Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

¹⁶⁹ Let my cry come to You, O Lord. Give me understanding because of Your Word. ¹⁷⁰ Let my prayer come to You. Help me because of Your Word. ¹⁷¹ May praise come from my lips, for You teach me Your Law. ¹⁷² May my tongue sing about Your Word, for all of Your Word is right and good. ¹⁷³ May Your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen Your Law. ¹⁷⁴ I have much desire for Your saving power, O Lord. Your Law is my joy. ¹⁷⁵ Let me live so I may praise You, and let Your Law help me. ¹⁷⁶ I have gone from the way like a lost sheep. Look for Your servant, for I do not forget Your Word.

The Death of the Man of God

¹¹ Now an old man who spoke for God was living in Bethel. His sons came and told him all the things which the man of God had done that day in Bethel. And they told their father the words which the man had spoken to the king. ¹² Their father said to them, “Which way did he go?” Now his sons had seen the way which the man of God who came from Judah had gone. ¹³ Then he said to his sons, “Get the donkey ready for me.” So they got the donkey ready for him, and he went away on it. ¹⁴ He went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak tree. 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 And he said, “I cannot return with you or go with you. I will not eat bread or drink water with you in this place. ¹⁷ For I was told by the word of the Lord, ‘Do not eat bread or drink water there. Do not return by the way you came.’” ¹⁸ And he said to him, “I am a man who speaks for God like you. An angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.’” But he lied to him. ¹⁹ So he returned with him, and ate bread in his house, and drank water.

²⁰ As they were sitting down at the table, the word of the Lord came to the man who spoke for God who had brought him back. ²¹ And he cried to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, “This is what the Lord says, ‘You have not obeyed the word of the Lord. You have not done what the Lord your God told you to do. ²² You have returned and eaten bread and drunk water in the place the Lord said to you, “Eat no bread and drink no water.” So now your body will not come to the grave of your fathers.’” ²³ And after he had eaten bread and drunk, he got the donkey ready for the man of God whom he had brought back. ²⁴ When he had gone, a lion met him on the way and killed him. His body was thrown on the road, with the donkey standing beside it. The lion stood beside the body also. ²⁵ Then men passed by and saw the body thrown on the road, and the lion standing beside the body. So they came and told about it in the city where the old man who spoke for God lived.

The New Life Lived by the Power of Christ

3 If then you have been raised with Christ, keep looking for the good things of heaven. This is where Christ is seated on the right side of God. ² Keep your minds thinking about things in heaven. Do not think about things on the earth. ³ You are dead to the things of this world. Your new life is now hidden in God through Christ. ⁴ Christ is our life. When He comes again, you will also be with Him to share His shining-greatness.

The Old Person Put Aside

⁵ Destroy the desires to sin that are in you. These desires are: sex sins, anything that is not clean, a desire for sex sins, and wanting something someone else has. This is worshiping a god. ⁶ It is because of these sins that the anger of God comes down on those who do not obey Him. ⁷ You used to do these sins when you lived that kind of life. ⁸ Put out of your life these things also: anger, bad temper, bad feelings toward others, talk that hurts people, speaking against God, and dirty talk. ⁹ Do not lie to each other. You have put out of your life your old ways. ¹⁰ You have now become a new person and are always learning more about Christ. You are being made more like Christ. He is the One Who made you. ¹¹ There is no difference in men in this new life. Greeks and Jews are the same. The man who has gone through the religious act of becoming a Jew and the one who has not are the same. There is no difference between nations. Men who are servants and those who are free are the same. Christ is everything. He is in all of us.