Book of Common Prayer
The way of love and peace
13 Do not, then, pass judgment on one another any longer. If you want to exercise your judgment, do so on this question: how to avoid placing obstacles or stumbling blocks in front of a fellow family member.
14 I know, and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself, except that some things do become unclean for the person who regards them as such. 15 For if your brother or sister is being harmed by what you eat, you are no longer behaving in accordance with love. Don’t let your food destroy someone for whom the Messiah died!
16 So don’t let something that is good for you make other people blaspheme. 17 God’s kingdom, you see, isn’t about food and drink, but about justice, peace, and joy in the holy spirit. 18 Anyone who serves the Messiah like this pleases God and deserves respect from other people. 19 So, then, let’s find and follow the way of peace, and discover how to build each other up. 20 Don’t pull down God’s work on account of food. Everything is pure, but it becomes evil for anyone who causes offense when they eat. 21 It is good not to eat meat, or drink wine, or anything else which makes your fellow Christian stumble.
22 Hold firmly to the faith which you have as a matter between yourself and God. When you’ve thought something through, and can go ahead without passing judgment on yourself, God’s blessing on you! 23 But anyone who doubts is condemned even in the act of eating, because it doesn’t spring from faith. Whatever is not of faith is sin.
Jairus’s daughter and the woman with chronic bleeding
40 Jesus returned. A large crowd was waiting for him, and welcomed him back. 41 A man named Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, came and fell down in front of his feet. He pleaded with him to come to his house, 42 because he had an only daughter, twelve years old, who was dying. So they set off, and the crowd pressed close in around him.
43 There was a woman who had had an internal hemorrhage for twelve years. She had spent all she had on doctors, but had not been able to find a cure from anyone. 44 She came up behind Jesus and touched the hem of his robe. Immediately her flow of blood dried up.
45 “Who touched me?” asked Jesus.
Everybody denied it. “Master,” said Peter, “the crowds are crushing you and pressing you!”
46 “Somebody touched me,” said Jesus. “Power went out from me, and I knew it.”
47 When the woman saw that she couldn’t remain hidden, she came up, trembling, and fell down in front of him. She told him, in front of everyone, why she had touched him, and how she had been healed instantly.
48 “Daughter,” said Jesus, “your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
49 While he was still speaking, someone arrived from the synagogue-ruler’s house. “Your daughter’s dead,” he said. “Don’t bother the teacher any longer.”
50 “Don’t be afraid,” said Jesus when he heard it. “Just believe, and she will be rescued.”
51 When they got to the house, he didn’t let anyone come in with them except Peter, John and James, and the child’s father and mother. 52 Everyone was weeping and wailing for her.
“Don’t cry,” said Jesus. “She isn’t dead; she’s asleep.” 53 They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead.
54 But he took her by the hand. “Get up, child,” he called. 55 Her spirit returned, and she got up at once. He told them to give her something to eat. 56 Her parents were astounded, but he told them to tell nobody what had happened.
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.