Book of Common Prayer

From Mount Sinai to Mount Zion

¹⁸ You haven’t come, after all, to something that can be touched—a blazing fire, darkness, gloom and whirlwind, ¹⁹ the sound of a trumpet and a voice speaking words which the hearers begged not to have to listen to anymore. ²⁰ (They couldn’t bear the command that “if even a beast touches the mountain, it must be stoned.”) ²¹ The sight was so terrifying that even Moses said, “I’m trembling with fear.”

²² No: you have come to Mount Zion—to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to where thousands and thousands of angels are gathered for a festival; ²³ to the assembly of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God the judge of all, to the spirits of righteous people who have been made perfect, ²⁴ and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood which has better words to say than the blood of Abel.

The kingdom that cannot be shaken

²⁵ Take care that you don’t refuse the one who is speaking. For if people didn’t escape when they rejected the one who gave them earthly warnings, how much more if we turn away from the one who speaks from heaven! ²⁶ At that point, his voice shook the earth; but now he has issued a promise in the following words: “One more time I will shake not only the earth but heaven as well.” ²⁷ The phrase “one more time” shows that the things that are to be shaken (that is, the created things) will be taken away, so that the things that cannot be shaken will remain.

²⁸ Well, then: we are to receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken! This calls for gratitude! That’s how to offer God true and acceptable worship, reverently and with fear. ²⁹ Our God, you see, is a devouring fire.

The bridegroom and his friend

²² After this, Jesus and his disciples went into the countryside of Judaea, and he stayed there with them and baptized. ²³ John, too, was baptizing at Aenon, close to Salim. There was plenty of water there, and people came to him and were baptized. ²⁴ This, of course, was before John had been put into prison.

²⁵ There was, perhaps inevitably, a dispute between the disciples of John and a Judaean, on the subject of purification. ²⁶ They came to John.

“Rabbi,” they said. “Remember the man who was with you beyond the Jordan, the one you gave evidence about? Well, look! He’s baptizing, and everyone’s going to him!”

²⁷ “Nobody can receive anything unless heaven first gives it,” replied John. ²⁸ “You yourselves can bear me out that I said I wasn’t the Messiah, but that I was sent ahead of him. ²⁹ It’s the bridegroom who gets the bride. The bridegroom’s friend, who stands nearby and hears him, is very happy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. So, you see, my joy is now complete. ³⁰ He must increase, but I must decrease.”