Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 131
A song by David for going up to worship.
1 O Yahweh, my heart is not conceited.
My eyes do not look down on others.
I am not involved in things too big or too difficult for me.
2 Instead, I have kept my soul calm and quiet.
My soul is content as a weaned child is content in its mother’s arms.
3 Israel, put your hope in Yahweh now and forever.
Jeremiah’s Linen Belt
13 This is what Yahweh said to me: “Buy a linen belt. Put it around your waist. Don’t let it get wet.” 2 So I bought the belt, as Yahweh had told me, and put it around my waist.
3 Yahweh spoke his word to me again. He said, 4 “Take the belt that you bought, the one you’re wearing. Go to the Euphrates River, and bury it there in a crack in the rocks.” 5 So I went and buried it by the Euphrates, as Yahweh had told me.
6 After many days Yahweh said to me, “Go to the Euphrates, and get the belt from where I told you to bury it.” 7 So I went back to the Euphrates and dug it up. I got the belt from where I had buried it. Now the belt was ruined. It was good for nothing.
8 Then Yahweh spoke his word to me. He said, 9 “This is what Yahweh says: This is how I will destroy Judah’s arrogance and Jerusalem’s extreme arrogance. 10 These wicked people refuse to listen to me. They go their own stubborn ways and follow other gods in order to serve them and worship them. They are like this good-for-nothing belt. 11 As a belt clings to a person’s waist, so I have made the entire nation of Israel and the entire nation of Judah cling to me,” declares Yahweh. “I did this so that they would be my people and bring fame, praise, and honor to me. However, they wouldn’t listen.
Jesus Washes the Disciples’ Feet
13 Before the Passover festival, Yeshua knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go back to the Father. Yeshua loved his own who were in the world, and he loved them to the end.
2 While supper was taking place, the devil had already put the idea of betraying Yeshua into the mind of Judas, son of Simon Iscariot.
3 The Father had put everything in Yeshua’s control. Yeshua knew that. He also knew that he had come from God and was going back to God. 4 So he got up from the table, removed his outer clothes, took a towel, and tied it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel that he had tied around his waist.
6 When Yeshua came to Simon Peter, Peter asked him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”
7 Yeshua answered Peter, “You don’t know now what I’m doing. You will understand later.”
8 Peter told Yeshua, “You will never wash my feet.”
Yeshua replied to Peter, “If I don’t wash you, you don’t belong to me.”
9 Simon Peter said to Yeshua, “Lord, don’t wash only my feet. Wash my hands and my head too!”
10 Yeshua told Peter, “People who have washed are completely clean. They need to have only their feet washed. All of you, except for one, are clean.” 11 (Yeshua knew who was going to betray him. That’s why he said, “All of you, except for one, are clean.”)
12 After Yeshua had washed their feet and put on his outer clothes, he took his place at the table again. Then he asked his disciples, “Do you understand what I’ve done for you? 13 You call me teacher and Lord, and you’re right because that’s what I am. 14 So if I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you must wash each other’s feet. 15 I’ve given you an example that you should follow. 16 I can guarantee this truth: Slaves are not superior to their owners, and messengers are not superior to the people who send them. 17 If you understand all of this, you are blessed whenever you follow my example.
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.