Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 116^[a]

Thanksgiving to God for Help Received

Exhortation To Practice Christian Living

Chapter 3

Avoid Faults of the Tongue.^{[a] 1} My brethren, not many of you should become teachers, for you know that we will face a more severe judgment. ² For all of us fall short in many ways. Anyone who never makes a mistake in speech has reached perfection^[b] and is able to control every part of his body.

³ When we put a bit into a horse’s mouth to make it obey us, we also guide its entire body. ⁴ Or think of ships. Even though they are large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder on whatever course the helmsman chooses. ⁵ In the same way, the tongue is a small member but its pretensions are great.

Consider how a small fire can set ablaze a great forest. ⁶ And the tongue is also a fire, a world of evil that infects the entire body. It sets afire the entire course of our existence and is itself set on fire by Gehenna.

⁷ For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by man, ⁸ but no one can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. ⁹ With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.^[c]

¹⁰ Out of the same mouth flow blessings and curses. This should not be so, my brethren. ¹¹ Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? ¹² Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives or can a grapevine produce figs? Neither can salt water yield fresh water.

²⁷ Peter’s Confession That Jesus Is the Messiah.^[a] Then Jesus and his disciples set out for the villages of Caesarea Philippi. Along the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” ²⁸ They responded, “[Some say] John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” ²⁹ “But you,” he asked, “who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” ³⁰ Then he gave them strict orders not to tell anyone about him.

The Mystery of Jesus Is Revealed^[b]

The Way of the Son of Man^[c]

³¹ Jesus Predicts His Passion.^[d] After that, he began to teach them that the Son of Man must endure great suffering, be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,^[e] and be put to death, and rise again after three days. ³² He told them these facts in plain words.

Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ³³ At this, Jesus turned and, looking at his disciples, rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! You are thinking not as God does, but as men do.”

³⁴ The Conditions of Discipleship.^[f] He then called the people and his disciples to him and said to them, “Anyone who wishes to follow me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. ^35 [g]For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the sake of the gospel will save it. ³⁶ What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his very life? ³⁷ Indeed, what can he give in exchange for his life?

³⁸ “If anyone in this adulterous and sinful generation is ashamed of me and of my words, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”