NEW TESTAMENT 1 Thessalonians 3: 9 - 13 (RCL)

1The 3:9 (NRSV) How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy that we feel before our God because of you? 10 Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you face to face and restore whatever is lacking in your faith.
11 Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you. 12 And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you. 13 And may he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.


1 Thessalonians 3: 12 - 4: 2 (Roman Catholic)

1The 3:12 (NRSV) And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you. 13 And may he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. 4:1 Finally, brothers and sisters, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus that, as you learned from us how you ought to live and to please God (as, in fact, you are doing), you should do so more and more. 2 For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.

Notes h/t/

During the many years of wars that took place after the death of the Great Alexander (in 323 BC), only one man was successfully able to rule (and eventually also to call himself King of) Alexander's homeland itself - Macedonia. The man's name was Cassander. After eliminating his rivals, becoming guardian of the toddler King (Alex IV), and securing the loyalty of the nobility under his rule, Cassander needed to strengthen his future hopes at claiming the throne. To do this, he married the only surviving member of the Royal Bloodline, a daughter of Philip the Great, and half-sister to Great Alexander. The woman's name was Thessalonike. They married in 316 BC.

In 317 BC, when Thessalonike and her stepmother (Cassander's last rivals) were beseiged for a year, the future King began making plans for his new country. Cassander sent his troops to strengthen old cities and to build new ones in strategic places. The most important new city, in the most strategic location, was just being finished when Cassander finally took Thessalonike as his captive, and then as his bride. Perhaps as a wedding present, he named the new city after her.

Cassander built Thessalonica on the site of an ancient Thracian settlement called Therme (which means ‘hot’). The site was especially valuable because of several choice features that had to do with its location, not the least of which was a large natural harbor, deep at the shoreline, where Cassander used to increase trade with the inland areas, and for basing a sizeable portion of his fleet. Using both Macedonian and Athenian architects, Cassander gave the old village gates, walls, a fortress, temples, a gym, stadium, theater, and all the special features necessary to be called a city in the world of their day.

The new city grew in importance and prospered, barring periods of conflict, for over a century. When the Romans finally occupied all of Greece (after their second invasion, in 168) they soon noticed the perfect location and harbor of Thessalonica, and made it the capital of their new province. By 140 a new Roman road, the Via Egnatia, was built running right past the city, connecting the traffic of land trade and armies between two major parts of the Mediterranean seas. The Romans kept peace, and the city grew in size and in (relative) prosperity. Italians, Jews and Macedonian-Egyptians all moved to the city, to share opportunities, and wealth (such as it was)….

In the 83rd year after Augustus’ rule began, his nephew Claudius was on the throne, and a new type of religion was introducing itself to the West. In January of 51 AD, two Jews from Palestine, calling themselves followers of “the Christ”, walked into Thessalonica. In that cosmopolitan city, as in so many others, Paul and Silas would manage to turn that whole world upside down… for three months!


h/t http://bible.org/seriespage

“Night and day” does not mean once at night and once in the morning nor does it mean that all night and all day they did nothing but pray. It means they prayed during the night and during the day, i.e., regularly, consistently, and in earnest.65

“Complete” is the Greek karartizo. It means “to fit together or adjust, restore, repair, equip.

“What is lacking” is the Greek husterema, “deficiency, what is behind.” It brings out an important principle. Our faith and our knowledge, application, and faith in the faith never reaches a point of perfection. There is always room for improvement and growth.





GOSPEL Luke 21: 25 - 36 (RCL)
Luke 21: 25 - 28, 34 - 36 (Roman Catholic)

Luke 21:25 (NRSV) "There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. 26 People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 Then they will see "the Son of Man coming in a cloud' with power and great glory. 28 Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."
29 Then he told them a parable: "Look at the fig tree and all the trees; 30 as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. 31 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. 32 Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. 33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
34 "Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day catch you unexpectedly, 35 like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. 36 Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man."

h/t http://montreal.anglican.org/comments/archive/cadv1l.shtml

Darkness day and night was considered a sign of the coming of divine judgement:


the “Son of Man” (v. 27), the ideal human, Christ, will come from heaven (“in a cloud”, a symbol of divine presence, as at the Transfiguration) with power to control events. Then “redemption” (v. 28), God’s acts of freeing his chosen people, will be near.


do not be so “weighed down” (v. 34) with day-to-day earthy matters that you are unprepared for the final call (“that day”). It will be for all those who survive all disasters (v. 35). Pray that God may give you the strength to resist all evils, so that you may “stand before” (v. 36) Christ, be deemed worthy by him.

“adorned with beautiful stones”: The second Temple was begun after the return from exile (c. 520 BC), and was modest. Herod began construction of the third Temple in 20 BC; it was finished in 63 AD, and destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD at the end of the Jewish revolt. It was still under construction in Jesus’ day. The stones were some 11 m long x 5.5 m wide x 3.6 m deep. The Temple was begun by Herod the Great


Usually, however, the reference is simply to the coming of the Son of Man or Christ as Lord which, like the coming of the Kingdom of God, the Day of Judgement, and the resurrection of the dead, was expected in the not too far distant future, at the end of the present era.

NEW TESTAMENT Revelation 1: 4b - 8 (RCL, C of E)
Revelation 1: 5 - 8 (Roman Catholic)

Reve 1:4 (NRSV) Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
7 Look! He is coming with the clouds;
every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him;
and on his account all the tribes of the earth will wail.
So it is to be. Amen.
8 "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.

Notes h/t http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/BEpChristtheKing.htm

The formal framework was a structure within which to include major emphases and significant themes, especially those pertaining to the letter which followed. This is certainly the case here. It is no casual greeting. It is no ordinary grace and peace, but grace and peace from a special source. John is wishing his readers grace and peace from God. It is, in fact, more complex. John describes God as "The one who is", an allusion to the Old Testament tradition in Exodus according to which God interpreted his name as meaning: "I am who I am".

Then, as now, this description opens a range of possibilities. It was a way that some non Jews also loved to speak of their gods. It evokes a sense of the Being who is beyond and within all being. The two additional descriptions, "The one who was and the coming one", give a dimension of time. If "the one who is" invites us to think of the here and now and to contemplate the spatial dimensions, the terms, "the one who was" and "the one who is to come", evoke a sense of time and timelessness: in the beginning - and in the end: God; and in the midst of life: God. This is all embracing, combining a sense of origin with a sense of destiny and at the same time a sense of presence.

GOSPEL John 18: 33 - 37 (all)

John 18:33 (NRSV) Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" 34 Jesus answered, "Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?" 35 Pilate replied, "I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?" 36 Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here." 37 Pilate asked him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice."

Note the Roman Catholic lectionary omits the first part of v. 33.

Notes h/t //montreal.anglican.org

Pilate goes inside the praetorium and asks Jesus: are you the leader of a revolutionary movement? In return, Jesus asks him: Is this question your idea, based on what you have heard, or did others put you up to it? Pilate shows his scorn for Jews; the religious authorities seek your death, but what grounds are there for killing you

Jesus puts into words the dilemma he has been in throughout his ministry: though conscious of an absolute authority, and of Davidic descent, he has known that to assert his authority by force would ruin the purpose for which he has come

Pilate’s suspicion of the high priests is already apparent

Pilate was prefect of Judea from 26 to 36 AD

NEW TESTAMENT Hebrews 10: 11 - 14 (15 - 18) 19 - 25 (RCL, C of E)
Hebrews 10: 11 - 18 (Can. BAS)
Hebrews 10: 11 - 14, 18 (Roman Catholic)

Hebr 10:11 (NRSV) And every priest stands day after day at his service, offering again and again the same sacrifices that can never take away sins. 12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, "he sat down at the right hand of God," 13 and since then has been waiting "until his enemies would be made a footstool for his feet." 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. 15 And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying,
16 "This is the covenant that I will make with them
after those days, says the Lord
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds,"
17 he also adds,
"I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more."
18 Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.
19 Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Notes h/t montreal.anglican.org

The author has told us how much greater is Christ’s sacrifice of himself than the annual sacrifices of the high priest on the Day of Atonement. Now he says that what any priest offered daily in sacrificial ritual for the forgiveness of sins was worthless, unlike Christ’s “single sacrifice” (v. 12): after Jesus died and rose, he became king. (Kings “sat down”, but priests stood.) Since that time, he has been awaiting the final defeat of his “enemies”

The sense here is foreshadow, rather than the Platonic heavenly-earthly contrast in 8:5 (“a sanctuary that is a sketch and shadow of the heavenly one”). The “good things to come” will come through Christ.

The Day of Atonement rituals reminded worshippers of their sins, but did not erase them. This statement of the inefficacy of the annual sacrifices contradicts the belief expressed in Jubilees 5:17-18. But is not clear whether it is God or the worshipper who remembers the sins


sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings”: These terms are probably meant to cover the four main types of sacrifice: respectively peace offerings, cereal offerings, holocausts, and sin offerings (including guilt offerings)

GOSPEL Mark 13: 1 - 8 (RCL, C of E)

Mark 13:1 (NRSV) As he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, "Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!" 2 Then Jesus asked him, "Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down."
3 When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, 4 "Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?" 5 Then Jesus began to say to them, "Beware that no one leads you astray. 6 Many will come in my name and say, "I am he!' and they will lead many astray. 7 When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. 8 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs.

Notes h/t montreal.anglican.org

he and his first four disciples visit the Mount of Olives – a place mentioned in Zechariah 14:4 as being connected with events at the end of the era. They ask him: when will the Temple (“this”, v. 4) be destroyed? How will we know that the end of the era is near? Jesus gives them three indicators:
• false claimants to being God’s agent of renewal will appear, claiming “I am he!” (v. 6);
• international political conflicts (v. 8a) will occur, as will
• natural disasters.

Verses 3-37: On the end of the era. These verses are known as the little apocalypse.

The Mount of Olives is to the east of Jerusalem, across the Kidron valley.

Mark 13: 24 - 32 (Can. BAS, Roman Catholic)

Mark 13: 24 (NRSV) "But in those days, after that suffering,
the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light,
25 and the stars will be falling from heaven,
and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.
26 Then they will see "the Son of Man coming in clouds' with great power and glory. 27 Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.
28 "From the fig tree learn its lesson as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. 29 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. 30 Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. 31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
32 "But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

NEW TESTAMENT Hebrews 9 24 - 28

Hebr 924 (NRSV) For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made by human hands, a mere copy of the true one, but he entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. 25 Nor was it to offer himself again and again, as the high priest enters the Holy Place year after year with blood that is not his own; 26 for then he would have had to suffer again and again since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 And just as it is appointed for mortals to die once, and after that the judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

Notes h/t montreal.anglican.org

Christ’s death as the sacrifice ratifies forever the new covenant, replacing the elaborate but temporary system of purification decreed under the Law of ancient Israel. The latter dealt with sin at the earthly level and on a repeated, temporal basis, but Christ’s sacrifice for us was “once for all” (9:28) and has eternal effects. The new community now awaits his reappearance from heaven, when he will take its members forever into God’s presence. This radical change was anticipated in the Old Testament. No further offering for human sin is necessary

While the author rejects repeated suffering by Jesus, he does not reject the eternal presence of his one sacrifice.

The appearance of Jesus will be like that of the high priest emerging from the Holy of Holies


GOSPEL Mark 12: 38 - 44 (RCL)
Mark 12: (38 - 40) 41 - 44 (Roman Catholic)

Mark 1238 (NRSV) As he taught, he said, "Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, 39 and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! 40 They devour widows' houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation."
41 He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. 42 A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. 43 Then he called his disciples and said to them, "Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. 44 For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on."

notes

Now, as Jesus teaches in the synagogue, he warns of certain scribes (professional interpreters of the Law) who “walk around” ostentatiously, seek honor in public places (“marketplaces”) and seek prestige “in ... synagogues” (v. 39) and “at banquets”. (“Long robes”, v. 38, may be prayer shawls, normally worn only when praying. The “best seats”, v. 39, in the synagogue were near the Ark – where the scrolls were kept – and faced the congregation; the “places of honor” were couches at the host’s table.)
Certain scribes, as legal trustees of a widow’s estate, charged exorbitantly for their services. The fee was usually a part of the estate, but some took the “widows’ houses” (v. 40). Some kept up an appearance of piety. They will be judged harshly in the greatest court of all on Judgement Day. Jesus’ disciples are not to be like them

putting money into the treasury”: There were thirteen chests in the temple court, each one labelled with the purpose to which the funds would be put. The chests were shaped like an inverted trumpet – for protection against theft

“penny”: A labourer’s daily wage was 64 pennies


Mark 1: 14 - 20 (C of E)

Mark 1:14 (NRSV) Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, 15 and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news."
16 As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea-for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said to them, "Follow me and I will make you fish for people." 18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19 As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. 20 Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.