Daily Scripture Readings

Wednesday (July28, 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

YOU MAY NEED TO COPY AND PASTE THESE URLs IN YOUR BROWSER

‡ 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.

Wednesday

AM Psalm 72

PM Psalm 119:73-96

Judges 3:12-30

Acts 1:1-14

Matt. 27:45-54

[Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frederick Handel & Henry Purcell]:

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

Psalm 150

2 Chronicles 7:1-6; Colossians 2:2-6; Luke 2:8-14

Eucharistic Readings:

Jeremiah 15:10, 15-21; Psalm 59:1-4, 18-20;

Matt. 13:44-46

Wednesday

Morning: Psalms 65; 147:1-11

Judges 3:12-30

Acts 1:1-14

Matt. 27:45-54

Evening: Psalms 125; 91

Wednesday

Morning Pss.: 15, 147:1-12

Joshua 3:1‑13

Rom. 11:25‑36

Matt. 25:31‑46

Evening Pss.: 48, 4

 

Year C Daily Readings

Psalm 55:16-23

Esther 7:7-8:17

Matthew 5:43-48

* Wednesday in the week of the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost, references for the week of the Sunday closest to July 27, Year Two

 

For the Lutheran Readings for today, and comments on them, see the Episcopal Readings in the file for July 14, 2010, two weeks ago. These traditions differ in relating readings to the weeks following Pentecost.

 

Episcopal and Presbyterian Readings:

 

Judges 3:12-30

 

Ehud

 

            12 The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD strengthened King Eglon of Moab against Israel, because they had done what was evil in the sight of the LORD. 13 In alliance with the Ammonites and the Amalekites, he went and defeated Israel; and they took possession of the city of palms. 14 So the Israelites served King Eglon of Moab eighteen years.

            15 But when the Israelites cried out to the LORD, the LORD raised up for them a deliverer, Ehud son of Gera, the Benjaminite, a left-handed man. The Israelites sent tribute by him to King Eglon of Moab. 16 Ehud made for himself a sword with two edges, a cubit in length; and he fastened it on his right thigh under his clothes. 17 Then he presented the tribute to King Eglon of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man. 18 When Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he sent the people who carried the tribute on their way. 19 But he himself turned back at the sculptured stones near Gilgal, and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” So the king said, “Silence!” and all his attendants went out from his presence. 20 Ehud came to him, while he was sitting alone in his cool roof chamber, and said, “I have a message from God for you.” So he rose from his seat. 21 Then Ehud reached with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into Eglon’s belly; 22 the hilt also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not draw the sword out of his belly; and the dirt came out. 23 Then Ehud went out into the vestibule, and closed the doors of the roof chamber on him, and locked them.

            24 After he had gone, the servants came. When they saw that the doors of the roof chamber were locked, they thought, “He must be relieving himself in the cool chamber.” 25 So they waited until they were embarrassed. When he still did not open the doors of the roof chamber, they took the key and opened them. There was their lord lying dead on the floor.

            26 Ehud escaped while they delayed, and passed beyond the sculptured stones, and escaped to Seirah. 27 When he arrived, he sounded the trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim; and the Israelites went down with him from the hill country, having him at their head. 28 He said to them, “Follow after me; for the LORD has given your enemies the Moabites into your hand.” So they went down after him, and seized the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites, and allowed no one to cross over. 29 At that time they killed about ten thousand of the Moabites, all strong, able-bodied men; no one escaped. 30 So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest eighty years. (Judges 3:12-30, NRSV)

 

The following comments are repeated here with some editing from July 30, 2008 (Wednesday in the week of the Sunday closest to July 27, Year Two), when comments were repeated from August 2, 2006 (Wednesday in the week of the Sunday closest to July 27, Year Two):

 

After yesterday’s introduction to the book of Judges, today’s reading passes over the first “judge,” Othniel “Caleb’s younger brother” (Judg. 3:9), who, according to K. Lawson Younger, “stands as the model judge” (NOAB, 3rd ed., augmented, 2007, on Judg. 3:7-11). So we come to a story with a bit of “comic relief,” the story of Ehud (3:12-30). The issues are deadly serious of course. After “the Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD” and consequently were defeated by King Eglon of Moab, who was “in alliance with the Ammonites and the Amalekites,” and they “served King Eglon of Moab eighteen years” (vv. 12-14), they “cried out to the LORD, the LORD raised up for them a deliverer, Ehud son of Gera,” who is described as a “Benjaminite [‘Benjamin’ means ‘son of the right hand’ Gen. 35:18, cf. NRSV text note e] who is “a left-handed man (On7ym9y4-dya rF0ex9, ’ittēr yad-yemînô, lit. ‘hindered on the right’ = ‘left-handed’)” (v. 15a).

 

Ehud went to Moab with Israel’s “tribute” (v. 15b) armed with a double-edged sword, “a cubit in length” that was “fastened . . . on his right thigh under his clothes” (v. 16), thus available to his left hand! He delivered the tribute in person to “King Eglon of Moab . . . a very fat man” (v. 17). After presenting the tribute, Ehud dismissed his helpers (v. 18), apparently after leaving, for he “turned back at the sculptured stones near Gilgal,” that is, at the border. According to Robert G. Boling, revised by Richard D. Nelson, for the “stones near Gilgal, “(also v. 26). The referent is unclear, but cf. Josh. 4:20” (The HarperCollins Study Bible, rev. ed., 2006, on Judg. 3:19).Ehud says, “I have a secret message (rt,se rbaD4, devar s‘ther) for you, O king” (v. 19a). The word rbADA (d~var), which means “word,” here translated as “message,” can also mean “thing{ (cf. Younger, ibid., on Judg. 3:19). The king dismissed his attendants (v. 19b) and “Ehud came to him, while he was sitting alone in his cool roof chamber” (v. 20a). Yairah Amit observes that expressions in verse 18, “Had finished . . . he dismissed the people” (NJPS 1985, 1999),

 

create the impression of an elaborate gift-offering ceremony. The time consumed by the ceremony enabled Ehud to become familiar with the place and to create the impression of a submissive subject. Ehud alone remained, thereby obviating the need to reenter the well-guarded palace. (The Jewish Study Bible, 2004, p. 515 on Judg. 3:18)

 

The “secret message (v. 19) now becomes “a message from God” (Myh9lox#-rb1D4,, devar ’elÇhîm). According to Amit,

 

Ehud anticipated that, upon hearing God’s name, the king would stand up and stretch himself, thereby making it easier to kill him. Eglon expects a divine oracle, but receives a divinely sanctioned stabbing. Some sages emphasized the positive aspect in Eglon’s behavior, namely, that he stood up out of respect for the LORD, and they consider Ruth the Moabite to be Eglon’s daughter, making David one of his descendants (Ruth Rab. 2:9). (ibid., pp. 515, 517, on v. 20)

 

But the “message from God” is not an oracle; it is an eighteen-inch (1 cubit) sword “thrust . . . into Eglon’s belly” (v. 22). For it to be lost in the belly, hilt and all, Eglon must have been very fat indeed! “The satirical tone,” says Younger, “presents Eglon as the fattened sacrifice. The fat is a sacrificial term used for the choicest parts, the entrails (cf. Lev. 3-6)” (op. cit., on vv. 21-22). Because Ehud locked “the doors of the roof chamber” before leaving (v. 23), the assassination was not immediately discovered. Eglon’s servants thought, “He must be relieving himself in the cool chamber” (v. 24). “Eglon is indeed relieving himself in that his guts are spilling out,” says Amit (op. cit., on v. 24). But after waiting long enough to be “embarrassed . . . they took the key and opened [the doors of the roof chamber]. There was their lord lying dead on the floor” (v. 25). According to Amit, “The servants did not sense the murder, as the fat covering the dagger prevented bleeding. They therefore did not suspect Ehud, who had enough time to escape” (ibid., on v. 25). And the narrator says, “Ehud escaped while they delayed, and passed beyond the sculptured stones, and escaped to Seirah” (v. 26).

 

After Ehud escaped and returned to Israel, he mustered the Israelite troops, that is, “he sounded the trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim; and the Israelites went down with him from the hill country, having him at their head” (v. 27). “Follow after me,” he said, “for the LORD has given your enemies the Moabites into your hand” (v. 28a). In the ensuing battle “they killed about ten thousand of the Moabites, all strong, able-bodied men; no one escaped” (v. 29). “So,” says the narrator, “Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest eighty years” (v. 30)

 

Acts 1:1-14

 

The Promise of the Holy Spirit

 

            1:1 In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning 2 until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3 After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. 4 While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. “This,’ he said, “is what you have heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

 

The Ascension of Jesus (Mk 16.19-20; Lk 24.50-53)

 

      6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” 9 When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. 11 They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

 

Matthias Chosen to Replace Judas (Cp Ps 109.8)

 

      12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away. 13 When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. 14 All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers. (Acts 1:1-14, NRSV)

 

The following comments are repeated here from June 15, 2009 (Monday in the week of the Sunday closest to June 15, Year One), when they were repeated with some editing and supplement from July 30, 2008 (Wednesday in the week of the Sunday closest to July 27, Year Two), when comments were repeated with editing and supplement from June 18, 2007 (Monday in the week of the Sunday closest to June 15, Year One), when comments were repeated from August 2, 2006 (Wednesday in the week of the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost, the Sunday closest to July 27, Year Two), when they were repeated from June 13, 2005 (Monday of the week of the Third Sunday after Pentecost, Year One).

 

When Luke begins the Acts of the Apostles with the words, “In the first book (lovgoV, logos),” we might well translate, “In the first volume.” The word logos has a range of meanings which only begins with various forms of spoken or written words, for example, a “word,” “a statement of definite content: assertion, declaration, speech,” “the subject under discussion, matter, thing,” and “of written words and speeches: of the separate books of a work” (Bauer-Arndt-Gingrich-Danker, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature, 2nd ed., 1979, s.v. lovgoV, logos. p. 477). In this case, the first lovgoV (logos) was the Gospel according to Luke, volume I, and Acts is volume II. Both were addressed to “Theophilus,” a name which means “Lover of God.” Theophilus may have been a personal acquaintance of Luke, a high-ranking official to whom Luke dedicated his two-volume work, or perhaps an ideal name by which Luke addressed Christian believers of his time and acquaintance. Paul J. Achtemeier, Joel B. Green, and Marianne Meye Thompson summarize the purpose of Luke-Acts as “to strengthen the Christian movement in the face of opposition by (1) confirming Christians in their interpretation and experience of the redemptive purpose of God and by (2) calling them to continued faithfulness and witness in God’s salvific project. . . . focused on the invitation to participate faithfully as God’s people in God’s redemptive purpose” (Introducing the New Testament, Its Literature and Theology, 2001, page 251 in the “uncorrected proof”). “Theophilus,” whether a real person or an ideal person could well stand for a typical person within the Christian community so understood.

 

So as Luke the author begins writing Acts, with reference to volume I, that is, the Gospel of Luke, he says, “I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen” (Acts 1:1-2). “After his [i.e., Jesus’] sufferings,” says Luke, “he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God” (v. 3). Christopher R. Matthews says, “Examples of the many convincing proofs are given in Lk. 24:13-53” (NOAB, 3rd ed., augmented, 2007, on Acts 1:3). “While staying with them (sunalizovmenoV [aujtoi:V], synalizomenos [autois]),” says Luke, “he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father” (v. 4a). There is disagreement about the meaning of the verb sunalivzw (synalizÇ ), which combines suvn (syn, “with”) and aJlivzw (halizÇ ) “to salt, make salty, season (F. Wilbur Gingrich, Shorter Lexicon of the Greek New Testament, 1965, s.v. aJlivzw, halizÇ ; cf. a{laV, halas, “salt”). As for the verb, sunalivzw (synalizÇ ), which occurs only here in the New Testament, two possible meanings are given: “(1) to eat at the same table, with focus on fellowship, eat salt with, eat with”; (2) to bring together in assembly, bring together, assemble [with the ] passive, intransitive sense come together” (Bauer-Danker-Arndt-Gingrich [BDAG], A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., 2000, s.v. sunalivzw, synalizÇ ). According to BDAG, “The objections to [the first meaning] are that it fits rather poorly into the context and also the circumstance that this meaning, strictly speaking, is not found elsewhere.” The objections they present to the second meaning “are the singular number . . . and the present tense of [the participle]”; so some have suggested a third possibility, that “of finding in sunalizovmenoV (synalizomenos) simply another spelling of sunaulizovmenoV (synaulizomenos), which is actually the reading of several minuscules [i.e., later mss.] here . . . lit. ‘spend the night with’, then also generally to spend time with, be with, stay with” (ibid.). The third meaning makes sense to this writer, but Matthews apparently prefers the first. “The Gk. word translated staying means ‘to eat at the same table with’ (see [NRSV text] note a [‘Or eating’]) and likely refers to Lk. 24:30, 31, 35, 41-43)” (op. cit., on v. 4).

 

As Luke’s narrative continues, Jesus explains his instruction to wait in Jerusalem “for the promise of the Father” (Acts. 1:4a). “ ‘This,’ he said, ‘is what you have heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now’ ” (vv. 4b, 5). Luke clearly connects this with his earlier report on the preaching of John the Baptist, who, when asked “whether he might be the Messiah (Lk. 3:15b), “answered all of them by saying, ‘I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire’ ” (Lk. 3:16). And we know that both promises, that of John the Baptist, and that of Jesus, were fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost (Acts chap. 2). But in Acts, chapter 1, Pentecost was still pending. And so, for the moment, the disciples still display a certain misunderstanding. “So when they had come together,” Luke reports, “they asked him, ‘Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?’ ” (Acts. 1:6). According to Matthews, “The apostles suppose that Jesus intends to restore the kingdom to Israel (Lk. 22:;28-30) and reestablish the dominion once enjoyed by David (Lk. 1:32)” (ibid., on v. 6). But that is not the Lord’s plan, and he replies, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority” (v. 7). We should pause and reflect that, if it was not for them to know, perhaps it is not for us to know either. But Jesus has a different plan, a missionary mandate, as it has been called. “But you,” he says, addressing the apostles, and through them us also, “will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (v. 8).According to Beverly Roberts Gaventa, “It is unclear whether the ends of the earth refers to the conversion of Gentiles (10:1-11:18), the arrival of Paul in Rome (28:16), or some event beyond the scope of Acts” (The HarperCollins Study Bible, rev. ed., 2006, on Acts 1:8). The Holy Spirit is in charge of the mission in Acts. The experience at Pentecost is the beginning (Acts, chap. 2). Stephen was one of seven chosen leaders who were “full of the Spirit” (6:3). The Spirit led Philip to meet the Ethiopian eunuch and “snatched Philip away” when he had completed the mission (8:19). The Spirit fell upon those who heard Peter at the house of Cornelius. At Antioch, “the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them’” (13:2). At a crucial juncture, Paul was “forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia” (i.e. the province within which Ephesus was located, and where Paul would later work), but called by the night vision of a man who said, “Come over to Macedonia and help us” (16:6, 9). But Luke also notes the crucial role of the Holy Spirit in the Ministry of Jesus, as is emphasized by Jesus’ initial sermon at Nazareth, based on Isaiah 61, which begins, “The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, / because the LORD has anointed me” (Isa. 61:1). The Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus at his baptism by John (Lk. 3:22). Jesus was “full of the Holy Spirit” when he “returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness” (4:2), where he was tempted by the devil (v. 3). After the temptation he was “filled with the power of the spirit” (4:14) and proceeded to Nazareth for that inaugural sermon. Luke’s Gospel closes with Jesus’ promise of the Spirit. “And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high” (Lk. 24:49), which links directly with the beginning of Acts.

 

The reading in Acts chapter 1 continues with the report of Jesus’ ascension to heaven. “When he had said this,” says Luke, that is, after giving the promise of the Holy Spirit and the charge to be witnesses “to the ends of the earth,” then “as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight” (Acts. 1:9). “Elsewhere in the New Testament,” says Matthews, “the ascension is found only at Lk. 24:51 (cf. Mk. 16:19)” (op. cit., on v. 9). But there is no mistaking Luke’s meaning here. “While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven,” says Luke, “suddenly two men in white robes stood by them” (v. 10). Matthews says the “two men in white robes [are] angels ([cf. Lk.] 24:4; Jn. 20:12); in Lk. 9:30 the two men are Moses and Elijah. There are other parallels between Luke’s Transfiguration account (Lk. 9:28-36) and the ascension scene” (op. cit., on v. 10). The men in white robes address the disciples: “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven” (v. 11). Matthews reminds us of Jesus’ earlier statements: “Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in a cloud’ with power and great glory” (Lk. 21:27; cf. Dan. 7:13-14); and Jesus’ answer to Caiaphas, who asked, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?” (Mk. 14:61), to which Jesus replied, “I am; and ‘you will see the son of Man / seated at the right hand of the Power,’ / and ‘coming with the clouds of heaven.’ ” (v. 62, quoting Dan. 7;13 and Ps. 110:1).

 

“Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet,” says Luke, “which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away” (v. 12). Gaventa says that “a sabbath day’s journey [is] about a half mile” (op. cit., on Acts 1:12). Matthews offers a slightly longer estimate, “about 1000 meters (3000 feet)” (op. cit. on v. 12). Either way, according to the scale of Map 1, of Jerusalem (NOAB, 3rd ed., 2001), this distance would hardly get one from the Mount of Olives across the Kidron Valley and beyond the temple area. “When they had entered the city,” we are told, “they went to the room upstairs where they were staying” (v. 13a), that is, the eleven disciples, who are listed by name (v. 13b). But others were included as well at that location in Jerusalem. “All these,” says Luke, referring to the eleven, “were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers” (v. 14). And we soon learn that “the crowd numbered about one hundred twenty persons” (v. 15), but that is to get into tomorrow’s reading. The scene is set for Pentecost.

 

Matthew 27:45-54

 

The Death of Jesus (Mk 15.33-41; Lk 23.44-49; Jn 19.28-30)

 

            45 From noon on, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. 46 And about three o’clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 47 When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, “This man is calling for Elijah.” 48 At once one of them ran and got a sponge, filled it with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink. 49 But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.” 50 Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last. 51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, and the rocks were split. 52 The tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. 53 After his resurrection they came out of the tombs and entered the holy city and appeared to many. 54 Now when the centurion and those with him, who were keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were terrified and said, “Truly this man was God’s Son!” (Matthew 27:45-54, NRSV)

 

The following comments are repeated here from July 30, 2008 (Wednesday in the week of the Sunday closest to July 27, Year Two), when comments were based on earlier comments from September 3, 2005 (Saturday in the week of the Sunday closest to August 31, Year One), from August 2, 2006 (Wednesday in the week of the Sunday closest to July 27, Year Two), and from September 8, 2007 (Saturday in the week of the Sunday closest to August 31, Year One), with some combining, adaptation, and supplement

 

As noted earlier an accompanying table may help to demonstrate continuity in this part of the Passion Narrative. It is found in the file, Crucifixion Outline, with titles and references for eleven sections (Mt. 27:24-66 and parallel passages), which is less than the complete Passion Narrative, but perhaps helpful for us at this point. Full texts relevant to the readings for Monday through Thursday (i.e., tomorrow) of this week may be found in a file called Crucifixion. These files are relevant for the readings for Monday through Thursday (July 26-29, 2010; cf a similar series of readings from Mark in the Archives for Sept. 3-5, 7, 2009, Thurs., Fri., Sat. in the week of the Sunday closest to August 31, Year One, and the following Mon.; cf. also the readings from Luke for July 3-4, 6, 2009, Fri. and Sat. in the week of the Sunday closest to June 29, Year One, and the following Mon.).

 

After reporting some of Jesus last words from the cross, this reading brings us to the moment of his death. The three Synoptic Gospels set the time for Jesus’ death and note the darkness. “From noon on ( =Apo; de; e{kthV w{raV, Apo de hekt‘s hÇras, literally ‘And from the sixth hour’), darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon ( e{wV w”raV ejnavthV, heÇs hÇras enat‘s, literally ‘until the ninth hour’)” (Mt. 27:45; cf Mk. 15:33; Lk. 23:44). John, rather than giving this time reference, tells us that “Jesus knew that all was now finished” (Jn. 19:28). At this point Jesus utters what has been called the “cry of dereliction” (Mk. 15:34; Mt. 27:46). This saying from the cross is the only one of the traditional “seven last words of Christ” presented in Mark and Matthew. Of the seven, three are found only in Luke (23:34a, 43, 46) and three are found only in John (19:26-27, 28, 30). The “cry of dereliction” is presented as follows:

 

"At three o'clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?' which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?'" (Mark 15:34, NRSV, emphasis added)

 

"And about three o'clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?' that is, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?'" (Matthew 27:46, NRSV)

 

This saying quotes the words of Psalm 22:1a (21:1a in Bibles that follow the numbering of the LXX and the Vulgate):

 

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? (NRSV)

’‘lî ’‘lî l~m~ ‘azavt~nî (Hebrew text, transliterated from Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia)

 

Mark’s form of this saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” is in Aramaic. Matthew uses the Hebrew form of “My God, my God” (’‘lî ’‘lî), perhaps intentionally adjusting to the wording of the Psalm, but he retains the rest of the saying in Aramaic, lema sabachthani? (Note the different verbs, which mean the same: Hebrew: ‘azavt~nî, Aramaic: sabachthani. Scholars have debated just when the first vowel of l~m~, “why?” was shortened, to lem~, but Mark’s lema, retained by Matthew, is clearly Aramaic.

 

Psalm 22 has been called a “lament,” and characterized as a “prayer for deliverance from mortal illness” (Robert C. Dentan, NOAB, 2nd ed., on Ps. 22), or the “prayer of a person abandoned by God” (John S. Kselman, NOAB, 3rd ed., augmented, 2007, on Ps. 22). Given the Jewish practice of citing scripture passages by their opening words, some have supposed that Jesus was quoting Psalm 22 as an appropriate prayer for his circumstances on the cross. Some of the lines are certainly apropos, for example:

 

All who see me mock at me;

they make mouths at me, they shake their heads; (Psalm 22:7, NRSV)

 

or:

 

I am poured out like water,

and all my bones are out of joint;

my heart is like wax;

it is melted within my breast; (Psalm 22:14, NRSV)

 

Mark, it seems, represents Jesus turning naturally to the thought of this prayer of lament, and Matthew makes a limited attempt to adjust the wording to the familiar Hebrew text.

 

Some bystanders misunderstand, and say, “Listen, he is calling for Elijah” ( jHlivan, Elian [Heb. Uhy!0l9xe, ’‘lîy~hû], Mk. 15:34; cf. Mt. 27:47), which apparently would be closer to Matthew’s ’‘lî than to Mark’s Eloi. In response, “someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink, saying, ‘Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down’ ” (Mk. 15:36; cf. Mt. 27:48-49). In John’s account, the offer of “a sponge full of the [sour] wine on a branch of hyssop [which is] held . . . to his mouth” (Jn. 19:29) is in response to his words, “I am thirsty” (v. 28, at the end of the verse, citing Ps. 69:21). “When Jesus had received the wine,” says John, “he [Jesus] said, ‘It is finished.’ Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit” (v. 30). Obery M. Hendricks Jr. explains, “Finished [refers to] all that God has sent him to accomplish (17:4)” (NOAB, 3rd ed., augmented, 2007, on Jn. 19:30). According to Mark, when the sponge of sour wine was offered, “Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last” (Mk. 15:37; cf. Mt. 27:50). Luke presents a somewhat more serene picture–if we may call it that: “Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.’ Having said this, he breathed his last” (Lk. 23:46, citing Ps. 31:5; cf. Luke’s less agonizing scene in Gethsemane according to the shorter text, Lk. 22:39-46, not including vv. 43-44).

 

At the moment of Jesus’ death, according to Mark, “the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom” (Mk. 15:38). Matthew echoes this statement (Mt. 27:51a), but adds elements of an earthquake, “The earth shook, and the rocks were split” (v. 51b). Of Mark’s statement about the curtain of the temple, Richard A. Horsley says, “As Jesus dies, the curtain of the Temple (see Ex. 26:33), separating but also protecting the people from the presence of God, is torn in two, in judgment on the Temple’s mediation of the Holy but also opening access to God for the people” (NOAB, 3rd ed., augmented, 2007, on Mk. 15:37-38), and Horsley refers to 1:10, “And just as he [Jesus] was coming up out of the water [of John’s baptism], he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him” (ibid.). According to Krister Stendahl, “No interpretation of [the curtain’s] rending is given in the Gospels; cf. however Heb 6:19; 9:12, 24, 10:19-22. It may have been to Mt. a sign of how the Temple is to be destroyed by Jesus (26:61f.), or even of the new era when Gentiles are full members of God’s people. It may also be just an additional element in the cosmic upheaval at the death of the Messiah as a righteous martyr” (Peake’s Commentary on the Bible, 1962, reprinted, 1972, sec. 694 n, p. 797, on Mt. 27:51-57). After the earthquake, if we may call it that (Mt. 27:51b), only Matthew reports that “The tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised” (v. 52). “After his resurrection,” says Matthew, “they came out of the tombs and entered the holy city and appeared to many” (v. 53). Stendahl says this “must have been a piece of a primitive christology”:

 

The resurrection of the righteous (‘saints’) was expected as one of the great events of the End, and it was expected to take place at Jerusalem when the Mount of Olives split in two; out of that split dead were to appear. Here the earthquake at Jesus’ death (cf. also 28:2) performs the first part of this event while a second (their appearance) comes first after Jesus’ resurrection. It is easy to see how such a witness to the significance of Christ’s death and resurrection did not survive in the main stream of the tradition, since it did not fit into what came to be the basic Christology with Jesus as the ‘first fruit of those who had fallen asleep’ (1 C. 15:20), all the rest awaiting the general (1 Th. 4:16). But the point made in 51-2 is clear; with Christ the general resurrection has begun; cf. also Ign. Mag. 9:2. (ibid., sec. 694 o, on Mt. 27:52-53)

 

Seeing the manner of Jesus’ death, according to Mark, “the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last . . . [and] said, ‘Truly this man was God’s Son!’ ” (v. 16; cf. Mt. 27:54b). In Mark, it has been suggested, this remark forms an inclusio or bracket with the opening verse (the title) of the book. “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mk. 1:1). From start to finish, the reader of Mark knows–if characters in the book do not–Jesus’ true identity as the Son of God.

 

As noted above, for the Lutheran Readings for today, and comments on them, see the Episcopal Readings in the file for July 14, 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