Journey: Lesson 23 - The King

By Marcel Gervais

This is lesson 23 of the Journey Bible Study Program series. In this lesson the focus is on the death and resurrection of Jesus. the objective of the lesson is to describe Jesus as king. Chapter 1 describes the kingly judgment of Jesus on the People. The 2nd chapter describes the attitude of the disciples towards the events that take place..The 3rd chapter describes the Last supper, the betrayal and the trial of Jesus.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Marcel Gervais
• Release date: Jan 22, 2014
• ISBN: 9781927766262

Marcel Gervais

About the Author Archbishop Gervais was born in Elie Manitoba on September 21 1931. He is the ninth of fourteen children. His family came from Manitoba to the Sparta area near St. Thomas Ontario when he was just a teenager. He went to Sparta Continuation School and took his final year at Saint Joseph`s High School in St. Thomas. After high school he went to study for the priesthood at St. Peter’s Seminary in London , Ontario. He was ordained in 1958. He was sent to study in Rome. This was followed by studies at the Ecole Biblique in Jerusalem. He returned to London to teach scripture to the seminarians at St. Peter’s Seminary. In 1974 he was asked by Bishop Emmett Carter to take over as director of the Divine Word International Centre of Religious Education. This Centre had been founded by Bishop Carter to provide a resource for adult education in the spirit of Vatican II. This Centre involved sessions of one or two weeks with many of the best scholars of the time. Students came not only from Canada and the United States but from all over the globe, Australia, Africa, Asia and Europe. By the time Father Gervais became the director Divine Word Centre was already a course dominated by the study of scripture to which he added social justice. This aspect of the course of studies was presented by people from every part of the “third world”; among which were Fr. Gustavo Gutierrez and Cardinal Dery of Ghana. In 1976 the Conference of Ontario Bishops along with the Canadian conference of Religious Women approached Father Gervais to provide a written course of studies in Sacred Scripture for the Church at large, but especially for priests and religious women. This is when Fr. Gervais began to write Journey, a set of forty lessons on the Bible. He was armed with a treasure of information from all the teachers and witnesses to the faith that had lectured at Devine Word. He was assisted by a large number of enthusiastic collaborators: all the people who had made presentations at Divine Word and provided materials and a team of great assistants, also at Divine Word Centre. The work was finished just as Father Gervais was ordained an auxiliary bishop of London (1980). He subsequently was made Bishop of Sault Saint Marie Diocese, and after four years, Archbishop of Ottawa (1989). He retired in 2007, and at the time of this writing, he is enjoying retirement.

Book preview

Journey- Lesson 23 The King

by Marcel Gervais, Emeritus Archbishop of the diocese of Ottawa, Canada

Nihil Obstat: Michael T. Ryan, B.A., M.A., Ph.D.

Imprimatur: + John M. Sherlock, Bishop of London

London, March 31, 1980

This content of this book was first published in 1977 as part of the JOURNEY Series By Guided Study Programs in the Catholic Faith and is now being republished in Smashwords by Emmaus Publications, 99 Fifth Avenue, Suite 103, Ottawa,ON, K1S 5P5, Canada ON Smashwords

Cover: ...As Jesus was walking onto the Temple,..the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him and .. said to him,'What authority have you for acting like this?'.. Mark 11:27

COPYRIGHT © Guided Study Programs ln the Catholic Faith, a division of The Divine Word International Centre of Religious Education 1977. Reproduction ln whole or ln part is Prohibited.

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CONTENTS

Chapter 1 Judgment on the People

Chapter 2 Endings

Chapter 3 Jesus is judged

Chapter 4 End and beginning

Answer key to practice questions

Self-test

Answer key to self-test

Recommendations for group meeting on Lesson Twenty-three

About The Author

Psalm 118

This psalm begins and ends with thanksgiving (vss 1-4, 28-29), and in between the psalmist, speaking for the People, praises God for saving them out of death (vss 5-18, 22-24). Interwoven with this victory song is an invitation to join in a procession to the Temple where a sacrifice is to be offered (vss 19-21, 25-27). Upon arrival in the Temple, the priests bless those who have come in the name of the Lord (vs 26).

This prayer is well suited to Lesson 23 whose main subject is the death and resurrection of Jesus. We give thanks for the everlasting love of God which has been revealed in its fullness in Jesus. We praise God for his victory over our enemies, the greatest of which are sin and death conquered by the death and resurrection of our Lord. The procession with green branches (vs 27) reminds us of the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem (Mark 11:8), and the chant of the people in Mark 11:9, Blessed is he who comes. . ., is taken from this psalm (vss 25f). Mark, in 12:10f, quotes from this psalm the passage about the stone rejected becoming the keystone (vss 22f). Since Psalm 118 was sung at all major festivals, it is quite likely that Jesus and his disciples sang it at his last Passover (Mark 14:26).

At the Eucharist we use Psalm 118:25f in the Holy, Holy, Holy, and during the Easter season our liturgy often uses vs 24: This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Lesson objective: To describe Jesus as King in Mark 11:1 - 16:8.

Introduction

A king normally had two functions, to assure the safety of his country and to oversee justice. This meant that kings were in charge of the military and of the courts of justice. Of all the kings which the People of God had had the most admired was David. He fought to overcome all their enemies and he administered justice properly (2 Sam 5-8; see Lesson 9, pp. 12, 16-18). At the time of Jesus many of the People hoped for another David who would overthrow the oppressive Roman rule and establish peace with justice in the land. These were to be sadly disappointed if they hoped that Jesus would be this kind of kingly saviour.

Jesus accepted to be called son of David (Mark 10:46ff), even though this was an imperfect act of faith in him. He also accepted to be called king (Mark 15:2), even though this, like son of David, could easily be