Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Joseph Tells His Brothers Not to Be Afraid

¹⁵ When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be now that Joseph will hate us, and pay us in return for all the wrong that we did to him!” ¹⁶ So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Before he died, our father told us, ¹⁷ ‘You say to Joseph, “Forgive the wrong-doing of your brothers and their sin. For they did a bad thing to you.”’ Now we beg you, forgive the wrong-doing of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph cried when they spoke to him. ¹⁸ Then his brothers came and fell down in front of him and said, “See, we are your servants.”

¹⁹ But Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid. Am I in the place of God? ²⁰ You planned to do a bad thing to me. But God planned it for good, to make it happen that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. ²¹ So do not be afraid. I will take care of you and your little ones.” He gave them comfort and words of kindness.

Praise for God’s Love

103 Praise the Lord, O my soul. And all that is within me, praise His holy name. ² Praise the Lord, O my soul. And forget none of His acts of kindness. ³ He forgives all my sins. He heals all my diseases. ⁴ He saves my life from the grave. He crowns me with loving-kindness and pity. ⁵ He fills my years with good things and I am made young again like the eagle.

⁶ The Lord does what is right and fair for all who suffer under a bad power. ⁷ He made His ways known to Moses and His acts to the people of Israel.

⁸ The Lord is full of loving-pity and kindness. He is slow to anger and has much loving-kindness. ⁹ He will not always keep after us. And He will not keep His anger back forever. ¹⁰ He has not punished us enough for all our sins. He has not paid us back for all our wrong-doings. ¹¹ For His loving-kindness for those who fear Him is as great as the heavens are high above the earth. ¹² He has taken our sins from us as far as the east is from the west. ¹³ The Lord has loving-pity on those who fear Him, as a father has loving-pity on his children.

14 If there is someone whose faith is weak, be kind and receive him. Do not argue about what he thinks. ² One man believes he may eat everything. Another man with weak faith eats only vegetables. ³ The man who eats everything should not think he is better than the one who eats only vegetables. The man who eats only vegetables should not say the other man is wrong, because God has received him. ⁴ Who are you to tell another person’s servant if he is right or wrong? It is to his owner that he does good or bad. The Lord is able to help him.

⁵ One man thinks one day is more important than another. Another man thinks every day is the same. Every man must be sure in his own mind. ⁶ The man who worships on a special day does it to honor the Lord. The man who eats meat does it to honor the Lord. He gives thanks to God for what he eats. The other man does not eat meat. In this way, he honors the Lord. He gives thanks to God also.

⁷ No one lives for himself alone. No one dies for himself alone. ⁸ If we live, it is for the Lord. If we die, it is for the Lord. If we live or die, we belong to the Lord. ⁹ Christ died and lived again. This is why He is the Lord of the living and of the dead. ¹⁰ Why do you try to say your Christian brother is right or wrong? Why do you hate your Christian brother? We will all stand before God to be judged by Him. ¹¹ The Holy Writings say, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow before Me. And every tongue will say that I am God.” ¹² Everyone of us will give an answer to God about himself.

True Forgiveness

²¹ Then Peter came to Jesus and said, “Lord, how many times may my brother sin against me and I forgive him, up to seven times?” ²² Jesus said to him, “I tell you, not seven times but seventy times seven!

²³ “The holy nation of heaven is like a king who wanted to find out how much money his servants owed him. ²⁴ As he began, one of the servants was brought to him who owed him very much money. ²⁵ He could pay nothing that he owed. So the king spoke the word that he and his wife and his children and all that he had should be sold to pay what he owed. ²⁶ The servant got down on his face in front of the king. He said, ‘Give me time, and I will pay you all the money.’ ²⁷ Then the king took pity on his servant and let him go. He told him he did not have to pay the money back.

²⁸ “But that servant went out and found one of the other servants who owed him very little money. He took hold of his neck and said, ‘Pay me the money you owe me!’ ²⁹ The other servant got down at his feet and said, ‘Give me time, and I will pay you all the money.’ ³⁰ But he would not. He had him put in prison until he could pay the money.

³¹ “When his other servants saw what had happened, they were very sorry. They came and told the king all that was done. ³² Then the king called for the first one. He said, ‘You bad servant! I forgave you. I said that you would not have to pay back any of the money you owed me because you asked me. ³³ Should you not have had pity on the other servant, even as I had pity on you?’ ³⁴ The king was very angry. He handed him over to men who would beat and hurt him until he paid all the money he owed. ³⁵ So will My Father in heaven do to you, if each one of you does not forgive his brother from his heart.”