Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

God’s Loving-Kindness for His People

¹⁴ “So I will lead her into the desert and speak words of comfort to her. ¹⁵ I will give her grape-fields there, and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. And she will sing there as she did when she was young, as in the day she came out of the land of Egypt. ¹⁶ In that day” says the Lord, “you will call Me, ‘My Husband.’ And you will no longer call Me, ‘My Baal.’ ¹⁷ For I will take the names of the Baals from her mouth. The names of these false gods will never be spoken again. ¹⁸ In that day I will make an agreement for them with the wild animals of the field, the birds of the sky, and the things which move upon the ground. I will put an end to the bow, the sword, and war in all the land. And I will let My people lie down in peace and be safe. ¹⁹ I will promise to make you Mine forever. Yes, I will take you as My bride in what is right and good and fair, and in loving-kindness and in loving-pity. ²⁰ I will keep My promise and make you Mine. Then you will know the Lord.

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.

²² Praise the Lord, all His works in all places under His rule. Praise the Lord, O my soul!

The Old and the New Way

3 Are we making it sound as if we think we are so important? Other people write letters about themselves. Do we need to write such a letter to you? ² You are our letter. You are written in our hearts. You are known and read by all men. ³ You are as a letter from Christ written by us. You are not written as other letters are written with ink, or on pieces of stone. You are written in human hearts by the Spirit of the living God. ⁴ We can say these things because of our faith in God through Christ. ⁵ We know we are not able in ourselves to do any of this work. God makes us able to do these things. ⁶ God is the One Who made us preachers of a New Way of Worship. This New Way of Worship is not of the Law. It is of the Holy Spirit. The Law brings death, but the Holy Spirit gives life.

Jesus Calls Matthew ^(A)

¹³ Jesus walked along the sea-shore again. Many people came together and He taught them. ¹⁴ He walked farther and saw Levi (Matthew) the son of Alphaeus. Levi was sitting at his work gathering taxes. Jesus said to him, “Follow Me.” Levi got up and followed Him.

Jesus Eats with Tax-Gatherers and Sinners

¹⁵ Jesus ate in Levi’s house. Many men who gather taxes and others who were sinners came and sat down with Jesus and His followers. There were many following Him. ¹⁶ The teachers of the Law and the proud religious law-keepers saw Jesus eat with men who gather taxes and others who were sinners. They said to His followers, “Why does He eat and drink with men who gather taxes and with sinners?” ¹⁷ Jesus heard it and said to them, “People who are well do not need a doctor. Only those who are sick need a doctor. I have not come to call those who are right with God. I have come to call those who are sinners.”

Jesus Teaches about Going without Food So You Can Pray Better ^(B)

¹⁸ The followers of John and the proud religious law-keepers were not eating food so they could pray better. Some people came to Jesus and said, “Why do the followers of John and the proud religious law-keepers go without food so they can pray better, but Your followers do not?” ¹⁹ Jesus said to them, “Can the friends at a wedding go without food when the man just married is with them? As long as they have him with them, they will not go without food. ²⁰ The days will come when the man just married will be taken from them. Then they will not eat food so they can pray better. ²¹ No man sews a piece of new cloth on an old coat. If it comes off, it will make the hole bigger. ²² No man puts new wine into old skin bags. The skin would break and the wine would run out. The bags would be no good. New wine must be put into new skin bags.”