CADRE Comments

No updates this year to my Cadre Thanksgiving Sermon, so I'll just link back to last year's version . For any readers hoping for yet another massive series between now and Easter: there's one on the way, God willing! But not until Monday, probably. For which other Cadre readers may gladly give thanks. {g}

This is a repost (and slight updating) of an article (sermon, homily, whatever {g}) that I wrote on Thanksgiving 2007 for the Cadre. The original article and its subsequent discussion (on a couple of topics) can be found here. ••••••• “Would you say grace?” someone in my family will ask, to an elder before a family meal--a meal such as Thanksgiving, for instance. Of course what they mean is, “Would you give thanks?” But the phrase in English could be more accurately translated, “Would you say ‘grace’?” In our language, ‘grace’ derives from the same Latin root as Spanish ‘gracias’ or Italian ‘grazie’. Strictly speaking our English word traces back to a Middle English translation of an Old French translation of the Latin {gra_tia} (the long ‘a’ being represented by an underscore here): favor, gratitude, agreeableness. The attitude expressed is one of actively receiving love, in fair-togetherness. In New Testament Greek, however, the word that is typically Englished as ‘grace’ does not h...

This is a repost (and slight updating) of an article (sermon, homily, whatever {g}) that I wrote last Thanksgiving for the Cadre. The original article and its subsequent discussion (on a couple of topics) can be found here. ••••••• “Would you say grace?” someone in my family will ask, to an elder before a family meal--a meal such as Thanksgiving, for instance. Of course what they mean is, “Would you give thanks?” But the phrase in English could be more accurately translated, “Would you say ‘grace’?” In our language, ‘grace’ derives from the same Latin root as Spanish ‘gracias’ or Italian ‘grazie’. Strictly speaking our English word traces back to a Middle English translation of an Old French translation of the Latin {gra_tia} (the long ‘a’ being represented by an underscore here): favor, gratitude, agreeableness. The attitude expressed is one of actively receiving love, in fair-togetherness. In New Testament Greek, however, the word that is typically Englished as ‘grace’ does not have...

“Would you say grace?” someone in my family will ask, to an elder before a family meal--a meal such as Thanksgiving, for instance. Of course what they mean is, “Would you give thanks?” But the phrase in English could be more accurately translated, “Would you say ‘grace’?” In our language, ‘grace’ derives from the same Latin root as Spanish ‘gracias’ or Italian ‘grazie’. Strictly speaking our English word traces back to a Middle English translation of an Old French translation of the Latin {gra_tia} (the long ‘a’ being represented by an underscore here): favor, gratitude, agreeableness. The attitude expressed is one of actively receiving love, in fair-togetherness. In New Testament Greek, however, the word that is typically Englished as ‘grace’ does not have this meaning. Nor does the Hebrew/Aramaic which the New Testament authors were translating or thinking about (typically following the Septuagint). The meaning there is not different in content, exactly, but different in direction: ...

Introductory note from Jason Pratt: see here for the previous entry; and see here for the first entry of the series. (It explains what I'm doing, and how, and contains the Johannine prologue.) The plotnotes really kick into gear for this entry--in fact, there are more plotnotes than actual text! That will be true for the next entries, too, which deal with the trials. To help distinguish plotnotes from textual data, therefore, I will begin formatting the plotnotes as if they were blockquotes. The End Begins (All the storytellers join in harmony...) Jesus arrived on the Mount of Olives, as He usually did, and went into the groves with His disciples. And they are coming to a place called Geth Semanei. ('where the oil goes through': i.e., the olive press--now deserted on a night in spring when olives aren't in season.) Now He says to His disciples, "Sit here, while I go over there and pray." [Plotnote: placing them to watch for anyone coming up the three main pa...

Introductory note from Jason Pratt: see here for the previous entry; and see here for the first entry of the series. (It explains what I'm doing, and how, and contains the Johannine prologue.) The Body and the Blood (the night before the end...) When the hour had come (to celebrate the seder service, tell the Disciple and Scholar and Follower), He reclined (at the table to eat--this is after the 'normal' feast of the night), and the apostles with Him (except for Judas, who has already left). And He said to them: "I have truly, deeply desired to eat this Passover with you--before I suffer. "For I am telling you: I never shall eat it again, till this is fulfilled in the kingdom of God!" And when He had taken bread (bitter and unleavened by sin yet striped by sin, some of which will be hidden to be recovered later), having blessed and given thanks, He broke and gave to them, saying (in a new response to the traditional question "What is this bread?"...

Introductory note from Jason Pratt: see here for the previous entry; and see here for the first entry of the series. (It explains what I'm doing, and how, and contains the Johannine prologue.) Due to plot complexities and subtleties, I will need to give more overt plotnotes (not just parenthetical helps like this) as things progress. This plot tracking won't really kick in until the end begins in Gethsemane, but I thought I'd mention it now since I'll have to include more notes than usual in this entry today. The title of today's entry comes from a portion of the seder service where the burn-striped unleavened bread is hidden for a time. A turn of phrase used by the Evangelist, and the fact that the seder meal is being prepared for in this chapter, suggested the title to me. The Hiding of the Bread (the day before the end...) Then (say the Scholar, Disciple and Follower) was coming the first day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover (lamb) must be sacrifice...

Introductory note from Jason Pratt: see here for the previous entry; and see here for the first entry of the series. (It explains what I'm doing, and how, and contains the Johannine prologue.) This entry is the second part of what would be one of the longest chapters in a book. The Greater Condemnations (Part 2 of 2) -- 2 days until the end Now as He was sitting on the Mount of Olives (probably later that night while they were camping in the groves), the disciples Peter and James and John and Andrew privately came to Him, saying, "Tell us... when will these things be? And what will be the sign of your arrival [on the throne], and of the finishing of all things of the age?" And Jesus began to say to them in answer: "Be sure that no one misleads you. For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Anointed King', and 'The time is at hand!'--and will mislead many. "And you will be hearing of wars, and rumors of wars--be sure that you are not frig...