This week when I was preaching, I mixed together too many things from separate gospels and as a result there were two factual errors in my sermon. Thankfully, a few of you caught this and someone pointed it out to me. Talking about Jesus encounter with the rich man of Mark 10, I said that the Greek word translated “disheartened” described the rich man as he walked away from Jesus. I also said that this is the same word used to describe Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane in his anguish recorded by Luke.
To clarify, “sorrowful” is the word in the ESV that I meant to reference instead of “disheartened.” The ESV translates the Greek word lupeo as “sorrowful” in describing the rich young ruler in both Matthew 19:22 and Mark 10:22. However, in referring to Luke 22:44, I was also wrong because the word used there to describe Jesus in the garden is agona (a root for our English word "agony”). It is in Matthew’s gospel, not Mark or Luke, where lupeo is used both to describe the rich young ruler as he walks away from Jesus, and Jesus himself praying in the garden of Gethsemane.
The idea I pointed out is that the rich man's struggle and inability to let go of his wealth is described with the same word as Jesus' struggle and ability to give us all his wealth. But again, it's Matthew who does this, not Mark or Luke. Matthew uses the word lupeo to describe the demeanor of both the rich man as he encounters Jesus (Matthew 19:22), and Jesus in the garden (Matthew 26:37).
I think the idea holds as I preached it, but one can press the idea too far from the pulpit. As for whether or not that is what I did, I'll leave to you to consider. However, there is no excuse for switching up the facts as I explained them.
Many thanks to the fact checker! I appreciate you, dear brother.
There may be a few of you reading this post thinking, “Is it really that important? Was this a huge error?” I would only say that we need to be careful in how we use the Word of God. It is God-breathed (theopneustos) as Paul says in 2 Timothy 3:16, and it is the rule of faith and life. It is clear enough that “not only the learned, but the unlearned, in a due use of ordinary means may attain unto a sufficient understanding of them.” We can’t really have “a due use of ordinary means” if we don’t remember or read what the text says. That’s why every small group Bible study begins with observations of the passage that answer the question, “What does the text say?”
But it might be more interesting to hear a story illustrating how careful people have been with Scripture throughout history. A man named Sozomenus** compiled a history of the church from 323-425 AD and told this story:
It is said that on one occasion thereafter, the bishops of Cyprus met to consult on some particular emergency. Spyridon was present, as likewise Triphyllius, bishop of the Ledri, a man otherwise eloquent, who on account of practicing the law, had lived alone while at Berytus. When an assembly had convened, having been requested to address the people, Triphyllius had occasion, in the middle of his discourse, to quote the text, “Take up thy bed and walk,” [Matthew 9:6] and he substituted the word “couch” (skimpous), for the word “bed” (krabbatos). Spyridon [one who was older in age and in years of service] was indignant, and exclaimed, “Art thou greater than He who uttered the word ‘bed,’ that thou art ashamed to use His words?” When he had said this, he turned from the throne of the priest, and looked towards the people; by this act he taught them to keep the man who is proud of eloquence within bounds…
May the Lord keep all of us who are proud of eloquence, either listening to it or speaking with it, within the bounds of what He has breathed out and revealed to us in His Word.
In Him,
Tag
**Sozomenus: Church History from A.D. 323-425 Book I, Chapter 11
Found in Phillip Schaff, Nicene/Post-Nicene Fathers Series II, Vol. 2, p. 247.