April 1st, 2023

This Sunday is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week, and this Sunday is also called the Sunday of the Passion. And the Gospel text usually read this Sunday is by far the longest of the year, Matthew 26:1 to Matthew 27:66. That text has one hundred and thirty-six verses. Last week, with the writing for a “A Sabbath Day’s Journey,” that was a long one as well, and Matthew 8:1 to Matthew 9:13 was translated, but that text was only a mere forty-seven verses. And this week will be much shorter.

Previously, all the historical presents within the last two chapters of this gospel account were ‘he says’. But at the beginning of Matthew 9:14, there is a different historical present. Here is that verse and the rest of the text (9:14-17, in a somewhat-literal translation) which relates to that very interesting occurrence:

Then they approach him, the disciples of John, saying, “Why we and the Pharisees fast much, now the disciples of you not fast?” And he said to them, Jesus, “Not can the sons of the bridegroom to mourn, so long as with them is the bridegroom? Now they will come, days, when it is taken away from them, the bridegroom, and then they will fast. Now no one throws upon a patch, cloth, of unfulled, on an old garment; for it takes away, the fullness of it, from the garment, and a worse schism it becomes. Neither they throw wine, new, into wineskins, old; now if they do, they are burst, the wineskins, and the wine pours out, and the wineskins are destroyed. But on the contrary, they throw wine, young, into wineskins, new, and both are preserved.

A lot of people have been approaching Jesus. The verb can also be broken up into two words, ‘coming toward’. In Matthew 8:2, a leper not only comes toward him but worships him, and he wants Jesus to heal him. Just a little later than that, in verse 5, a centurion comes toward him and also implores him to heal his ‘boy’ (verse 6). In verse 19 of that same chapter, one scribe comes toward him and says that he will follow him wherever he goes. Then, after the above text, one ruler comes toward Jesus, and he also worships him, and he would like his dead daughter to be raised (9:18). And while Jesus is dealing with that issue, a woman who wants to be healed comes toward him as well (9:20f). And later in the chapter, two blind men come toward Jesus, and they also want to be healed (9:27f).

Matthew 9:14 is the first time that the word is given in the historical present. And the rest of the historical presents in this section of the gospel account will go back to using ‘he says’ (although they are not all connected to Jesus saying the words).

There have been a lot of people coming and going—but especially coming. Previously, though, this action of coming toward or approaching has not been emphasized with a historical present. Why now?

First of all, it may be helpful to remember that there were no chapter and verse divisions within the original text. The reader (and listener) had to rely on grammatical clues to hear a division and ascertain a new direction in the text.

What is this new direction? Before this, the historical presents in the last two chapters were not only ‘he says’, but they are were only Jesus talking. Now this changes. Now our attention turns toward the disciples of John, and they want to know why Jesus’ disciples do not fast. And Jesus references a time when the bridegroom will not longer be with them. Our attention turns to what will happen to Jesus, due to the people who will be coming to him at the end of his life.

These ‘days’ that are mentioned in the text above are important. And these special days will be mentioned more frequently as Jesus gets closer and closer to them. There happen to be two important phrases within this gospel account which also use the word ‘then’. The phrase ‘from then’ appears in Matthew 4:16 and Matthew 16:21. The latter verse starts to get the disciples ready for his death and resurrection. And the historical present of ‘coming toward’ starts to get people ready to hear that Jesus will be killed and, on the third day, be raised.

We do not want to get too far ahead of ourselves though. But these are some hints as to what is ahead, and hearing that in advance reminds us that this is all part of the plan. And that plan is certainly a good one, one far better than we could ever imagine.​