Matthew 3:1-12 Greek Study

Matthew 3:1-12

3:1 Ιωαννης "John"  means "gift of Yahweh" – the title is more accurately translated as " who is called the baptizer."

παραγινεται (παραγινομαι) pres. "came" – appeared on the scene; 

κηρυσσων (κηρυσσω) pres. part. "preaching" – announcing in the wilderness 

της Ιουδαιας (a) gen. "of Judea" – an adjectival genitive locative i.e. "the wilderness located in Judea" which is the region of the lower part of the Jordan valley around the Dead sea and up to the mountainous area to the west of the Dead Sea.

  
v2 λεγων (λεγω) pres. part. "saying" 

μετανοειτε (μετανοεω) present imperative "repent" - not in the sense of regret ("to be sorry") but rather the reflecting the Greek agricultural usage (to turn an ox) or the Hebrew/Aramaic word which meant "to change direction". John's understanding is a changed direction, a turning from a life lived without God toward a life lived with God. It might entail the sense of “change of mind" but not sorrow.  Sorrow would be the consequence of such a change, not the cause of it.  John is asking for a change in conduct – not of thinking (reminiscent of the old AA saying, it is easier to act your way into a new way of thinking than think your way into a new way of acting. 

ουρανων (ος) "[the kingdom] of heaven" - In deference to his Jewish readers, Matthew shows respect toward the divine name by using the phrase "of heaven" instead of " of God." 

ηγγικεν (εγγιζω)Äperf. "near" –  a visceral verb that stresses the nearness of the kingdom; it is “palpable ".

  
v3 ο ρηθεις (ειπον) aor. pas. part. "[is] he who was spoken of" - [is] the one spoken of, the matter considered. 

δια "through" literally "by means of."

του προφητου (ος) gen. "the prophet [Isaiah]" - 

φωνη (η) "a voice" – 

βοωντος (βοαω)Ägen. pres. part. "of one calling" – literally shouting

ετοιμασατε (ετοιμαζω) aor. imp. "prepare" – an imperative expressing command.

ηοδοσ κυριου (ος) gen. "[the way] of the Lord" - the specific sense of this phrase is somewhat of a guess; "the road by which Yahweh will comes"?

ευθειας adj. "[make] straight" as compared to crooked - an image drawn from the Persians who revolutionized road building. 

τριβους (ος) "paths" - a well beaten track.

  v4 Mal.4:5 indicating the return of Elijah prior to the coming of the Messiah. John's dress is an allusion to that of Elijah in 2Kgs.1:8 (although locusts and wild honey are not part of the Elijah legend).

v5 εξεπορευετο (εξπορευομαι) imperf. "went out" - may imply repetition, ie., "were continually going out".

πασα "all" περιχωρος (ος) "region" του Ιορδανου (ος) gen. "of the Jordan" – people  from all over the Jordan valley flocked to him.

  
v6 εξομολογουμενοι (εξομολογεομαι) pres. part. "confessing" - acknowledging. Attendant circumstance participle expressing action accompanying the main verb "baptize". The present tense probably serves to indicate that the action of confessing proceeds the main verb, baptize. The word is being used of a public acknowledgement; "they declared openly their state of loss in the sight of God."

εβαπτιζοντο (βαπτιζω) imperf. pas. "he was baptizing". The word carries the sense of "immersed" either partially or wholly, so "dipped" or "dunked" also works. The literal sense is common in the NT, but this word is often used figuratively: i.e. immersed in suffering, teaching, or the Holy Spirit. The context determines the sense intended.

v7 The preaching of John the Baptist, v7-12.

Φαρισαιων και Σαδδουκαιων gen. " Pharisees and Sadducees" - both groups were lawyers, believing a faithful adherence to the law promoted appropriation of the covenant blessings. The difference between the two groups lay in the law's extent: the Sadducees limited the law to the Old Testament, the Pharisees added traditions and interpretations.

γεννηματα (α) "brood/offspring/family”.

εχιδνων (α ης) gen. "of vipers" - he genitive is adjectival, relational.

υπεδειξεν (υπεδεικνυμι) aor. "warned" the sense is that the religious leaders want to escape judgment, “Can it actually be the case that you have been persuaded to believe that the divine judgment is near and you will be exempt from it?" 

φυγειν (φευγω) inf. "to flee/escape”. 

της μελλουσης (μελλω) pres. part. "the coming" - a sense of immediacy = the imminent judgment of God.

οργης (η) "wrath" – often used of a divine wrath/holiness that repudiates the unholy.

  
v8 ποιησατε (ποιεω) aor. imp. "do/make” - the aorist indicates a specific act is needed.

καρπον (ος) sing. "fruit" - the singular implies that "works" is not in John's mind, but rather a singularly changed life, a new orientation.

αξιον adj. "worthy/in keeping with" - lit. ‘weighty’

της μετανοιας (a) gen. "of repentance" - prove the sincerity of your repentance by your conduct.

  
v9 μη δοξητε (δοκεω) aor. subj. "do not think" – a deliberative subjunctive forming a negative command. "Do not fool yourselves.”

πατερα (πατηρ ερος) "father" - ancestor. They are kidding themselves, if by claiming Abraham as ancestor, they have weight with God.

λιθων .... τεκνα "stones .... children" - a play on words since both words use the same consonants in Hebrew.

εγειραι (εγειρω) aor. inf. "can raise up" a Semitism;  literally "cause to be born."

v10 των δενδρων (ον) gen. "[the root] of the trees" 

μη ποιουν (ποιεω) pres. part. "that does not produce" –does not do

καλον adj. "good" literally ‘edible’.

εκκοπτεται (εκκοπτω) pres. pas. "will be cut down" 

v11 Luke leaves out εις μετανοιαν, "to repentance", indicating Matthew maybe adding a comment with regard John's baptism, ie., that John's baptism is significantly different from Jesus'. 

ισχυροτερος (ισχυρος) comp. adj. "[is] more powerful" 

βαστασαι (βασταζω) inf. "to carry" – 

ουκ ειμι ικανος, "I am not worthy"

  
v12 διακαθαριει (διακαθαριζω) fut. he will clear - every speck of rubbish removed.

συναξει (συναγω) fut. "gathering together”.

κατακουσει (κατακαιω) fut. "burning up" - he will consume. 

ασβεστω adj. "unquenchable" πυρι (πυρ πυρος) dat. "fire".

After all the verbs being in the present tense; all of verse 12 verbs are future tense.

What will you find in the desert?

For the Holy Ghost does not permit sin to have dominion, to gain the upper hand so as to be accomplished, but represses and restrains it so that it must not do what it wishes. But if it does what it wishes, the Holy Ghost and faith are [certainly] not present. - M. Luther, Smalcald Articles, Part III, Article III, Repentance.

There are ever so many matters to be observed in today’s text. (I follow John Pilch in many of them) First, who is this who is calling in the wilderness? It is John Zechariah-son. He is the son of a provincial priest, Zechariah, and therefore he himself is of priestly blood. 

Second, he is living a Nazirite existence. Exegesis of the birth narrative of John often compares it to he birth narrative of Samuel who is, in utero, dedicated as a Nazirite by his mother, something that a parent could do though the child could refuse to accept the designation. John is likewise consecrated a Nazirite by the command of the angel to Zachariah. (Lk 1:15)

Jesus makes note of John’s Nazirite tendencies when he notes that John is ridiculed for being austere and not drinking while he himself was accused of being at glut and drunk. Yet, at the last supper, Jesus makes a cryptic Nazirite type vow: “I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God.” (The Nazirite vow was to abstain from all grape products) 

That in turn ties to the obligation that the Nazirite make a sin offering at the end of his time as a Nazirite or at prescribed times for a permanent Nazirite. Why does one who lives a devout life make sin offering? Because everyone has to. But, in the case of the Nazirite, according Talmud, he or she must make offering for named sins. The Nazirite cannot just make a “brief order of confession” so to speak, a proclamation of sin is required at the time of the sacrifice. John is therefore no stranger to the confessing of sin.

Third, Look who it is that comes to him: The people of Jerusalem and Judea; the people who live around the power center of religious life in Israel. Galilee is not mentioned here. It is the people who live closest to the temple and the High Priests who ran it. When those factions of Jerusalem show up, John has no kind words for them. Being from a priestly family, being from the Judean hill country (Lk 1:39), these people were not strangers to him. His insult of them and his refusal to accept their repentance and therefore their self consecration by baptism seems to suggest that John questions their sincerity in confessing their sins. 

Fourth, “Who did you go into the desert to see? A Prophet?” That is really the only excuse for going on a trip to nowhere: To see a prophet or to be a holy man oneself. The descriptions of John have led us often to compare him with Elijah and Samuel, both of whom deserve the title of “Prophetic troubler of Israel” though only Elijah has it bestowed on him by Ahab. (1Kgs 18:17) John’s interactions with Herod reinforces this Samuel/ Elijah comparison. John is not one to respect or fear political or religious authority. He carries on the Elijah / Samuel tradition of singleminded and even revolutionary resistance to injustice or deviance from the Lord’s command. 

Fifth, both water and fire have refining or purifying qualities. The nugget of gold is separated from the dirt that surrounds it by tedious washing. It is further purified by melting it and skimming the remaining “impurities” (sometimes the impurity is silver, in itself not trash but unwanted when refining gold - hence the scary quotes). 

The wind is the prime agent in winnowing. Like the refining of gold, getting to the grain is a progressive enterprise. The same mix of wheat kernel and wheat chaff has to be tossed into the wind multiple times. It is the wind and chaff equivalent of panning for gold. 

Both wind and fire have the second meaning of Holy Spirit in biblical lore and the usage here is probably not accidental. 

With St. John the Baptist it is ever so easy to get amazed with the person himself. Some of that is really unavoidable. He is a consecrated holy man, accustomed to recalling and remembering his sin and to making amends to God for those sins. He is inviting others to join a consecrated life that seems to have the character of a continuous sifting and refining by the Holy Spirit. In other words, John is inviting those who would consecrate themselves to Sanctification. For the Advent season, this might be the nugget to take away. As you wait for the return of Christ, be consecrated to God and live an examined life.

If the Lutheran Confessions have a prime spiritual discipline contained within them it might well be confession; the fearless recalling to ones own mind of ones sin in the hearing of God and of the voice of the Gospel: the ordained minister who will recall to the penitent the work of Jesus Christ on their behalf. In a way, all Christians are consecrated and like the Nazirites dare to recall their sins aloud before a righteous God at a time of reckoning but trusting that the sacrifice made by the High Priest avails for them at the time of that confession. Jesus Christ, says the Book of Hebrews, is that Hight Priest. The Holy Spirit still does the winnowing and refining work that St. John proclaims. 

When most people hear of “consecrated life” they will think of cloisters, habits, excessive amounts of prayer, and clouds of incense. Thick clouds of incense at that. Perhaps they allow it to be merely the life of a pastor whose spiritual life they assume exists but that they do not ask about lest they get answers they did not want or find a challenge to do more than they are willing to do. But there is a consecrated life in every Christian if the Holy Spirit is still active in that life. As the high level seekers from Jerusalem might say: “But we have Abraham for our father . . . surely this ritual of John’s is just a formality - and add on, not really necessary but nice to look back on and contemplate.” 

A consecrated life really is more than anything a life lived with intention. Its opposite is an unexamined life, a life that awakes in the morning and has the but one goal: To make it to tonight, to make it to payday, to make it to Friday evening ‘round quitting time. By comparison, a consecrated life rises and gets dressed in prayer to be allowed to be dressed with the life of Christ and not merely its daily clothes. (St. John Eudes) It is a life intentionally lived and frequently examined in order to give thanks for God’s graces received and realized and in order to repent and confess when it has not been on the side of life. That type life requires no incense or gregorian chant as it is both incense and music all by itself. But then, who would live it? 

The readings for the first Sunday of Advent, 2016

First Reading: Isaiah 2:1-5

1The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

 2In days to come

  the mountain of the Lord’s house

 shall be established as the highest of the mountains,

  and shall be raised above the hills;

 all the nations shall stream to it.

  3Many peoples shall come and say,

 “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,

  to the house of the God of Jacob;

 that he may teach us his ways

  and that we may walk in his paths.”

 For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,

  and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

 4He shall judge between the nations,

  and shall arbitrate for many peoples;

 they shall beat their swords into plowshares,

  and their spears into pruning hooks;

 nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

  neither shall they learn war any more.

 5O house of Jacob,

  come, let us walk

  in the light of the Lord!

Psalm: Psalm 122

1 I was glad when they said to me, 

    "Let us go to the house of the LORD."

2 Now our feet are standing 

    within your gates, O Jerusalem.

3 Jerusalem is built as a city 

    that is at unity with itself;

4 To which the tribes go up,

the tribes of the LORD, 

    the assembly of Israel,

    to praise the Name of the LORD.

5 For there are the thrones of judgment, 

    the thrones of the house of David.

6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: 

    "May they prosper who love you.

7 Peace be within your walls 

    and quietness within your towers.

8 For my brethren and companions' sake, 

    I pray for your prosperity.

9 Because of the house of the LORD our God, 

    I will seek to do you good."

Second Reading: Romans 13:11-14

11Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; 12the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; 13let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

Gospel: Matthew 24:36-44

[Jesus said to the disciples,] 36“About that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, 39and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. 40Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. 41Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. 42Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. 44Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”

Greek Study of Matthew 24:36-44

Greek Study Matthew 24:36-44

  
v36 οιδεν (οιδα) perf. "[no one] knows" perfect here is best expressed in the present tense.

της ημερας (α) gen. "[that] day" 

ουδε ..... ουδε "neither [the angels in heaven] nor" - comparative construction.

ο υιος "the Son" (missing in some manuscripts) 

ει μη "except [the Father alone]" 

v37 ωσπερ ..... ουτως "just as ..... so also” comparative construction between the days of Noah and the days of the Son of Man. In both people were caught up in their daily life when faced by unexpected divine judgment.

του Νωε gen. [the days] Noah was alive

η παρουσια (α) "the coming" a word is best understood as a divine appearing in judgment; e.g. the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah was a "coming".

του υιου του ανθρωπου (ος) gen. "of the Son of Man"

v38 τρωγοντες (τινω) part. "eating" literally “eating noisily”

v39 ουκ εγνωσαν (γινωσκω) aor. "they knew nothing" were unaware, suspected nothing.

ηρεν (αιρω) aor. "took" - took up απαντας (απασ) adj. "them all" 

η παρουσια του υιϑου του ανθρωπου "the coming of the Son of Man" – 

  
v40 παραλαμβανεται (παραλαμβανω) pres. "will be taken" - futuristic present. It is interesting how we automatically assume that the person is taken to heaven but of course, the one "taken" may be the one "swept away". 

v41 αληθουσαι (αληθω) pres. part. "[two women] will be grinding" - [two] grinding. 

v42 γρηγορειτε (γρηγορεω) imp. "watch" a figurative meaning be prepared

οτι "because" introducing a causal clause explaining why one should keep watch.

ποια ημερα (α) dat. "on what day" dative of time which may be properly translated "you do not know when the Lord is coming."  

v43 γινωσκετε (γινωσκω) pres. imp. "understand [this]" an emphatic imperative, "keep this in mind"

ποια φυλακη dat. "at what time of night watch" the night watch consists of blocks of three hours.

διορυχθηναι (διορυσσω) aor. pas. inf. "be broken into" actually to be dug through, or broken though like digging through a mud brick wall. 

v44 δια τουτο "so" ετοιμοι adj. "you must be ready" 

οτι "because" ωρα (α) "at an hour" you are not expecting he will come!

The Advent Wreath: Not as ancient as you think.

My friend and brother of the Society of the Holy Trinity, Frank Senn, both a parish pastor and a Seminary professor, wrote this entry on his web site concerning the Advent Wreath. It might be good fodder for thought. Enjoy it.

Here is the link

LINK! Click me!

Come and Be Our Judge!

“This Bible is for the government of the people, for the people and by the people.”  - John Wycliffe, 1384.

The First Sunday in Advent which is graced with these tests follows Christ the King Sunday, which in turn brings Pentecost season to an end. The end of Pentecost has a character of its own in the Common lectionary. It deals with matters of “the end.” By the first Sunday of Advent, the idea that: “all things must pass,” has been spoken in most pulpits. Christ the King Sunday asked a question of its own: “In spite of this, and in spite that Jesus Christ died on the cross, will you have Faith?” Faith is a heroic thing. It casts its lot, it bets its life on this Jesus. At the end of Pentecost season, on Christ the King Sunday, it might have been good to recall the words of Henry Nouwen: “The words heard most often in heaven are: Oh, that’s why!” 

Advent begins, maybe regrettably, with texts that seem to carry on the theme of end and destruction. Advent ought not be about that though. Unlike the last weeks of Pentecost, Advent is not about teleology but about Hope, though the two are never neatly separated.

That theme of Hope is evident in our Old Testament and Epistle readings. Jerusalem will see the Lord redeeming and setting right all things. The night is almost over now, says St. Paul, it will be daylight soon, prepare yourself. We can stand ready in fear and trepidation as the bumper sticker suggests: “Jesus is coming! Look busy!” That sentiment is not for Advent. Advent awaits the Lord in longing. One keeps the lamps full of oil because one is looking forward to meeting the Lord. (Matt 25:1-13) One keeps the house in order because one eagerly awaits his return, one treats ones fellow “wait-erers” with grace because one longs for the whole house to express a joyous sense of awaiting. (Matt 24:45-51) One expresses ones hope by working as if one knew him and his graciousness, for the way we do our work says something about our attitude towards the one for whom we do it. (25:14-30) One expects his judgement to be based on the theme: have you done as one belonging to my house would have, have you been eager to meet me to the point that you served everyone as if they were me, for serving all is what I have done? (Matt 25:31-46)

Advent also has a penitential character to it. The history of Advent as a season is penitential. It is not clear when it became a Season of its own, but when it did, it became a purple season. In the 6th century it seems to have been observed from November 11th all the way to the Feast of the Nativity.  It became a four Sunday season - the Sunday closest to the feast of Andrew (November 30) and embracing four Sundays - sometime in the 10th century when it also became very much a fast, a penitential season in preparation for the Christ Mass. 

Hope is not without its enemies and often hope is placed in things other than the Kingdom and the return of Christ. Some sense of penitence is therefore not out of order. Hope found in places other than the Christ has causes, not the least one being that, well, we have waited a long time and he ain’t here. When will he finally get here? Am I going to wait until I die? (in most cases, yes, by the history of faith) In waiting is the temptation of getting distracted. Distraction causes chaos in all places where it occurs, be that faith or the operation of motor vehicles, be that worship or roasting the Thanksgiving turkey. The interweb is full of videos of the results of traffic or  cooking gone wrong by distracted operators. 

Distraction brought on by a sense of spiritual exhaustion is not unknown to the spiritual guides of the church. Evagrius (346-399) is one of the earliest sources to devote some time writing about it. His term for it is “Acedia.” One caught that way does not want to pray but wants something else - anything else. He does not want to wait for the Lord, he wants to be about other business whatever that might be. He asks: “why do I live different,” but has no sense of how to live better and so drifts into the life around. (Jude) Evagrius feared that acedia barred its victims from the drive to repent, as they no longer cared about the things of God and began to be distracted by just about anything that demanded their attention or allegiance. Acedia drives away the possibility of sanctification.

How then do we find hope again and make our lives a joyous waiting for the Lord that spills out into a life that is always ready for his return and is seen as such? If they see us do they think that we are waiting for one whom we trust or do they think we fear his return? Are we calculating his “day” so we can be ready for that day on some schedule or do we pray the Lord hasten the day? And why do we want it to be hastened?

I am a Kraut. I am of the post war generation that spent their youth sharing the loathing over the character and honor of our country. There was a sense that we were all ontologically guilty - somehow. And something had been lost but no one wanted to say. Something and someone was missing. It was not spoken. It was not talked about. Stories of the 40's, if mothers and grandmothers told them, were told in hushed voices often with tears. Beneath the surface of my elders there were dark pools. There rested the memories of brother, sisters, friends no longer seen, laid in graves unknown if they had been buried at all. In those pools rested memories of which no one was proud. Memories of being swept up in the moments, memories of doing what had to be done to survive.  

As my generation came of age, we stirred up some of the dust because it was time to know. What happened, dad? What happened, grandpa? How could you?! And we shouted those accusations into loving eyes that were downcast in guilt and shame and those eyes, those faces, favored our own ever so strongly. After the rage was over. After all the self justifications were said, refuted, after all the helpless cries saying: "I don't understand myself," had faded, my generation is now left with faces in mirrors that we know are capable of the greatest evil in our time. There were no excuses. There are no excuses. The devil did not make our grandparents do this. Luther, often blamed for making Hitler’s hatred of the Jews possible, did not make them do this. They - we - did this. 

As German Lutherans, as human beings with a conscience, we know that what was done was wrong and evil. It is all right there to see. Luther would have condemned it in one of his all so famous tirades if he had seen it. The problem is that my generation will not let you be so quick to say that you see and you condemn. We have seen faces of very good people who saw but went along. We know that no one is above it all, no one is so wise to see it all, no one is omniscient to foretell it all. No-one but God. The “certainties” of often merely a year ago and the realities of today give proof to our failure to be all that we imagine we are.

I use the word "charmed" to describe what happened to my people in the 1930's. You, yes, you who read this, can be charmed by evil when it holds out its bright shining objects of false hope. It does us no good to find rationalizations that make us feel better about what happened once the evil is exposed and our participation is clear. We are not any good at telling good from evil. The snake lied. The snake also did not eat the fruit. We did. The next Holocaust is within your grasp. You are capable of it. It can happen here.  You, yes: you, may very well shout adoring praises as the next Pol Pot rides by in a limousine escorted by goose stepping soldiers. 

It gets dark around Hamburg, the town of my youth, at about 4 PM in the winter. At my house Advent candles were lit and Christmas decorations were made on dark winter afternoons. The stories of the war were told by grandmother and mother, with wet eyes cast down. It was at no other time in the year that these stories really came up. But in this season souls that had seen what people can do to one another were crying: "Redeem, Lord Jesus! Redeem." This is Advent for me. The cry of the soul: "This all must be answered for. This all must be judged. We must be judged. Come, Lord, judge the nations beginning with us."

Advent is a contemplative cry for the Lord to return, having done self examination and realizing the need for the world to be visited by the kingdom of heaven. Hope, repentance, and sanctification meet in these places of tears, guilt, remembrance, and longing.  “Oh, happy towns and blessed lands that live by their true King's commands,” begins the 3rd verse of “Fling Wide the Door” (LBW 32) These happy towns, may they, like Jerusalem of Isaiah 2, welcome the Lord and his ways. These happy towns, may the Word of God be for them and govern them so thoroughly that it governs from within and becomes of them as much as it is for them. 

The Texts for Christ the King Sunday 2016

First Reading: Jeremiah 23:1-6

1Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the Lord. 2Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. So I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the Lord. 3Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. 4I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the Lord.

  5The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 6In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness.”

Psalm: Psalm 46

1 God is our refuge and strength, 

    a very present help in trouble.

2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be moved, 

    and though the mountains be toppled into the

                             depths of the sea;

3 Though its waters rage and foam, 

    and though the mountains tremble at its tumult.

4 The LORD of hosts is with us; 

    the God of Jacob is our stronghold.

5 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, 

    the holy habitation of the Most High.

6 God is in the midst of her;

she shall not be overthrown; 

    God shall help her at the break of day.

7 The nations make much ado, and the kingdoms are shaken; 

    God has spoken, and the earth shall melt away.

8 The LORD of hosts is with us; 

    the God of Jacob is our stronghold.

9 Come now and look upon the works of the LORD, 

    what awesome things he has done on earth.

10 It is he who makes war to cease in all the world; 

    he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear,

    and burns the shields with fire.

11 "Be still, then, and know that I am God; 

    I will be exalted among the nations;

    I will be exalted in the earth.”

12 The LORD of hosts is with us; 

    the God of Jacob is our stronghold.

Second Reading: Colossians 1:11-20

11May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully 12giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

  15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; 16for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. 17He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. 19For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

Gospel: Luke 23:33-43

33When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. 34⟦Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”⟧ And they cast lots to divide his clothing. 35And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” 36The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, 37and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” 38There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”

  39One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” 40But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”