Pericope Study
Lent 5B
Presented by Richard M Burgess
I’m not including a disclaimer this time because I am confident that everything contained herein is absolutely complete, true, and totally relevant to all of your situations. In other words, I’ve given up humility for Lent. :)
Collect / POD: Almighty God, our redeemer, in our weakness we have failed to be your messengers of forgiveness and hope in the world. Renew us by your Holy Spirit, that we may follow your commands and proclaim your reign of love; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen
Lesson I: Jeremiah 31.31-34 [NRSV]
[31] The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. [32] It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt--a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. [33] But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. [34] No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.
31.31 YHWH going to make a new covenant with Israel & Judah
31.32 Old Covenant: Mosaic, broken metaphor: husband & wife
31.33 New Covenant: in hearts metaphor: God & People
31.34 no longer need to learn the Law / Covenant since they will already know God
Comments and Questions:
Jeremiah is from Anathoth, about 5 mi NNE of Jerusalem; roughly the same place as the NT Bethany, ie, near the Judah / Israel line. His ministry was from 627 BCE to sometime after the Babylonian exile in 587 BCE. This passage is from shortly after 587 BCE and probably written from Jerusalem.
In 31.34 the logic seems to go:
God will forgive Israel,
=> Israel will all know God
=> Israel won’t need to learn or meet God
How does this relate to 31.33b, “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people”?
How does knowing God make one know God’s Law? Is this backwards from knowing God by knowing God’s law?
Psalm: Psalm 51.1-12 (NRSV) (= 51.1-13 LBW; LBW verse numbers shown as superscripts)
To the leader. A Psalm of David, when the prophet Nathan came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
51 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
[2]2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin.
[3]3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
[4]4 Against you, you alone, have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight,
5so that you are justified in your sentence
and blameless when you pass judgment.
[5]6 Indeed, I was born guilty,
a sinner when my mother conceived me.
[6]7 You desire truth in the inward being;
therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
[7]8 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
[8]9 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
[9]10 Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
,[10]11 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
[11]12 Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take your holy spirit from me.
[12]13 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a willing spirit.
Outline / Structure:
51.1-2 plea for mercy and purification
51.3-5 confession of intense guilt
51.6-12 request for restoration – only God can give a new heart / spirit
Comments & Questions:
Authorship: Probably not “David” since 51.18 refers to “rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem”. (David’s death: ca 970 BCE; fall of Jerusalem and destruction of walls: ca 587 BCE; rebuilding of walls: ca 444 BCE)
This is traditionally one of the “penitential psalms”: 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, & 148.
This was the Psalm (all but the last 2 verses) for Ash Wednesday. How does that affect the use of this smaller excerpt 4½ wks later?
“Against you, you alone, have I sinned” (51.4) What does it mean to sin only against God? Assuming the David & Bathsheba connection (2 Sam 11-12), how did David sin against God only? What about Uriah? In what sense might all our sins be against God?
“Born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me” (51.5) Original sin? Metaphor for being “rotten to the core”? Sin originating in our parents’ sexual activity?
Nb: 51.10-12 is the offertory for non-communion use of the LBW communion liturgy, and was the offertory for all Sundays in the SBH.
This passage is intensely rich in describing sin, forgiveness, etc:
sin:transgressions (2x), iniquity (2x), sin (4x), evil, guilty
un-sin:truth, wisdom, clean heart, whiter than snow, joy (2x), gladness, rejoice, new & right spirit, willing spirit
negative reaction:sentence, judgment, crush bones, hide face, cast away from presence, take away holy spirit
positive reaction:mercy, blot out, wash, cleanse, restore, sustain
Lesson II: Hebrews 5.5-10 [NRSV]
[5] So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the one who said to him,
“You are my Son,
today I have begotten you”;
[6] as he says also in another place,
“You are a priest forever,
according to the order of Melchizedek.”
[7] In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. [8] Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; [9] and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, [10] having been designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
5.5-6 Christ appointed high priest (Melchizedekian) by God A
5.7 Jesus’ prayers heard because of his obedient B
5.8-9 Jesus learned obedience thru suffering and saved those who obeyed him B’
5.10 having been made a Melichizedekian high priest A’
Comments & Questions:
Melchizedek: A somewhat mysterious figure in the Bible, appearing only in Gen 14, Ps 110, Heb 5, and Heb 7. His only actual concrete appearance was in Gen 14.17-20 in which as “king . . . of Salem” and “priest of God Most High” he blessed Abram. Salem is roughly equivalent to Jerusalem (Salem of the Jebusites); and El Elyon is a Canaanite god, here conflated with Abram’s God. Ie, the “order of Melchizedek” antedates the Levitical priesthood and is of Gentile origin, though through Abram (not Abraham yet).
Note the place of “obedience”: Jesus was heard because of his obedience and thus saved those who obeyed him. What does this mean? Justification by grace through obedience?
Unpack the chiasm. What is it saying about Jesus’ priesthood? Why is obedience embedded within Jesus election as a priest? What does this have to do with us?
Gospel: John 12.20-33 [NRSV]
[20] Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. [21] They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” [22] Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. [23] Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. [24] Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. [25] Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. [26] Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.
[27] “Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say – ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. [28] Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” [29] The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” [30] Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. [31] Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. [32] And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” [33] He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.
3.14-22 intro: Greeks talk to Philip who talks to Andrew with whom he goes to see Jesus
3.23-33 Jesus answers them
3.23 “Hour” for Son of Man’s glorification has come
3.24-27 backwardness of logic in this: must lose to win
3.28-30 Theophany
3.28a Jesus: “Father, glorify your name”
3.28b Voice: “Done and will do it again”
3.29 Crowd: interprets theophany as thunder or angel
3.30 Jesus: this voice is for you, not for me (in Jn, Jesus already knows all this stuff)
3.31-32 What this coming ‘hour” will accomplish: drive out ruler of world and draw all to Jesus
3.33 Conclusion: Jesus said this to indicate the nature of his death
Comments and Questions:
12.20 “festival” ie, Passover. This passage occurs in Jerusalem after Palm Sunday and before Good Friday. Both the LBW and RCL place it on Tuesday. (Jn 12.20-36)
Did the Greeks ever get to see Jesus? Who was the “them” in 12.23a? How was Jesus response to their indirect request directed at the Greeks? Note that the only other non-pronoun mention of non-disciples was in 12.29 “the crowd”.
In the NRSV, 12.20-26 are a paragraph and 12.27-36a are another. How would you paragraph this chapter?
What does the request of “some Greeks” have to do with Jesus’ talk of his death?
Is there a connection between 12.24b “if (a single grain of wheat) dies, it bears much fruit” and 12.32 “when I am lifted up from the earth, (I) will draw all people to myself”?
12.25 “hate” μισων This can mean “love less”, but usually means “hate”, “detest”, “abhor”. In this case, this meaning is the same: if you regard your temporal life as more important than your eternal life, you will lose both.
12.28 “voice” φωνη “sound”, “voice”, “discourse”, “language” Which is it here? What / who is the voice? Father? Thunder? Angel? Is this voice connected to Jesus’ baptism &/o transfiguration? Note: John doesn’t have an explicit baptism or transfiguration. The John the Baptist incident in Jn 1.29-34 has a voice from heaven, but no baptism; and this episode is as close to a transfiguration as John gets. Kurt Aland’s Synopsis of the Four Gospels (UBS 1982) is useful: p16§18 (baptism), p153§161 (Transfiguration), and p271§302 (this passage).
12.30 Why did the voice “come for (the crowd’s) sake, not for (Jesus’)”?
12.33 What is the specific “kind of death” Jesus was to die? Martyrdom? Crucifixion? Salvific? Christus Victor?
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Copyright © 2004 by Richard M Burgess latest revision: December 31, 2004