Holy Textures

Mark 15:1-47, Jesus' Last Week - Friday

Jesus Before Pilate, His Crucifixion, Death, and Burial

Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

Click here for an easy to print or email Adobe PDF version of this note.

My red-letter edition of the Bible goes mostly black in Chapter 15 of Mark. Jesus responds briefly to a question from Pilate, and cries out from the cross.

It strikes me as odd, how at this point in the story of Jesus, we often make a subtle - but mistaken - shift.

Up till now, we have read the story as Jesus freely meeting and interacting with others - and of their chosen responses to Jesus.

But at this point, we often read the story as though it were the script of a play. Instead of real people making real choices, we read it as though everyone is on a stage - actors who are merely reading pre-written lines, and going through pre-scripted motions to a foregone conclusion.

Jesus Before Pilate, His Crucifixion, Death, and Burial

Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

Click here for an easy to print or email Adobe PDF version of this note.

My red-letter edition of the Bible goes mostly black in Chapter 15 of Mark. Jesus responds briefly to a question from Pilate, and cries out from the cross.

It strikes me as odd, how at this point in the story of Jesus, we often make a subtle - but mistaken - shift.

Up till now, we have read the story as Jesus freely meeting and interacting with others - and of their chosen responses to Jesus.

But at this point, we often read the story as though it were the script of a play. Instead of real people making real choices, we read it as though everyone is on a stage - actors who are merely reading pre-written lines, and going through pre-scripted motions to a foregone conclusion.

Mark 14:43-72, Jeus' Last Week - Thursday

The Betrayal, Arrest, False Charges, and Denial of Jesus

Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

Click here for an easy to print or email Adobe PDF version of this note.

As noted elsewhere, most of the comments below are drawn from Borg and Crossan's book, The Last Week. Higly recommended. Check it on Amazon here. 

And I also use, and highly recommend, the Social Science Commentary series by Bruce Malina, et. al. Check it out on Amazon here.

Betrayal and Arrest
(Mark 14:43-52)

While Jesus has been praying, Judas has been betraying.

The Betrayal, Arrest, False Charges, and Denial of Jesus

Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

Click here for an easy to print or email Adobe PDF version of this note.

As noted elsewhere, most of the comments below are drawn from Borg and Crossan's book, The Last Week. Higly recommended. Check it on Amazon here. 

And I also use, and highly recommend, the Social Science Commentary series by Bruce Malina, et. al. Check it out on Amazon here.

Betrayal and Arrest
(Mark 14:43-52)

While Jesus has been praying, Judas has been betraying.

Mark 14:32-42, Jesus' Last Week - Thursday

The Garden of Gethsemane:
Jesus Prays for Capitulation or Courage

Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

Click here for an easy to print or email Adobe PDF version of this note.

Personal aside to begin with
In my humble opinion, this text is the key to understanding Mark's Gospel. Misunderstand this text, and you will misunderstand how the good news Mark begins his gospel with (Mark 1:1) is seen in the events that follow: Jesus' betrayal by Judas, arrest, abandonment by his followers, sham trial, denial by Peter, torture, and brutal execution.

If one needs any further evidence of the Divinity of Jesus, one need look no further than his continued patience with Peter, James and John. A mere human would have given up on these three long ago.

The Garden of Gethsemane:
Jesus Prays for Capitulation or Courage

Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

Click here for an easy to print or email Adobe PDF version of this note.

Personal aside to begin with
In my humble opinion, this text is the key to understanding Mark's Gospel. Misunderstand this text, and you will misunderstand how the good news Mark begins his gospel with (Mark 1:1) is seen in the events that follow: Jesus' betrayal by Judas, arrest, abandonment by his followers, sham trial, denial by Peter, torture, and brutal execution.

If one needs any further evidence of the Divinity of Jesus, one need look no further than his continued patience with Peter, James and John. A mere human would have given up on these three long ago.

Mark 14:12-25, Jesus' Last Week - Thursday

The Last Supper

Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

Click here for an easy to print or email Adobe PDF version of this note.

Mark has already told us that the religious authorities are trying to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him, and that Judas has secretly agreed to betray him. Borg and Crossan suggest that sending TWO disciples into Jerusalem to find the place where they will eat the Passover meal is to prevent Judas from betraying Jesus' presence until after the meal is over.

Note - apparently - that Jesus has already made arrangements with others for the preparation of the room without informing any of his disciples. The two that go into the city find the room "furnished and ready."

The Last Supper

Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

Click here for an easy to print or email Adobe PDF version of this note.

Mark has already told us that the religious authorities are trying to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him, and that Judas has secretly agreed to betray him. Borg and Crossan suggest that sending TWO disciples into Jerusalem to find the place where they will eat the Passover meal is to prevent Judas from betraying Jesus' presence until after the meal is over.

Note - apparently - that Jesus has already made arrangements with others for the preparation of the room without informing any of his disciples. The two that go into the city find the room "furnished and ready."

Mark 14:1-11, Jesus' Last Week - Wednesday

In Remembrance of Her

Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

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Whereas on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday the action has all begun with Jesus coming into Jerusalem from Bethany, today the action is in Bethany. Specifically in the home of Simon, the leper. The fact that Simon has a home suggests that possibly his leprosy has been healed and he is now considered clean. Otherwise, he would be an outcast and not be able to live in a home within the town. Perhaps Simon is one those unnamed people whom Jesus has healed, and this is a case of hospitality offered to Jesus in return for his "hospitality" of healing?

Mark 11:27-33, Jesus' Last Week - Tuesday

Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

Click here for an easy to print or email Adobe PDF version of this note.

In Mark, Tuesday takes Chapter 11:20-33 and all of Chapters 12 and 13 - more than any other day of the last week of Jesus' life.

Tuesday begins with Jesus' response to the withered fig tree. Since verses 20-25 are part of the Mark Sandwich begun the previous day, my comments on these verses are included there.

Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

Click here for an easy to print or email Adobe PDF version of this note.

In Mark, Tuesday takes Chapter 11:20-33 and all of Chapters 12 and 13 - more than any other day of the last week of Jesus' life.

Tuesday begins with Jesus' response to the withered fig tree. Since verses 20-25 are part of the Mark Sandwich begun the previous day, my comments on these verses are included there.

Mark 11:12-25, Jesus' Last Week - Monday

Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

Click here for an easy to print or email Adobe PDF version of this note.

Having entered Jerusalem the day before, viewed the Temple, and then returned to Bethany late in the day, on what we now call Palm Sunday; Jesus returns to Jerusalem. And thus begins a most difficult day to interpret - Monday.

Verses 12 to 25 form what is called, "a Mark Sandwich." That is, we begin with one incident, which has a second incident, followed by a return to the first incident. In this case, we have:

• Jesus finds no figs on a tree and curses it; his disciples over hear his curse.
• Jesus disrupts access to the Temple and explains his actions; the chief priests and scribes keep looking for ways to kill Jesus.
• The next day, the fig tree is found withered to its roots; Jesus teaches about trusting God without hesitation and about praying.

Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

Click here for an easy to print or email Adobe PDF version of this note.

Having entered Jerusalem the day before, viewed the Temple, and then returned to Bethany late in the day, on what we now call Palm Sunday; Jesus returns to Jerusalem. And thus begins a most difficult day to interpret - Monday.

Verses 12 to 25 form what is called, "a Mark Sandwich." That is, we begin with one incident, which has a second incident, followed by a return to the first incident. In this case, we have:

• Jesus finds no figs on a tree and curses it; his disciples over hear his curse.
• Jesus disrupts access to the Temple and explains his actions; the chief priests and scribes keep looking for ways to kill Jesus.
• The next day, the fig tree is found withered to its roots; Jesus teaches about trusting God without hesitation and about praying.

John 18:1 -- 19:42, Good Friday

Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

Click here for an easy to print or email Adobe PDF version of this note.

A personal aside to begin with ...
I have stopped using this text for Good Friday as the history of anti-Jew sentiment which generations of Christians have read into/from the text means that the only acceptable reflection on the text is the bitter irony that the story of "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" has been used by the Christian Church to legitimate the sin of the world - scape-goating, brutalizing and killing Jews.

Click here to read my comments on Mark's text for Good Friday, Mark 15:1-47 

Malina and Rohrbaugh ("M&R" in notes below), Social-Science Commentary on the Gospel of John, provide the best background that I know of to understand this text as John meant it, and as his first readers would have understood it - within their social / cultural context. And, how we misread it from our own times. The following comments are totally based on their book. I highly recommend it.

A couple of key intrepretive points to begin ...

My Annual Rant About The Resurrection and Science

Argh!

Every year at this time, some well meaning preacher or pundit is quoted as saying something like:

• Science explains the "how" but religion explains the "why;" or,
• Easter happens in the hearts of Jesus' followers; or
• Resurrection happens whenever the followers of Jesus embody the love / message / passion / purpose of Jesus; or
• The resurrection story is a metaphor that explains what is "true" about life, not facts that explain what is "real;" or
• The resurrection is a story about hope triumphing over despair; life over death; etc., etc.

Argh!

Why is it that for 51 Sundays of the year, we talk about Jesus and God as though they are both actually, really real, factually existing, but suddenly on this most central of Sundays we go all soft and speak only of "meaning," "values," "purposes," etc.

Mark, Year B, Holy Saturday

Holy Saturday, Jesus Is Buried in a Tomb

Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

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Below are my detailed comments on everything Mark has to say about Holy Saturday - the Sabbath day that lies between Good Friday, the day of Jesus' death, and Easter Sunday, the day of Jesus' resurrection.