The Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 24 - 21 October 2012

The Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 24 - 21 October 2012

Isaiah 53:4-12

Psalm 91:9-16

Hebrews 5:1-10

St. Mark 10:35-45

                                                                                  




Background: Melchizedek

The saying in Hebrews, “according to the order of Melchizedek” prompts us to take a moment and look at this King, who intrudes into the Abraham saga in Genesis 14:18.  There he greets Abraham after Abraham’s defeat of Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, and offers to him a gift of bread and wine, and a blessing as well.  He is introduced to us as “king of Salem”, and “priest of El Elyon”.  There are two connections here that would have appealed to the editors of the Pentateuch.  The first is that the King of Salem (i.e. Jerusalem) blesses the Patriarch Abraham, and secondly, that he represents kingship.  Such references would have been important to those reframing the history of Israel, for they point to the Davidic kings.  “El Elyon” is a compound name coming from “El”, the Canaanite sky god, and “Elyon” another local deity.  The meaning in Hebrew is “Most High God” and was used in other places in the Hebrew Scriptures to identify the Israelite God. 

For Christians, the offering of bread and wine by Melchizedek points to the Eucharist, and to the priestly ministry of Jesus (see the comments on the Second Lesson below).  That Abraham makes an offering to him, elevates the priest/king above the status of Abraham, and thus symbolizes the ascendency of Jesus amongst Christian commentators.

Isaiah 53:4-12


Surely he has borne our infirmities 
and carried our diseases; 
yet we accounted him stricken, 
struck down by God, and afflicted. 
But he was wounded for our transgressions, 
crushed for our iniquities; 
upon him was the punishment that made us whole, 
and by his bruises we are healed. 
All we like sheep have gone astray; 
we have all turned to our own way, 
and the LORD has laid on him 
the iniquity of us all. 
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, 
yet he did not open his mouth; 
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, 
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, 
so he did not open his mouth. 
By a perversion of justice he was taken away. 
Who could have imagined his future? 
For he was cut off from the land of the living, 
stricken for the transgression of my people. 
They made his grave with the wicked 
and his tomb with the rich, 
although he had done no violence, 
and there was no deceit in his mouth. 
Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him with pain. 
When you make his life an offering for sin, 
he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days; 
through him the will of the LORD shall prosper. 
Out of his anguish he shall see light; 
he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge. 
The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous, 
and he shall bear their iniquities. 
Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great, 
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; 
because he poured out himself to death, 
and was numbered with the transgressors; 
yet he bore the sin of many, 
and made intercession for the transgressors. 



In a series of hymns to the new Jerusalem, we encounter the fourth of the Songs of the Suffering Servant.  In this song, the on lookers (God? The Gentiles? Israel?) comment on the status of the Servant.  The notion that the punishment for sin is suffering is evident in the condition described: stricken, struck down, afflicted, wounded, and crushed.  Suddenly, however, there is the realization that the sufferings are not the result of the Servant’s life, but rather that we all are the cause.  The Servant is wounded for us!  This transference of qualities and consequences becomes a victorious understanding of God’s grace, and moves quickly into a place of grace and righteousness.  The Servant stands, in the readings for this day, as a contrast to those disciples who would only have the honor (see the Gospel for today) and not the works of justice. 

Breaking open Isaiah:

1. With whom do you identify the Suffering Servant
2. What are the sufferings of our time?
3. What are the sufferings of your family, or of nations?

Psalm 91:9-16 Qui habitat





Because you have made the LORD your refuge, *

and the Most High your habitation, 




There shall no evil happen to you, *

neither shall any plague come near your dwelling. 




For he shall give his angels charge over you, *

to keep you in all your ways. 




They shall bear you in their hands, *

lest you dash your foot against a stone. 




You shall tread upon the lion and adder; *

you shall trample the young lion and the serpent under your feet. 




Because he is bound to me in love,

therefore will I deliver him; *

I will protect him, because he knows my Name. 




He shall call upon me, and I will answer him; *

I am with him in trouble;

I will rescue him and bring him to honor. 




With long life will I satisfy him, *

and show him my salvation. 







The text here is washed of some local color.  The nomad’s tent becomes a dwelling, and in doing so looses some of the transitory nature of life with God.  By transitory I do not mean that at one moment God is there and at another moment God is not.  As we track through the psalm, all sorts and conditions obtain, and in each one of them God is there.  Angels, and other agents of divine grace meet us in our journey of life.  In the length of our life, God constantly meets us with salvation.  What is really interesting and comforting is the promise that life will be satisfying, and that we shall be sated with what life offers us.  That is God’s agency, and God’s good gift of saving us for living.

Breaking open Psalm 91

1. How does God protect you?
2. Can you remember a specific instance?
3. Is God constantly present for you?

Hebrews 5:1-10

Every high priest chosen from among mortals is put in charge of things pertaining to God on their behalf, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is subject to weakness; and because of this he must offer sacrifice for his own sins as well as for those of the people. And one does not presume to take this honor, but takes it only when called by God, just as Aaron was.
So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the one who said to him,
"You are my Son, 
today I have begotten you"; 

as he says also in another place,
"You are a priest forever, 
according to the order of Melchizedek." 

In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, having been designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.


In our on-going reading from Hebrews, the author makes comparisons of the Levitical priesthood to that of Jesus.  On the Day of Atonement, the priest offered the prescribed sacrifices for the sins of the people.  These sins were those easily fallen into due to our own ignorance or lack of balance.  It was for the quotidian mishaps that these offerings were made.  Then the author makes a clear identification.  Christ is such a priest, making offerings for the ordinary.  In addition, it is a priesthood that either continues or completes the old priesthood.  Thus Melchizedek, the priest-king of Salem is mentioned.  Jesus stands not only in the tradition, but also in the promises of the tradition – the forgiveness of sins freely offered.

Breaking open Hebrews:

1. How do you make judgments in your life?
2. Does the Word of God play any role?
3. How is the testing of your life like the testing of Jesus?

Mark 10:35-45

James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to Jesus and said to him, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you." And he said to them, "What is it you want me to do for you?" And they said to him, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory." But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" They replied, "We are able." Then Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared."
When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. So Jesus called them and said to them, "You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many."

In a contrast to the second Isaiah’s Suffering Servant we are greeted in the Gospel with the request of the Sons of Zebedee.  To be gracious to them we must include the possibility that they have misunderstood Jesus intentions in Matthew 19:28, “Jesus said to them, “Amen, I say to you that you who have followed me, in the new age, when the Son of Man is seated on his throne of glory, will yourselves sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”  Jesus then trots out a company of Hebrew images that might better inform James and John about the untoward request that they have made.  The cup of weal (Psalm 23:5), can you drink it?  The baptism with which I was baptized (see Psalm 42:7) (being immersed in calamities) would this be possible for you?  It finally comes down to this reality – “It is not mine to grant.”  The Messiah must suffer and die first.

What follows is an instruction on greatness that reverses the models of the ancient world.  Whatever the world has done in terms of greatness is reversed in the Kingdom of God.  Jesus, like the Suffering Servant (see the first reading) is the primary example by “giving his life (as) a ransom for many.”  In a series of paradoxes worthy of Paul, Mark points out the strategy: great/servant, first/slave – these are the marks of the disciple who follows Jesus.

Breaking open the Gospel:

1. How does the request of the Sons of Zebedee strike you?
2. How does Jesus’ teaching about role reversal act itself out in your life?
3. How are you a servant?

After breaking open the Word, you might want to pray the Collect for Sunday:

Almighty and everlasting God, in Christ you have revealed your glory among the nations: Preserve the works of your mercy, that your Church throughout the world may persevere with steadfast faith in the confession of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.