Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁴ And yet I could trust in things about myself if I wanted to. If any other man thinks that he has something about himself to trust in, I have more things.

⁵ I had the mark of a Jew cut in my body when I was eight days old. I was born of the people of Israel. I belong to the family of Benjamin, so I was born a true Jew. I was a Pharisee, so I obeyed the Jewish law very carefully.

⁶ I was so full of my own ideas that I sent Christians to prison. But I was a good man in the way the Jewish law calls a man good.

⁷ But all these things that might have helped me, I call them all nothing, because of Christ.

⁸ Yes, I call them all nothing, because to know Christ Jesus my Lord is much better. It is for his sake that I have given them all up and call them just dirt. I have lost them but gained Christ.

⁹ I do it so that I will belong to him. I do not want to be called good because of the Jewish law. But I want to be made good by believing in Christ. I want to be put right with God through faith alone.

¹⁰ I want to know Christ. I want to know the power that raised him from death. I want to have a part in his trouble. I want to be like him in his death.

¹¹ Then I hope to be raised from death.

¹² I do not mean to say that I have got there yet, or that I am perfect yet. But I am trying hard to get there, because that is why Christ saved me.

¹³ My brothers, I do not yet think that I have got all the things of Christ. But there is one thing that I am doing. I forget what is behind me and reach out to what is ahead of me.

¹⁴ Like a man running a race, I try hard to reach the line so that I will receive the prize. Because we belong to Christ Jesus, God is calling us to receive this prize that he has for us in heaven.

12 Six days before the Passover Feast Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus lived. This was the Lazarus that Jesus had raised from death.

² The people made supper for Jesus. Martha helped give food for the people, and Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Jesus.

³ Mary had a jar of oil. It smelled very nice and cost much money. She put some of it on Jesus' feet. Then she wiped his feet with her hair. The smell of oil went all through the house.

⁴ Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, was there. He was one of the disciples, the one who was going to give Jesus over to the people who hated him.

⁵ He said, `This oil is worth a year's wages! Why did we not sell it and give the money to poor people?'

⁶ Judas did not say this because he cared for poor people. But he used to steal. He carried the disciples' money bag and he used to take money out of the bag for himself.

⁷ Then Jesus said, `Leave her alone. She has kept this oil for the time when they will bury me.

⁸ You will have poor people with you always. But you will not always have me with you.'