Book of Common Prayer
Your attitude in these last days
7 We are near the end of all things now, and you should therefore be calm, self-controlled men of prayer.
8 Above everything else be sure that you have real deep love for each other, remembering how ‘love will cover a multitude of sins’.
9 Be hospitable to each other without secretly wishing you hadn’t got to be!
10-11 Serve one another with the particular gifts God has given each of you, as faithful dispensers of the magnificently varied grace of God. If any of you is a preacher then he should preach his message as from God. And in whatever way a man serves the Church he should do it recognising the fact that God gives him his ability, so that God may be glorified in everything through Jesus Christ. To him belong praise and power for ever, amen!
Your attitude to persecution
12-16 And now dear friends of mine. I beg you not to be unduly alarmed at the fiery ordeals which come to test your faith, as though this were some abnormal experience. You should be glad, because it means that you are called to share Christ’s sufferings. One day, when he shows himself in full splendour to men, you will be filled with the most tremendous joy. If you are reproached for being Christ’s followers, that is a great privilege, for you can be sure that God’s Spirit of glory is resting upon you. But take care that none of your number suffers as a murderer, or a thief, a rogue or a spy! If he suffers as a Christian he has nothing to be ashamed of and may glorify God in Christ’s name.
17-18 The time has evidently arrived for God’s judgment to begin, and it is beginning at his own House. And if it starts with us, what is it going to mean to those who refuse to obey the Gospel of God? ‘If the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?’.
19 And if it is true that we are living in a time of judgment, then those who suffer according to God’s will can only commit their souls to their faithful creator, and go on doing all the good they can.
He restores sight to two blind men
29-31 A great crowd followed them as they were leaving Jericho, and two blind men who were sitting by the roadside, hearing that it was Jesus who was passing by, cried out, “Have pity on us, Lord, you Son of David!” The crowd tried to hush them up, but this only made them cry out more loudly still, “Have pity on us, Lord, you Son of David!”
32 Jesus stood quite still and called out to them, “What do you want me to do for you?”
33 “Lord, let us see again!”
34 And Jesus, deeply moved with pity, touched their eyes. At once their sight was restored, and they followed him.
The New Testament in Modern English by J.B Phillips copyright © 1960, 1972 J. B. Phillips. Administered by The Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England. Used by Permission.