Book of Common Prayer

12 We have all these people all around us, proving to us that we should believe God. So then, like people running a race, we must take off everything that is heavy. We must put off all wrong, wrong things that get in our way. We must not stop running until we reach the mark that has been put in front of us.

² We must keep our eyes on Jesus. He believed from first to last. What was put in front of him made him glad, so he did not give up when the people nailed him on a cross. He did not care about the shame. And now he is sitting beside God.

³ Think about him. He did not give up when bad people said wrong things about him. When you think about him, you will not become tired and your hearts will not give up.

⁴ You have been fighting against bad people. But you have not been hurt very much.

⁵ You have forgotten the words spoken to you as sons. `My son, when the Lord punishes you, do not think it is a little thing. Do not give up when he tells you that you do wrong.

⁶ The Lord punishes the person he loves. And he beats every son he takes into his family.'

⁷ Do not give up when you are punished. God is treating you like sons. Is there a son who has never been punished by his father?

⁸ You are punished like the other children in the family. If you are not, you do not belong to the family as the other children do.

⁹ And what is more, our fathers on earth punished us and we respected them. We should obey even more the Father of our spirits. If we do, we will live.

¹⁰ Our fathers on earth punished us for a short time the way they wanted to. But God punishes us the way it is good for us. He is holy and good, so he wants us to become holy also.

¹¹ At the time a person is punished, he is not glad. He is sad. But after it is over, there is peace. Then those who are trained by it do what is right.

¹² So lift up your hands that are hanging down. Make your weak knees strong.

¹³ Walk straight ahead. Then weak feet will not get worse, but will be made well.

¹⁴ Try to be at peace with all people. And try to be holy. If a person is not holy, he will not see the Lord.

¹⁶ He went to Nazareth where he had grown up. He went to the meeting house as he always did on the Sabbath day. He stood up to read.

¹⁷ A man gave him the book that Isaiah the prophet of God wrote long ago. He opened the book and found the place where it says,

¹⁸ `The Spirit of the Lord is on me because he chose me to tell the good news to poor people. He has sent me to tell the prisoners they can go free, and to tell the blind people they can see. He has sent me to set free those who have been wrongly held down,

¹⁹ and to tell people that the year when the Lord will help them has come.'

²⁰ Then Jesus closed the book and gave it back to the man. He sat down. Everyone in the meeting house was watching him.

²¹ He began to talk to them. He said, `You have heard what the holy writings say. They have come true today.'

²² They all began to talk about him. They were surprised to hear him say such good words. They asked, `Is not this Joseph's son?'

²³ Then Jesus said, `I know that you will say this to me "Doctor, heal yourself. We have heard what you did in Capernaum. Do the same things here in your own country." '

²⁴ And he went on to say, `I tell you the truth. No prophet of God is accepted by the people in his own country.

²⁵ `I tell you the truth. At the time of Elijah, there were many women in Israel whose husbands were dead. There was no rain for three years and six months. All over the country there was great trouble because there was no food.

²⁶ But Elijah was not sent to any of these widowed women in Israel. He was sent to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon.

²⁷ `Also while Elisha was the prophet of God, many people in Israel had leprosy [a bad skin disease]. None of them was healed. The only one who was healed was Naaman from the country of Syria.'

²⁸ When they heard this, all the people in the meeting house were very angry.

²⁹ They jumped to their feet and put Jesus out of the town. Their town was built on a hill. They took Jesus out to the top and wanted to throw him down the hill.

³⁰ But Jesus walked out between them and went away.