Book of Common Prayer

⁹ I wrote to you in the previous letter not to become associated with immoral people. ¹⁰ I didn’t (of course) mean immoral people in the world at large, or greedy people, or thieves, or idolaters. To avoid them, you’d have to remove yourselves from the world altogether! ¹¹ No; I was referring to people who call themselves Christians but who are immoral, or greedy, or idolaters, or blasphemers, or drunkards or robbers. You shouldn’t associate with them; you shouldn’t even eat with a person like that. ¹² Why should I worry about judging people outside? It’s the people inside you should judge, isn’t it? ¹³ God judges the people outside. “Drive out the wicked person from your company.”

Lawsuits in the church?

6 Can it really be the case that one of you dares to go to law against a neighbor, to be tried before unjust people, and not before God’s people? ² Don’t you know that God’s people will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you really incompetent to try smaller matters? ³ Don’t you know that we shall be judging angels? Why not then also matters to do with ordinary life? ⁴ So if you have lawsuits about ordinary matters, are you actually going to appoint as judges people whom the church despises? ⁵ I’m saying this to bring shame on you. Is it really true that there is no wise person among you who is able to decide between one Christian and another? ⁶ But one Christian is being taken to court by another, and before unbelievers at that!

⁷ Actually, to have lawsuits with one another at all represents a major setback for you. Why not rather let yourselves be wronged? Why not rather put up with loss? ⁸ But you yourselves are wronging and defrauding people, and fellow Christians at that!

Parable of the sower

4 Once again Jesus began to teach beside the sea. A huge crowd gathered; so he got into a boat and stationed himself on the sea, with all the crowd on the shore looking out to sea. ² He taught them lots of things in parables. This is how his teaching went.

³ “Listen!” he said. “Once upon a time there was a sower who went out sowing. ⁴ As he was sowing, some seed fell beside the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Other seed fell on the rock, where it didn’t have much soil. There was no depth to the ground, so it shot up at once; ⁶ but when the sun came up it was scorched, and withered away, because it hadn’t got any root. ⁷ Other seed fell in among thorns; the thorns grew up and choked it, and it didn’t give any crop. ⁸ And other seeds fell into good soil, and gave a harvest, which grew up and increased, and bore a yield, in some cases thirtyfold, in some sixtyfold, and in some a hundredfold.”

⁹ And he added, “If you’ve got ears, then listen!”

¹⁰ When they were alone, the people who were around Jesus, with the Twelve, asked him about the parables.

¹¹ “The mystery of God’s kingdom is given to you,” he replied, “but for the people outside it’s all in parables, ¹² so that ‘they may look and look but never see, and hear and hear but never understand; otherwise they would turn and be forgiven.’

¹³ “Don’t you understand the parable?” he said to them. “How are you going to understand all the parables?

¹⁴ “The sower sows the word. ¹⁵ The ones by the path are people who hear the word, but immediately the Accuser comes and takes away the word that has been sown in them. ¹⁶ The ones sown on the rock are those who hear the word and accept it with excitement, ¹⁷ but don’t have any root in themselves. They are short-term enthusiasts. When the word brings them trouble or hostility they quickly become disillusioned. ¹⁸ The others—the ones sown among thorns—are those who hear the word, ¹⁹ and the worries of the present age, and the deceit of riches, and desire for other kinds of things, come in and choke the word, so that it produces no fruit. ²⁰ But the ones sown on good soil are the people who hear the word and receive it, and produce fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixtyfold, some a hundredfold.”