Exploring the Scriptures Together
Matthew 20:17-28, Mark 10:32-45, and Luke 18:31-34 We have some chronological problems with today’s setting. From yesterday’s reading, John 11:54 puts Jesus in a city called Ephraim; scholars put that city some 15 miles north or northwest from Jerusalem. So what is the mother of James and John doing this far south from Capernaum (some …
Continue reading “April 29 / Matt. 20:17-28, Mark 10:32-45, Luke 18:31-34”
John 11:38-57 Many of the Jews therefore … believed in Him, but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. (vv. 45a,46) In my posts two days ago my comments from 2019 had included a discussion of who “the Jews” were. All along I’ve suggested that when John refers …
John 11:17-37 So now I can’t see the name “Lazarus” without thinking about John S.’s argument that Lazarus may have written the Gospel of John. Further support for that argument has to do with the amount of time that John’s Gospel has Jesus in Judea and the fact that Lazarus was from Bethany, only two …
John 11:1-16 I’ve always seen Jesus’ raising of Lazarus as the beginning of the end. After this miracle we’ll only have a few more days’ readings before Palm Sunday. Geography: Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” (v. 7) Yesterday we had Jesus in Jerusalem arguing with the …
John 10:22-42 I’ve never understood this verse: Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’?” (v. 34) So I went back and read Psalm 82; its verse 6 contains the line that Jesus is quoting. After an opening verse, God is the One speaking in this entire Psalm. He is looking …
Matthew 20:1-16 The owner of the vineyard speaking: Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? (v. 15) I’m not sure why this verse struck me, but I made it personal, as if I were the person asking the question. And immediately I came up with the answer, “No!”. …
Luke 18:18-30 The “rich, young ruler”, the finale! Comparing the three accounts… First, Matthew and Mark each list six “commandments”, but for each of them their sixth is not one of the original Mt. Sinai commandments. Matthew has …love your neighbor as yourself (v. 19), while Mark’s sixth is “Do not defraud…” (v. 19). Neither …
Mark 10:17-31 The rich, young ruler: Act II, Scene 2. One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor… (v. 21b) Again, as Debbie pointed out yesterday and two years ago, it seems like the young man’s wealth was keeping him from seeking Jesus more completely. But Jesus was …
Matthew 19:16-30 Back to the “rich, young ruler” again… This incident of a young man coming to Jesus, asking about eternal life appears in each of the Synoptic Gospels, so we will be reading different accounts of this incident today and the next two days. Almost every time I read this story I find myself …
Mark 10:1-16 and Luke 18:15-17 I noticed something different in Mark’s coverage of divorce in today’s reading compared to Matthew’s in yesterday’s reading. In Mark’s gospel, Jesus allows for the wife to initiate the divorce: Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her; and if she herself divorces her husband and …