Reading for December 4th

 Read Luke 23.26-49. In verse 26: Simon is otherwise unknown (see also Mk 15.21; Mt 27.32). In verses 27-28: Jesus' death is clearly not the desire of a great number of the people or the faithful women (vv. 35, 48-49, 55). In Verses 28-31: As in 19.41-44, only Luke relates Jesus' dire prophetic oracle echoing Jeremiah's call to the "mourning women" to raise a dirge over Jerusalem (Jer 9.17-22). The cries to the mountains and the hills recall the destruction oracle of Hos 10.8. On the ominous image of the green and dry wood, see Ezk 20.47. In verse 34: The conviction that Israel and its rulers acted in "ignorance" will be crucial to the preaching of repentance in Acts 3.17. In verses 35-38: In echoes of Isa 42.1, Luke links the royal titles Messiah of God and King of the Jews with Jesus' identity as the servant who suffers as the chosen one (9.35; Acts 3.13, 26; 4.27, 30; 8.30-35). In verse 43: Paradise is a biblical image of the garden of bliss (2 Cor 12.4; Rev 2.7). In verses 44-45: The darkness at midday and the tearing of the curtain of the temple separating the holy precincts (Ex 26.31-35, 37; 38.18) are cosmic signs, open to many interpretations (see Mk 15.37-38; Heb 9.6-28). In verse 46: Only Luke reports Jesus' dying words as the resignation of his spirit (see 3.22; 4.1; Acts 1.8; Ps 31.5), and "he expired" (lit. in Greek). In verse 47:When the centurion declares Jesus innocent (see Mk 15.39; Mt 27.54: "God's Son"), the word could also be translated "righteous." According to Jewish traditions, this death was more than a miscarriage of Roman justice because of God's care for the righteous (Wis 2-3). In verses 48-49: On the anguished beating their breasts of the crowds and the women, see 23.27-31. Comments or Questions..