Blog Archives

January 28th, 2023

1/28/2023

This Sunday is the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany, and it starts the look at the first sermon of Jesus according to the perspective of this gospel account, what is known as the Sermon on the Mount [Matthew 5:1-12]. Last Sunday’s text gave an extensive introduction to that sermon, and it may be helpful to go over that again. (It also was the text for last Sunday, the text between the temptation of Jesus, that what was covered in the previous weeks with this writing, and that which is this week.)

Here is Matthew 4:12-25, in a somewhat-literal translation (and it only contains one historical present; can you spot it?):

Now hearing that John was delivered up, he [Jesus] withdrew into the Galilee. And having left the Nazareth, coming, he settled into Capernaum, the ‘beside-the-sea’, in districts of Zebulon and Naphthali, in order that might be fulfilled the spoken through Isaiah, the prophet, saying: ‘Land of Zebulon and land of Naphthali, way of sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations, the people, the ones sitting in darkness, saw a great light, and to the ones sitting in a region and shadow of death, light sprang up to them.
From then, the Jesus began to proclaim and to say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has come near.’

Now walking beside the sea of the Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, the one called Peter, and Andrew, the brother of him, throwing a net into the sea, for they were fishers. And he says to them, ‘Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ Now, they, immediately, leaving the nets, followed him. And going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James, the one of Zebedee and John, the brother of him, in the boat with Zebedee, the father of them, mending the nets of them, and he called them. Now, they, immediately, leaving the boat and the father of them, followed him.

And he went around the whole Galilee, teaching in the synagogues of them and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing all disease and all weakness in the people. And went the report of him into all the Syria, and they brought to him all the ill, having various diseases and suffering torments, demon-possessed and lunatics and paralytics, and he healed them. And followed him, many crowds, from the Galilee and Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and beyond the Jordan.

There is obviously a lot within the above text. And there are some small hints within that text that not all the information has equal weight. Something important is ahead of Jesus. A couple of times the above paragraphs begin with ‘Now’. And the last paragraph begins with ‘And’.

There is a lot with that second, very short paragraph. That paragraph starts with a very rare beginning, ‘From then….’ Within this short paragraph is the only time that the name Jesus is mentioned within this section, when it comes to the most reliable manuscripts. The message that Jesus gives within this paragraph is not unique; it is the same one as John the Baptizer (see Matthew 3:2). But this is the message that Jesus BEGAN to speak. He will be speaking a lot more in just a few verses. And the very next time the phrase, ‘From then’ is used, there will be some important, additional information (see Matthew 16:21).

Perhaps you found the only historical present within the above text, in the following paragraph. Jesus SAYS to Simon and Andrew to follow him. And that is what a man does. But things are significantly different when it comes to Jesus. That will be seen as we continue with the text.

0 Comments

January 21st, 2023

1/21/2023

0 Comments

This Sunday, the Third Sunday after the Epiphany, starts with the Gospel text after the temptation of Jesus [Matthew 4:12-25], and for several weeks the Gospel text follows after that one, one after the other, until we get to the second-last Sunday in Epiphany. And the length of the Epiphany season is determined by the date of Easter.

We are also progressing through the Gospel according to Matthew, and we are almost that far. We have been slowing down to look at the historical presents in this account, since they are significantly different in each of the four gospel accounts. And this time we are about to look at all the historical presents in this temptation account.

Here is the full temptation text (Matthew 4:1-11), usually read on the First Sunday in Lent, in a somewhat-literal translation (and some of it was translated last week as well). To help with seeing the significant number of historical presents within such a large text, their English verb has been put in bold print below:

Then Jesus was led up into the wilderness by the spirit to be tempted by the devil. And, having fasted days forty and nights forty, afterward, he hungered. And, approaching, the tempting one, he said to him, “If son you are of the God, say in order that these the stones may become loaves.”

So he, answering, said, “It has been written, ‘Not on bread alone the man shall live, but on the contrary, on every word proceeding through the mouth of God.’”

Then he takes him, the devil, into the holy city, and he stood him upon the wing of the temple, and he says to him, “If son you are of the God, throw yourself down, for it has been written, ‘To the angels of him he will give command concerning you, and on hands they will carry you, so that you do not strike against a stone the foot of you.’”
He said to him, Jesus: “Again, it has been written, ‘Not you shall overtempt Lord the God of you.’”

Again, he takes him, the devil, into a mountain, high, exceedingly, and he shows to him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, and he said to him, “These things to you, all I will give, if, falling, you will worship me.”

Then he says to him, Jesus: “Go, Satan, for it has been written, ‘Lord your God, you shall worship, and to him only you shall serve.’” Then he leaves him, the devil, and, behold, angels approached and ministered to him.

In Hebrew literature the middle item is often the most important, and this may be the reason that the temptations are in a different order in the Gospel according to Luke. But there is a significant difference in the text above which points to the importance of the last temptation.

Within these temptations, there is a pair of ‘takes’ verbs, and there is also a pair of ‘says’ verbs, but there is a difference in who says them. The first ‘says’ is the devil talking. The next ‘says’ is Jesus talking. And it is significant to note that, within the most reliable manuscripts, the only time the devil’s words are in the historical present is when they repeat what the word of God says, a bible verse from the Old Testament (specifically Psalm 91:11-12).

In some other manuscripts there are more historical presents. And it is not surprising to see that some other verbs are highlighted in that way. But the important ones point to the LORD who has this great throne with a living creature of a man. And it is not surprising to see that, during the temptations, the last historical present is Jesus talking.
The only other verb in the historical present within this section is the verb ‘to show’. This is the last temptation, and this is the devil doing the verb, and it also does fit with the emphasis with this gospel account of the living creature of the man. The devil shows Jesus the kingdoms of the world, and kingdoms come from kings. (There are even kingdoms that people think that they have within a democratic society.)

There is One, though, who is truly THE KING. And to show his kingship, his son had a crown of thorns on his cross for us.

0 Comments

January 14th, 2023

1/14/2023

0 Comments

This Sunday is the Second Sunday after the Epiphany, and the focus continues to be on manifestation of Jesus, and no matter what year of the three-year series, this Sunday is always dedicated to a manifestation or revelation of Jesus from the perspective of the Gospel according to John. It is always interesting to look at this gospel account that is so significantly different from the other three accounts. The eagle certainly has a different perspective from those things that remain on the ground.

Most recently though, we have been looking at the progression that has been occurring in the Gospel according to Matthew, and during these last weeks we have been looking at the historical presents in that account. And it is certainly significant that these historical presents have been occurring in pairs.

So, it is written twice (2:13 & 19) that an angel of the Lord APPEARS, instead of a text that would say he appeared, the simple past tense. It is also written (3:1) that John the Baptizer ARRIVES, not that he arrived. And a little while later (3:13) is also written that Jesus ARRIVES. And at this special arrival, Jesus was baptized.

What is the next pair? At the baptism of Jesus, at first John wants to be baptized by Jesus. But Jesus said that he should allow it so that they could fulfill all righteousness (3:15). The word ‘allow’ in the words of Jesus is in the form of a command. But then the text says this, that John then ALLOWS Jesus. That is the next historical present.

This verb, ‘to allow’, appears again in the historical present, but it is not the next historical present. In between are the historical presents that are within the temptation of Jesus. At the end of the three temptations of Jesus that are described in the text (he could have undergone many more than just these three), there is the last historical present of this section. The devil LEAVES Jesus (4:11).

It may be difficult to picture the action of allowing and leaving as the same word. Perhaps it may be helpful to think of the word in both situations as a type of RELEASE. John releases Jesus from his request of Jesus to baptize him. And the devil releases Jesus from his temptations.

Below is a somewhat-literal translation of the texts, along with their contexts, of these next two occurrences (3:13-17 & 4:10-11):

Then he arrives, Jesus, from the Galilee, upon the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. So John forbade him saying, “I myself have a need by you to be baptized, and you yourself are coming to me?” So, answering, the Jesus said to him, “Allow now; for thus fitting it is to us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allows him. So having been baptized, Jesus immediately went up from the water; and, behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God coming down as a dove, coming upon him; and, behold, a voice out of the heavens saying, “This is the son of me, the beloved, in whom I was well pleased.”

Then Jesus says to him, “Go away, Satan, for it has been written: Lord, your God, you shall worship, and him only, you shall serve.” Then he leaves him, the devil, and, behold, angels approached and ministered to him.

You may have seen another historical present at the beginning of the second text. There are others within that account, as was mentioned above, and we will look at that one and the rest of those in that special event next time, God willing.

0 Comments

January 7th, 2023

1/7/2023

0 Comments

This Sunday is the First Sunday after the Epiphany, and the focus is on Jesus’ baptism, the beginning of his public ministry. The Gospel text is from the third chapter of the Gospel according to Matthew [verses 13-17], and that text follows the text that was brought up last week as we continued our ‘walk’ through the Gospel according to Matthew.

Last week was our first look at the very first historical present in that gospel account, an angel of the Lord appearing to Joseph in a dream. To give just a brief review of the term ‘historical present’, one would expect that the text says that an angel of the Lord APPEARED to Joseph, but, instead, the text says that an angel of the Lord APPEARS to Joseph. It is a thing that captures the attention of the reader or listener. And it is unfortunate that, in almost all of the translations, when the historical present occurs, it is not pointed out in the text. Only the New American Standard translation has an asterisk to indicate such a thing—but the translation is still in the past.

The first historical presents in the four gospel accounts are all important, and they are all very different as well. Although it may be helpful to see how different these other verbs are, it may be helpful, first of all, to see the bigger context of the verb ‘to appear’.
It was pointed out last week that this historical present with the verb ‘appear’ appeared twice in the text. Is this important? This is most certainly true. It is true because the next time the historical present appears, the same word appears two times again. And this will happen yet a third time. For such a noticeable pattern, there is no way that such a thing could be a coincidence.

A bigger context could be given. But, for now, we will look at the next two occurrences of the historical present in the Gospel according to Matthew. The two significant people within the text of the baptism of Jesus are 1) Jesus (of course) and 2) John the Baptist. And both of these people are connected very closely to the second set of historical presents within this gospel account.

Below is a somewhat-literal translation of the texts which surround these next two occurrences (2:21-3:3 & 3:13):

So, the one rising [Joseph], he took the child and the mother of him and he entered into the land of Israel. So, hearing that Archelaus reigns of Judea, instead of the father of him, Herod, he feared there to go; so being warned according to a dream, he departed into the parts of the Galilee, and coming, he dwelt into a city called Nazareth; thus was fulfilled the thing spoken through the prophets, that a Nazarene he will be called.

So, in those days, he arrives, John the Baptizer, proclaiming in the wilderness of the Judea, saying, “Repent; for it has come near, the kingdom of the heavens.” For this is the one spoken through Isaiah, the prophet, saying, “A voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, straight make the paths of him.”

Then he arrives, Jesus, from the Galilee, upon the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him.

An angel appears twice, and then a man arrives twice. What will happen next? Stay tuned. (Or you may wish to read ahead in the New American Standard translation.)

0 Comments

A Sabbath Day's Journey

January 28th, 2023

January 21st, 2023

January 14th, 2023

January 7th, 2023

Archives