Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁴ and ran for a day’s journey deep into the wilderness. He found a juniper tree, sat down under it, and prayed that he could die. He asked God, “Enough! Lord! Take my life, because I’m not better than my ancestors!” ⁵ Then he lay down and went to sleep under the juniper tree. All of a sudden, there was an angel, who kept grabbing him and telling him, “Get up! Eat!”

⁶ So he looked around, and there near his head was a muffin sitting on top of some heated stones, along with a jar of water. Elijah ate and drank and then lay down again. ⁷ Later, the angel of the Lord came a second time, grabbed him, and said “Get up! Eat! The journey ahead^[a] is too difficult for you!” ⁸ So Elijah^[b] got up, ate and drank, and survived on that one meal for 40 days and nights as he set out on his journey to Horeb, God’s mountain.

By David, when he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, who drove him away. So David^[a] left.

Learning about God’s Deliverance

²⁵ Therefore, stripping off falsehood, “let each of us speak the truth to his neighbor,”^[a] for we belong to one another. ²⁶ “Be angry, yet do not sin.”^[b] Do not let the sun set while you are still angry, ²⁷ and do not give the Devil an opportunity to work.^{[c] 28} The thief must no longer steal but must work hard and do what is good with his own hands, so that he might earn something to give to the needy.

²⁹ Let no filthy talk be heard from your mouths, but only what is good for building up people and meeting the need of the moment.^[d] This way you will administer grace to those who hear you. ³⁰ Do not grieve the Holy Spirit, by whom you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. ³¹ Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, quarreling, and slander be put away from you, along with all hatred. ³² And be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another just as God has forgiven you^[e] in the Messiah.^[f]

5 So be imitators of God, as his dear children. ² Live lovingly, just as the Messiah^[g] also loved us^[h] and gave himself for us as an offering and sacrifice, a fragrant aroma to God.

³⁵ Jesus told them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never become hungry, and whoever believes in me will never become thirsty.

⁴¹ Then the Jewish leaders^[a] began grumbling about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”

⁴² They kept saying, “This is Jesus, the son of Joseph, isn’t it, whose father and mother we know? So how can he say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”

⁴³ Jesus answered them, “Stop grumbling among yourselves. ⁴⁴ No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him to life on the last day. ⁴⁵ It is written in the Prophets, ‘And all of them will be taught by God.’^[b] Everyone who has listened to the Father and has learned anything comes to me. ⁴⁶ Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who comes from God. This one has seen the Father. ⁴⁷ Truly, I tell all of you^[c] emphatically, the one who believes in me^[d] has eternal life. ⁴⁸ I’m the bread of life. ⁴⁹ Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness and died. ⁵⁰ This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that a person may eat it and not die. ⁵¹ I’m the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he’ll live forever. And the bread I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”