EASTER 3
Worship
Scripture Notes
For use with Common, Lutheran and Roman Catholic Lectionaries
In the three New Testament texts chosen for Easter 3, Series A, the message that God raised Jesus from the dead continues to be proclaimed in a variety of ways. In the two psalm readings there is, of course, no proclamation of the resurrection of Jesus. There is, however, in each psalm a strong affirmation of life as a gift of Yahweh.
Common:
Psalm 116:12-19
In this concluding portion of a typical Individual Hymn of Praise, the psalmist "offers the sacrifice of thanksgiving" to Yahweh, realizing that it is certainly inadequate as a response to the bountiful life that Yahweh has provided for the psalmist. Nevertheless, thanksgiving and praise to Yahweh is the greatest response that is possible for the psalmist, and this response is offered in the presence of the people assembled for worship.
It is virtually the same for us. The sacrifice of thanksgiving is the greatest response that we are able to make to God for what God has done for us in the resurrection of Jesus and in our own anticipated resurrection from the dead on the last day. For all of this, we thank and praise God.
Lutheran: Psalm 16
Roman Catholic: Psalm 16:1-2, 5, 7-11
In this beautiful psalm of praise, the psalmist promises Yahweh never to offer praise to any other deity. In return, the psalmist expects to be able to continue life, joy, and happiness forever. The expectations of the psalmist are sufficiently vague that "this worldly" or "other worldly" life, joy, and happiness are both possible interpretations. In the context of the Christian Easter season, our thoughts naturally center on resurrection and eternal life. Life here and now, however, is also important to us, and we should not fail to emphasize this during our Easter season.
Common:
Acts 2:14a, 36-41
Lutheran: Acts 2:14a, 36-47
The Revised Standard Version is greatly to be preferred over the Good News Bible for this text because of the theological interpretation in the Good News Bible translation of Acts 2:38. The interpretation of the GNB, "Each one of you must turn away from his sins and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, so that your sins will be forgiven" not only introduces sexist language unnecessarily with the use of "his" for the Greek "your," but also interprets the Greek "for the forgiveness of your sins" as "so that your sins will be forgiven." This gives the impression that when the believer repents and is baptized, that person's sins will be forgiven simply because of what the believer has done. This sounds quite mechanical, much like going to a physician to obtain an inoculation so that one will not have to worry about getting a life-threatening disease. The RSV is much to be preferred with its more literal "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins."
The propensity of the writers of the Gospel accounts, and of the Lukan writer repeatedly in Acts of Apostles, to remove the blame for the crucifixion of Jesus from the Romans (who with the support of a very small percentage of Jesus' own people who cooperated with them were the only ones who crucifed people in Palestine during the first century) to the Jews from all over the Roman Empire should be recognized in our use of this text, particularly in 2:36. Since, theologically, "our sins" caused the death of Jesus, and since historically the Romans crucified him, perhaps the best translation of the final expression in Acts 2:36 would be "this Jesus who was crucified. "This translation would provide the best proclamation theologically and historically, and it would be an appropriate Christian response during this season when Jews throughout the world are, with sadness, observing Yom Hashoah, a Day of Remembrance of the Holocaust.
Roman Catholic: Acts 2:14, 22-28
In this magnificent second chapter of Acts in which the Lukan writer took the Israelite festival of Pentecost and made it into a Christian festival, we see in the speech to the "Men of Israel" that the Lukan playwright composed for the Peter character in the drama ample evidence of the exegetical technique of this inspired writer. The technique used here involved an almost total disregard for the context and meaning of Psalm 16 in its earlier and continuing Israelite setting and a virtually absolute identification of Yahweh, Lord for Israelites, with Jesus, Lord for Christians. The Israelite psalmist had claimed that the presence of Yahweh had kept the psalmist from death and the grave, preserving the body of the psalmist (the holy one) from destruction and decay. What the Israelite psalmist had said about the psalmist's self the Lukan writer appropriated as the foresight of David, described now as a prophet, regarding Jesus, who is now idenitified as the Lord's Holy One. This type of exegesis is clearly a matter of taking a biblical text and making it say what you want it to say, with no respect for its earlier meaning as Scripture.
In addition, the Lukan playwright caused the Lukan Peter to indict the "Men of Israel" for the death of Jesus with the words, "you, by crucifying him, killed him by using the hands of non-Jewish men!" It is entirely to be expected, therefore, that devout Christians who have been unaware of the process involved in the development of the New Testament accounts and not sensitized to the kind of damage that this type of defamatory anti-Jewish polemic in the New Testament has caused to Jewish people for more than nineteen centuries will continue to state as a matter of historical fact that "the Jews killed Jesus." The essential portion of this Acts 2:14, 22-28 text is actually no more than the following excerpt from 2:14a, 22-24, 32:
"Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested by God by mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him - this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God - God raised up, having loosed the pangs of death because it was not possible for Jesus to be held
by death. God raised this Jesus from the dead, of which we are all witnesses." The other portions of this text, with their vicious anti-Jewish polemic and their arbitrary exegesis, actually detract from the essential confessional portions recounted above. For the greatest effectiveness of the essential confessional portions, we should read only these excerpts next Sunday.
Common:
1 Peter 1:17-23
Lutheran, Roman Catholic: 1 Peter 1:17-21
Here also the writer of 1 Peter provides a good summary of what was being proclaimed to Gentile background followers of Jesus late during the first century of the common era regarding atonement with God through the death and resurrection of Jesus. In its reference to "your futile way of living inherited from your fathers," Acts 2:18 is applicable today only among Christians whose parents were not Christians. For this reason, it is helpful to explain to those who hear 1 Peter texts that 1 Peter seems to have been written primarily to persons who were Gentile background first generation followers of Jesus.
Luke 24:13-35
In this well written Lukan account, we have our best biblical illustration of an Easter story sermon. The Lukan writer at first followed Mark 16:1-8 fairly closely in producing Luke 24:1-12, but doubled the Markan young man at the empty tomb to provide two male witnesses, and changed "Go to Galilee" to "Remember how he told you while lie was still in Galilee," so that everything associated with the resurrection of Jesus and the beginnings of the proclamation of the gospel could remain in the Greater Jerusalem area. Beyond 24:12, however, the Lukan writer composed a new Easter story sermon, drawing material from 1 Corinthians 15:5 for Luke 24:34 ("Indeed the Lord has been raised and has been seen by Simon") and putting special emphasis on how in the Torah and the Prophets the Christ event had been foreseen. In this Easter story sermon, the Lukan writer holds the interest of the audience and in the process of the sharing of the story proclaims that Jesus is indeed alive, that he can be seen but is not always recognized, that he is known most fully in the Eucharistic breaking of the bread, and that when the Torah and the Prophets are correctly interpreted they explain the significance of the Christ event. The story sermon continues beyond 24:13-35, and we are called to continue this Easter story as we, like the Lukan writer, proclaim the message with inspired creativity.
Common:
Psalm 116:12-19
In this concluding portion of a typical Individual Hymn of Praise, the psalmist "offers the sacrifice of thanksgiving" to Yahweh, realizing that it is certainly inadequate as a response to the bountiful life that Yahweh has provided for the psalmist. Nevertheless, thanksgiving and praise to Yahweh is the greatest response that is possible for the psalmist, and this response is offered in the presence of the people assembled for worship.
It is virtually the same for us. The sacrifice of thanksgiving is the greatest response that we are able to make to God for what God has done for us in the resurrection of Jesus and in our own anticipated resurrection from the dead on the last day. For all of this, we thank and praise God.
Lutheran: Psalm 16
Roman Catholic: Psalm 16:1-2, 5, 7-11
In this beautiful psalm of praise, the psalmist promises Yahweh never to offer praise to any other deity. In return, the psalmist expects to be able to continue life, joy, and happiness forever. The expectations of the psalmist are sufficiently vague that "this worldly" or "other worldly" life, joy, and happiness are both possible interpretations. In the context of the Christian Easter season, our thoughts naturally center on resurrection and eternal life. Life here and now, however, is also important to us, and we should not fail to emphasize this during our Easter season.
Common:
Acts 2:14a, 36-41
Lutheran: Acts 2:14a, 36-47
The Revised Standard Version is greatly to be preferred over the Good News Bible for this text because of the theological interpretation in the Good News Bible translation of Acts 2:38. The interpretation of the GNB, "Each one of you must turn away from his sins and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, so that your sins will be forgiven" not only introduces sexist language unnecessarily with the use of "his" for the Greek "your," but also interprets the Greek "for the forgiveness of your sins" as "so that your sins will be forgiven." This gives the impression that when the believer repents and is baptized, that person's sins will be forgiven simply because of what the believer has done. This sounds quite mechanical, much like going to a physician to obtain an inoculation so that one will not have to worry about getting a life-threatening disease. The RSV is much to be preferred with its more literal "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins."
The propensity of the writers of the Gospel accounts, and of the Lukan writer repeatedly in Acts of Apostles, to remove the blame for the crucifixion of Jesus from the Romans (who with the support of a very small percentage of Jesus' own people who cooperated with them were the only ones who crucifed people in Palestine during the first century) to the Jews from all over the Roman Empire should be recognized in our use of this text, particularly in 2:36. Since, theologically, "our sins" caused the death of Jesus, and since historically the Romans crucified him, perhaps the best translation of the final expression in Acts 2:36 would be "this Jesus who was crucified. "This translation would provide the best proclamation theologically and historically, and it would be an appropriate Christian response during this season when Jews throughout the world are, with sadness, observing Yom Hashoah, a Day of Remembrance of the Holocaust.
Roman Catholic: Acts 2:14, 22-28
In this magnificent second chapter of Acts in which the Lukan writer took the Israelite festival of Pentecost and made it into a Christian festival, we see in the speech to the "Men of Israel" that the Lukan playwright composed for the Peter character in the drama ample evidence of the exegetical technique of this inspired writer. The technique used here involved an almost total disregard for the context and meaning of Psalm 16 in its earlier and continuing Israelite setting and a virtually absolute identification of Yahweh, Lord for Israelites, with Jesus, Lord for Christians. The Israelite psalmist had claimed that the presence of Yahweh had kept the psalmist from death and the grave, preserving the body of the psalmist (the holy one) from destruction and decay. What the Israelite psalmist had said about the psalmist's self the Lukan writer appropriated as the foresight of David, described now as a prophet, regarding Jesus, who is now idenitified as the Lord's Holy One. This type of exegesis is clearly a matter of taking a biblical text and making it say what you want it to say, with no respect for its earlier meaning as Scripture.
In addition, the Lukan playwright caused the Lukan Peter to indict the "Men of Israel" for the death of Jesus with the words, "you, by crucifying him, killed him by using the hands of non-Jewish men!" It is entirely to be expected, therefore, that devout Christians who have been unaware of the process involved in the development of the New Testament accounts and not sensitized to the kind of damage that this type of defamatory anti-Jewish polemic in the New Testament has caused to Jewish people for more than nineteen centuries will continue to state as a matter of historical fact that "the Jews killed Jesus." The essential portion of this Acts 2:14, 22-28 text is actually no more than the following excerpt from 2:14a, 22-24, 32:
"Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested by God by mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him - this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God - God raised up, having loosed the pangs of death because it was not possible for Jesus to be held
by death. God raised this Jesus from the dead, of which we are all witnesses." The other portions of this text, with their vicious anti-Jewish polemic and their arbitrary exegesis, actually detract from the essential confessional portions recounted above. For the greatest effectiveness of the essential confessional portions, we should read only these excerpts next Sunday.
Common:
1 Peter 1:17-23
Lutheran, Roman Catholic: 1 Peter 1:17-21
Here also the writer of 1 Peter provides a good summary of what was being proclaimed to Gentile background followers of Jesus late during the first century of the common era regarding atonement with God through the death and resurrection of Jesus. In its reference to "your futile way of living inherited from your fathers," Acts 2:18 is applicable today only among Christians whose parents were not Christians. For this reason, it is helpful to explain to those who hear 1 Peter texts that 1 Peter seems to have been written primarily to persons who were Gentile background first generation followers of Jesus.
Luke 24:13-35
In this well written Lukan account, we have our best biblical illustration of an Easter story sermon. The Lukan writer at first followed Mark 16:1-8 fairly closely in producing Luke 24:1-12, but doubled the Markan young man at the empty tomb to provide two male witnesses, and changed "Go to Galilee" to "Remember how he told you while lie was still in Galilee," so that everything associated with the resurrection of Jesus and the beginnings of the proclamation of the gospel could remain in the Greater Jerusalem area. Beyond 24:12, however, the Lukan writer composed a new Easter story sermon, drawing material from 1 Corinthians 15:5 for Luke 24:34 ("Indeed the Lord has been raised and has been seen by Simon") and putting special emphasis on how in the Torah and the Prophets the Christ event had been foreseen. In this Easter story sermon, the Lukan writer holds the interest of the audience and in the process of the sharing of the story proclaims that Jesus is indeed alive, that he can be seen but is not always recognized, that he is known most fully in the Eucharistic breaking of the bread, and that when the Torah and the Prophets are correctly interpreted they explain the significance of the Christ event. The story sermon continues beyond 24:13-35, and we are called to continue this Easter story as we, like the Lukan writer, proclaim the message with inspired creativity.
