Daily Scripture Readings     

Thursday (June 24, 2010)*

Daily Office Lectionary, The Book of Common Prayer, the Episcopal Church in the U.S.A., 1979; cf. The Revised Common Lectionary (RCL), Abingdon Press, 1992

Daily Lectionary, Book of Common Worship, the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., 1993

Daily Lectionary, Book of Worship Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship, c. 1978 (2002 printing) ‡

http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/index.htm

http://www.pcusa.org/lectionary

‡ Daily Lectionary, Evangelical Lutheran Worship, ELCA, 2006. In the Evangelical Lutheran Worship book of 2006, the Daily Lectionary (pp. 1121-1153) is revised to correlate with the Sunday Lectionary (the Revised Common Lectionary) on the three year cycle: Year A, Year B (now current), Year C.  “The readings are chosen so that the days leading up to Sunday (Thursday through Saturday) prepare for the Sunday readings. The days flowing out from Sunday (Monday through Wednesday) reflect upon the Sunday readings” (p. 1121).

Unless otherwise indicated, the scripture texts quoted are from The New Revised Standard Version (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers), 1989.

Thursday

AM Psalm 105:1-22

PM Psalm 105:23-45

Num. 17:1-11

Rom. 5:1-11

Matt. 20:17-28

Nativity of St. John the Baptist:

http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/John_Baptist.htm

AM Psalm 82, 98; Malachi 3:1-5; John 3:22-30

PM Psalm 80; Malachi 4:1-6; Matthew 11:2-19

From the Sunday Lectionary

Psalm 85 or 85:7-13;

Isaiah 40:1-11; Acts 13:14b-26; Luke 1:57-80

Eucharistic Readings:

2 Kings 24:8-17;

Psalm 79; Matthew 7:21-29

Thursday

Morning: Psalms 36; 147:12-20

Num. 17:1-11

Rom. 5:1-11

Matt. 20:17-28

Evening: Psalms 80; 27

Thursday

Morning Pss.: 97; 147:13-21

Eccles. 11:1-8

Gal. 5:16-24

Matt. 16:13-20

Evening Pss.: 16, 62

Birth of John the Baptist–June 24

Malachi 3:1-4 or Isaiah 40:1-11

Luke 1:5-23, 57-67 (67-80)*

Matthew 11:2-19**

 

 

 

* Intended for use in the morning

** Intended for use in the evening

Year C Daily Readings

Psalm 16

Leviticus 9:22-10:11

2 Corinthians 13:5-10

John the Baptist, June 24

Malachi 3:1-4

Psalm 141 (8)

Acts 13:13-26

Luke 1:57-67 [68-80]

* Thursday in the week of the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, references for the the week of the Sunday closest to June 22, Year Two

 

For the Lutheran Readings for today, and comments on them, see the Episcopal Readings in the file for June 10, 2010, two weeks ago. These traditions differ in relating readings to the weeks following Pentecost.

 

Episcopal and Presbyterian Readings:

 

Numbers 17:1-11

 

The Budding of Aaron's Rod

 

17:1  The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 2 Speak to the Israelites, and get twelve staffs from them, one for each ancestral house, from all the leaders of their ancestral houses. Write each man's name on his staff, 3 and write Aaron's name on the staff of Levi. For there shall be one staff for the head of each ancestral house. 4 Place them in the tent of meeting before the covenant, where I meet with you. 5 And the staff of the man whom I choose shall sprout; thus I will put a stop to the complaints of the Israelites that they continually make against you. 6 Moses spoke to the Israelites; and all their leaders gave him staffs, one for each leader, according to their ancestral houses, twelve staffs; and the staff of Aaron was among theirs. 7 So Moses placed the staffs before the LORD in the tent of the covenant.

8 When Moses went into the tent of the covenant on the next day, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted. It put forth buds, produced blossoms, and bore ripe almonds. 9 Then Moses brought out all the staffs from before the LORD to all the Israelites; and they looked, and each man took his staff. 10 And the LORD said to Moses, "Put back the staff of Aaron before the covenant, to be kept as a warning to rebels, so that you may make an end of their complaints against me, or else they will die." 11 Moses did so; just as the LORD commanded him, so he did.  (Numbers 17:1-11, NRSV)

 

The following comments are repeated here from June 26, 2008 (Thursday in the week of the Sunday closest to June 22, Year Two, when comments were repeated with editing and supplement from June 29, 2006 (Thursday in the week of the Sunday closest to June 22, Year Two), when comments were repeated from June 24, 2004, in an email sent June 24, 2004, for June 24 and 25.

 

As noted yesterday, the difference continues in chapter and verse numbering between the NRSV and other English versions on the one hand, and the Hebrew text numbering followed by the Jewish Publication Society translations (1917 and 1985, 1999). Numbers 16:36 NRSV is Numbers 17:1 in the Hebrew text (cf. NRSV text note a), so 16:36-50 NRSV = 17:1-15 Hebrew text, and 17:1-12 NRSV = 17:16-27. The numbering comes together again beginning with 18:1. (One who reads English text but not Hebrew can see these differences in Jewish translations such as that used in The Jewish Study Bible, Jewish Publication Society TANAKH Translation, edited by Adele Berlin and Marc Zvi Brettler, 1985, 1999.)

 

And so, today’s reading, Numbers 17:1-11, is 17:16-25 in the Hebrew text. We have seen how the rebellion led by Korah was thwarted by “fire” that “came out from the LORD and consumed the two hundred fifty men offering the incense” (Num. 16:35), in Tuesday’s reading, and how, in the aftermath, “the whole congregation . . . rebelled” (16:41 NRSV = 17:6 Heb) with disastrous results for them, though the plague was halted when Aaron “stood between the dead and the living” (16:48 NRSV = Heb. 17:13).

 

In today’s reading, we come to what Rabbi J. H. Hertz calls “Vindication of Aaron” (Pentateuch & Haftorahs, 2nd ed., 24th printing, 1981, p. 644, on Num. 17:16-28 Heb. = 17:1-12 NRSV), and what David P. Wright calls “Aaron’s sprouting rod” (NOAB, 3rd ed., augmented, 2007, on Num. 17:1-12 NRSV). The LORD addresses Moses (17:1 = Heb. 17:16), and says, “Speak to the Israelites, and get twelve staffs (tOF0ma, mattôth, sing., hF0@ma, matteh) from them, one for each ancestral house, from all the leaders (Mh,xeyW9n4, n eśî’ēhem) of their ancestral houses” (v. 2a = Heb. 17a). Moses is to “write each man’s name on his staff, and write Aaron’s name on the staff of Levi,” so that “there shall be one staff for the head of each ancestral house” (vv. 2b-3 = Heb 17b-18). Rabbi Hertz, who follows the JPS translation of 1917, comments on the “rods” (for “staffs” NRSV; cf. “rods” AV/KJV). They are, he says, “ordinarily carried by the princes [‘princes,’ JPS 1917, for ‘leaders’ NRSV; cf. ‘princes’ AV/KJV] as the symbol of tribal authority.” He explains “father’s house” [‘ancestral house’ NRSV] as “tribe” (op. cit., on 17:17 Heb. = 17:2 NRSV). Moses is to “place them [the staffs/rods] in the tent of meeting before the covenant (tUdfehA, hā‘ēdûth, ‘testimony’ JPS 1917, AV/KJV; ‘Pact’ NJPS 1985, 1999), where I meet with you” (v. 4 = Heb. v. 19). The Rabbi explains, “i.e., in front of the Ark that contained the two tables of the Testimony” (on v. 19 Heb. = v. 4 NRSV). And he summarizes:

 

Moses deposits twelve wands [sic] for each of the twelve tribes, and an additional rod inscribed with the name of Aaron as head of the tribe of Levi. Ibn Ezra suggests that as the two tribes of the children of Joseph (Ephraim and Manasseh) were reckoned together (Deut. xxvii, 12), the total number of the rods did not exceed twelve. (Hertz, p. 644, on 17:16-28 Heb. = NRSV 17:1-12)

 

Assuming that Aaron is the one representative of the tribe of Levi, Rabbi Hertz’s math–or Ibn Ezra’s math–works out.

 

The LORD proposes another test, saying, “And the staff of the man whom I choose shall sprout (Hr!p4y9, yifrāch, transl. ‘bud’ JPS 1917, ‘blossom’ AV/KJV); thus I will put a stop to the complaints of the Israelites that they continually make against you” (v. 5 = Heb. v, 20). Wright says, “This is another ordeal-like event in which the deity shows whom he has chosen (cf. 16:5, 7)” (op. cit., on 17:5 NRSV). The Rabbi explains the words, “I shall choose” (JPS 1917) as “for the special duties and privileges of the priesthood” (op. cit. on v 20 = v. 5 NRSV). Moses carries out the LORD’s instruction. “Moses spoke to the Israelites; and all their leaders gave him staffs, one for each leader, according to their ancestral houses, twelve staffs; and the staff of Aaron was among theirs. So Moses placed the staffs before the LORD in the tent of the covenant” (17:6-7 NRSV = 17:21-22 Heb.). And the result of the test vindicates Aaron’s priesthood.  “When Moses went into the tent of the covenant on the next day, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted (Hr1PA, pārach). It put forth buds (HraP,, perach), produced blossoms (Cyc9, tsîts), and bore ripe almonds (Myd9q2w4, š eqēdîm)” (v. 8 NRSV = Heb. 23). Wright points out that “a rod of Aaron is elsewhere associated with the miraculous (Ex. 7:8-10, 19; 8:5)” (op. cit., on 17:8 NRSV). Nili S. Fox says, “Aaron’s staff not only sprouts but it produces blossoms which in turn develop into almonds overnight. The sprouting of a staff or pillar for the purpose of identifying a hero or priest is also known from Herodotus (IC.67-68). Almonds are considered among the choicest products of Canaan (Gen. 43:11)” (The Jewish Study Bible, 2004, on Num. 17:23 NJPS = 17:8 NRSV). With the result established, Moses returns the staffs to the tribal leaders, who see the results for themselves. “Then Moses brought out all the staffs from before the LORD to all the Israelites; and they looked, and each man took his staff” (17:9 NRSV = 17:24 Heb.). With reference to the words “and they looked,” Rabbi Hertz says, “here was indeed Divine confirmation of the High Priesthood of Aaron” (op. cit.., on 17:24 Heb. = 17:9 NRSV). And as with the censers that were reworked into “a covering for the altar . . . as a sign to the Israelites” (16:37-40 NRSV = 17:2-5 Heb.), Aaron’s staff that sprouted is also to be a warning sign. “And the LORD said to Moses, ‘Put back the staff of Aaron before the covenant, to be kept as a warning (tOx, ’ôth) to rebels, so that you may make an end of their complaints against me, or else they will die.’ ” (17:10 NRSV = Heb. 17:25). The word  tOx (’ôth), translated as “warning” here (NRSV; ‘token’ JPS 1917 and AV/KJV, ‘lesson’ NJPS 1985, 1999) is translated earlier as “sign” (16:38 NRSV, AV/KJV = 17:3 JPS 1917, ‘warning’ NJPS 1985, 1999). Rabbi Hertz calls the word, “token” (17:25 JPS 1917) “a warning to future generations” (op. cit., on 17:25 Heb. = 17:10 NRSV). In the concluding verse of today’s reading, we are told that “Moses did so; just as the LORD command him, so he did” (17:11 NRSV = 17:26 Heb.).

 

Tomorrow’s reading moves ahead to chapter 20, but we may take note of the Israelite’s fear that closes the chapter. “The Israelites said to Moses, ‘We are perishing; we are lost, all of us are lost! Everyone who approaches the tabernacle of the LORD will die. Are we all to perish?” (17:12-13 NRSV = Heb. 17:27-28). “The people fear,” says Fox, “that even approaching the Tabernacle could constitute encroachment and result in death” (op. cit., on 17:27-28 NJPS 1985, 1999 = NRSV 17:12-13). The Rabbi comments on the words “we are undone” (17:27 JPS 1917, ‘we are lost’ NRSV 17:12). It, says the Rabbi, is “a despairing outburst on the part of defeated and disheartened men. Korah, Dathan and Abiram and their company had perished, and furthermore a plague had swept away several thousands of the people. It looked as if the end had come to all!” (on 17:27 JPS 1917 = 17:12 NRSV). On the next verse, in reference to the words, “shall we wholly perish?” [‘Are we all to perish? NRSV], the Rabbi says, “Better, shall we ever have finished dying?; ‘have we not yet done expiring?’ (Benisch). It was in response to this agonizing cry that Aaron and the Levites were bidden in xviii to guard the Sanctuary against the approach of any ‘stranger’ ” (on 17:28 JPS 1917 = NRSV 17:13).

 

Romans 5:1-11

 

Results of Justification

 

5:1  Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person-though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. 8 But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. 9 Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. 11 But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.  (Romans 5:1-11, NRSV)

 

The following comments are repeated here from July 5, 2009 (the Sunday closest to July 6, Year One), when comments were repeated from March 18, 2009 (Wednesday in the week of the Third Sunday of Lent, Year One), when comments were repeated from June 16, 2008 (Thursday in the week of the Sunday closest to June 22, Year Two), when comments were repeated with editing and supplement from March 14, 2007 (Wednesday in the week of the Third Sunday of Lent, Year One), when comments were combined and revised from June 24, 2004, in an email sent June 24, 2004, for June 24 and 25, from March 2, 2005 (Wednesday of the week of the Third Sunday of Lent, Year One), from July 3, 2005 (the Sunday closest to July 6, Year One), and from June 29, 2006 (Thursday in the week of the Sunday closest to June 22, Year Two).

 

Paul has presented the need for a salvation based in justification by faith since all of humankind, including the Jews, has fallen so far short of righteousness on any other basis (Romans, chaps. 1-3), and he has defined it as an act of God’s grace based on the sacrifice of atonement that was Christ’s death (chap. 3). He has described how “apart from law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed” (Rom. 3:21) and, though “all have sinned” (v. 23), “they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (v. 24). He has explained that Christ Jesus was “put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith” (v. 25). He has cited David (4:6-8, citing Ps. 32:1-2), and especially Abraham (much of chap. 4) to illustrate what he means by justification. Abraham’s faith has been presented as the prototype and model for “those who share the faith of Abraham” (Rom. 4:16). Just as “his faith was reckoned to him as righteousness” (4:22)–“the righteousness of God” revealed in the gospel (1:16-17)–so “it [our faith] will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead” (4:24). Today’s reading summarizes the benefits of justification for Christian believers., beginning with “peace (eijrhvnh, eirēnē, cf. MOlwA, šālôm) with God”: “Therefore, since we are justified (DikaiwqevnteV, Dikaiōthentes, aorist passive participle of dikaiovw, dikaioō, ‘justify’) by faith ( ejk pivstewV, ek pisteōs), we have peace (eijrhvnh, eirēnē) with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1). “Since we are justified” translates the participle, literally, “having been justified,” which comes first in the sentence for emphasis. Adverbial participles can refer to time,”after being justified,” for example, or other aspects, but the English “since” correctly interprets this as a causal participle.  “Because we have been justified,” we might say, “we have peace with God” (cf. Daniel B. Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics, 1995, p. 662).

 

Martin Luther comments on Romans 5:1:

 

    This peace, of which all the prophets sing, is a spiritual peace. This is why he says “peace with God.” It is prefigured in every peace which, in olden times, was given to the Children of Israel.

    (It is nothing else than a quiet conscience and trust in God, just as, conversely, an unquiet conscience and mistrust in God mean spiritual disturbance. As Hosea says, “They sow the wind and shall reap the whirlwind” [Hosea 8:7]. For, according to Ps. 1:4, the penalty of a restless conscience is to be “like the chaff which the wind drives away.”)

    For this reason Christ is called Solomon [whose Hebrew name, hmolow4, sh elōmōh, is related to MOlwA, shālôm, “peace,” and referred to pacificus, cf. note]. (Isa. 9:6.)  Eph. 2:14: “He is our peace, who has made both one.” (Luther: Lectures on Romans, ed., trans., Wilhelm Pauck, 1961, p. 153)

 

Luther adds:

 

    But it must be noted how the apostle bases the spiritual peace on righteousness. Therefore, he says first: “being justified by faith” and then only “we have peace.” . . . It is due to the perversity of men that they seek peace first and then righteousness; consequently, they find no peace. (ibid., p. 154)

 

Paul continues with a series of benefits–consequences– of justification: “Therefore, since we are justified (DikaiwqevnteV, Dikaiōthentes) by faith, we have . . .” (5:1a) and the list follows, or rather, accumulates: “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (5:1b), “through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God” (v. 2). The next item may surprise some. “And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance” (v. 3). We might wonder whether suffering should count as a benefit, but indirectly it apparently does, when persecution leads to church growth. The list continues, for “endurance produces character, and character produces hope (v. 4), and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” (v. 5).

 

At this point the list of benefits pauses for a bit as Paul clarifies what has happened. What Christ has done for us is most unusual: “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly (v. 6). The act of dying for a righteous person is most rare, says Paul: “Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person–though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die” (v. 7). But even that has been surpassed, for “God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us” (v. 8). If we count "love" and "the Holy Spirit" as two, that makes nine benefits. Not that we own, or control, the Spirit. It's the other way around. "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God" (Rom. 8:14). Paul lists further benefits, for example, being saved from the wrath of God. “Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God” (v. 9). What has been brought about is a reconciliation. “For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled (kathllavghmen, katēllagēmen) to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled (katallagevnteV, katallagentes), will we be saved by his life” (v. 10). The verb translated “were reconciled” here means “the exchange of hostility for a friendly relationship, reconcile” and is used in the active voice of God, who “reconciled himself to us through Christ” 2 Cor 5:18, and in the passive voice meaning to “be reconciled, become reconciled,” that is, to “be(come) reconciled to God,” as in Rom. 5:10a, b (Bauer-Danker-Arndt-Gingrich [BDAG], A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., 2000, s.v. katallavssw, katallassō ). “But more than that,” says Paul, “we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation (katallaghv, katallagē , the noun related to the verb katallavssw, katallassō )” (v. 11). Neil Elliott says, “Paul stresses that God’s saving purpose is much more than a reprieve from the punishment due for sins (vv. 15, 17)” (NOAB, 3rd ed., augmented, 2007, on vv. 9-11).

 

Matthew 20:17-28

 

A Third Time Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection (Mk 10.32-34; Lk 18.31-34)

 

17 While Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside by themselves, and said to them on the way, 18 "See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death; 19 then they will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified; and on the third day he will be raised.”

 

The Request of the Mother of James and John (Mk 10.35-45)

 

20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, and kneeling before him, she asked a favor of him. 21 And he said to her, "What do you want?" She said to him, "Declare that these two sons of mine will sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom." 22 But Jesus answered, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?" They said to him, "We are able." 23 He said to them, "You will indeed drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left, this is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father."

24 When the ten heard it, they were angry with the two brothers. 25 But Jesus called them to him and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. 26 It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; 28 just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many."  (Matthew 20:17-28, NRSV)

 

The following comments are repeated here from November 27, 2009 (Friday in the week of the Sunday closest to November 23, Year One), when comments were repeated from June 26, 2008 (Thursday in the week of the Sunday closest to June 22, Year Two), when comments were repeated from November 30, 2007 (Friday in the week of the Sunday closest to November 23, Year One), when comments were repeated with editing and supplement from June 29, 2006 (Thursday in the week of the Sunday closest to June 22, Year Two), when comments were combined and revised from June 24, 2004, in an email sent June 24, 2004, for June 24-25, and from November 25, 2005 (Friday of the week of the Sunday closest to November 23, Year One). Parallel passages in Mark and Luke for this reading from Matthew are presented in the separate file, Third Passion Prediction; Precedence among the Disciples. For recent comments on Mark’s version, see the Archive for March 26, 2010 (Friday in the week of the Fifth Sunday of Lent, Year Two); for recent comments on Luke 18:31-43, see the Archive for June 8, 2009 (Monday in the week of the Sunday closest to June 8, Year One); for recent comments on Luke 22:24-30, see the Archive for June 25, 2009 (Thursday in the week of the Sunday closest to June 22, Year One):

 

There are three Passion Predictions in parallel accounts in Matthew, Mark and Luke (# 1, Mt. 16:21-23; Mk. 8:31-33; Lk. 9:22; # 2, Mt. 17:22-23; Mk. 9:30-32; Lk. 9:43-45; and # 3, Mt. 20:17-19; Mk. 10:32-34; Lk. 18:31-34). Each is followed by lessons on humility and discipleship, for example, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Mt. 16:24; Mk. 8:34; Lk. 9:23). Note that Luke has an addition, “and take up their cross daily (kaq= hJmevran, kath’ hēmeron) and follow me.”

 

It may be of some interest to note the location of the three Passion Predictions in the Gospels. In Mark they appear in successive chapters, Mark 8:31-33; 9:30-32; 10:32-34. In Matthew the first two are in successive chapters (Mt 16:21-23; 17:22-23), and the third comes three chapters later (Mt. 20:17-19). In Luke, the first two come in the same chapter (Lk. 9:22; 43b-45) but the third comes nine chapters later (Lk. 18:31-34). Matthew's fourth "discourse" (Mt. 18:1-35) is a part of what separates the second and third Passion Predictions, but most notably, Luke's so-called Travel Narrative (Lk. 9:51-18:14), based on sources other than Mark, separates Luke's version of the second and third Passion Predictions. But it is clear in all the Gospels that Jesus' public ministry would end as it did. Matthew, in fact, has a fourth Prediction (Mt. 26:2; cf. Mk. 14:1 and Lk. 22:1, both of which mention the Passover but not the crucifixion).

 

The third Passion Prediction is presented by three Gospels with few significant differences. Matthew abbreviates some of Mark's detail about the setting (Mt. 20:17a; cf. Mk. 10:32). “They were on the road, going up to Jerusalem,” says Mark (Mk. 10:32), a statement which Matthew reduces to a (Greek) participial phrase, “While Jesus was going up to Jerusalem” (Kai; ajnabaivnwn oJ =Ihsou:V eijV +Ierosovluma, Kai anabainōn ho Iēsous eis Hierosoluma, Mt. 10:17a). Only Mark says that “Jesus was walking ahead of them” (Mk. 10:32a), that is, ahead of the disciples (cf. Mk. 10:23, 28; Mt. 19:23, 27; Lk. 18:28). And only Mark mentions their amazement and fear (Mk. 10:32b), but all tell us that Jesus “took the twelve aside” for this third Passion Prediction. “He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them what was to happen to him” (Mk. 10:32c; cf Mt. 20:17b, with “twelve disciples”; Lk. 18:31a).

 

Matthew and Mark describe this prediction in similar terms. According to Mark, Jesus says, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem [repeating from v. 32a], and the son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death; then they will hand him over to the Gentiles” (Mk. 10:33; cf. Lk. 18:31b). Mark introduces the statement with the conjunction o{ti (hoti), “that,” translated “saying” (NRSV, cf. AV/KJV with “saying” in italics). Matthew omits the second definite article in the series, “to the chief priests and [the] scribes” (Mt. 20:18) but otherwise, the saying itself is identical so far in the two Gospels. Then Mark’s statements describing what the Gentiles will do to Jesus, “they will mock him, and spit upon him, and flog him, and kill him” (Mk. 10:34a), are reduced to a compound infinitive phrase expressing purpose, eijV tov (eis to), “to be mocked and flogged and crucified” (Mt. 20:19b). It will be their intent (purpose) in handing him over, that he be mocked and flogged and crucified.” It is perhaps this infinitive of purpose that leads M. Eugene Boring to say, “Although Matthew is quite aware that the execution of Jesus was carried out by Gentile hands, he alters Mark to emphasize the divine sovereignty and, on the human level, Jewish responsibility” (The New Interpreter’s Bible, VIII, 1994, p. 396, on Mt. 20:17-19). Luke elaborates this description, introducing it with reference to the prophets, while reducing the double reference to going to Jerusalem to one (cf. Mk. 10:33; Lk. 18:31b, above), but adding, “everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished” (Lk. 18:31c). Luke puts the abuse by the Gentiles in the passive voice. “For he will be handed over to the Gentiles; and he will be mocked and insulted and spat upon (Lk. 18:32). “After they have flogged him,” says Jesus, according to Luke, “they will kill him” (v. 33a). Mark ends the statement of Jesus with the happier note, “and after three days he will rise again” (Mk. 10:34b); compare Matthew’s “and on the third day he will be raised” (Mt 20:19c), and Luke’s “and on the third day he will rise again” (Lk. 18:33b). 

 

On this occasion, only Luke notes the disciples' failure to understand. “But they understood nothing about all these things; in fact, what he said was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said” (Lk. 18:34). However, we may compare Peter’s strong objection to the first Passion Prediction (Mk. 8:32; Mt. 16:22), and a similar reference to their failure to understand after the second Passion Prediction (Mk. 9:32 and Lk. 9:45). R. Alan Culpepper notes other places in Luke where there is a failure to understand, “the parents of the twelve-year-old Jesus in the Temple (Lk. 2:50), the “things that make for peace” that “were hidden” from those in Jerusalem (19:42), where Jesus promises “that nothing is no hidden that will not come to light (8:17), and where “the meaning of these events is revealed to the disciples: ‘Then their eyes were opened’ (24:31), and ‘Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures’ (24:45)” (The New Interpreter’s Bible, IX, 1994, p. 352, on Lk. 18:34).

 

As we move on to the next section, we note that in Matthew, it is "the mother of the sons of Zebedee" (Mt. 20:20) who asks for seats of honor for her sons (v. 21). In Mark, James and John themselves make the request (Mk. 10:35-37). William Barclay explains as follows:

 

Matthew was writing twenty-five years later than Mark; by that time a kind of halo of sanctity had become attached to the disciples. Matthew did not wish to show James and John guilty of worldly ambition, and so he puts the request into the mouth of their mother rather than of themselves. (The Gospel of Matthew, The Daily Study Bible, rev. ed., vol. 2, 1975, p. 229, on Mt. 20:20-28)

 

Perhaps Barclay is right; he summarizes references to some women in the Gospels and concludes “that James and John were full cousins of Jesus; and it may have been that they felt that this close relationship entitled them to a special place in his Kingdom” (ibid.). But Jesus’ response shows that James and John failed to understand the significance of what Jesus has just told them. He replies with a question. “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” And they say, “We are able” (Mt. 20:22; Mk. 10:39). Boring points out that Jesus’ address “shifts [from the mother] to the disciples directly” here (op. cit., p. 398, on Mt. 20:22). Thus Matthew’s report returns to following Mark, where such a “shift” was not necessary, since, in Mark’s report, the request is presented by James and John themselves (Mk. 10:35-37).

 

“You will indeed drink my cup,” says Jesus, according to Matthew (Mt. 20:23a), omitting Mark’s reference to “the baptism with which I am baptized (Mk. 10:38c). In another context, Luke quotes Jesus as saying, “I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed!” (Lk. 12:50). In this Lukan context, says, Marion Lloyd Soards, the “baptism [is] Jesus’ death” (NOAB, 3rd ed., augmented, 2007, on Lk. 12:50. J. Andrew Overman apparently understands the “cup” in Matthew’s version as a reference to a martyr’s death in which the disciples share in Jesus’ own crucifixion. His note here is a simple reference to Acts 12:2, where it is reported that King Herod Agrippa I had James “killed with the sword” (NOAB, 3rd ed., augmented, 2007, on Mt. 20:23). Boring admits that a number of texts from the Hebrew Bible and Judaism use the cup “as a symbol of suffering, testing, rejection, judgment, and violent death,” and he notes that “some interpreters have understood Jesus’ cup to be his death, conceived as the substitutionary death for sinners, absorbing God’s wrath in their place,” but he adds: “That cannot be the meaning here, since the disciples drink the same cup” (loc. cit.). However, he adds that “Martyrdom of Isaiah 5:13 shows that the cup can mean a death appointed by God, willingly accepted by the one being killed. Matthew’s later use of this image at the last supper (26:27) and Gethsemane (26:39, 42) and Jesus’ promise that the disciples will drink the same cup link the tradition of Israel’s suffering with that of Jesus and the church” (ibid.).

 

In the accounts of Matthew and Mark, the request for favored places in the kingdom for James and John–not reported by Luke–makes the ten others angry with them (Mk. 10:41; Mt. 20:24). One may compare the dispute that arose among them at the Last Supper “as to which one of them was to be regarded as the greatest” (Lk. 22:24). Jesus responds with teaching about authority and leadership within the Christian community that differs radically from the surrounding world. “You know,” he says, according to Mark, “that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them (katakurieuvousin aujtw:n, katakyrieuousin autōn) and their great ones are tyrants over them (katexousiavzousin aujtw:n, katexousiazousin autōn)” (Mk. 10:42; cf. Lk. 22:25). Matthew simplifies, perhaps, clarifies, this statement. “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them (katakurieuvousin aujtw:n, katakyrieuousin autōn), and their great ones are tyrants over them (katexousiavzousin aujtw:n, katexousiazousin autōn)” (Mt. 20:25). The first verb is well translated here as “lord it over them” (cf. Bauer-Danker-Arndt-Gingrich [BDAG], A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., 2000, s.v. katakurieuvw, katakyrieuō, meaning no. (2) ). The word “tyrants” comes from the translation of the other verb, “exercise authority, perhaps tyrannize tinovV over someone” (BDAG, s.v. katexousiavzw, katexousiazō ). Among the Christians, rather, Jesus says there will be very different relationships for community and governance. “But it is not so (will not be so) among you,” he says according to Mark, “but whoever wishes to become (be) great (mevgaV, megas) among you must be your servant (diavkonoV, diakonos), and whoever wishes to be first (prw:toV, prōtos) among you must be slave (dou:loV, doulos) of all (your slave” (Mk. 10:43-44; cf. Mt. 20:26-27; cf. also Lk. 22:26). According to Boring, “Over against the exalted and powerful terms used for worldly rulership, Jesus substitutes diavkonoV (diakonos, ‘deacon,’ lit., a table servant, waiter or waitress, also used as a technical term for Christian ministry) and dou:loV (doulos, lit., ‘slave’).” Boring adds that “rather than replacing the image of kingship (potentially oppressive and always so in human kingdoms), Matthew reinterprets it in terms of Jesus as the revelation of God. First/servant ties into and further interprets the theme of reversal of first/last, dominant throughout this section [of Mt.] and ties this pericope more closely to its context” (op. cit., p. 398, on Mt. 20:25-27).

 

This form of leadership has been appropriately called "Servant Leadership." Barclay comments as follows:

 

What Jesus calls upon his followers to do he himself did. He came not to be served but to serve. He came to occupy not a throne, but a cross. It was just because of this that the orthodox religious people of his time could not understand him. All through their history the Jews had dreamed of the Messiah; but the Messiah of whom they had dreamed was always a conquering king, a mighty leader, one who would smash the enemies of Israel and reign in power over the kingdoms of the earth. They looked for a conqueror; they received one broken on a cross. (op. cit., p. 234, on Mt. 20:20-28)

 

The discussion concludes with Jesus describing his own mission as service such as he has prescribed for Christian leadership, “For (just as) the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve (diakonh:sai, diakonēsai), and to give his life a ransom for many” (Mk. 10:45; cf. Mt. 20:28; cf. also “But I am among you as one who serves ( oJ diakonw:n, ho diakonōn, participle, ‘the one serving’),” Lk. 22:27b). Matthew’s infinitive, “to serve,” is related to the noun diavkonoV (diakonos), “servant” or “deacon.”

 

As noted above, for the Lutheran Readings for today, and comments on them, see the Episcopal Readings in the file for June 10, 2010, two weeks ago. These traditions differ in relating readings to the weeks following Pentecost.

 

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

deanworden@comcast.net