Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁸ Then the word of Adonai came to him saying: ⁹ “Arise, go to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have just commanded a widow there to provide for you.”

Miracle of Flour and Oil

¹⁰ So he arose and went to Zarephath. Now when he came to the town gate, to his surprise, a widow was there gathering sticks. So he called her and said, “Please bring a little water in a jar that I may drink.” ¹¹ As she was going to fetch it, he called her and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”

¹² So she said, “As Adonai your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in the jar, and a little oil in the jug. Now look, I am gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go in and prepare it for me and my son, that we may eat it and die.”

¹³ Elijah said to her, “Fear not! Go and do as you said, but first make me a little cake from what you have there. Bring it out to me and afterwards, make some for you and for your son. ¹⁴ For thus says Adonai God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be exhausted nor shall the jug of oil be empty until the day Adonai sends rain on the land.’”

¹⁵ So she went and did according to the word of Elijah—and she and he, and her household ate for many days. ¹⁶ The jar of flour was not exhausted, nor did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of Adonai which He spoke through Elijah.

Justice of the Kingdom

Psalm 146

²⁴ For Messiah did not enter into Holies made with hands—counterparts of the true things—but into heaven itself, now to appear in God’s presence on our behalf. ²⁵ And He did not offer Himself again and again—as the kohen gadol enters into the Holy of Holies year after year with blood that is not his own. ²⁶ For then He would have needed to suffer again and again from the foundation of the world. But as it is, He has been revealed once and for all at the close of the ages—to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. ²⁷ And just as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this judgment, ^{[a] 28} so also Messiah, was offered once to bear the sins of many.^[b] He will appear a second time, apart from sin, to those eagerly awaiting Him for salvation.^[c]

³⁸ In His teaching He said, “Watch out for the Torah scholars, who like to walk around in long robes. They like greetings in the marketplaces, ³⁹ the best seats in the synagogues, and places of honor at feasts. ⁴⁰ They devour widows’ houses and make long prayers as a show. These men will receive greater condemnation!”

⁴¹ He sat down opposite the treasury and began watching how the people were putting money into the offering box. Many rich people were putting in a lot. ⁴² Then a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, worth less than a penny. ⁴³ Calling His disciples over, He said to them, “Amen, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those contributing to the box! ⁴⁴ For they all put in from their surplus; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything she had, her whole living.”