Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Justice of the Kingdom

Psalm 146

¹⁷ You are not to twist justice for an outsider or orphan, and you are not to take as collateral a widow’s clothing. ¹⁸ But you are to remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and Adonai your God redeemed you from there. Therefore I am commanding you to do this thing.

¹⁹ “When you reap your harvest in your field and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you are not to turn back to get it. It is for the outsider, for the orphan and for the widow—in order that Adonai your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. ²⁰ When you beat your olive tree, you are not to search through the branches afterward. It is for the outsider, for the orphan and for the widow. ²¹ When you harvest your vineyard, you are not to pick over it afterward. It is for the outsider, for the orphan and for the widow. ²² You are to remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt. Therefore I am commanding you to do this thing.

The Fruit of the Faithful

¹² The next day, when they had left Bethany, He became hungry. ¹³ Seeing from a distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if He would find any fruit on it. When He came up to it, He found nothing except leaves, because it wasn’t the season for figs. ¹⁴ And He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” And His disciples were listening.

²⁰ As they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree shriveled from the roots. ²¹ Peter remembered and said to Yeshua, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree You cursed has shriveled up!”

²² And Yeshua answered, saying to them, “Have faith in God! ²³ Amen, I tell you, if someone says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but trusts that what he says is happening, so shall it be for him. ²⁴ For this reason I say to you, whatever you pray and ask, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.