The Synoptic Gospels: A Journey Into the Kingdom

Year A

The Easter Season continues with no readings from the synoptic Gospels. The other readings for the Sixth Sunday, though, do touch on our studies.

Acts 17:22–31(RCL and BCP) In a New Testament lesson, the Apostle Paul visits the seat of learning in Antiquity—the City of Athens—and addresses the gathered intellectuals while standing before the Areopagus. In English, the term is translated as “Mars Hill,” so we might think of it as the public square.

This scene, written by the author of Luke-Acts (the only gentile writer in the Bible), places Paul in a scene reminiscent of Socrates on trial. To the knowledgeable Greek reader of Luke’s day, the passage preserves undertones of risk and confrontation over matters concerning the divine. Well might they have known the history of what happened to Socrates some centuries earlier, and on first encounter with this text, worry about what might happen to Paul, hero of Acts of the Apostles.

We cited this passage in a footnote to Volume I of the Journey, while studying the Epiphany. The term “epiphany” means spiritual revelation. In Matthew, the wise men from the East represent the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ to the Gentiles at the time of his birth. Paul continues that course decades later as he proclaims the Christian message to the men of Athens.

Click here to go to Volume I, pages 121–127 of the Journey.

1 Peter 3:8–18 (BCP) The second lesson comes from the first letter of Peter. It calls on the reader not to repay evil for evil, nor abuse for abuse. We cited this passage when studying the Great Antitheses from Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount. These admonitions begin by reciting conventional pearls of wisdom, then expand upon them exponentially, revolutionizing the disciples’ roles and moving them from compliance with established standards to a radicalized set of kingdom values. It is not always our role to assert our “rights” as we understand them, but sometimes to respond to a higher, more sacrificial calling. As the commentary shows, it is not something that is even possible to do all the time. But, we must try.

Click here to go to Volume II, pages 287–298 of the Journey.

As through most of the season, the Fifth Sunday in Easter does not offer a text from the synoptic Gospels. Even so, the Journey series has commented on the gospel for the day, found in both the RCL and BCP lectionaries.

John 14:1-14

The gospel is from John’s account of Jesus’ last meal with his disciples. The disciples, in distress and confusion about what is approaching, ask Jesus where he is going and what will occur. He responds with metaphor, so often the case in the Fourth Gospel.

We quoted this passage in an appendix to Volume II and invited the reader to consider whether God’s saving action is universal or limited. As you can see, how we answer that question could well affect the way we live.

Click here to view what Volume II has to say about the last meal with the disciples. The text is located at pages 436-440.

The Fourth Sunday in Easter does not offer a text from the synoptic Gospels. However, the Journey series has commented on one of the day’s readings. It is used in both the RCL and BCP lectionaries. In fact, it is the same text used for the Fourth Sunday in Easter, Psalm 23.

Isn’t it interesting how the great passages in the biblical witness can tell us much about our faith, both during our most penitent season—the season of Lent—and during our most celebratory season—the season of Easter?

Psalm 23

The appointed psalm for the day is the well-known twenty-third psalm. It contains lyrical praise and thanksgiving offered to the shepherd who makes his sheep lie down in green pastures by the still waters, and who guides them through the valley of the shadow of death.

We considered this model Old Testament prayer as we studied a model New Testament prayer in Volume II of the Journey. The Lord’s Prayer, found at Matthew 6:9–15, has Jesus teaching his disciples to pray. We see how one thought is spoken (for example, “Thy kingdom come.”), and how the next thought elaborates on the meaning of the first (for example, “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”).

Just as the sheep of Psalm 23 are not left wanting because the shepherd is making them to lie down in green pastures, the will of God is being done on earth as it is in heaven, because his kingdom is arriving.

Click here to view what Volume II has to say about how the Lord’s Prayer follows the model of the twenty-third psalm. The text is located at pages 316–319.

The Fourth Sunday in Lent does not offer texts from the synoptic Gospels. However, the Journey series has commented on two of the day’s readings as part of our synoptic studies. They are found in both the RCL and BCP lectionaries.

1 Samuel 16:1-13

The Old Testament reading comes from the founding era of the kingdom of Israel. Saul, the first king, has fallen out of favor with God. So God must dispatch his prophet, Samuel, to anoint Saul’s successor.

Samuel comes to the home of Jesse, and is guided by the Spirit in choosing the king from among Jesse’s sons. To Samuel’s surprise, it is not the tall, strong, older sons, but the young boy, David, who was brought to him from tending the sheep, almost as an afterthought.

The Gospel according to Saint Luke, set a thousand years later, again focuses on shepherds. Unlike modern perceptions, which tend to idealize pastoral life, the shepherds of Jesus’ time and place were marginal characters, located on the social scale somewhere between the lowest laborers and petty thieves. It is to those types of people that God chooses to announce the arrival of the Savior.

Click here to view what Volume I of the Journey has to say about the Birth of Jesus, according to Luke, and how that experience takes us back to the anointing of David in the Old Order. The text is located at pages 111-119.

Psalm 23

The appointed psalm for the day is the best known of all-the twenty-third psalm. It contains lyrical praise and thanksgiving offered to the shepherd who makes his sheep lie down in green pastures by the still waters, and who guides them through the valley of the shadow of death.

We considered this model Old Testament prayer as we studied a model New Testament prayer in Volume II of the Journey. The Lord’s Prayer, found at Matthew 6:9-15, has Jesus teaching his disciples to pray. We see how one thought is spoken (for example, “Thy kingdom come”), and how the next thought elaborates on the meaning of the first (for example, “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”).

Just as the sheep of Psalm 23 are not left wanting because the shepherd is making them to lie down in green pastures, the will of God is being done on earth as it is in Heaven, because his kingdom is arriving.

Click here to view what Volume II has to say about how the Lord’s Prayer follows the model of the twenty-third psalm. The text is located at pages 316-319.

The Third Sunday in Lent offers similar readings between the RCL and BCP lectionaries. We have not commented on the gospel passage in the Journey series, which is found in John. However, we have considered the epistle and Old Testament passages in Volume II of the Journey.

Romans 5:1–11

The reading from the Epistle for today comes from Paul’s letter to the Romans. We touch on it in Volume II of the Journey as we outline the well-developed theories around the lost Q source containing sayings of Jesus. The unyielding ethical content of the Q sayings, carried forward to our own day in Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount and Luke’s Sermon on the Plain, place demands on us which we are obligated to strive to fulfill. Paul’s letter to the Romans reminds us of the presence of God’s grace in our lives, by which we are empowered to seek to do his will, and forgiven when we fall short.

Click here to view what Volume II of the Journey has to say about Romans 5:1–11. View the actual page excerpts from Volume II in PDF format. The text is located at pages 8–11.

Exodus 17:1-7

The Old Testament reading comes from the children of Israel’s time in the dessert. Suffering from thirst, they complain to Moses, seeking relief. Moses in turn cries out to God for aid. In sight of the elders of Israel, Moses, at God’s command, strikes a rock on Mount Horeb with his staff. The waters came forth, quenching the people’s thirst. The place is then named Massah and Meribah, memorializing how the people quarreled and tested the Lord. The name is recalled because of their failure, even more than because of God’s graciousness.

We discussed this passage along with the testing of Jesus on the First Sunday in Lent. The stories there echo the divine exchange of Exodus between God and the children of Israel. But in the gospel, unlike the Old Testament, God’s servant fulfills the commands given, and prevails against the forces that would separate him and his people from the Father. Where they failed in the ancient days, Jesus succeeds in the gospel.

Click here to view what Volume II of the Journey has to say about Exodus 7:1–7. View the actual page excerpts from Volume II in PDF format. The text is located at pages 67–71.

The First Sunday in Lent offers several readings upon which we have commented in the Journey series. There are slight variations between the RCL and BCP lectionaries.

Matthew 4:1–11

Our two lectionaries share the gospel reading. Matthew 4:1–11 provides the first gospel’s version of the testing of Jesus.

In the Journey, we initially explored Mark’s version of the testing. It is the shortest of the three texts. We used it to set the elements of the story, and then to shift toward the longer renderings.

Second, we turned to Luke’s version. There, we focused on the changing roles that the figure of Satan plays in the Bible—beginning with the simple role of an adversary opposing the players on the biblical stage, and concluding with Satan being God’s enemy.

Finally, in Matthew, we explored the three tests in detail. The tests Jesus undergoes are not merely fantastic stories of an otherworldly encounter; they also serve to echo the divine exchange between God and the children of Israel, as told in the story of the Exodus. But in Matthew, unlike the Old Testament, God’s servant fulfills the commands given, and prevails against the forces that would separate him and his people from the Father.

Our commentary on Matthew draws comparisons with Luke. In both versions, Jesus resists the temptation to be a strictly economic messiah, or a strictly religious one, or a strictly political one. This leaves us with the question: What kind of Messiah will he be?

Click here to view what Volume II of the Journey has to say about the testing of Jesus. The text is located at pages 61–76.

Click here to download the actual page excerpts from Volume II in PDF format.

Romans 5:12–19 (RCL); Romans 5:12–19 (20-21) (BCP)

While the readings from the Epistle for the First Sunday in Lent differ slightly between the RCL and BCP lectionaries, both versions find a home in Volume II of the Journey. There, we consider what it means for Jesus to become the second Adam, a new creation in whom the free gift of grace far exceeds the first Adam’s sin of trespass.

Click here to view what Volume II of the Journey has to say about Romans 5:12–21. The text is located at pages 36–37.

Click here to download the actual page excerpts from Volume II in PDF format.

Genesis 2:4b–9, 15–17, 25–3:7

The Old Testament reading for today brings us back to the creation of the world and the fall of man. The great OT myth—spiritually true, if not scientifically precise—tells how we begin in a state of grace, and then fall into our shared human condition so plagued with sin and suffering. Yet, we know from the other readings today that God makes provision for us. He restores us to a state of blessedness and becomes the source of our healing.

We touch on this great passage from Genesis in Volume I of the Journey.

Click here to view what Volume I has to say about the dust from which we are made, and to which we will return. The Genesis reference is found in the final question of the text, the whole of which is located at pages 198–200 of Volume I.

Click here to download the actual page excerpts from Volume I in PDF format.

Ash Wednesday brings us out of Epiphany, the season of lights, and into a time to confront the inner darkness. We begin the forty days of Lent by acknowledging our sins, and turning to God in repentance, seeking his forgiveness.

Matthew 6:1–6,16–21

Matthew offers the same gospel reading every Ash Wednesday. We have studied all of it in the Journey series, though its segments fall in separate places. We will also follow that practice here.

Verses 1–4: The first segments of the gospel concern the deeds of righteousness, reinterpreting the traditional Jewish practices of almsgiving, prayer and fasting. Jesus’ opening injunction, found in verse 1, calls us to avoid making a show of our pious acts. He moves us away from image—oriented religious observance to the substance of following God’s call.

Our first example is almsgiving. Providing for the poor should be done privately, without drawing undue attention to ourselves. Even so, we must also be aware of the tension between giving privately, as a way to avoid show, and being instructed not to hide our light under a bushel.

Click here to view what Volume II of the Journey has to say in introducing the deeds of righteousness, and about the giving of alms. The passage interprets Matthew 6:1–4. The text is located at pages 305–312.

Click here to download the actual page excerpts from Volume II in PDF format.

Verses 5–6: The passage continues with the practice of prayer. Jesus encourages private prayer, in communion with God, not public displays of piety. The Journey commentary explores some very recent examples of people rejecting Jesus’ direction, which calls into question how and when public prayer is to be avoided or offered.

Click here to view what Volume II of the Journey has to say about the practice of prayer, interpreting Matthew 6:5–8. The text is located at pages 312–316.

Click here to download the actual page excerpts from Volume II in PDF format.

Verses 16–18: Here we encounter fasting, the third deed of righteousness. Fasting was an acted–out prayer of lamentation. As practiced by Jesus’ Jewish contemporaries, typically it was accompanied by visual cues, such as ashes and sackcloth. Jesus encourages his followers not to make a show, but to fast without drawing attention to themselves. In the Journey, we also consider modern fasting practices.

Click here to view what Volume II of the Journey has to say about fasting, interpreting Matthew 6:16–18. The text is located at pages 334–336.

Click here to download the actual page excerpts from Volume II in PDF format

Verses 19–21: The gospel theme now shifts toward other aspects of Christian practice, as Jesus directs us how to live. He has turned our attention away from the negative (how not to practice piety), through the corrective (how to practice piety), and now toward the productive (how we are to store up true treasure). We see that human stores of wealth are vulnerable, but heavenly stores are safe. We further consider that this distinction between the concrete and the abstract is an example of the greater conversation about what is real and what is not. We even cite sources such as Plato and modern physicists!

Click here to view what Volume II of the Journey has to say about treasures, interpreting Matthew 6:19–21. The text is located at pages 337–340.

Click here to download the actual page excerpts from Volume II in PDF format.

2 Corinthians 5:20b–6:10

This epistle reading juxtaposes Christ’s sinlessness with the need to confront our own sinful nature. This is an appropriate reading with which to begin the penitential season of Lent. We touch ever so lightly on the epistle for today in Volume I of the Journey, where we study the baptism of Jesus, according to Mark. In questioning why Jesus would need to be baptized, we considered 2 Cor. 5:21, Paul’s reference to Jesus not knowing sin. If there is no sin, is baptism necessary? If so, why?

Click here to view what Volume I of the Journey has to say about 2 Corinthians 5:21. The text is located at pages 203–205 of Volume I.

Click here to download the actual page excerpts from Volume I in PDF format.

The Gospel for the Third Sunday after the Epiphany proclaims the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, as told by Saint Matthew. The reading is the same in both the RCL and BCP lectionaries.

Matthew 4:12-23

Matthew’s twelve-verse passage is interpreted over three separate sections of Volume II of the Journey. We examine them separately here, as well.

Verses 12-17: Our first installment focuses on the significance of Galilee to the opening of Jesus’ ministry. We read Matthew against the backdrop of his principal source, Mark’s gospel. The earlier account contains a concise proclamation that the kingdom of God has come near. Matthew revises Mark’s language to speak of the kingdom of Heaven. Like a telescope, Matthew starts at Mark’s sharply focused beginning to look more expansively upon the greater world. The prophet Isaiah is invoked, the memory brought forward from him that God is not only the God of the Jews; he is the God of the Gentiles as well. Those who sat in darkness have seen a great light. It now illuminates Galilee, a physical and cultural crossroads connecting the ancient near East to the world around it.

Click here to view what Volume II of the Journey has to say about Matthew 4:12-17. The text is located at pages 90-95.

Click here to download the actual page excerpts from Volume II in PDF format.

Verses 18-22: In the second installment, Matthew’s Jesus calls his first followers. Given the similarity between this passage and its Markan source, we used Matthew in the Journey as a platform from which to begin our acquaintance with Jesus’ disciples. Peter, James, and John, the best known of the twelve, will be present at the Transfiguration, and at other critical moments of Jesus’ life. Andrew, who is also named in this passage, is mentioned less often in the Synoptics than the other three. However, he figures prominently in the Gospel according to St. John. We reviewed the tradition of Andrew serving as missionary to the savage Scythians, and how his martyrdom models courage.

Click here to view what Volume II of the Journey has to say about Matthew 4:18-22. The text is located at pages 109-111.

Click here to download the actual page excerpts from Volume II in PDF format.

Verse 23 (continuing through verse 25): The third installment goes a couple of verses beyond today’s gospel reading. It begins with Jesus teaching, preaching, and healing in Galilee. This three-part mission extends to the life of the church today. As the passage continues, we see people from all around coming to Jesus and following him. Points to ponder include the separation of Jesus and his followers from the synagogue-a later experience implied, rather than expressed, in the text. The irony is that this sad separation begins even though Jesus’ overall mission, and that of Matthew’s church in later days, will rapidly grow to encompass those on the outside. We also draw on sources from our own time to consider how such a phenomenon of exponential growth occurs. How does the reputation of one man spread like wildfire, so that people from all over come to see him? Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point provides a modern cultural reference to help us understand this phenomenon. It also contains the seeds of a challenge to us in carrying out the Christian mission of evangelism.

Click here to view what Volume II of the Journey has to say about Matthew 4:23-25. The text is located at pages 148-153.

Click here to download the actual page excerpts from Volume II in PDF format.

Isaiah 9:1-4

The RCL Old Testament reading for the day is quoted in the same section of the Journey series where Matthew 4:12-17 is considered. Click to the above link to see what the Journey has to say about Isaiah.

The RCL and the BCP share virtually the same texts this week, though the RCL goes a little bit further both into Psalm 40 and into the Gospel according to Saint John. Given that there is no reading from the Synoptics today, we take a more oblique approach to the gospel text for this blog entry.

John 1:29-42 (RCL); John 1:29-41 (BCP)

John’s Gospel introduces a different tradition around the baptism of Jesus than we see in other sources. Here, we do not focus on the event itself, but on John the Baptist’s reflections upon it.  He declares its meaning to his audience as he contrasts baptism by water with baptism by the Spirit. The passage offers illumination, rather than elaboration, on what John the Baptist, and perhaps John the Evangelist speaking through him, understands about the event. It heralds the coming of the Lamb of God, the descent of the Spirit like a dove, the revelation of the Son of God.

In the Journey, we examined John the evangelist’s baptismal story by focusing on its contrasts to the Synoptic tradition. We see that the baptism of Jesus is a historical event requiring a major interpretive effort by each of the four canonical evangelists. Each must come to grips with what that baptism means for his own time, place, and community. Therefore, we approach today’s gospel through our interpretation of Luke 3:21-22.

Click here to view what Volume I of the Journey has to say about John 1:29-34, a portion of today’s gospel reading. The text is located at pages 208-212.

Click here to download the actual page excerpts from Volume I in PDF format.

The RCL and the BCP share the same texts from the gospel, Acts, and the Old Testament this week.  As occurs every year, the First Sunday after the Epiphany commemorates the baptism of Jesus.

Matthew 3:13-17

Today’s gospel offers a good opportunity to consider the Synoptic tradition in all its variations.  At pages 203-212 of Volume I of the Journey, we study Mark’s, then Matthew’s, and then Luke’s versions of the baptism. Each is different from the other, and each has its own message to give.

For those of you who own copies of the Journey series, this would be a good time to pull them out. For those of you who do not, it would be a good time to acquire them, as this is the precise type of episode for which the series was written.

In Matthew’s version, which we consider during Year A, the issue of why Jesus had to be baptized is addressed. This very same question is left completely shrouded in mystery by Mark, and Matthew makes it only slightly less obscure. Jesus, in dialogue with John the Baptist, ascribes the importance of the event to the fulfillment of all righteousness. We are left to work out for ourselves precisely what that means. Our Journey text offers some suggestions.

Click here to view what Volume I of the Journey has to say about Matthew 3:13-17. The text is located at pages 205-208.

Click here to download the actual page excerpts from Volume I in PDF format.

Isaiah 42:1-9

The Old Testament reading for the day is quoted in part and receives some commentary in the same section of the Journey series where Matthew is considered.  Click the above links to see what the Journey has to say about Isaiah.