Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A Song of Praise
25 O Lord, You are my God. I will praise You. I will give thanks to Your name. For You have been faithful to do great things, plans that You made long ago. 2 For You have laid waste a city. You have destroyed a strong city. The beautiful house of strangers is a city no more. And it will never be built again. 3 So strong people will honor You. Cities of nations that show no pity will fear You. 4 For You have been a strong-place for those who could not help themselves and for those in need because of much trouble. You have been a safe place from the storm and a shadow from the heat. For the breath of the one who shows no pity is like a storm against a wall. 5 Like heat in a dry place, You quiet the noise of the strangers. Like heat by the shadow of a cloud, the song of the one who shows no pity is made quiet.
A Supper for All People
6 On this mountain the Lord of All will make a supper of good things ready for all people. It will be a supper of good wine, of the best foods, and of fine wine. 7 And on this mountain He will destroy the covering which is over all people, the covering which is spread over all nations. 8 He will take away death for all time. The Lord God will dry tears from all faces. He will take away the shame of His people from all the earth. For the Lord has spoken. 9 It will be said in that day, “See, this is our God. We have waited for Him, that He might save us. This is the Lord for Whom we have waited. Let us be glad and full of joy because He saves us.”
The Lord—Our Shepherd
23 The Lord is my Shepherd. I will have everything I need. 2 He lets me rest in fields of green grass. He leads me beside the quiet waters. 3 He makes me strong again. He leads me in the way of living right with Himself which brings honor to His name. 4 Yes, even if I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will not be afraid of anything, because You are with me. You have a walking stick with which to guide and one with which to help. These comfort me. 5 You are making a table of food ready for me in front of those who hate me. You have poured oil on my head. I have everything I need. 6 For sure, You will give me goodness and loving-kindness all the days of my life. Then I will live with You in Your house forever.
4 So, my dear Christian brothers, you are my joy and crown. I want to see you. Keep on staying true to the Lord, my dear friends.
2 I ask Euodias and Syntyche to agree as Christians should. 3 My true helper, I ask you to help these women who have worked with me so much in preaching the Good News to others. Clement helped also. There are others who worked with me. Their names are in the book of life.
4 Be full of joy always because you belong to the Lord. Again I say, be full of joy! 5 Let all people see how gentle you are. The Lord is coming again soon. 6 Do not worry. Learn to pray about everything. Give thanks to God as you ask Him for what you need. 7 The peace of God is much greater than the human mind can understand. This peace will keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
8 Christian brothers, keep your minds thinking about whatever is true, whatever is respected, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever can be loved, and whatever is well thought of. If there is anything good and worth giving thanks for, think about these things. 9 Keep on doing all the things you learned and received and heard from me. Do the things you saw me do. Then the God Who gives peace will be with you.
The Picture-Story of the Marriage Supper
22 Again Jesus spoke to them in picture-stories. He said, 2 “The holy nation of heaven is like a king who gave a wedding supper for his son. 3 He sent his servants to tell the people, who had been asked, to come to the supper. But the people did not want to come.
4 “He sent other servants, saying to them, ‘Tell those who have been asked to come, “See! My supper is ready. My cows and fat calves are killed. Everything is ready. Come to the wedding supper!”’ 5 But they did not listen and went on working. One went to his farm. Another went to his store. 6 The others took hold of his servants, and hurt them and killed them.
7 “When the king heard this, he was very angry. He sent his soldiers to put those to death who had killed his servants. He burned their city. 8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding supper is ready. Those who were asked to come to the supper were not good enough. 9 Go out into the roads and as many people as you can find, ask them to come to the wedding supper.’
10 “The servants went out into the roads and brought all they could find, both bad and good. The wedding supper room was full of people. 11 The king came in to see those who had come. He saw one man who did not have on wedding supper clothes. 12 He said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding supper clothes?’ The man could not speak! 13 Then the king said to his servants, ‘Tie his hands and feet, and throw him out into the darkness. In that place there will be loud crying and grinding of teeth.’ 14 For many are called but few are chosen.”
Copyright © 1969, 2003 by Barbour Publishing, Inc.