading from Mark are in a separate file, Peter’s Confession, First Passion Prediction, Teaching on Discipleship. For a recent treatment of these texts based on Matthew’s version, see the Archived comments of June 12 and 13, 2008 (Thursday and Friday in the week of the Sunday closest to June 8, Year Two). For a recent treatment based on Luke’s version, see the Archive for October 16, 2008 (Thursday in the week of the Sunday closest to October 12, Year Two).

After the Feeding of the Five Thousand (Mt. 14:13-21; Mk. 6:32-44; Lk. 9:10b-17), Luke discontinues his use of Mark’s narrative from Mark 6:45 to 8:26, where he rejoins Mark’s narrative and sequence for eight of the next nine sections or episodes, from Peter’s Confession (Mt. 16:13-20; Mk. 8:27-30; Lk. 9:18-21) to the Strange Exorcist (Mk. 9:38-41; Lk. 9:49-50; cf. Mt. 10:42). Matthew has continued to follow Mark’s narrative and sequence for the most part throughout.

In Luke, as noted then, the narrative of Peter’s Confession follows immediately upon the Feeding of the Five Thousand, which appears to be set in or near Bethsaida (Lk. 9:10; cf. “a lonely place” Mk. 6:32; Mt. 14:13; with reference to crossing the lake “to Bethsaida” Mk. 6:45). In passing over several sections of Mark, Luke also omits Jesus’ retreat to the north, including the exorcism of the Syrophoenician woman’s daughter (Mk. 7:24-30; Mt. 15:21-28). Mark, however, has Jesus in Bethsaida again (8:22-26) before reporting that he was to the north again in Caesarea Philippi (Mk. 8:27a; Mt. 16:13a). Luke does not indicate the location but simply sets the scene for Peter’s confession as “once when Jesus was praying alone, with only the disciples near him (Lk. 9:18a). Jesus introductory question is similar in the three Gospels, “Who do people (‘the crowds’ Lk.) say that I am (‘the Son of Man is’ Mt.)” (Mk. 8:27b; Mt. 16:13b; Lk. 9:18b). Matthew’s use of the honorific title, “Son of Man,” is significant here, but in the three accounts, the focus is on Jesus’ identity. The opinions of the people reported by the disciples include John the Baptist, Elijah and one of the prophets (Mk. 8:28; Mt. 16:14; Lk. 9:19). Luke specifies “one of the ancient prophets [who] has risen,” and Matthew includes Jeremiah by name, adding “or one of the prophets. When Jesus asks for the disciples’ opinion (Mk. 8:29a; Mt. 16:15; Lk. 9:20a), Peter’s answer, according to Mark, is direct and simple. “You are the Messiah (oJ CristovV, ho Christos) (Mk. 8:29b). This is clear enough, but the others expand the answer a bit. In Luke, Peter’s answer is “The Messiah of God” (Lk. 9:20b), and in Matthew, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Mt. 16:16).

Mark’s account of Peter’s confession at Caesarea Philippi may be compared with Peter’s confession in John 6:68-69: "Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.." In Mark, the confession is short and sweet: “You are the Messiah” (Mk. 8:29). In John, the confession brings Jesus’ Galilean ministry to an end–or at least the reporting of ministry in Galilee–in spite of John 7:1, “After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He did not wish to go about in Judea because the Jews were looking for an opportunity to kill him.” Except for the reported delay in Jesus’ departure for Jerusalem and the Festival of Booths (Jn. 7:1-9), John reports no further ministry or events in Galilee except for the post-resurrection appearance in chapter twenty-one. In Mark, too, the Galilean ministry is essentially over at this point. The child with seizure symptoms is healed (Mk. 9:14-29) and the unknown exorcist is discussed (9:38-41) but Jesus leaves Galilee, headed for Jerusalem in 10:1. The First Passion Prediction (8:31-33) is followed by teaching on discipleship, taking up one’s cross (Mk. 8:34), and losing one’s life “for my [Jesus’] sake” (v. 35). It’s as though the miracles were significant, but mostly placed in the first half of Mark (chs. 1-8), and with Peter’s confession and the insight it represents, Jesus was ready to teach them about the seriousness of Christian discipleship, and to face his own cross.

After Peter’s confession, and Jesus’ warning not to reveal his identity (Mk. 8:30; Mt. 16:20; Lk. 9:21), Mark moves on to Jesus’ First Passion Prediction (Mk. 8:31-33; Mt. 16:21-23; Lk. 9:22), with no reference to the dialogue between Jesus and Peter, reported in Matthew about the rock, the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and binding and loosing (Mt. 16:17-19). The prediction itself is similar in the three Gospels. Mark’s version says, “The Son of man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again” (Mk. 8:31). Luke omits the article “the” with “chief priests” and “scribes” (so in Greek), but has it with the first item in the series, “the elders” (a minor stylistic alteration), and he changes the form of the time designation for the resurrection, “and on the third day be raised” (Lk. 9:22; Matthew has “he” for “the Son of Man” in the other Gospels (reversing the earlier pattern (Mt. 16:13; Mk. 8:27; Lk. 9:18), omits the articles as does Luke, and also has “on the third day” with Luke, for Mark’s “after three days” (Mt. 16:21; Mk. 8:31; Lk. 9:22). Matthew and Mark report Peter’s rebuke of Jesus, but only Matthew supplies the wording, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you” (Mt. 16:22; cf. Mk. 8:32). Both report Jesus’ response, which says, according to Mark, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things” (Mk. 8:33b). Matthew’s form of this response is similar, but with the addition, “You are a stumbling block to me” (Mt. 16:23).

Jesus then addresses “the crowd with his disciples” (Mk. 8:34) or “them all” (Lk. 9:23), or just “his disciples” (Mt. 16:24. The saying is almost identical in the three Gospels. “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross (‘daily’ Lk.) and follow me” (Mt. 16:24; Mk. 8:34; Lk. 9:23). “The Romans used crucifixion as a gruesome means of terrorizing subject peoples by hanging rebels and agitators from crosses for several days until they suffocated to death. They required condemned provincials to carry the crossbeam on which they were about to be hung” (Richard A. Horsley, NOAB, 3^rd ed., 2001, on Mk. 8:34). We know that some of the disciples would eventually become martyrs; early tradition says that Peter and Paul were both put to death at Rome during Nero’s persecutions. But, while Jesus takes the threat of persecution and martyrdom for his followers very seriously, another side of this teaching is the emphasis upon Christian commitment to servant leadership, contribution and participation in the life of the Christian community, and the coming of kingdom of God with power (Mk. 9:1).

The reasons for taking up one’s cross are stated “For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it” (Mk. 8:35). Luke lacks the phrase “and for the sake of the gospel,” but otherwise is the same as Mark (Lk. 9:24). Matthew lacks the phrase, “and for the sake of the gospel” and has “find it” for “save it” (Mt. 16:25). The similarity appears to continue in the following verse. “For what will it profit them to (‘if they’ Mt.) gain the whole world and (‘but’ Mt.) forfeit their life?” (Mk. 8:36; Mt. 16:26a NRSV). Luke’s wording varies a little. “What does it profit them if they gain the whole, but lose or forfeit themselves?” (Lk. 9:25). But the Greek verbs differ. For “profit,” Matthew has a future tense, passive voice verb, wjfelehqhvsetai (ōphelēthēsetai), “shall it profit.” Luke has a present tense, passive voice verb, wjfelei:tai (ōpheleitai), “does it profit.” Mark has a present tense, active voice verb, wjfelei: (ōphelei) (UBS Greek New Testament), rendered as “What good is it for you to gain the whole world, yet forfeit your soul?” (TNIV); but some manuscripts have the future tense, active voice wjfelhvsei (ōphelēsei), (C A D G D Q and others, cf. K. Aland, Synopsis quattuor Evangeliorum, 3^rd ed., 1965, ad loc.), which is followed by the New Revised Standard Version (see above). The future would suggest loss in the next life, but the present tense could relate the future to the present choices. The tense variance continues in the follow-up question, “Indeed [‘Or’ Mt.] what can [‘will’ Mt.] they give in return for their life?” (Mk. 8:37; Mt. 16:26b). Here again, Matthew has a future tense verb, dwvsei (dōsei), “will give,” and the tenses vary in Mark, with the future in most of the manuscripts, but the aorist subjunctive, doi (doi), “can they give” (NRSV), in two excellent older manuscripts, x* B. This question, rhetorical, of course, emphasizes the preceding question. There is in fact nothing that one can give to redeem himself or herself in that situation. The serious nature of these warnings is emphasized in each Gospel by reference to eschatology. “Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his father with the holy angels” (Mk. 8:38). Luke uses this verse, omitting the words, “in this adulterous and sinful generation,” and rewording the final “when” clause: “when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels” (Lk. 9:26). Matthew puts this differently, with a more specific reference to judgment: “For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done” (Mt. 16:27). Mark’s version of Jesus’ concluding promise is varied some by Matthew, and shortened by Luke. “Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until [‘before’ Mt.] they see that the kingdom of God has come with power [see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom]” (Mk. 9:1; Mt. 16:28). Luke shortens Mark’s final clause, “until they see that the kingdom of God has come with power” (Mk.) to “before they see the kingdom of God” (Lk. 9:27b).

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

deanworden@comcast.net