Episcopal Church of the Incarnation

West Point, Mississippi

The Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost [Proper 19B]

Isaiah 50.4-9a Psalm 116.1-8 James 3.1-12 Mark 8.27-38

Isaiah 50.4-9a

1) This lesson is taken from the second section of Isaiah (“Deutero-Isaiah”), which is written to exiles in Babylon, and thus comes after the time when the first 39 chapters of Isaiah were written (before the exile).

a) Deutero-Isaiah is more focused on restoration; the prophet is more optimistic of deliverance.

2) The lesson comes from one (the third) of the “Servant Poems” of Deutero-Isaiah.

a) The Servant Poems speak of the relationship between God and His people.

i) In this third poem, the suffering of the servant unites him with all Israel.

3) The verses in the lesson speak of the confidence of the servant.

a) A preferred translation in v. 4 is that the Lord has given the servant the tongue of a “disciple,” not a “teacher”.

i) A disciple is one who is taught, but then witnesses to the knowledge and wisdom imparted by his or her master.

(1) This is reinforced by the v. 5 alternative that it is the “word” of God which rouses the disciple, not God Himself.

b) A “face like flint” (v. 7) is a common image in prophetic literature (cf. Isa. 48.4; Jer. 1.8, 18; Ezek. 3.8-9; and compare Luke 9.51).

Psalm 116.1-8

1) An individual song of thanksgiving. The language of the psalm (including many Aramaic expressions) points to a late date of composition (post-exile).

a) In the Septuagint text tradition this psalm is divided into two psalms, with vv. 1-9 being psalm 114, and vv. 10-19 being psalm 115. (The Septuagint, or Greek version of the Old Testament, numbers the psalms differently.)

2) As structured here, the psalm reflects the psalmist’s distress, the Lord’s response, and the faith of the psalmist in his vow.

a) The psalmist refers repeatedly to the Name of the Lord.

i) The Name has power, which is why it is not pronounced.

(1) The Hebrew letter transliterated as YHWH are not pronounced, but rendered as “the Lord” (all capitals).

(2) Some Bibles (and in some cases our prayer book) do write out a phonetic Name of the Lord, but it is traditional not to pronounce this, but to say “the Lord”.

3) This psalm is often used in the propers for the feast of a martyr. In Jewish tradition, the psalm is thought to be a thanksgiving offered by Hezekiah after his recovery from illness.

a) The are many parallels between the language of the psalm and that found in Isaiah’s account (Isa. 38). Cf. 2 Kgs. 20.

James 3.1-12

1) James continues his sermon, teaching that we guard how we speak.

a) The prerogative to bless or curse is divine (see, e.g., Deut. 30.19). For humans to assume this prerogative is idolatrous.

2) The role of teacher is the early Church was important and honorable. (See, e.g., Acts 13.1; 1 Cor. 12.28; Eph. 4.11.)

a) Since teaching is effected through speech, James examines the dangers of speech.

3) James uses analogies from Greek literature (a ship and rudder, a horse and bridle) but switches to Jewsih usage when he refers to “hell” (v. 6) uses the Hebrew word “gehenna”. This word is otherwise only found in the New Testament in the synoptic gospels.

4) James names the four categories of animals species that are so classified in the Old Testament, in the same order (Gen. 9.2; Deut. 4.17-18; 1 Kgs. 4.33).

Mark 8.27-38

1) Peter confesses that Jesus is the Christ (8.27-30), immediately before the Transfiguration (9.2-8).

a) The placement is not accidental.

i) Peter confesses Jesus to be God’s Anointed, but wants Jesus to be the Anointed on human terms. He rebukes Jesus that the Anointed must not suffer and die.

ii) After rebuking Peter “”... you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things” 8.33), then Jesus takes Peter to the mountain where He is transfigured, where His divinity is confirmed by the voice of the Father.

(1) As human beings we cannot define what God’s plan will be!

(2) Peter tends to “get it” better than the other disciples, but then to mess up. His portrayal in Mark is as the ideal witness, not necessarily as the “best” disciple.

(a) This reflects that much of Mark is based on th etestimony of Peter.

2) Jesus clarifies that He is the Christ by making His first prediction of the Passion.

a) In the face of Peter’s rejection of the need for suffering, Jesus affirms that not only must the Messiah suffer, but that those who follow Him must each deny themselves and take up their own cross.

i) The denial of self is further specified:

(1) self-denial is necessary (8.34).

(2) losing one’s life for the gospel is salvific (8.35).

(3) the true self )identification with God) is far more valuable than any assumed good (8.36-37)

(4) there is a mutuality between how one relates to the Son of Man, and how this Son will relate to the disciple at the last judgment (8.38).

ii) As the master goes so must the disciple go.

3) It is very difficult to imagine early Christians, who looked to Peter as a figure of great authority, inventing a story in which this apostle is rebuked as “Satan”. The incident thus has a ring of authenticity.

a) Anyone who stands on the side of denying the passion, death and resurrection of the Messiah stands on the side of Satan. A false view of the Messiah is a temptation (cf. Mtt. 4.10).

b) A disciple is to lose his life for the “gospel”, i.e. for the Good News that the kingdom of heaven breaks into this world.