Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

¹² ‘You must keep the Sabbath a special day like the Lord your God commanded. ¹³ Work six days a week and do your job, ¹⁴ but the seventh day is a day of rest in honor of the Lord your God. So on that day no one should work—not you, your sons and daughters, foreigners living in your cities or your men and women slaves. Not even your cattle, donkeys, and other animals should do any work! Your slaves should be able to rest just as you do. ¹⁵ Don’t forget that you were slaves in the land of Egypt. The Lord your God brought you out of Egypt with his great power and made you free. That is why the Lord your God commands you to always make the Sabbath a special day.

To the director: On the gittith. One of Asaph’s songs.

⁵ We don’t tell people about ourselves. But we tell people that Jesus Christ is Lord, and we tell them that we are your servants for Jesus. ⁶ God once said, “Let light shine out of the darkness!”^[a] And this is the same God who made his light shine in our hearts to let us know that his own divine greatness is seen in the face of Christ.

⁷ We have this treasure from God, but we are only like clay jars that hold the treasure. This is to show that the amazing power we have is from God, not from us. ⁸ We have troubles all around us, but we are not defeated. We often don’t know what to do, but we don’t give up. ⁹ We are persecuted, but God does not leave us. We are hurt sometimes, but we are not destroyed. ¹⁰ So we constantly experience the death of Jesus in our own bodies, but this is so that the life of Jesus can also be seen in our bodies. ¹¹ We are alive, but for Jesus we are always in danger of death, so that the life of Jesus can be seen in our bodies that die. ¹² So death is working in us, but the result is that life is working in you.

Jesus Is Lord Over the Sabbath Day^(A)

²³ On the Sabbath day, Jesus and his followers were walking through some grain fields. The followers picked some grain to eat. ²⁴ Some Pharisees said to Jesus, “Why are your followers doing this? It is against the law to pick grain on the Sabbath.”

²⁵ Jesus answered, “You have read what David did when he and the people with him were hungry and needed food. ²⁶ It was during the time of Abiathar the high priest. David went into God’s house and ate the bread that was offered to God. And the Law of Moses says that only priests can eat that bread. David also gave some of the bread to the people with him.”

²⁷ Then Jesus said to the Pharisees, “The Sabbath day was made to help people. People were not made to be ruled by the Sabbath. ²⁸ So the Son of Man is Lord of every day, even the Sabbath.”

Jesus Heals a Man on the Sabbath Day^(B)

3 Another time Jesus went into the synagogue. In the synagogue there was a man with a crippled hand. ² Some Jews there were watching Jesus closely. They were waiting to see if he would heal the man on a Sabbath day. They wanted to see Jesus do something wrong so that they could accuse him. ³ Jesus said to the man with the crippled hand, “Stand up here so that everyone can see you.”

⁴ Then Jesus asked the people, “Which is the right thing to do on the Sabbath day: to do good or to do evil? Is it right to save a life or to destroy one?” The people said nothing to answer him.

⁵ Jesus looked at the people. He was angry, but he felt very sad because they were so stubborn. He said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” The man held out his hand, and it was healed. ⁶ Then the Pharisees left and made plans with the Herodians about a way to kill Jesus.