Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
The Creation of the Woman
18 Later, the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make the woman[a] to be an authority[b] corresponding[c] to him.” 19 After the Lord God formed from the ground every wild animal[d] and every bird that flies, he brought each of them[e] to the man to see what he would call it. Whatever the man called each living creature became its name. 20 The man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds that fly, and to each of earth’s animals,[f] but there was not found a strength[g] corresponding[h] to him, 21 so the Lord God caused a deep sleep to overshadow the man.
When the man[i] was asleep, he removed one of the man’s[j] ribs and closed up the flesh where it had been. 22 Then the Lord God formed the rib that he had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 So the man exclaimed,
“At last! This is
bone from my bones
and flesh from my flesh.
This one will be called ‘Woman,’
because she was taken from Man.”[k]
24 (Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother and cling to his wife, and they will become one flesh.)
To the Director: On a stringed instrument.[a] A Davidic Psalm.
Divine Glory and Human Dignity
8 Lord, our Lord,
how excellent is your name in all the earth!
You set your glory above the heavens!
2 Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies
you have established strength[b]
on account of your adversaries,
in order to silence the enemy and vengeful foe.
3 When I look at the heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you established—
4 what is man that you take notice of him,
or the son of man[c] that you pay attention to him?
5 You made him a little less than divine,[d]
but you crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You gave him dominion over the work of your hands,
you put all things under his feet:
7 Sheep and cattle—all of them,
wild creatures of the field,
8 birds in the sky,
fish in the sea—
whatever moves through the currents of the oceans.
9 Lord, our Lord,
how excellent is your name in all the earth!
God Has Spoken to Us
1 God, having spoken in former times in fragmentary and varied fashion to our forefathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by a Son whom he appointed to be the heir of everything and through whom he also made the universe. 3 He is the reflection[a] of God’s glory and the exact likeness of his being, and he holds everything together by his powerful word. After he had provided a cleansing from sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Highest Majesty 4 and became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is better than theirs.
Jesus is the Source of Our Salvation
5 For he did not put the coming world we are talking about under the control of angels. 6 Instead, someone has declared somewhere,
“What is man that you should remember him,
or the son of man that you should care for him?
7 You made him a little lower than the angels,
yet you crowned him with glory and honor
8 and put everything under his feet.”[a]
Now when God[b] put everything under him, he left nothing outside his control. However, at the present time we do not yet see everything put under him. 9 But we do see someone who was made a little lower than the angels. He is Jesus, who is crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of[c] God he might experience[d] death for everyone.
10 It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through suffering as part of his plan to glorify many children, 11 because both the one who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified all have the same Father.[e] That is why Jesus[f] is not ashamed to call them brothers 12 when he says, “I will announce your name to my brothers. I will praise you within the congregation.”[g]
2 Some Pharisees came to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”
3 “What did Moses command you?” he responded.
4 They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to divorce her.”[a]
5 But Jesus told them, “It was because of your hardness of heart that he wrote this command for you. 6 But from the beginning of creation, ‘God[b] made them male and female.’[c] 7 That’s why ‘a man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, 8 and the two will become one flesh.’[d] So they’re no longer two, but one flesh. 9 Therefore, what God has joined together, man must never separate.”
10 Back in the house, the disciples asked him about this again. 11 So he told them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. 12 And if a woman[e] divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”
Jesus Blesses the Little Children(A)
13 Some people[f] were bringing little children to Jesus[g] to have him touch them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought[h] them. 14 When Jesus saw this, he became furious and told them, “Let the little children come to me, and stop keeping them away, because the kingdom of God belongs to people like these. 15 I tell all of you[i] with certainty, whoever doesn’t receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” 16 Then after he had hugged the children,[j] he tenderly blessed them as he laid his hands on them.
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