Psalm
124 – “What is the Lord had not been on our side
when people attacked us? . . . The waters would have engulfed us; a torrent
would have overwhelmed us” (124:2-4).
“Praise the Lord, who did not let their teeth
tear us apart! We escaped like a bird from a hunter’s trap. The trap is broken,
and we are free! Our help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth”
(124:6-8).
Psalm
125 – “As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the
Lord surrounds his people, now and forever” (125:1-2). We must take comfort in
the fact that even when the wicked do rule, their time will not last forever.
“O Lord, do good to those who are good, whose
hearts are in tune with you. But banish those who turn to crooked ways, O Lord.
Take them away with those who do evil” (125:4-5).
Psalm
126 – When we (the Jews) were permitted to return to
Jerusalem, “we laughed. . .we sang for joy” and the people around them noticed how happy they were for the great salvation
the Lord had given them. Do people notice the deep
happiness and peace our faith gives us today?
“Those who wept as they went out carrying the seed will come
back singing for joy as they bring in the harvest” (126:6).
Psalm
127 – “If the Lord does not build the house, the
work of the builders is useless, if the Lord does not protect the city, it does
no good for the sentries to stand guard” (127:1).
And
having children is a great joy; they are “like
arrows in a soldier’s hand. Happy is the man who has many such arrows. He will
never be defeated when he meets his enemies in the place of judgment” (127:5). I am not sure I understand the last phrase, but I get how we
can see our children as a way of defeating death.
Matthew 27 – Jesus is handed over to Pilate in the morning. Judas experiences
despair, a despair that seems like remorse for he says, “I have sinned in
betraying an innocent man to death” (27:4),
but he then goes off and kills himself rather than turning to God for
forgiveness. Priests use the silver Judas returned to buy a potter’s field.
Pilate questions Jesus and Jesus does not answer him
directly, nor does he answer the chief priests and leaders who also question
him. Pilate asks the people if they want Jesus released—it was customary to
release one imprisoned on this feast—but the people, incited by their leaders
(27:20) demand his death. Pilate seems disturbed by the baselessness of the
crowd’s hostility (27:23) and washes his hands according to a practice
described in Deuteronomy 21: 7-8. Early Christians saw
Jesus treatment here as foreshadowed by Isaiah 53: 7
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 it shearers is silent,
He
did not open his mouth.
Jesus is taken to the Praetorium, residence of
the Roman governor, clad in a scarlet cloak and crowned with thorns to mock his
claim of kingship. Simon, the
Cyrenian [Northern Africa], carries Jesus’ cross. The guards cast lots for his clothes. “If you are God’s Son, come down from
the cross” (27:40) – these words echo the temptation Christ had early on in the
desert. Also here both
of the men Jesus is crucified with, real revolutionaries or “bandits”, “abuse
him” along with the Roman soldiers.
Around noon, the sky goes dark—see Amos 8:9--and remains
dark for 3 hours. Around 3 o’clock in the afternoon, Jesus
cries out his last words, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (27:46
from Psalm 22). Jesus dies and immediately “the veil of the sanctuary is torn
in two from top to bottom (27:51). The earth shakes. The bodies of saints are
raised and appear to “many” (27:53).
The three women said to be in attendance are Mary Magdalene, Mary, the
mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the Zebedee brothers.
Jesus is buried in a tomb belonging to Joseph of Arimathea
and a guard posted (27:64). Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, the mother of
James and Joseph, keep watch too (27:61).
The Words of Jesus on the Cross Compared in the Gospels:
In Matthew and Mark: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34).
In Luke there are three statements:
- “Father forgive them, they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34 – not in oldest papyruses].
- “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43).
- “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit” (Luke 23:46).
In John:
-
“Woman, behold your son. .
.Behold your mother” (John 19:26).
-
“I thirst” (John 19:28).
-
“It is finished [or
accomplished]” (John 19:30).See my piece on this line in John:
http://catholicquaker.blogspot.com/2011/05/genesis-and-john.html
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