Book of Common Prayer
Abraham’s two sons
21 So, you want to live under the law, do you? All right, tell me this: are you prepared to hear what the law says? 22 For the Bible says that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave-girl and one by the free woman. 23 Now the child of the slave-girl was born according to the flesh, while the child of the free woman was born according to promise.
24 Treat this as picture-language. These two women stand for two covenants: one comes from Mount Sinai, and gives birth to slave-children; that is Hagar. 25 (Sinai, you see, is a mountain in Arabia, and it corresponds, in the picture, to the present Jerusalem, since she is in slavery with her children.) 26 But the Jerusalem which is above is free—and she is our mother.
27 For the Bible says,
Celebrate, childless one, who never gave birth!
Go wild and shout, girl that never had pains!
The barren woman has many more children
than the one who has a husband!
28 Now you, my family, are children of promise, in the line of Isaac. 29 But things now are like they were then: the one who was born according to the flesh persecuted the one born according to the spirit. 30 But what does the Bible say? “Throw out the slave-girl and her son! For the son of the slave-girl will not inherit with the son of the free.” 31 So, my family, we are not children of the slave-girl, but of the free.
Freedom in Christ
5 The Messiah set us free so that we could enjoy freedom! So stand firm, and don’t get yourselves tied down by the chains of slavery.
The leaven of the Pharisees and Herod
11 The Pharisees came out and began to dispute with Jesus. They were asking him for a sign from heaven, to test him out.
12 Jesus groaned deeply in his spirit. “Why is this generation looking for a sign?” he said. “I’m telling you the truth: no sign will be given to this generation.” 13 He left them again, got into the boat, and crossed over to the other side.
14 They had forgotten to get any bread, and had only one loaf with them in the boat.
15 “Beware!” said Jesus sternly to them. “Watch out for leaven—the Pharisees’ leaven, and Herod’s leaven too!”
16 “It must be something to do with us not having any bread,” they said to each other.
17 “Why are you grumbling about not bringing bread?” said Jesus, who knew what they were thinking. “Don’t you get it? Don’t you understand? Have your hearts gone hard?
18 Can’t you see with your two good eyes?
Can’t you hear with your two good ears?
“And don’t you remember? 19 When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken bits were left over?”
“Twelve,” they said.
20 “And the seven loaves for the four thousand—how many baskets full of bits were left over?”
“Seven,” they replied.
21 “You still don’t get it?” he asked.
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.