Some people found it interesting (as did I) so here is the rest of the analysis, covering the remainder of St Matthew's Gospel.
Over time, I hope to go through the remaining Gospels, and eventually the Epistles, to see what we are not to hear at Sunday Mass. I suspect that there are patterns. Certainly today's post suggests that many of the strong criticisms of the Pharisees, Sadducees and High Priests have been cut.
As before, I list all omissions, and have emboldened those where I think there is no parallel text used from another Gospel.
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Chapter 15
1:21 Pharisees and tradition: [largely covered by reading from St Mark ch 7, but some verses of that omitted too, which I will pick up when I cover St Mark’s Gospel.]
1 - 12 Pharisees ask for a sign: the sign of Jonah; ‘have nothing to do with the leaven of the Pharisees’ - the parallel passage from St Mark also omitted.
28: In truth I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming with his kingdom.' - the parallel passages from St Mark and St Luke are also omitted.
Chapter 17
10: 9 - 26 Elias must come before Christ; also cut from St Mark;
the Lunatic; Prophecy of Death and Resurrection; the parallel passages from St Mark and St Luke are also omitted.
The Temple Pence - only in St Matthew
18 1-14 Unless you become like little children [St Mark’s shorter account used: which covers 1- 5, but omits 6- 14: If anyone hurts the conscience of one of these little ones... 100 sheep and one lost...]
Chapter 19 omitted.
vv 1- 9 Is it right for a man to put away his wife? [St Mark’s version used.]
10 - 12 Eunuchs for the Kingdom - only in St Matthew
13 - 26 The Rich Young Man; [St Mark’s version used.]
27 - 30 St Peter: and what about us who have left all?... Cut also from Sts Mark and Luke
Chapter 20
16b - 34 Many are called, but few are chosen - Matthew only
Prophecy of passion and death - Cut from St Mark, too
A place on thy right and on thy left... [St Mark’s account used (though optional, if shorter reading chosen)]
The Son of Man came to serve and to give his life as a ransom. [St Mark’s account used.]
Two blind men cured. [St Mark’s account used - featuring only one blind man, Bartimaeus]
Chapter 21
12 - 27 Cleansing of the temple [St John’s account used]
The fig tree withers up Also cut from St Mark
By what authority? Also cut from St Mark and St Luke
44 - 46: Chief Priests and pharisees saw clearly He was talking of them... Cut from St Mark, too.
Chapter 22
22-33 Sadducees and the Resurrection: the seven brothers. [St Luke’s version used.]
41 - 46 Whose son is the Christ to be? Cut from St Luke, too.
Chapter 23
13 - 39 Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees...; If a man swears by the temple...; Straining for the gnat...; Whitened sepulchres...; Fathers slew the prophets...; Brood of vipers...; ... as a hen gathers chickens... (all of this either unique to St Matthew, or in some cases also cut from St Luke)
Chapter 24
1 - 36 The destruction of the Temple; The end times: false prophecies; All the world will hate you; The Abomination of Desolation; Here is the Christ...; The Son of Man coming upon the clouds of Heaven; The fig tree; That day and that hour unknown [St Luke’s account used].
45 - 51: Wise and foolish servants [St Luke’s account used - which doesn’t mention ‘weeping and gnashing of teeth...’]
Chapter 26
1 - 13 Caiaphas plotting; the precious ointment; [St Mark's account used]
Ch 28 11 - 15 Soldiers bribed to say they slept. (St Matthew only)
2 comments:
Wow! I'm hard pressed to keep up with the fascinating material you are posting at present with both the chant and the Gospels being close to my heart!
Regarding the Gospels, however,may I ask if you are suggesting that there was some peculiar agenda behind the inclusion/exclusion of particular passages when the new Lectionary was drawn up?
I am not sure that it is quite straightforward because- for example- passages omitted on Sundays turn up on weekdays. I was struck by the last example on your list concerning the bribery of the soldiers remembering having heard it only very recently. I checked and it is in fact used on Easter Monday.
What does seem intriguing, however, is the shift between lectionaries from what I would call a clear Gospel emphasis in the old one to an "Evangelist emphasis" in the new one. It is as if we have moved from a focus upon the Gospel simply as a proclamation of CHRIST to a focus upon what each of the EVANGELISTs has had to say in that proclamation. I say this because, while there are doubtless good scholarly reasons for examining what Matthew, Mark etc. as individuals had to say, our primary reason for listening to the Gospel always - surely - has to be in order to encounter Christ Our Lord. Nevertheless there are historic precedents for the reading of all four Gospels during the cycle of the year.
I shall look forward to your further postings on this subject.
Patricius
Thanks for your kind comments.
At present, I am not suggesting there is an agenda: I am exploring what is and is not presented.
If there are patterns, I will subsequently, doubtless, seek to find meaning in them - and realise that to do so intelligently one of the things I need to do is buy Bugnini's book in which he gives his account of the changes and the thinking behind them.
But equally, I hope to provoke others to think and to comment, in the hope that I will learn from them too; and I have already found your comment thought-provoking, as it frames the difference between old and new lectionaries in a different way from the way in which I had vaguely conceived it.
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