Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Tav.

The Disobedient Prophet

¹¹ Now there was an old prophet living in Bethel; and his sons came and told him everything that the man of God had done that day in Bethel; they also told their father the words which he had spoken to the king. ¹² Their father asked them, “Which way did he go?” For his sons had seen which way the man of God who came from Judah had gone. ¹³ He said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey for him and he rode away on it, ¹⁴ and he went after the man of God. And he found him sitting under an oak (terebinth) tree, and he said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” And he said, “I am.” ¹⁵ Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat bread.” ¹⁶ He said, “I cannot return with you nor go in with you, nor will I eat bread or drink water with you in this place. ¹⁷ For I was told by the word of the Lord, ‘You shall not eat bread nor drink water there, nor shall you return by going the way that you came.’” ¹⁸ He answered him, “I too am a prophet, as you are; and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, so that he may eat bread and drink water.’” But he lied to him. ¹⁹ So the man of God went back with him, and ate bread in his house and drank water.

²⁰ Now it happened as they were sitting at the table, that the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had brought him back. ²¹ And he cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Because you have disobeyed the word of the Lord and have not kept the commandment which the Lord your God commanded you, ²² but have come back and have eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which the Lord said to you, “You shall not eat bread nor drink water”; your body shall not come to the tomb of your fathers (ancestors).’” ²³ After the prophet of the house had eaten bread and after he had drunk, he saddled the donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back. ²⁴ Now when he had gone, a lion met him by the road and killed him, and his body was thrown in the road, with the donkey standing beside it; the lion was also standing beside the body. ²⁵ And there were men passing by, and they saw the body thrown in the road, and the lion standing beside the body. So they came and told about it in the city [of Bethel] where the old prophet lived.

Put On the New Self

3 Therefore if you have been raised with Christ [to a new life, sharing in His resurrection from the dead], keep seeking the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.^{(A) 2} Set your mind and keep focused habitually on the things above [the heavenly things], not on things that are on the earth [which have only temporal value]. ³ For you died [to this world], and your [new, real] life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ, who is our life, ^[a]appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

⁵ So put to death and deprive of power the evil longings of your earthly body [with its sensual, self-centered instincts] immorality, impurity, sinful passion, evil desire, and greed, which is [a kind of] idolatry [because it replaces your devotion to God]. ⁶ Because of these [sinful] things the [divine] wrath of God is coming ^[b]on the sons of disobedience [those who fail to listen and who routinely and obstinately disregard God’s precepts], ⁷ and in these [sinful things] you also once walked, when you were habitually living in them [without the knowledge of Christ]. ⁸ But now rid yourselves [completely] of all these things: anger, rage, malice, slander, and obscene (abusive, filthy, vulgar) language from your mouth. ⁹ Do not lie to one another, for you have stripped off the old self with its evil practices, ¹⁰ and have put on the new [spiritual] self who is being continually renewed in true knowledge in the image of Him who created the new self—^{(B) 11} a renewal in which there is no [distinction between] Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, [nor between nations whether] ^[c]barbarian or ^[d]Scythian, [nor in status whether] slave or free, but Christ is all, and in all [so believers are equal in Christ, without distinction].