Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

131 Lord, I am not proud and haughty. I don’t think myself better than others. I don’t pretend to “know it all.” ² I am quiet now before the Lord, just as a child who is weaned from the breast. Yes, my begging has been stilled.

³ O Israel, you too should quietly trust in the Lord—now, and always.

13 The Lord said to me, Go and buy a linen loincloth and wear it, but don’t wash it—don’t put it in water at all. ² So I bought the loincloth and put it on. ³ Then the Lord’s message came to me again. This time he said, ⁴ Take the loincloth out to the Euphrates River and hide it in a hole in the rocks.

⁵ So I did; I hid it as the Lord had told me to. ⁶ Then, a long time afterwards, the Lord said: Go out to the river again and get the loincloth. ⁷ And I did; I dug it out of the hole where I had hidden it. But now it was mildewed and falling apart. It was utterly useless!

^8-9 Then the Lord said: This illustrates the way that I will rot the pride of Judah and Jerusalem. ¹⁰ This evil nation refuses to listen to me and follows its own evil desires, and worships idols; therefore, it shall become as this loincloth—good for nothing. ¹¹ Even as a loincloth clings to a man’s loins, so I made Judah and Israel to cling to me, says the Lord. They were my people, an honor to my name. But then they turned away.

13 ^1-3 Jesus knew on the evening of Passover Day that it would be his last night on earth before returning to his Father. During supper the devil had already suggested to Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, that this was the night to carry out his plan to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had given him everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. And how he loved his disciples! ⁴ So he got up from the supper table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his loins,^{[a] 5} poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel he had around him.

⁶ When he came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, “Master, you shouldn’t be washing our feet like this!”

⁷ Jesus replied, “You don’t understand now why I am doing it; some day you will.”

⁸ “No,” Peter protested, “you shall never wash my feet!”

“But if I don’t, you can’t be my partner,” Jesus replied.

⁹ Simon Peter exclaimed, “Then wash my hands and head as well—not just my feet!”

¹⁰ Jesus replied, “One who has bathed all over needs only to have his feet washed to be entirely clean. Now you are clean—but that isn’t true of everyone here.” ¹¹ For Jesus knew who would betray him. That is what he meant when he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

¹² After washing their feet he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, “Do you understand what I was doing? ¹³ You call me ‘Master’ and ‘Lord,’ and you do well to say it, for it is true. ¹⁴ And since I, the Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. ¹⁵ I have given you an example to follow: do as I have done to you. ¹⁶ How true it is that a servant is not greater than his master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends him. ¹⁷ You know these things—now do them! That is the path of blessing.