Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

²² Then Solomon stood in front of whole assembly of Israel and faced the Lord’s altar. Solomon spread his hands and looked toward heaven ²³ and said,

“Lord, God of Israel, there is no other god like you in heaven or on the earth. You keep the agreement that you made with your people. You are kind and loyal to those who follow you with all their heart.

^41-42 “People from other places will hear about your greatness and your power. They will come from far away to pray at this Temple. ⁴³ From your home in heaven, please listen to their prayers. Please do everything the people from other places ask you. Then they will fear and respect you the same as your people in Israel. Then all people everywhere will know that I built this Temple to honor you.

1 Greetings from Paul, an apostle. I was chosen to be an apostle, but not by any group or person here on earth. My authority came from none other than Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Jesus from death. ² Greetings also from all those in God’s family who are with me.

To the churches in Galatia^[a]:

³ I pray that God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ will be good to you and give you peace. ⁴ Jesus gave himself for our sins to free us from this evil world we live in. This is what God our Father wanted. ⁵ The glory belongs to God forever and ever. Amen.

There Is Only One Good News Message

⁶ A short time ago God chose you to follow him. He chose you through his grace that came through Christ. But now I am amazed that you are already turning away and believing something different from the Good News we told you. ⁷ There is no other message that is the Good News, but some people are confusing you. They want to change the Good News about Christ. ⁸ We told you the true Good News message. So anyone who tells you a different message should be condemned—even if it’s one of us or even an angel from heaven! ⁹ I said this before. Now I say it again: You have already accepted the Good News. Anyone who tells you another way to be saved should be condemned!

¹⁰ Now do you think I am trying to make people accept me? No, God is the one I am trying to please. Am I trying to please people? If I wanted to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Paul’s Authority Is From God

¹¹ Brothers and sisters, I want you to know that the Good News message I told you was not made up by anyone. ¹² I did not get my message from any other human. The Good News is not something I learned from other people. Jesus Christ himself gave it to me. He showed me the Good News that I should tell people.

Jesus Heals an Officer’s Servant^(A)

7 Jesus finished saying all these things to the people. Then he went into Capernaum. ² In Capernaum there was an army officer. He had a servant who was very sick; he was near death. The officer loved the servant very much. ³ When he heard about Jesus, he sent some older Jewish leaders to him. He wanted the men to ask Jesus to come and save the life of his servant. ⁴ The men went to Jesus. They begged Jesus to help the officer. They said, “This officer is worthy to have your help. ⁵ He loves our people and he built the synagogue for us.”

⁶ So Jesus went with them. He was coming near the officer’s house when the officer sent friends to say, “Lord, you don’t need to do anything special for me. I am not good enough for you to come into my house. ⁷ That is why I did not come to you myself. You need only to give the order, and my servant will be healed. ⁸ I know this because I am a man under the authority of other men. And I have soldiers under my authority. I tell one soldier, ‘Go,’ and he goes. And I tell another soldier, ‘Come,’ and he comes. And I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and my servant obeys me.”

⁹ When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. He turned to the people following him and said, “I tell you, this is the most faith I have seen anywhere, even in Israel.”

¹⁰ The group that was sent to Jesus went back to the house. There they found that the servant was healed.