Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

¹⁵ Then Adonai said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus, and when you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram, ¹⁶ and anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah as prophet in your place.

Calling of Elisha

¹⁹ So he departed from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat while he was plowing with twelve pairs of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth. Then Elijah crossed over to him and threw his mantle on him. ²⁰ So he left the oxen and ran after Elijah saying, “Let me please kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.”^[a]

“Come back,” he said to him. “For what have I done to you?” ²¹ So he returned from following him, and took the pair of oxen and sacrificed them and boiled their flesh with the oxen’s yoke gear, and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose, went after Elijah and became his attendant.

The Path of Eternal Life

Psalm 16

Freedom Based on Favor

5 For freedom, Messiah set us free—so stand firm, and do not be burdened by a yoke of slavery again.

Walking by the Ruach

¹³ Brothers and sisters, you were called to freedom—only do not let your freedom become an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. ¹⁴ For the whole Torah can be summed up in a single saying: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” ^{[a] 15} But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not destroyed by one another.

¹⁶ But I say, walk by the Ruach, and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. ¹⁷ For the flesh sets its desire against the Ruach, but the Ruach sets its desire against the flesh—for these are in opposition to one another, so that you cannot do what you want. ¹⁸ But if you are led by the Ruach, you are not under law. ¹⁹ Now the deeds of the flesh are clear: sexual immorality, impurity, indecency, ²⁰ idolatry, witchcraft, hostility, strife, jealousy, rage, selfish ambition, dissension, factions, ²¹ envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, just as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit God’s kingdom. ²² But the fruit of the Ruach is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, and self-control—against such things there is no law. ²⁴ Now those who belong to Messiah^[b] have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

²⁵ If we live by the Ruach, let us also walk by the Ruach.

Samaria Turns Yeshua Away

⁵¹ When the days were approaching for Him to be taken up, Yeshua was determined to go up to Jerusalem. ⁵² He sent messengers before Him, and they went and entered a Samaritan village to make His arrangements. ⁵³ But they did not receive Him, because He was focused on going up to Jerusalem. ⁵⁴ When His disciples Jacob and John saw this, they said, “Master, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them^[a]?” ⁵⁵ But Yeshua turned and rebuked them.^[b]

⁵⁶ Then they moved on to another village. ⁵⁷ As they were traveling on the road, someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.”

⁵⁸ But Yeshua said to him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” ⁵⁹ He said to another, “Follow Me.”

But that one said, “First let me go and bury my father.”

⁶⁰ But Yeshua said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead. But you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

⁶¹ Then another also said, “I will follow You, Master, but first let me say goodbye to those in my home.”

⁶² But Yeshua said to him, “No one who has put his hand to the plow and looked back is fit for the kingdom of God.”