Book Three - Internal Consolation

     The Twenty-Fifth Chapter / The Basis Of Firm Peace Of Heart And True Progress

     THE VOICE OF CHRIST

     MY CHILD, I have said: “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, do I give unto you.” (John 14:27)

     All men desire peace but all do not care for the things that go to make true peace. My peace is with the humble and meek of heart: your peace will be in much patience. If you hear Me and follow My voice, you will be able to enjoy much peace.

     The Disciple

     What, then, shall I do, Lord?

     THE VOICE OF CHRIST

     Watch yourself in all things, in what you do and what you say. Direct your every intention toward pleasing Me alone, and desire nothing outside of Me. Do not be rash in judging the deeds and words of others, and do not entangle yourself in affairs that are not your own. Thus, it will come about that you will be disturbed little and seldom.

     Yet, never to experience any disturbance or to suffer any hurt in heart or body does not belong to this present life, but rather to the state of eternal rest. Do not think, therefore, that you have found true peace if you feel no depression, or that all is well because you suffer no opposition. Do not think that all is perfect if everything happens just as you wish. And do not imagine yourself great or consider yourself especially beloved if you are filled with great devotion and sweetness. For the true lover of virtue is not known by these things, nor do the progress and perfection of a man consist in them.

     The Disciple

     In what do they consist, Lord?

     THE VOICE OF CHRIST

     They consist in offering yourself with all your heart to the divine will, not seeking what is yours either in small matters or great ones, either in temporal or eternal things, so that you will preserve equanimity and give thanks in both prosperity and adversity, seeing all things in their proper light.

     If you become so brave and long-suffering in hope that you can prepare your heart to suffer still more even when all inward consolation is withdrawn, and if you do not justify yourself as though you ought not be made to suffer such great things, but acknowledge Me to be just in all My works and praise My holy name—then you will walk in the true and right path of peace, then you may have sure hope of seeing My face again in joy. If you attain to complete contempt of self, then know that you will enjoy an abundance of peace, as much as is possible in this earthly life.

     THE IMITATION OF CHRIST

     The story “A Man Without a Country” was based on Benedict Arnold, the patriot turned traitor, yet the British never trusted him so he died a lonely man without a county. This classic was written by Edward Everett Hale, born this day, April 3, 1822. The nephew of Revolutionary hero Nathan Hale, Edward was editor of the Boston Daily and Chaplain of the U.S. Senate. Edward Everett Hale wrote: “I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. What I can do, I should do and, with the help of God, I will do.”

       William J. Federer.American Minute

I spent twenty years of my life trying to recruit people out of local churches and into missions structures so that they could be involved in fulfilling God's global mission. Now I have another idea. Let's take God's global mission and put it right in the middle of the local church!
--- George Miley


How many weary and starved congregations listen hopelessly to a dejected preacher who will never give them a word, a phrase, or a thought they have not heard hundreds of times.
--- Henry War Beecher

... from here, there and everywhere

5     An honest witness will not lie,
but a false witness lies with every breath.

6     A scoffer seeks wisdom in vain,
but knowledge comes easily to someone with discernment.

Stern, D. H. (1998). : An English version of the Tanakh (OT) and
B'rit Hadashah (NT) (1st ed.). Clarksville, Md.: Jewish New Testament Publications. Complete Jewish Bible

                If thou hadst known!

     If thou hadst known … in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.
--- Luke 19:42.

     Jesus had entered into Jerusalem in triumph, the city was stirred to its foundations; but a strange god was there, the pride of Pharisaism; it was religious and upright, but a ‘whited sepulchre.’

     What is it that blinds me in this my day? Have I a strange god—not a disgusting monster, but a disposition that rules me? More than once God has brought me face to face with the strange god and I thought I should have to yield, but I did not do it. I got through the crisis by the skin of my teeth and I find myself in the possession of the strange god still; I am blind to the things which belong to my peace. It is an appalling thing that we can be in the place where the Spirit of God should be getting at us unhinderedly, and yet increase our condemnation in God’s sight.

     “If thou hadst known”—God goes direct to the heart, with the tears of Jesus behind. These words imply culpable responsibility; God holds us responsible for what we do not see. “Now they are hid from thine eyes”—because the disposition has never been yielded. The unfathomable sadness of the ‘might have been’! God never opens doors that have been closed. He opens other doors, but He reminds us that there are doors which we have shut, doors which need never have been shut, imaginations which need never have been sullied. Never be afraid when God brings back the past. Let memory have its way. It is a minister of God with its rebuke and chastisement and sorrow. God will turn the ‘might have been’ into a wonderful culture for the future.

     Chambers, O. (1993). My Utmost for His Highest

We met
under a shower
of bird-notes.
Fifty years passed,
love's moment
in a world in
servitude to time.
She was young;
I kissed with my eyes
closed and opened
them on her wrinkles.
'Come.' said death,
choosing her as his
partner for
the last dance. And she,
who in life
had done everything
with a bird's grace,
opened her bill now
for the shedding
of one sigh no
heavier than a feather.

Thomas, R. S.

     D’RASH

     It goes without saying that we should not overlook severe wrongdoings that we see others committing. Even more minor personality faults were subsumed under the biblical injunction to “reprove your kinsman” (Leviticus 19:17). The Rabbis of the Talmud interpreted this to mean that we must correct the faults we see in others, the human imperfections that we cannot see in ourselves. Often, only an outsider can point out these shortcomings.

     Yet, we may carry this ideal to an extreme. It is often difficult for us to look the other way when someone we know and care for does something wrong. In addition, our sense of justice and right may compel us to correct others even for the most minor of misdemeanors, or if their wrongs cannot be changed, or for people we do not know. Most of us have witnessed someone telling a stranger: “You shouldn’t bite your fingernails” or “Those chips that you’re buying really aren’t healthy; you should stick to fruits and vegetables.” The Rabbis were aware of this tendency in others as well as in themselves. They knew that some more minor actions cannot be legislated or changed and thus should be allowed to exist, even if unlawful. They would not allow Jews to be deliberate transgressors of major Shabbat, theft, or sexual prohibitions, but they had no problem saying, from time to time: “We cannot change everything. In this case, they’re going to do it anyway, so let it be.”

     The Christian theologian Reinhold Niebuhr once penned a “Serenity Prayer.” His words sound like a modern reworking of this idea:

     God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things which should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.

     We have all met people who have not yet learned this credo. At a testimonial dinner or organizational banquet, an acquaintance will harp on the poor service or the quality of the food. We are not in charge, and once the meal has begun, there is little we can do to change things. Better to accept the inadequacies than to ruin the evening by deliberate, repeated critiques of transgressions which cannot be corrected.

     As our children grow up, we see imperfections in their personalities. We try our hardest as parents to help them change, to grow, to improve. And then one day, we realize that our criticisms will not make them any better than they now are. They will continue to mature on their own, making of themselves better people. Time will help them lose some of these bad habits; others may, admittedly, remain. Is it right to constantly harp on these shortcomings? The Rabbis would likely whisper in our ears: Better that we not inform our children of all their minor imperfections than constantly reminding them of that which they cannot, or will not, change. It is better for them, and it is certainly better for us.

     We add from the ordinary onto the sacred.

     Text / From where do we learn that we add from the ordinary onto the sacred? As it is taught: “You shall cease from labor even at plowing time and harvest time” [Exodus 34:21]. Rabbi Akiva says: “This text could not be referring to the [prohibition of] plowing and harvesting during the Sabbatical year, for it already says: ‘You shall not sow your field’ [Leviticus 25:4]. Therefore it must refer to plowing on the eve of the Sabbatical year that leads into the Sabbatical year, and to harvesting in the Sabbatical year which leads into the year following the Sabbatical year.” Rabbi Yishmael says: “Just as plowing is optional, so too harvesting is optional, except for harvesting the Omer, which is a mitzvah.” From where does Rabbi Yishmael derive the principle that we add from the ordinary onto the sacred? He learns it from that which is taught: “And you shall practice self-denial; on the ninth day” [Leviticus 23:32]. One might think it is on the ninth; therefore the text says “at evening.” If at evening, one might think after it gets dark. Therefore the text says “on the ninth.” How can this be? We begin to afflict ourselves while it is still day. This teaches that we add from the ordinary onto the sacred.

     Context / Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall cease from labor; you shall cease from labor even at plowing time and harvest time. (Exodus 34:21)
     When you enter the land that I assign to you, the land shall observe a sabbath of the Lord. Six years you may sow your field and six years you may prune your vineyard and gather in the yield. But in the seventh year the land shall have a sabbath of complete rest, a sabbath of the Lord: you shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. (Leviticus 25:2–4)
     And should you ask, “What are we to eat in the seventh year, if we may neither sow nor gather in our crops?” I will ordain My blessing for you in the sixth year, so that it shall yield a crop sufficient for three years. When you sow in the eighth year, you will still be eating old grain of that crop; you will be eating the old until the ninth year, until its crops come in.” (Leviticus 25:20–22)
     Mark, the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It shall be a sacred occasion for you: you shall practice self-denial, and you shall bring an offering by fire to the Lord.… It shall be a sabbath of complete rest for you, and you shall practice self-denial; on the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall observe this your sabbath. (Leviticus 23:27, 32)

     One of the hallmarks of the Jewish religion is the sacred times, or holy days, that mark the calendar. By definition, a holiday is a twenty-four-hour period. But the Rabbis ordered that these holidays began just a little earlier and end just a little bit later. We are to “borrow” time from the ordinary days that precede and follow the holy day, and add it onto the holy day itself. Shabbat, for example, technically should begin Friday at sunset and end Saturday at sunset. Instead, we begin Shabbat earlier, lighting candles at least eighteen minutes before the sun goes down, and end it later, no earlier than when three stars appear in the sky. Shabbat lasts closer to twenty-five, not twenty-four, hours.

     Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Yishmael attempt to find a basis for this practice in the Torah. Rabbi Akiva does it by turning to the laws about the Sabbatical year. Since it is in Leviticus 25 that the law itself is taught, the reference in Exodus 34:21 must come to teach some other law or principle. (Rabbi Akiva believes that laws are not just repeated; each time something is mentioned again, it must be to teach a specific, new lesson.) He interprets Exodus 34:21 as teaching that the Sabbatical year actually begins a few months earlier, with a prohibition of plowing in the last weeks of the sixth year, and it ends a few months late, with the prohibition of harvesting in the first weeks of the eighth year.

     Rabbi Yishmael disagrees with Rabbi Akiva on the meaning of this particular verse. Whereas Akiva connected the verse with the Sabbatical year, Yishmael connects it to Shabbat, learning that the Omer offering of grain brought beginning on the second day of Passover may be cut and harvested even on Shabbat. Rabbi Yishmael derives the basis of the principle “We add from the ordinary onto the sacred” from the laws concerning Yom Kippur (which falls on the tenth day of Tishrei). The Torah mentions that the fast is supposed to begin on the ninth of Tishrei, late in the afternoon, earlier than we would have expected.

     Katz, M., & Schwartz, G. (1998). Philadelphia, PA: The Jewish Publication Society. Swimming in the Sea of Talmud: Lessons for Everyday LIving

     Unlike the other Gospels, which trace the development of Jesus’ ministry over three years, the Gospel of John focuses on the final months of Christ’s life, when the issues had been clearly drawn.

     Jesus, the Son of God, revealed over and over again the truth about life and light, and confronted His listeners with the necessity of choice.

     John 10 through 12 depicts events that lead up to the Upper Room Discourse. In these chapters we see the final confrontation, and catch a glimpse of the ultimate evidence that will soon be offered to prove Jesus’ claims.

     In the Old Testament, the picture of a shepherd and his sheep was often used to illustrate the relationship between God and His people. “The Lord is my Shepherd,” one psalmist said. Another added, “We are the sheep of His pasture.”

     Shepherd was also a term applied to spiritual leaders in the Old Testament. Jeremiah chose harsh words to describe leaders who perverted their spiritual role: “ ‘Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of My pasture!’ declares the Lord” (Jer. 23:1). The prophet declared that God would set His own Shepherd over His sheep when the promised Son of David (Jesus) reigns.

     The people would have had these symbolic pictures of divine leadership in mind when Jesus announced, “I am the Good Shepherd” (John 10:11). Jesus then developed a contrast between Himself and the religious authorities of His day. Jesus was concerned for God’s people, and exemplified the morality of grace. The Jewish rulers, on the other hand, ignored the welfare of their people. They, therefore, were false shepherds.

     By this time, the leaders of Israel were firmly committed not only to rejecting Jesus’ claim to divine authority but to destroying Him as well. So in this message Jesus did not speak to the rulers; He appealed directly to the individuals who made up the nation.

     True Shepherd recognized (John 10:1–6). In Israel sheep were not herded with dogs or by men who walked behind them. The shepherd of the Middle East led his sheep. He knew each one by name, and the sheep recognized his voice. At night several herds of sheep might sleep in the same fold. In the morning, when the one door was unbarred, each shepherd could unerringly pick out his own flock. And each member of that flock would be able to distinguish his shepherd from the others because the sheep would know the shepherd’s voice, just as God’s people would recognize Jesus as the living Word of God.

     The Pharisees who claimed to speak for Moses would be followed, but not by those who belonged to God. The true sheep would hear the voice of the Good Shepherd.

     Good Shepherd identified (John 10:7–17). Now Jesus condemned the leaders of Israel, saying, “All who ever came before Me were thieves and robbers.” Such men care “nothing for the sheep.” Jesus, on the other hand, is the Good Shepherd. The Palestinian shepherd commonly slept in the single opening to the fold through which wild animals might attack. As “the door” Jesus protects His own, by placing His body between the sheep and their enemies. The Good Shepherd guides His sheep to pasture, concerned not only that they have life, but that they “have it to the full.” How deep is the commitment of the Good Shepherd to His sheep? “The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.”

     How clearly this must have spoken to the men and women of Israel. Their rulers, like religious leaders of many times and many faiths, were quick to demand respect and obedience. They were quick to lord it over others; quick to judge, advise, condemn. But no one in Israel would imagine for a moment that one of the authorities would lay down his life for one of the common people. Those leaders might lay down their lives for truth. More than once the men of Israel had refused to fight on the Sabbath, and had been killed easily by pagans. More than one Israelite had offered his body to Roman swords rather than permit a statue of Caesar, or even the Legion Eagles, to enter Jerusalem. To die for a conviction was not that uncommon. But to die for love of the sheep? Never! Truth was important to the authorities; people were not.

     But to Jesus, the sheep—sinners not worth the contempt of the righteous—were worth dying for!

     One with the Father (John 10:18–30). Jesus could die for the sheep because He had the authority from God to lay down His life, and “authority to take it up again. This command,” Jesus continued, “I received from My Father” (John 10:18).

     These words sent the Jews back to the old debate. “He is demon-possessed and raving mad,” some said. But others answered, “Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

     Again the Jews asked the central question: “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly” (John 10:24).

     Once again Jesus explained that His sheep hear and respond to His voice. To such He gives eternal life. He can bestow this gift because, “I and the Father are One” (John 10:30).

     When pictures are drawn, have each member show his or hers, and explain it. In the process your group will develop a much better picture of all that Jesus’ presentation of Himself as the Good Shepherd means to us today.

     Refusal to believe (John 10:31–42). Jesus’ renewed claim to be God the Son was recognized by the people: “Again the Jews picked up stones to stone Him.”

     How strange. “Tell us if You are the Christ.” And when Jesus told them, they tried to kill Him because they did not want to hear the truth!

     The Jews accused Jesus of blasphemy “because You, a mere Man, claim to be God.”

     Jesus stunned them with a quote from the Psalms: “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are gods’? If He called them ‘gods’ to whom the Word of God came—and the Scripture cannot be broken—what about the One whom the Father set apart as His very own and sent into the world?” (John 10:34–36) If those who receive the Word are exalted by the Lord Himself and called “gods,” how much more deserving of that name is the One who is the Word?

     The passage Jesus quoted is Psalm 82:6, “I say, ‘You are “gods”; you are all sons of the Most High.’ ” The life Jesus offers us is eternal life, God’s life. When we receive Jesus, we become the sons of God.

     As Peter put it, “You are sons of God now; the live, permanent Word of the living God has given you His own indestructible heredity” (1 Peter 1:23, PH). Unable to grasp grace, the Pharisees and other leaders had no concept of what a personal relationship with God meant. They were no more able to understand the gift Jesus offered than they could imagine God could care enough for human beings to become a Man in order to bring us to Himself.

     But while the leaders continued to try to arrest Jesus (John 10:39), many others heard in Jesus the voice of God, and began to believe.

Richards, L., & Richards The Teacher's Commentary

     See how the lilies of the field grow. --- Matthew 6:28.

     Let me say one thing more that helps to illuminate the mind of Christ. (Wings of the Morning, The (The Morrison Classic Sermon Series) ) It is how often, when he speaks of nature, he deliberately brings people on the scene. Jesus is not a painter of still life. He loves to have living forms on the scene. He does not regard people as intrusions but always as the completion of the picture. When he walked abroad, he saw more than the lights and shadows of the fields. “A farmer went out to sow his seed”—somehow he could not rest until he had brought a living human being into the picture. And so when he wandered by the Sea of Galilee and watched the waters and listened to the waves, all that, however beautiful, could not content him until the fishers and their nets were in the picture. He could not listen to the chattering sparrows without seeing the human hands that bought and sold them. He could not look at the lilies of the field without seeing Solomon in all his glory.

     And it all means that while the love of nature was one of the deepest passions in Christ’s heart, it was not a love that led to isolation, but it found its crowning in the love of humanity. There is a way of loving nature that chills a little the feeling for humanity. But when someone loves nature as Jesus Christ loved nature, it will deepen and purify the springs of kinship and issue in service that is not less loyal because the music of hill and dale is in it.
--- George H. Morrison

Wallis, D. (2001). Take Heart: Daily Devotions with the Church's Great Preachers

     Ambrose was born in Gaul, where his father was governor. His family shortly moved to Rome, where Ambrose was raised to be a skilled poet, orator, and lawyer. After practicing law in the Roman courts for a time, he was named governor of an Italian province and headquartered in Milan. There a crisis arose when Bishop Auxentius died in 374. The city was divided over who should replace him, and tensions were high. Ambrose assembled the people and used his oratorical powers to appeal for unity. But while he was speaking, a child cried out: “Let Ambrose be bishop!” The crowd took up the chant, and the 35-year-old governor, to his dismay, was elected the city’s pastor.

     He set himself to study theology, soon becoming a great preacher and a deft defender of orthodox doctrine. He combated paganism and heresy with diligence, maintained the independence of the church against civil powers, and championed morality. He confronted political leaders, even emperors, when necessary. He wrote books and treatises, sermons, hymns, and letters. He tended Milan like a shepherd.

     Perhaps none of that was more important than his influence on a hot-blooded infidel who slipped into town one Sunday to hear him preach. The skeptical Augustine found himself deeply impressed by the power of Ambrose’s sermons, and he sought personal counseling from the bishop. But Ambrose was too busy. Visitors were allowed into his room, but he paid scant attention to them. He just went ahead reading. Several times Augustine sat watching him, but Ambrose remained unaware of it. His preaching, however, reached the prodigal, and shortly afterward Augustine was converted.

     Ambrose continued preaching until he fell sick in 397. When distressed friends prayed for his healing, he said, “I have so lived among you that I cannot be ashamed to live longer, but neither do I fear to die; for we have a good Lord.” On Good Friday, April 3, 397, Ambrose lay with his hands extended in the form of the cross, moving his lips in prayer. His friends huddled in sadness and watched. Sometime past midnight their beloved bishop passed to his good Lord.

     Church officials are in charge of God’s work, and so they must also have a good reputation. They must not be bossy, quick-tempered, heavy drinkers, bullies, or dishonest in business. They must stick to the true message they were taught, so that their good teaching can help others and correct everyone who opposes it.
--- Titus 1:7,9.

     Morgan, R. J. On This Day 365 Amazing And Inspiring Stories About Saints, Martyrs And Heroes

     Ver. 17.—And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy Name. How wavering and hesitating the faith of the chosen followers of Jesus was, even at this late period of his public ministry, is clear from this frank confession of surprise at their powers. They were contrasting the present with what had lately happened at the foot of the Mount of Transfiguration, where the disciples were utterly unable to heal the possessed boy. What a contrast do these true writers of the gospel story paint between themselves and their Master! They never seem to tire in their self-depreciatory de scriptions. They describe with the same careful, truthful pen their slowness to understand what afterwards became so clear to them—their mutual jealousies, their cove tous hopes of a brilliant future, their shrink ing from pain and suffering, their utter failure when they try to imitate their Master; and now we find them marvelling at their own—to them—unexpected success in their imitation of him.

     Ver. 18.—And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. The Lord’s words here were prophetic rather than descriptive of what had taken, or was then taking place. The seventy were telling him their feelings of joy at finding that his Name in their mouths enabled them to cast out evil spirits from the possessed. Their Master replied in an exalted and exultant strain—strange and rare sounds on the lips of the Man of sorrows—telling them how he had been looking—not on a few spirits of evil driven out of unhappy men, but on the king and chief of all evil falling from his sad eminence and throne of power like a flash of lightning. Jesus Christ saw, in the first success of these poor servants of his, an earnest of that wonderful and mighty victory which his followers, simply armed with the power of his Name, would shortly win over paganism. He saw, too, in the dim far future, many a contest with and victory over evil in its many forms. He looked on, we may well believe, to the final defeat which at length his servants, when they should have learned the true use and the resistless power of that glorious Name of his, should win over the restless enemy of the souls of men.

     Ver. 19.—Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. The older authorities read here, “I have given.” The only recorded instance of a literal fulfilment of this promise was in the case of Paul at Melita, after the shipwreck (Acts 24:3–5). A similar promise was made during the “forty days” (Mark 16:17, 18). It seems, however, best, in the case of this peculiar promise, to interpret the Lord’s words as referring to spiritual powers of evil, taking the serpent and scorpion as symbols of these. It should be remembered that the subject of conversation between the Master and his servants was the conflict with and victory over these awful powers restlessly hostile to the human race (see Ps. 91:13).

     Ver. 20.—But rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven. “After all,” went on the wise and loving Master, “though you have made the glad discovery of the power you possess, if, as my servants, you use aright my Name, after all, your real reason for joy is, not the possession of a new, mighty power. but the fact of your name having been written in the book of life as one of my servants commissioned to do my work.” Many commentators here cautiously point out that even this legitimate Joy should be tempered with fear and trem bling, for even this true title to honour might be blotted out of that golden book of heaven (see Exod. 32:33; Jer. 17:13; Ps. 69:28; Rev. 22:19). In this deep legitimate joy men and women of all callings, who try to follow the Master, in every age, may share.

     Ver. 21.—In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit. More than “rejoiced;” the Greek word rather signifies “exulted.” Very rarely in the holy story of the life of lives is a hint given us of any gleam of gladness or of joy irradiating the spirit of the Man of sorrows. The exultation of the Blessed here was based upon his conviction that this first success of his own was but the commencement of a long and weary, but yet, in the end, of a triumphant campaign against the spirits of sin and evil. What these, in their mortal weakness by the aid of their poor imperfect faith in his Name, had been able to accomplish, was an earnest, a pledge, of the mighty work which his followers would, in the power of the same Name, be enabled to effect in the coming ages In that solemn hour did Messiah see, in the far future, of “the travail of his soul,” and was satisfied. The absence of all sign of joy in the life of our Lord is well brought out in that touching legend which we find in the spurious letter of P. Lentulus to the senate, that he wept often, but that no one had ever seen him smile. That thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Looking upon his servants after their return from their successful mission, a group made up certainly for the most part of poor untutored men—fishers, artisans, and the like, children of the people, without rank or position—Jesus thanks the Father that, in the persons of the men chosen to be the instruments of his work, he has looked away from all the ordinary machinery of human influence. As he gazes upon the band of successful missionaries, Jesus thanks the Father that henceforth his servants, if they would be successful, must owe the powers which gave them success entirely to his training, and not to the world’s. Even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight. This is “the only record, outside St. John’s Gospel, of a prayer like that which we find in John 17. For the most part, we may believe, those prayers were offered apart, on the lonely hillside, in the darkness of night; or, it may be, the disciples shrank in their reverence, or perhaps in the consciousness of their want of capacity, from attempting to record what was so unspeakably sacred. But it is noteworthy that in this exceptional instance we find, both in the prayer and the teaching that follows it in St. Matthew and St. Luke, turns of thought and phrase almost absolutely identical with what is most characteristic of St. John. It is as though this isolated fragment of a higher teaching had been preserved by them as a witness that there was a region upon which they scarcely dared to enter, but into which men were to he led after. wards by the beloved disciple, to whom the Spirit gave power to recall what had been above the reach of the other reporters of his Master’s teaching” (Dean Plumptre).

The Pulpit Commentary : St. Luke The Pulpit Commentary (23 Volume Set)

     Scripture was, by all accounts, a major interest, if not to say an obsession, among a broad spectrum of Jews in the Second Temple period. People argued, sometimes violently, about the meaning of this or that verse in the Torah (Pentateuch), or about the proper way to carry out one or another of its laws. People also wrote a great deal about Scripture: numerous compositions that have survived from the Second Temple period seek to explain various scriptural prophecies and songs and stories, and even those books that are not explicitly exegetical are usually replete with allusions to Scripture and scriptural interpretation. Moreover, a whole new institution emerged in this period, the synagogue, a place where people might gather specifically for the purpose of studying Scripture; indeed, the synagogue went on to become a (one might even say the) major Jewish institution, both within the land of Israel and in the Diaspora.

     But perhaps the most striking evidence of Scripture’s importance comes from the Dead Sea Scrolls, a collection of writings found at Qumran, south of Jericho. This library, apparently the possession of a particular Jewish community that flourished at the end of the Second Temple period, is itself a most impressive thing, consisting of roughly 800 individual manuscripts. (It was no doubt still larger at one point: some of its original contents have certainly been lost to the depredations of nature or human hands.) The library contained not one or two copies of what was to become our Hebrew Bible, but, for example, thirty-six different manuscripts of the Psalms, twenty-nine copies of Deuteronomy, and so forth. In all, these scriptural manuscripts made up a little more than a quarter of the library’s total contents. But the remaining three-quarters were scarcely less tied to Scripture: nearly all of these other compositions seek, in one way or another, to explain, allude to, or expand upon things found in biblical books. Indeed, the rules governing the daily life of the community that lived at Qumran specify that the study of Scripture is to be a steady, ongoing activity: “Anywhere where there are ten people, let there not be lacking a man expounding the Torah day and night, continuously, concerning the right conduct of a man with his fellow. And let the [Assembly p 122 of the] Many see to it that in the community a third of every night of the year [is spent] in reading the Book and expounding the Law and offering blessings together” (1QS 6:6–8).

     In short, Scripture was on nearly everyone’s mind. The words of Ps. 119:97—“How I love your Torah; I speak of it all day long”—might have served as the motto of all the different Jewish communities and sects in Second Temple times. Now when one stops to consider this state of affairs in its larger context, it should appear more than a little strange. After all, religious piety elsewhere in the ancient Near East consisted principally of the offering of animal sacrifices at one or another sanctuary, participation in mass religious revels with singing and dancing, or solemn rites to ward off evil and demonic forces. None of these elements was absent from Second Temple Judaism, but along with them, and ultimately displacing them, was the oddest sort of act: reading words written centuries earlier and acting as if they had the highest significance for people in the present age. How did this come about?

Kugel, J. L. (2010). Early Jewish Biblical Interpretation.The Eerdmans Dictionary of Early Judaism

TUESDAY IN HOLY WEEK
YEAR 2

Psalms (Morning) Psalm 6, 12
Psalms (Evening) Psalm 94
Old Testament Lamentations 1:17–22
New Testament 2 Corinthians 1:8–22
Gospel Mark 11:27–33

Index of Readings

PSALMS (MORNING)
Psalm 6, 12

To the leader: with stringed instruments; according to The Sheminith. A Psalm of David.

1 O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger,
or discipline me in your wrath.
2 Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am languishing;
O LORD, heal me, for my bones are shaking with terror.
3 My soul also is struck with terror,
while you, O LORD—how long?

4 Turn, O LORD, save my life;
deliver me for the sake of your steadfast love.
5 For in death there is no remembrance of you;
in Sheol who can give you praise?

6 I am weary with my moaning;
every night I flood my bed with tears;
I drench my couch with my weeping.
7 My eyes waste away because of grief;
they grow weak because of all my foes.

8 Depart from me, all you workers of evil,
for the LORD has heard the sound of my weeping.
9 The LORD has heard my supplication;
the LORD accepts my prayer.
10 All my enemies shall be ashamed and struck with terror;
they shall turn back, and in a moment be put to shame.

To the leader: according to The Sheminith. A Psalm of David.

1 Help, O LORD, for there is no longer anyone who is godly;
the faithful have disappeared from humankind.
2 They utter lies to each other;
with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.

3 May the LORD cut off all flattering lips,
the tongue that makes great boasts,
4 those who say, “With our tongues we will prevail;
our lips are our own—who is our master?”

5 “Because the poor are despoiled, because the needy groan,
I will now rise up,” says the LORD;
“I will place them in the safety for which they long.”
6 The promises of the LORD are promises that are pure,
silver refined in a furnace on the ground,
purified seven times.

7 You, O LORD, will protect us;
you will guard us from this generation forever.
8 On every side the wicked prowl,
as vileness is exalted among humankind.

PSALMS (EVENING)
Psalm 94

1 O LORD, you God of vengeance,
you God of vengeance, shine forth!
2 Rise up, O judge of the earth;
give to the proud what they deserve!
3 O LORD, how long shall the wicked,
how long shall the wicked exult?

4 They pour out their arrogant words;
all the evildoers boast.
5 They crush your people, O LORD,
and afflict your heritage.
6 They kill the widow and the stranger,
they murder the orphan,
7 and they say, “The LORD does not see;
the God of Jacob does not perceive.”

8 Understand, O dullest of the people;
fools, when will you be wise?
9 He who planted the ear, does he not hear?
He who formed the eye, does he not see?
10 He who disciplines the nations,
he who teaches knowledge to humankind,
does he not chastise?
11 The LORD knows our thoughts,
that they are but an empty breath.

12 Happy are those whom you discipline, O LORD,
and whom you teach out of your law,
13 giving them respite from days of trouble,
until a pit is dug for the wicked.
14 For the LORD will not forsake his people;
he will not abandon his heritage;
15 for justice will return to the righteous,
and all the upright in heart will follow it.

16 Who rises up for me against the wicked?
Who stands up for me against evildoers?
17 If the LORD had not been my help,
my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence.
18 When I thought, “My foot is slipping,”
your steadfast love, O LORD, held me up.
19 When the cares of my heart are many,
your consolations cheer my soul.
20 Can wicked rulers be allied with you,
those who contrive mischief by statute?
21 They band together against the life of the righteous,
and condemn the innocent to death.
22 But the LORD has become my stronghold,
and my God the rock of my refuge.
23 He will repay them for their iniquity
and wipe them out for their wickedness;
the LORD our God will wipe them out.

OLD TESTAMENT
Lamentations 1:17–22

17 Zion stretches out her hands,
but there is no one to comfort her;
the LORD has commanded against Jacob
that his neighbors should become his foes;
Jerusalem has become
a filthy thing among them.

18 The LORD is in the right,
for I have rebelled against his word;
but hear, all you peoples,
and behold my suffering;
my young women and young men
have gone into captivity.

19 I called to my lovers
but they deceived me;
my priests and elders
perished in the city
while seeking food
to revive their strength.

20 See, O LORD, how distressed I am;
my stomach churns,
my heart is wrung within me,
because I have been very rebellious.
In the street the sword bereaves;
in the house it is like death.

21 They heard how I was groaning,
with no one to comfort me.
All my enemies heard of my trouble;
they are glad that you have done it.
Bring on the day you have announced,
and let them be as I am.

22 Let all their evil doing come before you;
and deal with them
as you have dealt with me
because of all my transgressions;
for my groans are many
and my heart is faint.

NEW TESTAMENT
2 Corinthians 1:8–22

8 We do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, of the affliction we experienced in Asia; for we were so utterly, unbearably crushed that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death so that we would rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. 10 He who rescued us from so deadly a peril will continue to rescue us; on him we have set our hope that he will rescue us again, 11 as you also join in helping us by your prayers, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.

12 Indeed, this is our boast, the testimony of our conscience: we have behaved in the world with frankness and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God—and all the more toward you. 13 For we write you nothing other than what you can read and also understand; I hope you will understand until the end— 14 as you have already understood us in part—that on the day of the Lord Jesus we are your boast even as you are our boast.

15 Since I was sure of this, I wanted to come to you first, so that you might have a double favor; 16 I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on to Judea. 17 Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans according to ordinary human standards, ready to say “Yes, yes” and “No, no” at the same time? 18 As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been “Yes and No.” 19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not “Yes and No”; but in him it is always “Yes.” 20 For in him every one of God’s promises is a “Yes.” For this reason it is through him that we say the “Amen,” to the glory of God. 21 But it is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us, 22 by putting his seal on us and giving us his Spirit in our hearts as a first installment.

GOSPEL
Mark 11:27–33

27 Again they came to Jerusalem. As he was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to him 28 and said, “By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority to do them?” 29 Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 30 Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin? Answer me.” 31 They argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 32 But shall we say, ‘Of human origin’?”—they were afraid of the crowd, for all regarded John as truly a prophet. 33 So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”

The Episcopal Church. Book of Common Prayer Lectionary