Book of Common Prayer

Thanksgiving for the Lord’s Saving Goodness.

The Lord Extolled for His Goodness.

A Psalm of praise. Of David.

Saul among Prophets

10 Then Samuel took the flask of oil and poured it on Saul’s head, kissed him, and said, “Has the Lord not anointed you as ruler over His inheritance (Israel)? ² When you leave me today, you will meet two men beside Rachel’s tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah; they will say to you, ‘The donkeys you went to look for have been found. And your father has stopped caring about them and is worried about you, saying, “What shall I do about my son?”’ ³ Then you will go on further from there, and you will come to the terebinth tree of Tabor, and three men going up to [sacrifice to] God at Bethel will meet you there, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a jug of wine. ⁴ They will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you will accept from their hand. ⁵ After that you will come to ^[a]the hill of God where the garrison of the Philistines is; and when you come there to the city, you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place [of worship] with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre before them, and they will be prophesying. ⁶ Then the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you mightily, and you will prophesy with them, and you will be changed into another man. ⁷ When these signs come to you, do for yourself whatever ^[b]the situation requires, for God is with you. ⁸ You shall go down ahead of me to Gilgal; and behold, I will be coming down to you to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice peace offerings. You shall wait seven days until I come to you and show you what you must do.”

⁹ Then it happened when Saul turned his back to leave Samuel, God changed his heart; and all those signs came to pass that day. ¹⁰ When they came to the hill [Gibeah], behold, a group of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came on him mightily, and he prophesied [under divine guidance] among them. ¹¹ Now when all who knew Saul previously saw that he actually prophesied now [by inspiration] with the prophets, the people said one to another, “What has happened to [Saul, who is nobody but] the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?” ¹² And a man from there answered, “But who is the father of the others?” So it became a proverb, “Is Saul also among the prophets?” ¹³ When Saul had finished prophesying, he went to the high place [of worship].

¹⁴ Saul’s uncle said to him and to his servant, “Where did you go?” And Saul said, “To look for the donkeys. And when we saw that they were nowhere to be found, we went to Samuel [for help].” ¹⁵ Saul’s uncle said, “Please tell me, what did Samuel say to you?” ¹⁶ And Saul said to his uncle, “He told us plainly that the donkeys had been found.” But he did not tell him about the matter of the kingdom which Samuel had mentioned.

¹³ For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through [observing the requirements of] the Law, but through the righteousness of faith.^{(A) 14} If those who are [followers] of the Law are [the true] heirs [of Abraham], then faith [leading to salvation] is of no effect and void, and the promise [of God] is nullified. ¹⁵ For the Law results in [God’s] wrath [against sin], but where there is no law, there is no violation [of it either].

¹⁶ Therefore, [inheriting] the promise depends entirely on faith [that is, confident trust in the unseen God], in order that it may be given as an act of grace [His unmerited favor and mercy], so that the promise will be [legally] guaranteed to all the descendants [of Abraham]—not only for those [Jewish believers] who keep the Law, but also for those [Gentile believers] who share the faith of Abraham, who is the [spiritual] father of us all— ¹⁷ (as it is written [in Scripture], “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the sight of Him in whom he believed, that is, God ^[a]who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.^{(B) 18} In hope against hope Abraham believed that he would become a father of many nations, as he had been promised [by God]: “So [numberless] shall your descendants be.”^{(C) 19} Without becoming weak in faith he considered his own body, now as good as dead [for producing children] since he was about a hundred years old, and [he considered] the deadness of Sarah’s womb.^{(D) 20} But he did not doubt or waver in unbelief concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong and empowered by faith, giving glory to God, ²¹ being fully convinced that God had the power to do what He had promised. ²² Therefore his faith was credited to him as righteousness (right standing with God).^{(E) 23} Now not for his sake alone was it written that it was credited to him, ²⁴ but for our sake also—to whom righteousness will be credited, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead— ²⁵ who was betrayed and crucified because of our sins, and was raised [from the dead] because of our justification [our acquittal—absolving us of all sin before God].

Authority Challenged

²³ When He entered the temple area, the ^[a]chief priests and elders of the people came to Him as He was teaching and said, “By what [kind of] authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority [to exercise this power]?”^{(A) 24} Jesus replied to them, “I will also ask you a question, and if you tell Me the answer, then I will tell you by what authority I do these things. ²⁵ The baptism of John—from where did it come? From heaven [that is, ordained by God] or from men?” And they began debating among themselves [considering the implications of their answer], saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe John?’ ²⁶ But if we say, ‘From men,’ we are afraid of the [response of the] crowd; for they all regard John as a prophet.” ²⁷ So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And He said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what [kind of] authority I do these things.”

Parable of Two Sons

²⁸ “What do you think? There was a man who had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ ²⁹ And he answered, ‘I will not’; but afterward he regretted it and changed his mind and went. ³⁰ Then the man came to the second son and said the same thing; and he replied, ‘I will, sir’; but he did not go. ³¹ Which of the two did the will of the father?” The chief priests and elders replied, “The first one.” Jesus said to them, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you that the tax collectors and the prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you. ³² For John came to you [walking] in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even change your mind afterward and believe him [accepting what he proclaimed to you].