Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁴ Say to those whose heart is afraid, “Have strength of heart, and do not be afraid. See, your God will come ready to punish. He will come to make sinners pay for their sins, but He will save you.” ⁵ Then the eyes of the blind will be opened. And the ears of those who cannot hear will be opened. ⁶ Then those who cannot walk will jump like a deer. And the tongue of those who cannot speak will call out for joy. For waters will break out in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. ⁷ The burning sand will become a pool. The thirsty ground will become wells of water. The resting place of the wild dog will be filled with river-grasses.

The Lord—Our Helper

146 Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul! ² I will praise the Lord as long as I live. I will sing praises to my God as long as I live. ³ Do not put your trust in princes, in a son of a man, who cannot save us. ⁴ When his spirit leaves, he returns to the earth. His thoughts end on that day. ⁵ Happy is he whose help is the God of Jacob, and whose hope is in the Lord his God. ⁶ The Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them. He is faithful forever. ⁷ He helps those who have a bad power over them. He gives food to the hungry. And He sets those in prison free.

⁸ The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord raises up those who are brought down. The Lord loves those who are right and good. ⁹ The Lord keeps the strangers safe. He takes care of the children who have no father and the woman whose husband has died. But He destroys the way of the sinful. ¹⁰ The Lord will rule forever. Your God, O Zion, will rule over all people for all time. Praise the Lord!

The Rich and the Poor

2 My Christian brothers, our Lord Jesus Christ is the Lord of shining-greatness. Since your trust is in Him, do not look on one person as more important than another. ² What if a man comes into your church wearing a gold ring and good clothes? And at the same time a poor man comes wearing old clothes. ³ What if you show respect to the man in good clothes and say, “Come and sit in this good place”? But if you say to the poor man, “Stand up over there,” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” ⁴ are you not thinking that one is more important than the other? This kind of thinking is sinful. ⁵ Listen, my dear Christian brothers, God has chosen those who are poor in the things of this world to be rich in faith. The holy nation of heaven is theirs. That is what God promised to those who love Him. ⁶ You have not shown respect to the poor man. Is it not the rich men who make it hard for you and take you to court? ⁷ They speak against the name of Christ. And it was Christ Who called you. ⁸ You do well when you obey the Holy Writings which say, “You must love your neighbor as you love yourself.” ⁹ But if you look on one man as more important than another, you are sinning. And the Law says you are sinning.

Keep the Whole Law

¹⁰ If you obey all the Laws but one, you are as guilty as the one who has broken them all.

¹¹ The One Who said, “You must not do any sex sins,” also said, “You must not kill another person.” If you do no sex sins but kill someone, you are guilty of breaking the Law. ¹² Keep on talking and acting as people who will be told they are guilty or not by the Law that makes men free. ¹³ Anyone who shows no loving-kindness will have no loving-kindness shown to him when he is told he is guilty. But if you show loving-kindness, God will show loving-kindness to you when you are told you are guilty.

Faith Without Works Is Dead

¹⁴ My Christian brothers, what good does it do if you say you have faith but do not do things that prove you have faith? Can that kind of faith save you from the punishment of sin? ¹⁵ What if a Christian does not have clothes or food? ¹⁶ And one of you says to him, “Goodbye, keep yourself warm and eat well.” But if you do not give him what he needs, how does that help him? ¹⁷ A faith that does not do things is a dead faith.

Jesus Puts a Demon out of a Girl ^(A)

²⁴ Jesus went from their towns and cities to the cities of Tyre and Sidon. He went into a house and wanted to stay there without people knowing where He was. But He could not hide Himself. ²⁵ A woman who had a daughter with a demon heard of Him. She came and got down at His feet. ²⁶ The woman was not a Jew. She was from the country of Syrophenicia. She asked Jesus if He would put the demon out of her daughter. ²⁷ Jesus said to her, “Let the children have what they want first. It is wrong to take children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” ²⁸ She said to Him, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat the pieces that fall from the children’s table.” ²⁹ He said to her, “Because of what you have said, go your way. The demon is gone out of your daughter.” ³⁰ So she went to her house and found the demon was gone and her daughter was lying on the bed.

Jesus Heals the Man Who Could Not Hear or Speak Well

³¹ Then Jesus left the cities of Tyre and Sidon. He came back to the Sea of Galilee by way of the land of Decapolis. ³² They took a man to Him who could not hear or speak well. They asked Jesus to put His hand on him. ³³ Jesus took him away from the other people. He put His fingers into the man’s ears. He spit and put His finger on the man’s tongue. ³⁴ Then Jesus looked up to heaven and breathed deep within. He said to the man, “Be opened!” ³⁵ At once his ears were opened. His tongue was made loose and he spoke as other people. ³⁶ Then Jesus told them they should tell no one. The more He told them this, the more they told what He had done. ³⁷ They were very much surprised and wondered about it. They said, “He has done all things well. He makes those who could not hear so they can hear. He makes those who could not speak so they can speak.”