June 17th, 2023

This Sunday is the Third Sunday after Pentecost, and for the last two of these writings, the focus has been on the majority of what is known as chapter thirteen of the Gospel according to Matthew. What follows now are the final few verses of that chapter (in a somewhat-literal translation; verses 53-58):

And it happened, when he ended, the Jesus, the parables, these, he removed from there. And coming into the native town of him, he was teaching them in the synagogue of them, so as to be astounded, them, and to say: “From where to this man, the wisdom, this, and the powerful deeds? This is the one of the carpenter, son, is he not? The mother of him, called Mary, and the brothers of him, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas, are they not? And the sisters of him, all with us they are, are they not? Therefore, from where to this man, these things, all?” And they were scandalized in him.
Now the Jesus said to them: “A prophet is not un-honored, except in the native town and in the house of him, is he not?” And not he did there powerful deeds, many, because of the unbelief of them.

It is interesting, first of all, that the description of the content of the sermon is described in one word, that of ‘parables’. It was previously mentioned that there were seven parables, and these seven parables are in the middle of five sermons. It seems that there are odd numbers of things so that there may be an important center, along with an important middle and ending.

What may be helpful at this point in time is to see the different reactions after Jesus ‘ended’ each of the five sermons that are given in this gospel account. At the end of the first one, the crowds were ‘astounded’ at his teaching (7:28). At the end of the second one, it is the same as the one above, that he ‘removed’ from there (11:1), to teach and proclaim in their cities. At the end of this sermon, the third one, he ‘removed’ from there, but he came to his native town, and they were ‘astounded’, the same word as after the first sermon (13:53-4). At the end of the next one, the fourth one, he ‘removed’ from there again (19:1). At the end of the fifth and last one, it is similar in structure but it specifically states that he ended ALL these words. Then he tells his disciples that basically he is going to be crucified (26:2). What is interesting is that, before the final sermon, there is another occurrence of the crowds being ‘astounded’, when Jesus gives an answer to the Sadducees which makes them see their mistakes (22:33).

Very much like last week, the occurrences of the significant words will be placed into a summary with the numbers of the sermons. Hopefully what follows is helpful:

1 ENDED … CROWDS ASTOUNDED
2 ENDED … REMOVED
3 ENDED … REMOVED … NATIVE TOWN ASTOUNDED
4 ENDED … REMOVED
CROWDS ASTOUNDED 5 ENDED ALL(!) … CRUCIFIED
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Perhaps it is not surprising that a structure much like last week is seen, one with a significant beginning, middle, and end. This is not to say that a structure was imposed upon the reality of what happened. But there certainly was a ‘structure’ to the life of Jesus. And there may be a structure in the gospel account that is not found in the other gospel accounts because that account is connected to the living creature of a man. And, at the very end, there is certainly an importance to that very special man being crucified.