Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Praises to God for Being Saved from Death
116 I love the Lord, because He hears my voice and my prayers. 2 I will call on Him as long as I live, because He has turned His ear to me. 3 The strings of death are all around me. And the fear of the grave came upon me. I suffered with trouble and sorrow. 4 Then I called on the name of the Lord: “O Lord, I beg You, save my life!”
5 The Lord is loving and right. Yes, our God is full of loving-kindness. 6 The Lord takes care of the child-like. I was brought down, and He saved me. 7 Return to your rest, O my soul. For the Lord has been good to you. 8 For You, O Lord, have saved my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. 9 I will walk with the Lord in the land of the living.
22 Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the house of the woman who sells the use of her body. Bring out the woman and all who are with her, as you promised her.” 23 So the young men who had spied out the land went in, and brought out Rahab and her father and mother and brothers and all she had. They brought out all of her family and took them outside the tents of Israel. 24 Then they burned the city with fire, and all that was in it. Only the silver and gold and objects of brass and iron they put into the store-house of the holy tent of the Lord. 25 Joshua saved the life of Rahab, the woman who sold the use of her body, and those of her father’s house and all she had. She has lived among Israel to this day, because she hid the men Joshua had sent to spy out Jericho.
26 Then Joshua made them promise at that time, saying, “May the Lord destroy the man who gets up and builds this city of Jericho. With the loss of his first-born he will begin to build it. With the loss of his youngest son he will set up its gates.” 27 So the Lord was with Joshua. He was well known and respected in all the land.
They Ask Jesus Who Gave Him the Power to Do These Things (A)
23 Jesus came into the house of God. The religious leaders and the other leaders of the people came up to Him as He was teaching. They said, “By what right and power are You doing these things? Who gave You the right and the power to do them?” 24 Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one thing also. If you tell Me, then I will tell you by what right and power I do these things. 25 Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men?” They thought among themselves, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ then He will say, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘From men,’ we are afraid of the people, because they all think John was one who spoke for God.” 27 They said to Jesus, “We do not know.” He said to them, “Then I will not tell you by what right and power I do these things.
The Picture-Story of the Two Sons
28 “What do you think about this? There was a man who had two sons. He came to the first son and said, ‘My son, go to my grape-field and work today.’ 29 He said, ‘I will go.’ But he did not go. 30 The father came to the second son and asked the same thing. The son said, ‘No, I will not go.’ Later he was sorry and went. 31 Which one of the two sons did what his father wanted?” They said to Jesus, “The second son.” Jesus said to them, “For sure, I tell you this: Tax-gatherers and women who sell the use of their bodies will get into the holy nation of heaven before you. 32 For John came to you preaching about being right with God. You did not believe him. But tax-gatherers and women who sell the use of their bodies did believe him. When you saw this, you were not sorry for your sins and did not turn from them and believe him.
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