Day 1 (Monday)
Psalm 79 (80 in Protestant/Catholic Bibles) – O Shepherd of Israel
As we pause from our readings about David, it is good that we should remember how we began, with Psalm 77/78, which recounts the entire history of the people of Israel, and ends with a hopeful and triumphant note about how God “chose David his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds. He brought him from following the ewes great with young, to shepherd Jacob his servant, and Israel his inheritance. And he shepherded them in the integrity of his heart, and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.” We have seen enough of David to understand that, however hard David has tried, he simply is not the “good shepherd” that the earlier Psalmist longs for and foretells. We are therefore reading two Psalms later this week, which speaks not of David, but of his descendant, the seed of the woman, the son of promise longed for by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the true Good Shepherd we have read about previously in John’s Gospel.
Psalm 79
For the end, concerning the things that shall be changed, a testimony of Asaph, a psalm concerning the Assyrian
Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock; O you who are seated upon the Cherubim, show yourself. Before Ephraim, and Benjamin, and Manasseh, stir up your strength, and come and save us. Turn us, O God, and reveal your face, and we shall be saved.
O Lord God of hosts, how long will you be angry with the prayer of your servants? How long will you feed us with the bread of tears, and give us tears to drink in full measure? You have made us a strife to our neighbors, and our enemies have mocked us. Turn us, O Lord God of hosts, and reveal your face, and we shall be saved.
Diapsalm.
You brought a vine out of Egypt; you cast out the nations, and planted it. You made a way before it, and caused it to take deep root; and it filled the land. Its shade covered the mountains, and its tendrils the cedars of God. She stretched out her branches to the sea, and her offshoots to the rivers. Why have you broken down her hedge, so that all who pass by the way pluck her?
The boar of the forest has laid it waste, and the solitary beast has devoured it. Turn about, we beseech you, O God of hosts, and look down from heaven, and see, and visit this vine, And restore that which your right hand has planted; and look upon the son of man, whom you took for yourself. It has been burned with fire, and uprooted; they shall perish at the rebuke of your countenance.
Let your hand be upon the man of your right hand, and upon the son of man, whom you took for yourself. And let us never depart from you; you will give us life, and we will call upon your name. Turn us, O Lord God of hosts, and reveal your face, and we shall be saved.
Roumas, Nicholas. The Psalter of David the Prophet and King with the Nine Odes (pp. 106-107). Great Light Publishing Co.. Kindle Edition.
Discussion questions:
1) What did you notice in today’s reading? What surprised you or what was memorable to you? (The Leader should note that this is clearly no longer talking about David as the shepherd of Israel; rather the addressee is manifestly God Himself. In this passage, which the superscription indicates has to do with the captivity of Israel, the tribes of Ephraim & Manasseh, by the Assyrians, and asking the Lord to restore them. Here we see the phrase “the son of man,” the “man of your right hand,” and begin to understand the Messianic yearning of God’s people after the failure of David’s line to maintain peace and faithfulness, and the deportation into captivity of faithless Israel, as the Psalmist asks the Lord to visit the vine that His right hand has planted. We should note, as well, that this phrase is used uniquely by the Bishop in the Orthodox tradition as he prays during the final repetitions of the Trisagion Prayer during the Divine Liturgy.)
2) What do we learn about God in this reading?
3) What do we learn about human beings in this reading?
4) What do you find difficult about this reading? Is there anything confusing about it, or anything that you dislike? (This is an open question, as always. )
5) Does this reading make you think that you need to change anything in your life?
Day 2 (Wednesday)
Gospel of Nicodemus – 2 of 5
Last time we read the frame narrative for this account of the Lord’s descent into Hades, as we were presented with the two sons of the righteous Symeon, who had been raised and were dwelling in Arimathea, and then were brought to the chief priests to bear witness of what they had seen. They told of how they were assembled with the righteous of the Old Testament, and saw a bright and royal light shining, and heard first Adam, then Isaiah and Symeon their father, and finally John the Baptist, bear witness that this was the Lord coming for their deliverance, and especially speaking of the Lord being baptized in the Jordan River. We will pick up the story there.
Reading 2
CHAP. 3 (19)—And when the first created, father Adam, had heard this, that Jesus was baptized in Jordan, he cried out to his son Seth: Tell thy sons, the patriarchs and the prophets, all that thou heardest from Michael the archangel when I sent thee to the gates of paradise to implore God that he might send thee His angel to give thee oil from the tree of mercy, with which to anoint my body when I was sick.
Then Seth, coming near to the holy patriarchs and prophets, said: When I, Seth, was praying to the Lord at the gates of paradise, behold Michael, the angel of the Lord, appeared to me, saying, I have been sent to thee by the Lord. I am set over the human race. And to thee, Seth, I say, do not labour with tears in prayers and supplications on account of the oil of the tree of mercy to anoint thy father Adam for the pain of his body, because in no wise shalt thou receive of it, except in the last days and times, except when five thousand and five hundred years have been fulfilled:”
“Then will come upon the earth the most beloved Son of God, to raise up again the body of Adam, and the bodies of the dead; and He, when He comes, will be baptized in Jordan. And when he shall have come out of the water of Jordan, then with the oil of His mercy shall He anoint all that believe on Him; and that oil of mercy shall be for the generation of those who shall be born out of water and the Holy Spirit into life eternal. Then, descending upon earth, Christ Jesus, the most beloved Son of God, will lead our father Adam into paradise to the tree of mercy.
And when they heard all these things from Seth, all the patriarchs and prophets exulted with great exultation.
CHAP. 4 (20)— And when all the saints were exulting, lo, Satan, the prince and leader of death, said to Hades: Make thyself ready to receive Jesus, who boasts himself to be the Son of God, and is a man fearing death, and saying, My soul is sorrowful, even unto death. And he has withstood me much, doing me evil; and many whom I made blind, lame, deaf, leprous, and demoniac, he has healed with a word; and those whom I have brought to thee dead, he has dragged away from thee.
Hades, answering, said to Prince Satan: “Who is he that is so powerful, when he is a man in fear of death? For all the powerful of the earth are kept in subjection by my power, whom thou hast brought into subjection by thy power. If then, thou art powerful, what is that man Jesus like, who, though fearing death, withstands thy power? If he is so powerful in humanity, verily I say unto thee, he is all-powerful in divinity, and his power can no one resist. And when he says that he fears death, he wishes to lay hold on thee, and woe will be to thee to the ages of eternity.”
And Satan, prince of Tartarus, answered and said: “Why hast thou doubted, and feared to receive this Jesus, thy adversary and mine? For I have tempted him, and I have roused up my ancient people the Jews with hatred and anger against him; I have sharpened a lance to strike him; I have mixed gall and vinegar to give him to drink; and I have prepared wood to crucify him, and nails to pierce him, and his death is near at hand, that I may bring him to thee, subject to thee and me.”
Tartarus answered and said: “Thou hast told me that it is he himself who has dragged away the dead from me. Now there are many who are here kept by me, who, while they lived on earth, took the dead from me, not by their own powers, but by godly prayers, and their almighty God dragged them away from me. Who is that Jesus, who by his word has withdrawn the dead from me without prayers? Perhaps he is the same who, by the word of his command, brought alive Lazarus, after he had been four days in stench and corruption, whom I kept dead.”
Satan prince of death, answered and said: “That Jesus is the same. And when Hades heard this, he said to him: I adjure thee by thy powers and mine, do not bring him to me. For I at that time, when I heard the command of his word, trembled with terror and dismay, and all my officers at the same time were confounded along with me. Nor could we keep that Lazarus; but, shaking himself like an eagle, he sprang out, and went forth from us with all activity and speed, and the same ground which held the dead body of Lazarus immediately gave him forth alive.”
“So now, I know that that man who could do these things is God, strong in authority, powerful in humanity, and He is the Saviour of the human race. But if thou bring Him to me, all who are here shut up in the cruelty of the prison, and bound by their sins in chains that cannot be loosened, He will let loose, and will bring to the life of His divinity for ever.”
Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe, eds., “The Gospel of Nicodemus,” in The Ante-Nicene Fathers: Fathers of the Third and Fourth Centuries: The Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, the Clementina, Apocrypha, Decretals, Memoirs of Edessa and Syriac Documents, Remains of the First Ages, trans. Alexander Walker, vol. 8 (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company, 1886), 448–453.
From the following website:
https://hum54-15.omeka.fas.harvard.edu/exhibits/show/chora-church/anastasis
Discussion questions:
1) What did you notice in today’s reading? What surprised you or what was memorable to you? (The Leader should point out two things here: the first is that the story that Seth relates is found in a text called “The Life of Adam and Eve,” an apocryphal text of the Old Testament from around the 1st century A.D., which describes Adam’s last illness, and the effort to save his life with oil from the Tree of Life. The prophecy about the Son of God coming and bringing baptism and oil is connecting this event with the Oil of Gladness with which new Christians are anointed immediately before their Baptism. The second thing is the dialogue between Satan and Hades, in which Satan is described as the lord of Hades and death, but distinct from Hades/Tartarus/death. In this, Satan is viewed as the agent who brought about Jesus’ death on the Cross, but also as the ignorant one and the fool, who, as St. John Chrysostom says in his Paschal homily, “It took a body, and, lo, it discovered God. It took earth and, behold! It encountered Heaven. It took what it saw, and was overcome by what it could not see.”
2) Where do we see Christ in this text; what is He saying or doing here?
3) Do we see ourselves and the Church in this text; what does it say about us?
4) What do you find difficult about this reading? Is there anything confusing about it, or anything that you dislike? (This is an open question, as always. )
5) Does this reading make you think that you need to change anything in your life?
Day 3 (Friday)
John 19:8-25a (Jesus Condemned, Crucifixion of Jesus)
Last time, we saw Pilate have Jesus beaten and mocked, and then bring Jesus out to the chief priests and the others accusing Him, saying, “Behold the man,” and that he found no fault in Him, but nonetheless delivering Him to them to crucify Him. Those accusing Jesus replied that the crime Jesus had committed, which required death, was that He had claimed to be the Son of God. This, as we will see, causes Pilate no little anxiety, and he will come back to speak with Jesus once more here.
Condemnation of Jesus
8 Now when Pilate heard this, he was more afraid than ever. 9 He entered his headquarters again and asked Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. 10 Pilate therefore said to him, “Do you refuse to speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you, and power to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered him, “You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above; therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.” 12 From then on Pilate tried to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are no friend of the emperor. Everyone who claims to be a king sets himself against the emperor.”
13 When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside and sat on the judge’s bench at a place called The Stone Pavement, or in Hebrew Gabbatha. 14 Now it was the day of Preparation for the Passover; and it was about noon. He said to the Jews, “Here is your King!” 15 They cried out, “Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!” Pilate asked them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but the emperor.” 16 Then he handed him over to them to be crucified.
The Crucifixion of Jesus
So they took Jesus; 17 and carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha. 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus between them. 19 Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” 20 Many of the Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek.
21 Then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’” 22 Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.” 23 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier. They also took his tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. 24 So they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see who will get it.” This was to fulfill what the scripture says,
“They divided my clothes among themselves,
and for my clothing they cast lots.”
25 And that is what the soldiers did.
Discussion questions:
1) What did you notice in today’s reading? What surprised you or what was memorable to you? (The Leader should point out that John’s Gospel is not generally filled with statements about how what happens to Jesus fulfills prophecy, but he includes the point about the soldiers casting lots here. This is from Psalm 21/22, which begins “My god, my god, why have you forsaken me,” and it is perhaps this statement of the Lord on the Cross that John is alluding to here, although he does not give Jesus saying this, as the other evangelists (Matthew & Mark) have already provided it. It is important to note that Jesus quotes this Psalm as a statement that He is fulfilling what was prophesied, and not as a statement that the Father has forsaken Him. He is indeed the King of the Jews, the Messiah of Yahweh, the Anointed One, the true and Good Shepherd of the people of God, and as king, He fulfills and completes what David had foretold long before, responding to that prayer with His own presence in our midst, in our darkest and deepest degradation.)
2) Where do we see Christ in this text; what is He saying or doing here?
3) Do we see ourselves and the Church in this text; what does it say about us?
4) What do you find difficult about this reading? Is there anything confusing about it, or anything that you dislike? (This is an open question, as always. )
5) Does this reading make you think that you need to change anything in your life?