{"id":4317,"date":"2018-10-15T15:02:32","date_gmt":"2018-10-15T15:02:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/batkol.info\/?p=4317"},"modified":"2018-10-15T15:02:32","modified_gmt":"2018-10-15T15:02:32","slug":"reflections-on-the-readings-for-the-29th-sunday-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/2018\/10\/15\/reflections-on-the-readings-for-the-29th-sunday-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"REFLECTIONS ON THE READINGS FOR THE 29th SUNDAY OF THE YEAR"},"content":{"rendered":"
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REFLECTIONS ON THE READINGS FOR THE 29th SUNDAY OF THE YEAR,<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a021st October 2018\u00a0 \u00a0CYCLE B<\/strong><\/p>\n

Isaiah 53:10-11;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Psalm 32:4-5, 18-20, 22;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Hebrews 4:14-16;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mark 10:35-45<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\"\"The first reading today is the final part of the fourth Servant Song in Isaiah.\u00a0 It speaks of the servant\u2019s suffering and the reaction of his contemporaries towards him, leading to the concluding verse of this whole section, words of thanksgiving for God\u2019s wonderful deliverance of God\u2019s faithful servant from the power of death.\u00a0 The servant is likened to an offering for sin.\u00a0 What is striking here is the use of the root of the Hebrew word for \u2018righteous\u2019, (\u2018tzadak\u2019), used at the beginning of Isaiah as a requirement of human behaviour, whereas from chapter 40 onwards, it has been descriptive of God\u2019s action.\u00a0 Here the two are combined:\u00a0 God\u2019s righteousness is now to be a characteristic of the whole community.\u00a0 This whole section needs to be seen as a dramatic reversal of the state of affairs described at the beginning of Isaiah, in 1:4, where the people were \u201claden with iniquity\u201d;\u00a0 now the servant will \u201cbear their iniquities\u201d.\u00a0 It is understandable that the writers of the New Testament should see these verses as playing a prominent part in Christian expressions of their faith, applying the sufferings of the servant to Jesus, and understanding his sufferings as effective for all human sin.\u00a0 However, we must remember that the words translated \u201cinfirmities\u201d and \u201cdiseases\u201d were used originally to express the broken state of the nation after the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BCE.\u00a0 At one level the servant was himself the suffering community;\u00a0 at another, the figure of the servant was used of that part of the community which was being restored through God\u2019s saving power.<\/p>\n

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The theme of God\u2019s love of \u2018righteousness\u2019 is continued in the verses we read from Psalm 32 today, a psalm which calls us to praise and declare God\u2019s greatness, describing God as creator and defender of God\u2019s people, watching over those who trust in the love of the Eternal One.<\/p>\n

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The writer of Hebrews, having worked with the theme of fidelity, exemplified by Jesus and called for in his followers, now speaks of mercy. The combination of \u201cmercy\u201d and \u201cgrace\u201d is common in both the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures and should inspire us with confidence.\u00a0 The summons to approach God \u201cwith boldness\u201d calls for such confidence before God, which is exemplified in Christ\u2019s prayer.<\/p>\n

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The suffering of the servant in Isaiah is echoed in our reading from Mark, for this section has been preceded by the third prediction of the passion.\u00a0 Once again, the failure of the disciples to grasp Jesus\u2019 meaning is demonstrated; they fail to see the implications of his teaching for their own lives.\u00a0 The attitudes which Jesus demands of his disciples are based on his own life of service and his acceptance of death.\u00a0 It\u2019s significant that this incident is recorded immediately after the statement that Jesus was now going up to Jerusalem.\u00a0 No sooner is the end in sight, than the disciples begin to ask for a share in Jesus\u2019 future kingly power.\u00a0 Mark reminds his readers that Jesus is indeed going to be proclaimed king in Jerusalem, but it will involve shame and crucifixion.\u00a0 The application of this teaching to the life of Mark\u2019s own early Christian community, where the threat of persecution was a very real one, would have been clear to them.\u00a0 There may well have been church leaders there whose attitude was similar to that of James and John, seeing leadership in terms of status and privilege and who needed to be reminded that true greatness is seen in service.\u00a0 Jesus\u2019 reply speaks again of the necessity for suffering.\u00a0 The metaphor of \u201cthe cup\u201d is used in the Hebrew Scriptures of what God has in store for an individual, whether this is good (Ps 23:5) or bad (Ps 75:8).\u00a0 Water was another metaphor used of calamity in the Hebrew Bible (e.g. Ps 42:7;\u00a0 Isaiah 43:2) and the verb \u201cto be baptized\u201d was used in contemporary Greek of being flooded with calamities.\u00a0 The disciples\u2019 ready answer, \u201cWe can\u201d, shows that they do not understand what Jesus is asking them, any more than they understand the implications of their own request to \u201csit at\u201d Jesus\u2019 \u201cright and left\u201d, for there is a hint here of the account of the death of Jesus, when two robbers are crucified on his right and left \u2013 perhaps deliberate irony on Mark\u2019s part.<\/p>\n

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This week\u2019s Sunday Readings Commentary was prepared by<\/p>\n

Sr Margaret Shepherd, NDS, London, UK<\/p>\n

margaretashepherd@gmail.com<\/p>\n

[Copyright \u00a9 2018]<\/p>\n

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PLEASE NOTE: The weekly Gospel commentaries represent the research and creative thought of their authors, and are meant to stimulate deeper thinking about the meaning of the Sunday Scriptures. While they draw upon the study methods and sources employed by the Bat Kol Institute, the views and conclusions expressed in these commentaries are solely those of their authors, and do not necessarily represent the views of Bat Kol. \u00a0Questions, comments and feedback are always welcome.<\/p>\n

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Bat Kol Institute for Jewish Studies, Jerusalem<\/p>\n

1983-2018<\/p>\n

\u201cChristians Studying the Bible within its Jewish milieu, using Jewish Sources.\u201d<\/p>\n

gill@batkol.info Website: www.batkol.info<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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REFLECTIONS ON THE READINGS FOR THE 29th SUNDAY OF THE YEAR, \u00a021st October 2018\u00a0 \u00a0CYCLE B Isaiah 53:10-11;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Psalm 32:4-5, 18-20, 22;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Hebrews 4:14-16;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mark 10:35-45   Download   The first reading today is the final part of the fourth Servant Song in Isaiah.\u00a0 It speaks of the servant\u2019s suffering and the reaction of his…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":4308,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ghostkit_customizer_options":"","ghostkit_custom_css":"","ghostkit_custom_js_head":"","ghostkit_custom_js_foot":"","ghostkit_typography":"","_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4317"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4317\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}