Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

The Vision of the Lampstand

4 Then the angel who was talking with me came back. He woke me up as if I had been asleep. ² He asked me, “What do you see?”

I said, “I see a solid gold lampstand. There is a bowl at the top. And there are seven lamps. There are also seven places for wicks. ³ There are two olive trees by it. One is on the right of the bowl. And one is on the left.”

⁴ I asked the angel who talked with me, “Sir, what are these?”

⁵ The angel said, “Don’t you know what they are?”

“No, sir,” I said.

⁶ Then he told me, “This is the message from the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘You will not succeed by your own strength or by your own power. The power will come from my Spirit,’ says the Lord of heaven’s armies.

⁷ “No mountain can stand in Zerubbabel’s way. It will be flattened. Then he will bring out the topmost stone. There will be shouts of ‘It’s beautiful! It’s beautiful!’”

Jesus Prays to the Father

²¹ Then the Holy Spirit made Jesus rejoice. He said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the people who are wise and smart. But you have shown them to those who are like little children. Yes, Father, you did this because this is what you really wanted.

²² “My Father has given me all things. No one knows the Son—only the Father knows. And only the Son knows the Father. The only people who will know about the Father are those whom the Son chooses to tell.”

²³ Then Jesus turned to his followers and said privately, “You are blessed to see what you now see! ²⁴ I tell you, many prophets and kings wanted to see what you now see. But they did not see these things. And many prophets and kings wanted to hear what you now hear. But they did not hear these things.”