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August 26th, 2023

8/26/2023

We continue on within the season of Pentecost, and we are currently at what is usually called the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost (with the Gospel reading from Matthew 16:13-20). And while I am not triskaidekaphobic—and if you are not familiar with the Greek language, you may wish to look up that word—at both churches this Sunday we are having a Christian Education emphasis instead of looking at the typical texts for this Sunday. Whatever text is the basis for the sermon this Sunday, on this website we are pushing ahead in the Gospel according to Matthew so that, hopefully, we may be able to end our study of this gospel account when the church year ends in November.

For a while we have been covering a chapter a week, but that is not the case this time. The twenty-first chapter of this gospel account is a long one, and there are parables at the end of this chapter and at the beginning of the next, so it seems to make sense to take those together.

To offer a quick review, after the first sermon of this gospel account, there were some historical presents (when a past tense verb was expected but a present tense verb is given), and they were most often connected to Jesus. But that has gradually changed as this gospel account has progressed, and now the words of others are also in the historical present.

Why the difference? It may be to show that Jesus is in the process of teaching his followers, and although he will certainly remain with his Church (see Matthew 28:20), he will be present in a not-so-obvious way. Although those who speak the Lord’s words within the Lord’s Church are still sinners, their words, when they are his words, will still ring true for all eternity.

This role of Jesus in all of this may also be seen in the change of the historical present verbs. One significant event that stands out when it comes to the use of the historical presents is the ‘mount of metamorphosis’ in chapter seventeen. Jesus has some unique historical presents at the beginning of that text. On this special mountain, Jesus ‘takes’ and ‘leads up’ (verse 1) his special disciples to that special place and has them in the company of Moses and Elijah, some very special people.

With that in mind, a connection may be made to the chapter we are looking at now, chapter twenty-one, when Jesus goes up to Mount Zion, where Jerusalem is. Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem has some historical presents that put the focus on him. But he is certainly going there in a gentle way, and the historical present verbs are all ‘to say’, with two of the three sayings incorporating a bible passage. His words come in a very gentle way, and they make the Almighty’s presence known.

Jesus is getting the attention as he travels into Jerusalem. But he is not doing it by having himself be as bright as the sun. And when he ends up doing a miracle with the fig tree, it is an extremely hidden one. Only his disciples marvel at it. And that is also the case when the miracles happen through his words today.

Words are certainly important to Jesus, and that truth within those words certainly continues. What follows is an attempt at a somewhat-literal translation of most of the twenty-first chapter of the Gospel according to Matthew [21:1-27; and if you are familiar with the Greek language, you may wish to try translating this yourself]. As in the previous chapters, the words in bold print are the historical presents.

And when they came near into Jerusalem, and they came into Bethphage, into the Mount of the Olives, then Jesus sent out two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village, the in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey, having been tied, and a colt with her; loosening, lead to me. And if anyone to you, he says anything, you will say that the Lord of them, a need, he has. Now immediately he will send out them.” Now this happened in order that it might be fulfilled, the thing having been spoken through the prophet, saying, “Tell the daughter of Zion; behold, the king of you, he is coming to you, humble and having mounted upon a donkey and upon a colt, son of a pack animal.” Now, having gone, the disciples and having done as he directed them, the Jesus. They led the donkey and the colt, and they put on them the cloaks, and he sat upon them.

Now the most crowd spread, of them, the cloaks in the way, now others were cutting branches from the trees, and they were spreading in the way. Now the crowds, the going before him, and the following, they were shouting, saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David; having been blessed, the one coming in name of Lord; hosanna in the highest.”

And having entered, he, into Jerusalem, it was shaken, all the city, saying, “Who is this?”
Now the crowds were saying, “This is the prophet, Jesus, the from Nazareth, of the Galilee.”

And he entered, Jesus, into the temple, and he threw out all the selling and buying in the temple, and the tables of the money-changers he overturned, and the seats of the selling the doves, and he says to them, “It has been written, ‘The house of me, a house of prayer, it will be called,’ now you, it, you are making, a cave of robbers.”

And they approached him, blind and lame in the temple, and he healed them. Now, having seen, the chief priests and the scribes, the marvelous things which he did, and the children, the shouting in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David”, they were incensed. And they said to him. “Do you hear what these are saying?”

Now the Jesus, he says to them, “Yes; never did you read that ‘out of mouth of infants and nursing ones you prepared praise’?” And having left them, he went out, outside the city, into Bethany, and he lodged there.

Now early, going up into the city, he hungered. And having seen a fig tree, one, by the way, he went to it, and nothing he found in it, except leaves only, and he says to it, “Never from you, fruit may happen, into the age.” And it withered, instantly, the fig tree.
And, having seen, the disciples marveled, saying, “How instantly it was withered, the fig tree?”

Now, having answered, the Jesus said to them, “Amen, I am saying to you, if you have faith and not doubt, not only the, of the fig tree, you will do, but on the contrary, also if, to the mountain, this, you say, ‘Be taken and be thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. And all things, whatever you ask, in the prayer, believing, you will receive.”

And having come, he, into the temple, they approached him, teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people, saying, “In what authority, these things, you do? And who, to you, gave the authority, this?”

Now having answered, the Jesus, he said to them, “I will question you, I also, a word, one, which, if you tell me, I also you will tell in what authority, these things, I do. The baptism of the John, from where was it? From heaven or from men?”

Now they dialogued in themselves saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Because of what, therefore, not you believed him?’ Now if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the crowd, for all as a prophet, they have, the John.”

And having answered the Jesus, they said, “Not we know.”

He himself said to them, “Neither I myself am saying to you, in what authority these things I do.”

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August 19th, 2023

8/19/2023

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The season of Pentecost continues, and we are currently at what is often called the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost. The Gospel Reading for this Sunday skips ahead to what is usually called the fifteenth chapter of the Gospel according to Matthew [15:21-28], and the following week it will even jump to the sixteenth chapter. At this pace those readings will catch up quickly to where we are on this website. We are usually covering a chapter a week, but that will change soon enough since the chapter lengths become much longer near the end of the work.

What follows is a somewhat-literal translation of the twentieth chapter of the Gospel according to Matthew. As in the previous chapters, the words in bold print are the historical presents. To the trained ear, when spoken, they would stand out with some emphasis. A past tense verb is expected, but the verb is in the present.

As in previous chapters, we see other people than Jesus saying these words that come into the present. That is not unlike the pastor saying ‘I forgive you all your sins…’ on Sunday morning. (Hopefully he is not doing that in a way that focuses on himself.) You may wish to look at other translations and a study bible to look at this chapter in more detail.

“For like is the kingdom of the heavens to a man, a house-despot, who went out early morning to hire workers into the vineyard of him. Now having been symphonic with the workers out of a denarius, the day, he sent out them into the vineyard of him. And having gone out about third hour, he saw others standing in the marketplace, idle. And to those he said, ‘Go out also, you, into the vineyard, and whatever is righteous, I will give to you.’ Now they went out, again.

Now, having gone out about sixth and ninth hour, he did likewise. Now about the eleventh, having gone out, he found others, standing, and he says to them, ‘Why here, you stand, all the day, idle?” They say to him, ‘Because no one, us, hired.’ He says to them, ‘Go out also, you, into the vineyard.’

Now evening, having happened, he says, the lord of the vineyard, to the manager of him, ‘Call the workers and pay the wage, having begun from the last until the first.’ And having come, the ones about the eleventh hour, they received each a denarius. And having come, the first, they supposed that more they will receive. And they received, the each, a denarius, also, they. Now having received, they were grumbling against the house-despot, saying, ‘These, the last, one hour they did, and equal to us, them, you made, the ones having borne the burden of the day and the heat.’

Now the one, having answered one of them, he said: Comrade, not I am treating unrighteously you; of a denarius you did symphonize with me, did you not? Take the thing of you and go; now I want to this, the last man, to give, as also to you; or it is lawful to me, what I want to do in the things of mine, is it not? Or the eye of you, evil it is, because I am myself good? Thus they will be, the last one, first, and the first, last.

And going up, the Jesus, into Jerusalem, he took along the twelve disciples, according to their own, and in the way he said to them, “Behold, we are going up into Jerusalem, and the Son of the Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and they will deliver him over to the nations, into to mock and to scourge and to crucify, and in the third day, he will be raised.”

Then she approached him, the mother of the sons of Zebedee, with the sons of her, worshipping and asking something from him. Now he said to her, “What do you want?”
She says to him, “Say that they may sit, these, the two sons of me, one of right of you, and one of left of you, in the kingdom of you.”

Now, having answered, the Jesus said, “Not you know what you ask. Can you, to drink, the cup which I myself am about to drink?”

They say to him, “We can.”

He says to them, “On the one hand, the cup of me you will drink, on the other hand, to sit of right of me and of left, not is mine, this, to give, but on the contrary, for whom it has been prepared by the Father of me.” And having heard, the ten were incensed about the two brothers. Now the Jesus, having called forward them, he said, “You know that the rulers of the nations lord it over them, and the great ones exercise authority over them. Not thus it will be with you; but on the contrary, whoever wants with you, great, to become, he will be your servant, and whoever wants with you to be first, he will be your slave. As the Son of the Man, not, he came to be served, but on the contrary, to serve and to give the life of him a ransom instead of many.”

And going out, they, from Jericho, it followed him, a crowd, great. And behold, two blind men, sitting by the road, having heard that Jesus is passing by, they cried out, saying, “Pity us, Lord, Son of David.” Now the crowd rebuked them that they should be silent; now the more they cried out, saying, “Pity us, Lord, Son of David.”

And standing, the Jesus called them, and he said, “What you want I should do for you?”
They say to him, “Lord, that they may be opened, the eyes of us.” Now having been inwardly moved, the Jesus touched the eyes of them, and immediately they saw again, and they followed him.

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August 12th, 2023

8/12/2023

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We continue on within the season of Pentecost, and this Sunday is typically called the Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost. The Gospel Reading for this Sunday is again from what is typically called the fourteenth chapter of the Gospel according to Matthew [14:22-33], and it immediately follows what was last week’s text. For this website, last week’s writings went over what was typically called the eighteenth chapter of the Gospel according to Matthew, and so, since this next section that immediately follows is the start of a non-sermon section, it may be helpful to see a bigger picture to what is involved in this gospel account.

The whole of the Gospel according to Matthew is said to have five sermons, and the fourth one is said to be chapter eighteen. The last ‘intermission’ between sermons (and being composed of chapters fourteen through seventeen) had a distinctive ‘from then’ [16:21], and that began the final section of this gospel account, that of the long journey of Jesus to the cross. So, if that journey has already been made clear, what does this next non-sermon section accomplish? In particular, what is Jesus doing before his last sermon?

Various verbs have been ‘highlighted’ through the use of the historical present (when one is expecting a past-tense verb, but it appears in the present), and by far the most common word that has been used is the verb ‘to say’. And in the earlier chapters, after the first sermon, it is usually Jesus who is doing that verb. After the middle sermon, other people are connected to that verb, until we have the so-called ‘transfiguration’, where Jesus does the verbs in the historical present to take up the disciples to a very special place and time. Now we are back to others doing the verbs, and this is happening much more frequently.

What follows, therefore, is a somewhat-literal translation of the nineteenth chapter of the Gospel according to Matthew. The words in bold print are the historical presents. You may wish to note the small number of times that Jesus is the one speaking the historical present. But when he does speak, he does so with authority. Below Jesus is speaking the historical present only when he speaks of the authority of Moses—the guy with which he had the recent transfiguration event! Jesus is gradually lessening his role as speaker, but he is getting closer to his role as savior. And he is doing that with authority. Here, then, is chapter nineteen [verses 1-30]:

And it happened when he ended, the Jesus, the words, these, he departed from the Galilee, and he came into the borders of the Judea, across the Jordan. And they followed him, crowds, many, and he healed them there. And they approached him, Pharisees, tempting him and saying, “If it is lawful a man to release the wife of him for every case?”

Now he, answering, said, “You did read that the one creating from beginning, male and female, he made them, did you not?” And he said, “For the sake of this, he will leave, a man, the father and the mother, and he will join to the wife of him, and they will be, the two, into flesh, one. So no longer they are two, but on the contrary, flesh, one. Therefore, what the God yoked together, a man not let separate.”

They say to him, ‘Therefore, why Moses did command to give a book of o divorce certificate and to release her?’

He says to them, “Moses, toward the hardheartedness of you, he allowed you to release the wives of you; now from beginning, not it has been so. Now I am saying to you that whoever releases the wife of him, not for fornication, and he marries another, he commits adultery.

They say to him, the disciples of him, “If so is the case of the man with the wife, not it is better to marry.”

Now he said to them, “Not all comprehend the word, this, but on the contrary, to whom it has been given. For there are eunuchs who, from womb of a mother, they were born so, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by the men, and there are eunuchs who made eunuchs themselves because of the kingdom of the heavens. The one being able to receive, let him receive.”

Then they were brought to him, children, that the hands he might place upon them and pray. Now the disciples rebuked them. Now the Jesus said, “Allow the children, and not prevent them to come to me; for of such is the kingdom of the heavens.” And placing upon the hands, them, he went from there.

And, behold, one approaching him said, “Teacher, who good thing should I do that I may have life eternal?”

Now he said to him, “Why me, you question about the good? One is the good; now if you want into the life to enter, keep the commandments.”

He says to him, “Which?”

Now the Jesus said, “The not you will kill; Not you will commit adultery, not you will steal, not you will bear false witness, honor the father and the mother, and you will love the neighbor of you as yourself.”

He says to him, the young man. “All these things I have guarded. What still do I lack?”
He said to him, the Jesus, “If you want, perfect to be, go, sell of you the possessions and give to poor, and you will have treasure in heavens, and come, follow me.” Now, hearing, the young man, the word, he went away, grieving, for he was having properties, many.

Now the Jesus said to the disciples of him, “Amen, I am saying to you that a rich man, with difficulty will enter into the kingdom of the heavens. Now, again, I am saying to you, easier it is a camel through an eye of a needle to enter, than a rich man to enter into the kingdom of the God.”

Now, hearing, the disciples were astounded greatly saying, “Who then is able to be saved?”

Now, looking upon, the Jesus, he said to them, “With men, this impossible is, now with God, all things, possible.”

Then, answering, the Peter said to him, “Behold, we, ourselves have left all and followed you; what then will be to us?”

Now the Jesus said to them, “Amen, I am saying to you that you, the ones having followed me, in the regeneration, when he sits, the Son of the Man, upon a throne of glory of him, you will sit, also, yourselves, on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of the Israel. And all who left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for the sake of the name of me, a hundredfold he will receive and life, eternal, he will inherit. Now many will be first, last, and last, first.”

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August 5th, 2023

8/5/2023

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This Sunday is typically called the Tenth Sunday after Pentecost, and the Gospel Reading for this Sunday is from what is typically called the fourteenth chapter of the Gospel according to Matthew [14:13-21]. With the writings you have found on this website, we are in the same gospel account, but we are at a slightly different pace. This week we are looking at what is usually called the eighteenth chapter of the Gospel according to Matthew.

This chapter is sometimes considered to be the fourth of five sermons within this gospel account, and some may wish to connect this sermon to the fourth book of the Old Testament, the book of Numbers. The title of ‘Numbers’ may turn some people off, simply because they did not like mathematics in school. The Hebrew title of ‘In the wilderness’ was taken from some of the first words of the text, and that does not make it very popular either. But this is a book that has some significant interactions between Israel and others. This tracks the location of the people of Israel from Mount Sinai to a spot near The Promised Land, so that the children of Israel will be able to enter sometime soon. During this time, Moses and Joshua had to deal with both internal and external problems, those problems within Israel and those problems with the other nations around Israel.

That is much the same issue in this fourth sermon within this gospel account. By the way this sermon begins, it is to have the reader/listener become as a child. That is an internal issue and deals with the issue of a person relating to the Maker of heaven and earth, the One who puts those inward parts of a person together. Then the issue becomes more external and has to do with others, who also could called little ones, and that should be no surprise. We could admit that we are all little ones after being humbled by the Lord’s Law.

What follows is an attempt at a somewhat-literal translation of this eighteenth chapter (the words in bold print are historical presents and give a special emphasis; you may wish to compare translations with some of these texts and to look at what some study bibles have to say regarding some of Jesus’ very special words):

In that, the hour, they approached, the disciples, the Jesus, saying, “Who so greater, he is, in the kingdom of the heavens?”

And calling to a child, he stood him in midst of them, and he said, “Amen, I am saying to you, if not you turn and you become as the children, certainly not you will enter into the kingdom of the heavens. Therefore, whoever will humble himself as the child, this, this is the greater in the kingdom of the heavens; and whoever receives one child, such, upon the name of me, me he receives.”

“Now whoever scandalizes one of the little ones, these, the believing into me, it is better for him that it would be hung, a millstone, a donkey’s, around the neck of him, and he be drowned in the open sea of the sea. Woe to the world for the scandals; for a necessity to come, the scandals, but woe to the man through whom the scandal comes. Now if the hand of you or the foot of you scandalizes you, cut off it, and throw from you; good for you, it is, to enter into the life, maimed or lame, than two hands or two feet, having, to be thrown into the fire, the eternal. And if the eye of you scandalizes you, pluck out it, and throw from you; good for you, it is, one-eyed, into the life, to enter, than two eyes having, to be thrown into the Gehenna of the fire.”

“See, not, you despise one of the little ones, these; for I am saying to you that the angels of them in heavens, through all, they see the face of the Father of me, the One in the heavens. What to you it seems? If there happens, to a certain man, a hundred sheep, and it wanders, one of them, he will leave the ninety-nine upon the mountains and, going, he seeks the wandering, will he not? And if he happens to find it, amen, I am saying to you that he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine, the not having wandered. Thus, not it is, will, before the Father of you, the One in the heavens, that he should perish, one of the little ones, these.”

“Now if he sins against you, the brother of you, go, reprove him between you and him alone. If you, he hears, you gained the brother of you. Now if not he hears, take with you, yet one or two, that upon mouth of two witnesses or three, it may stand, every word. Now if he refuses to hear them, tell to the church; now if also the church he refuses to hear, let him be to you as the Gentile and the tax-collector. Amen, I am saying to you, what if you bind upon the earth, it will be, having been bound in heaven, and what if you loose upon the earth, it will be, having been loosed in heaven. Again amen, I am saying to you that if two are symphonic of you upon the earth, about all matter of which, if they ask, it shall happen to them from the Father of me, the One in the heavens. For where are two or three, having been assembled into the, my name, there I am in midst of them.”

Then, approaching, the Peter, he said to him, “Lord, how often he will sin into me, the brother of me, and I will forgive him, until seven times?”

He says to him, the Jesus, “Not I am saying to you until seven times, but on the contrary, until seventy times seven. On account of this it was likened, the kingdom of the heavens, to a man, a king, who wanted to settle a word with the slaves of him. Now beginning, he to settle, he was brought to him, one debtor of myriads of talents. Now, not having, he, to repay, he commanded him, the lord, to be sold, and the wife and the children and all, as much as he has, and to be repaid. Therefore, falling, the slave worshipped him saying, ‘Be patient upon me, and all I will repay to you.’ Now feeling pity, the lord of the slave, that, he released him, and the loan, he forgave him. Now going out, the slave, that, he found one of the fellow-slaves of him, who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he choked, saying, ‘Repay if something you owe.’ Therefore, falling, the fellow-slave of him pleaded him saying, ‘Be patient upon me, and I will repay to you.’ Now he, not, he wanted, but on the contrary, going away, he threw him into prison until he repays the thing being owed. Therefore, seeing, the fellow-slaves of him, the things having happened, they were grieved greatly, and, coming, they made clear to the lord of them all the things having happened. Then, calling near, him, the lord of him, he says to him, ‘Slave, evil, all the debt, that, I forgave you, since you pleaded me. It was necessary also you, to have mercy on the fellow-slave of you, as I also, on you had mercy, was it not?’ And being angry, the lord of him, he gave over, him, to the tormentors until which he repays all the thing being owed. Thus also, the Father of me, the heavenly, he will do to you, if not you forgive, each one, the brother of him, from the hearts of you.”

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