Book of Common Prayer

Thanksgiving to God

A Davidic Psalm^[a]

Praising God for His Works

Saul is Anointed King

10 Samuel took a flask of oil, poured it on Saul’s^[a] head, kissed him, and said, “The Lord has anointed you Commander-in-Chief^[b] over his inheritance, has he not? ² When you leave me today, you will find two men by Rachel’s tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah. They’ll tell you, ‘The donkeys you went to look for have been found. Now your father has stopped worrying about the donkeys^[c] and he’s anxious about you. He’s asking, ‘What will I do about my son?’ ³ Then you’ll go on further from there and come to the oak at Tabor. There three men going up to the Lord at Bethel will meet you. One will be herding^[d] three young goats, one will be carrying three loaves of bread, and one will be carrying a bottle^[e] of wine. ⁴ They’ll greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you’re to accept from them.

⁵ “After that you will come to Gibeath-elohim^[f] where the Philistine garrison is. As you arrive there at the town, you’ll meet a band of prophets coming down from the high place with a harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre being played in front of them, and they’ll be prophesying. ⁶ The Spirit of the Lord will come upon you, and you’ll prophesy with them and be changed into a different person. ⁷ When these signs occur,^[g] do whatever you want^[h] to do, because the Lord is with you. ⁸ You are to go down ahead of me to Gilgal, and then I’ll come down to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice peace offerings. You are to wait seven days until I come to you to let you know what you are to do.”

The Spirit of God Comes on Saul

⁹ Now it happened as Saul^[i] turned his back to leave Samuel, that God gave him another heart,^[j] and all these signs occurred on that day. ¹⁰ When they arrived there at Gibeah,^[k] a band of prophets was right there to meet them. The Spirit of God came upon Saul,^[l] and he prophesied^[m] along with them. ¹¹ When all those who had known Saul previously saw that he was there among the prophets prophesying, the people told one another, “What has happened to Kish’s son? Is Saul also among the prophets?”

¹² A man from there answered: “Now who is their father?” Therefore it became a proverb, “Is Saul also among the prophets?” ¹³ When he had finished prophesying, he went to the high place.

¹⁴ Saul’s uncle told him and to his young man, “Where did you go?”

He said, “To look for the donkeys, and when we saw that they couldn’t be found, we went to Samuel.”

¹⁵ Then Saul’s uncle said, “Please tell me what Samuel told you.”

¹⁶ Saul told his uncle, “He actually told us that the donkeys had been found,” but he did not tell him about the matter of kingship about which Samuel had spoken.

The Promise Comes through Faith

¹³ For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the Law, but through the righteousness produced by faith. ¹⁴ For if those who were given the Law^[a] are the heirs, then faith is useless and the promise is worthless, ¹⁵ for the Law produces wrath. Now where there is no Law, neither can there be any violation of it.

¹⁶ Therefore, the promise^[b] is based on faith, so that it may be a matter of grace and may be guaranteed for all of Abraham’s^[c] descendants—not only for those who were given the Law,^[d] but also for those who share the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. ¹⁷ As it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations.”^[e] Abraham^[f] acted in faith when he stood in the presence of God, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence things that don’t yet exist. ¹⁸ Hoping in spite of hopeless circumstances, he believed that he would become “the father of many nations,”^[g] just as he had been told:^[h] “This is how many descendants you will have.”^{[i] 19} His faith did not weaken when he thought about his own body (which was already^[j] as good as dead now that he was about a hundred years old) or about Sarah’s inability to have children, ²⁰ nor did he doubt God’s promise out of a lack of faith. Instead, his faith became stronger and he gave glory to God, ²¹ being absolutely convinced that God would do what he had promised. ²² This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.”^[k]

²³ Now the words “it was credited to him” were written not only for him ²⁴ but also for us. Our faith will be regarded in the same way,^[l] if we believe in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. ²⁵ He was sentenced to death because of our sins and raised to life to justify us.

Jesus’ Authority is Challenged^(A)

²³ Then Jesus^[a] went into the Temple. While he was teaching, the high priests and the elders of the people came to him and asked, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?”

²⁴ Jesus answered them, “I, too, will ask you one question.^[b] If you answer it for me, I will also tell you by what authority I am doing these things. ²⁵ Where did John’s authority to baptize^[c] come from? From heaven or from humans?”

They began discussing this among themselves: “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask us, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ ²⁶ But if we say, ‘From humans,’ we are afraid of the crowd, because everyone regards John as a prophet.” ²⁷ So they told Jesus, “We don’t know.”

He in turn told them, “Then I won’t tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”

The Parable about Two Sons

²⁸ “But what do you think? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ ²⁹ His son^[d] replied, ‘I don’t want to,’ but later he changed his mind and went. ³⁰ Then the father^[e] went to the other son^[f] and told him the same thing. He replied, ‘I will,^[g] sir,’ but he didn’t go. ³¹ Which of the two did the father’s will?”

They answered, “The first one.”

Jesus told them, “I tell all of you^[h] with certainty, tax collectors and prostitutes will get into God’s kingdom ahead of you! ³² John came to you living a righteous life,^[i] and you didn’t believe him, but the tax collectors and prostitutes did. But even when you saw that, you didn’t change your minds^[j] at last and believe him.”