On the Back Porch
Reading, pondering and studying God’s Word is sometimes best done “on the back porch.” Each week we will try to offer something for you and your “back porch time.”
25th Sunday, Year B
What We Celebrate
As we move along in Mark’s Gospel, there are fewer demonstrations of power and teaching authority. The emphasis is ever more on preparing his disciples for the time when Jesus will not be among them in an earthly form. The text for this Sunday is commonly referred to as Christ’s second passion/resurrection prediction. It could just as easily be called the “this is hard to understand what you’re telling me” Sunday. When Jesus predicts his passion and death it is not clear that the apostles understand. Or maybe they do and that is why the conversation drifts into “who will be the greatest in the kingdom?” Jesus answers the question in reference to the attitude of a child.
As always, a lot going on in the gospel reading. Grab a cup of your favorite beverage and take a moment on the back porch with the Word of God.
Full Text of the Sunday Readings
Detailed Commentary
Image credit: “Lasset die Kindlein zu mir kommen” (Let the little children come to me) | Anonymous | 1841 | Dorotheum | PD-US Public Domain
The Passion Predictions
This gospel contains the second of three passion predictions that appear in the Gospel of Mark. It is easy to pass over the prediction as being a “repeat” of that which appeared only 1 chapter earlier. The language in this week’s text – “to deliver up” or “hand over” points to the Jewish theology of martyrdom. It is in the context of martyrdom that “handing over” is more than simply coming under the power of another. Rather the term points to the fulfillment of God’s will as expressed in Scripture. Particularly in martyrdom, God is the one who permits (or hinders) the handing over in fulfillment of his deeper purposes.
After the betrayal by Judas and Jesus’ arrest, it was natural to associate the terminology of “handing over” with that act of treachery. The background of the term in Scripture, however, indicates that the thought is more profound: Jesus will be delivered into the hands of men by God, and what takes place on the level of historical occurrence has ultimate significance because it reveals the saving action of God. The wording of our gospel passage echoes Isaiah 53:6, 12, which speaks to the expiatory death of the Suffering Servant. There and in Jesus’ statement it points out that God’s redemptive is in play and not simply the machinations of men.