Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
34 Peter began to speak: “I really understand now that to God every person is the same. 35 In every country God accepts anyone who worships him and does what is right. 36 You know the message that God has sent to the people of Israel is the Good News that peace has come through Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Lord of all people! 37 You know what has happened all over Judea, beginning in Galilee after John[a] preached to the people about baptism. 38 You know about Jesus from Nazareth, that God gave him the Holy Spirit and power. You know how Jesus went everywhere doing good and healing those who were ruled by the devil, because God was with him. 39 We saw what Jesus did in Judea and in Jerusalem, but the Jews in Jerusalem killed him by hanging him on a cross. 40 Yet, on the third day, God raised Jesus to life and caused him to be seen, 41 not by all the people, but only by the witnesses God had already chosen. And we are those witnesses who ate and drank with him after he was raised from the dead. 42 He told us to preach to the people and to tell them that he is the one whom God chose to be the judge of the living and the dead. 43 All the prophets say it is true that all who believe in Jesus will be forgiven of their sins through Jesus’ name.”
God’s Banquet for His Servants
6 The Lord All-Powerful will prepare a feast
on this mountain for all people.
It will be a feast with all the best food and wine,
the finest meat and wine.
7 On this mountain God will destroy
the veil that covers all nations,
the veil that stretches over all peoples;
8 he will destroy death forever.
The Lord God will wipe away every tear from every face.
He will take away the shame of his people from the earth.
The Lord has spoken.
9 At that time people will say,
“Our God is doing this!
We have waited for him, and he has come to save us.
This is the Lord. We waited for him,
so we will rejoice and be happy when he saves us.”
Thanksgiving for Victory
118 Thank the Lord because he is good.
His love continues forever.
2 Let the people of Israel say,
“His love continues forever.”
14 The Lord gives me strength and a song.
He has saved me.
15 Shouts of joy and victory
come from the tents of those who do right:
“The Lord has done powerful things.”
16 The power of the Lord has won the victory;
with his power the Lord has done mighty things.
17 I will not die, but live,
and I will tell what the Lord has done.
18 The Lord has taught me a hard lesson,
but he did not let me die.
19 Open for me the Temple gates.
Then I will come in and thank the Lord.
20 This is the Lord’s gate;
only those who are good may enter through it.
21 Lord, I thank you for answering me.
You have saved me.
22 The stone that the builders rejected
became the cornerstone.
23 The Lord did this,
and it is wonderful to us.
24 This is the day that the Lord has made.
Let us rejoice and be glad today!
The Good News About Christ
15 Now, brothers and sisters, I want you to remember the Good News I brought to you. You received this Good News and continue strong in it. 2 And you are being saved by it if you continue believing what I told you. If you do not, then you believed for nothing.
3 I passed on to you what I received, of which this was most important: that Christ died for our sins, as the Scriptures say; 4 that he was buried and was raised to life on the third day as the Scriptures say; 5 and that he was seen by Peter and then by the twelve apostles. 6 After that, Jesus was seen by more than five hundred of the believers at the same time. Most of them are still living today, but some have died. 7 Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. 8 Last of all he was seen by me—as by a person not born at the normal time. 9 All the other apostles are greater than I am. I am not even good enough to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But God’s grace has made me what I am, and his grace to me was not wasted. I worked harder than all the other apostles. (But it was not I really; it was God’s grace that was with me.) 11 So if I preached to you or the other apostles preached to you, we all preach the same thing, and this is what you believed.
34 Peter began to speak: “I really understand now that to God every person is the same. 35 In every country God accepts anyone who worships him and does what is right. 36 You know the message that God has sent to the people of Israel is the Good News that peace has come through Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Lord of all people! 37 You know what has happened all over Judea, beginning in Galilee after John[a] preached to the people about baptism. 38 You know about Jesus from Nazareth, that God gave him the Holy Spirit and power. You know how Jesus went everywhere doing good and healing those who were ruled by the devil, because God was with him. 39 We saw what Jesus did in Judea and in Jerusalem, but the Jews in Jerusalem killed him by hanging him on a cross. 40 Yet, on the third day, God raised Jesus to life and caused him to be seen, 41 not by all the people, but only by the witnesses God had already chosen. And we are those witnesses who ate and drank with him after he was raised from the dead. 42 He told us to preach to the people and to tell them that he is the one whom God chose to be the judge of the living and the dead. 43 All the prophets say it is true that all who believe in Jesus will be forgiven of their sins through Jesus’ name.”
Jesus’ Tomb Is Empty
20 Early on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb while it was still dark. When she saw that the large stone had been moved away from the tomb, 2 she ran to Simon Peter and the follower whom Jesus loved. Mary said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him.”
3 So Peter and the other follower started for the tomb. 4 They were both running, but the other follower ran faster than Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent down and looked in and saw the strips of linen cloth lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then following him, Simon Peter arrived and went into the tomb and saw the strips of linen lying there. 7 He also saw the cloth that had been around Jesus’ head, which was folded up and laid in a different place from the strips of linen. 8 Then the other follower, who had reached the tomb first, also went in. He saw and believed. 9 (They did not yet understand from the Scriptures that Jesus must rise from the dead.)
Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene
10 Then the followers went back home. 11 But Mary stood outside the tomb, crying. As she was crying, she bent down and looked inside the tomb. 12 She saw two angels dressed in white, sitting where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and one at the feet.
13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
She answered, “They have taken away my Lord, and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 When Mary said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know it was Jesus.
15 Jesus asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Whom are you looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said to him, “Did you take him away, sir? Tell me where you put him, and I will get him.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
Mary turned toward Jesus and said in the Hebrew language,[a] “Rabboni.” (This means “Teacher.”)
17 Jesus said to her, “Don’t hold on to me, because I have not yet gone up to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going back to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
18 Mary Magdalene went and said to the followers, “I saw the Lord!” And she told them what Jesus had said to her.
Jesus Rises from the Dead
16 The day after the Sabbath day, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought some sweet-smelling spices to put on Jesus’ body. 2 Very early on that day, the first day of the week, soon after sunrise, the women were on their way to the tomb. 3 They said to each other, “Who will roll away for us the stone that covers the entrance of the tomb?”
4 Then the women looked and saw that the stone had already been rolled away, even though it was very large. 5 The women entered the tomb and saw a young man wearing a white robe and sitting on the right side, and they were afraid.
6 But the man said, “Don’t be afraid. You are looking for Jesus from Nazareth, who has been crucified. He has risen from the dead; he is not here. Look, here is the place they laid him. 7 Now go and tell his followers and Peter, ‘Jesus is going into Galilee ahead of you, and you will see him there as he told you before.’”
8 The women were confused and shaking with fear, so they left the tomb and ran away. They did not tell anyone about what happened, because they were afraid.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.