Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

¹⁵ Look! You must choose between the things that I am offering you today. You may choose to have life and many good things. Or you may choose to have death and many troubles. ¹⁶ I am commanding you today to love the Lord your God. Live in a way that pleases him. Obey his commands, his rules and his laws. If you do that, you will live. You will become a nation of many people. The Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are going into as your new home.

¹⁷ But you will have trouble if you turn away from God and you do not obey him. If you decide to serve other gods and to worship them, ¹⁸ you will certainly come to an end. After you go across the Jordan River, you will not live very long in that land. That is what I am telling you today.

¹⁹ Today, I want the sky and the earth to hear what I have said to you. I have told you what you may choose. You may choose life or death. You may choose the Lord to bless you or to curse you. Choose life today, so that you and your descendants will live! ²⁰ Yes, love the Lord your God. Obey him and serve him faithfully. He is the one who gives you life. He will let you live for a long time in the land that he is giving to you. That is the land that he promised to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

The Word of God

ALEPH^[a]

God wants his people to grow as believers

3 My Christian friends, I could not teach you as I would teach people who have God's Spirit. I had to teach you as people who belong only to this world. You were like little children who could not understand the message about Christ very well. ² I had to teach you things that were easy to understand, like a mother gives milk to a baby. You were not yet ready to receive proper food. And you are still not ready to receive God's complete message! ³ You still do what your human nature wants to do. You are jealous of each other, and you quarrel with each other. Yes! This shows that you do what your human nature wants to do. You live like people who do not know God. ⁴ Some of you say, ‘Paul is my leader.’ And other people say, ‘Apollos is my leader.’ When you speak like that, you are talking like people who belong to this world.

⁵ Is Apollos important? Is Paul important? No! We are God's servants. We told you God's good news and you believed it. Each of us is doing the job which the Lord has given to us. ⁶ When I told you God's good news, I was like someone who planted seeds. Then Apollos was like someone who gave water to the young plants. But it was God who caused everything to grow. ⁷ The person who plants the seeds is not important. The person who gives water to the plants is not important. The important person is God, because he causes everything to grow. ⁸ The person who plants and the person who gives water both have the same purpose. God will pay each person what is right for their work. ⁹ Apollos and I work together as God's servants. You are like God's field that we work in.

You are also like a building that belongs to God.

Jesus teaches about angry people

²¹ Jesus then said, ‘You know the rule that God gave to your ancestors: “You must not kill anyone. Any person who does kill someone will stand in front of a judge.^[a] The judge will punish him because he has done a wrong thing.” ²² But what I now say to you is this: Anybody who is angry with his brother will have to stand in front of a judge. Or someone might call his brother by a bad name. Then he will have to stand in front of the Jewish leaders. They will judge him. But someone may say to his brother, “You are a fool.”^[b] God will judge that person. God may punish him in the fires of hell.

²³ Maybe you go to the temple to give your gift to God. You take it to the altar. But then you remember that your brother is angry with you. ²⁴ You must leave your gift there in front of God's altar. First you must go and find your brother. Tell him that you are sorry. Then you can both become friends with each other again. After that, you can return to the altar and give your gift to God.

²⁵ Also, somebody may say that you have done something wrong against him. He may take you to stand in front of the judge.^[c] You should quickly try to agree with this person. Decide with him how to make things right again. Do this even while you are going with him to the judge. If you do not do that, the judge may agree that you have done a wrong thing. Then he will give you to his officer. His officer will put you in prison. ²⁶ I tell you this: You will remain in prison until you have paid all the money, even the last small coin.’

Jesus teaches people about bad thoughts

²⁷ Jesus then said, ‘You know what God's rule says: “You must not have sex with anyone who is not your husband or your wife.” ²⁸ But what I tell you is this: A man may look at a woman who is not his wife. And he may want to have sex with her. In his thoughts, he has had sex with her, so he has done a wrong thing. ²⁹ If your right eye leads you to do wrong things, then you should take it out. You should throw it away. Yes, you will lose one eye. But it will be much worse if you keep your whole body and God throws you into hell. ³⁰ Also, if your right hand leads you to do wrong things, then you should cut it off. You should throw it away. You will lose one hand. But it will be much worse if you keep your body in one piece and go to hell.’^[d]

Jesus talks about when a man sends his wife away

³¹ ‘God's Law also says: “Any man who wants to send his wife away must give her a letter. This letter must say that they are no longer married.” ³² But what I tell you is this: A man must not send his wife away except for one reason. He may only send her away if she has had sex with another man. If he sends her away for any other reason, he has done a wrong thing. It is like he has caused her to have sex with another man. Also, if a woman has left her husband, another man must not marry her. That is the same as if he had sex with another man's wife.’

Jesus teaches people about promises to God

³³ ‘You also know the rule that God gave to your ancestors: “If you make a promise to God, you must do what you have said.” ³⁴ But what I tell you is this. Do not use any name to make a promise stronger. Do not use the words “by heaven” to make a promise stronger. Heaven is the place where God rules. Do not use the words “by the earth” to make a promise stronger. The earth is the place where God rests his feet. ³⁵ Do not use the words “by Jerusalem” to make a promise stronger. Jerusalem is God's city. He is the great King who rules from there. ³⁶ Do not use the words “by my head” to make a promise. You cannot make the colour of even one of your hairs black or white. ³⁷ Instead, when you make a promise, you should say only “Yes, I will do it.” Or you should say only “No, I will not do it.” If you say anything more than this, what you say is bad.^[e] It comes from Satan.’