Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool [afternoon breeze] of the day, so the man and his wife hid and kept themselves hidden from the [a]presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to Adam, and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 He said, “I heard the sound of You [walking] in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” 11 God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten [fruit] from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 And the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me—she gave me [fruit] from the tree, and I ate it.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent beguiled and deceived me, and I ate [from the forbidden tree].”(A) 14 The Lord God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
You are cursed more than all the cattle,
And more than any animal of the field;
On your belly you shall go,
And dust you shall eat
All the days of your life.
15
“And I will put enmity (open hostility)
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed (offspring) and her [b]Seed;
He shall [fatally] bruise your head,
And you shall [only] bruise His heel.”(B)
Hope in the Lord’s Forgiving Love.
A Song of [a]Ascents.
130 Out of the [b]depths [of distress] I have cried to You, O Lord.
2
Lord, hear my voice!
Let Your ears be attentive
To the voice of my supplications.
3
If You, Lord, should keep an account of our sins and treat us accordingly,
O Lord, who could stand [before you in judgment and claim innocence]?(A)
4
But there is forgiveness with You,
That You may be feared and worshiped [with submissive wonder].(B)
5
I wait [patiently] for the Lord, my soul [expectantly] waits,
And in His word do I hope.
6
My soul waits for the Lord
More than the watchmen for the morning;
More than the watchmen for the morning.
7
O Israel, hope in the Lord;
For with the Lord there is lovingkindness,
And with Him is abundant redemption.
8
And He will redeem Israel
From all his sins.
13 Yet we have the same spirit of faith as he had, who wrote in Scripture, “I believed, therefore I spoke.” We also believe, therefore we also speak,(A) 14 knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and will present us [along] with you in His presence. 15 For all [these] things are for your sake, so that as [God’s remarkable, undeserved] grace reaches to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of [our great] God.
16 Therefore we do not become discouraged [spiritless, disappointed, or afraid]. Though our outer self is [progressively] wasting away, yet our inner self is being [progressively] renewed day by day. 17 For our momentary, light distress [this passing trouble] is producing for us an eternal weight of glory [a fullness] beyond all measure [surpassing all comparisons, a transcendent splendor and an endless blessedness]! 18 So we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are unseen; for the things which are visible are temporal [just brief and fleeting], but the things which are invisible are everlasting and imperishable.
The Temporal and Eternal
5 For we know that if the earthly tent [our physical body] which is our house is torn down [through death], we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
20 Then He came to a [a]house [in Capernaum], and a crowd formed again, so [many people] that Jesus and His disciples could not even eat a meal [together]. 21 When His own family heard this they went to take custody of Him; for they were saying, “He is out of His mind.” 22 The scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by [b]Beelzebul (Satan),” and “He is driving out the demons by the [power of the] ruler of the demons.”(A) 23 So He called them to Himself and spoke to them in [c]parables, “How can Satan drive out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided [split into factions and rebelling] against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26 And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. 27 But no one can go into a strong man’s house and steal his property unless he first overpowers and ties up the strong man, and then he will ransack and rob his house.(B)
28 “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and all the abusive and blasphemous things they say; 29 but whoever [d]blasphemes against the Holy Spirit and His power [by attributing the miracles done by Me to Satan] never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting sin [a sin which is unforgivable in this present age as well as in the age to come]”—(C) 30 [Jesus said this] because the scribes and Pharisees were [attributing His miracles to Satan by] saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”
31 Then His mother and His brothers arrived, and standing outside they sent word to Him and called for Him.(D) 32 A crowd was sitting around Him, and they said to Him, “Look! Your mother and Your brothers are outside asking for You.” 33 And He replied, “Who are My mother and My brothers?” 34 Looking at those who were sitting in a circle around Him, He said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! 35 For [e]whoever does the will of God [by believing in Me, and following Me], he is My brother and sister and mother.”
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