Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

MEM

One special place to worship the Lord

12 These are the laws and the rules that you must obey. Be careful to obey them when you live in the land that the Lord your God has given to you. He is the God that your ancestors worshipped. Obey these laws all the time that you live in that land.

² You will chase out the nations who live there. Then you must destroy completely all the places where those people worship their gods. Those places are on the tops of mountains and hills, and under big green trees. ³ You must break into pieces their altars and stone pillars. Burn their Asherah poles. Knock down the images of their gods. Destroy those places so that nobody remembers the false gods.

⁴ Do not worship the Lord your God in the same way that those people worship their gods. ⁵ The Lord will choose one place from the land where all your tribes live. That is the place where people must go to worship him. That is his special home. ⁶ That is where you must take your burnt offerings and other sacrifices to offer to the Lord. Take your tithes and offerings to him there. Take the gifts that you have promised to give, and the gifts that you choose to give. Take the firstborn animals from your cows, sheep and goats. ⁷ You and your families will go there to meet with the Lord your God. You will be happy as you eat together there. You will enjoy the results of all your work, because the Lord has blessed you.

⁸ At this time, all of you now do what you think is right. But when you are in the land, you must worship God in a different way. ⁹ You have not yet reached the place where you can rest. That is in the land that the Lord your God is giving to you as your home. ¹⁰ But when you go across the Jordan River, that land will become your home. The Lord will protect you from all the enemies who are around you. You will live safely. ¹¹ At that time, the Lord your God will choose one special place for his people to worship him. You must take there everything that I have told you. Take your burnt offerings and other sacrifices to offer to the Lord. Take your tithes and special offerings. Take the special gifts that you have promised to give to him. Take everything to the place that God will choose. ¹² Go there to enjoy time with the Lord your God. Take with you your children and your servants. Also take with you the Levites who live in your towns. Remember that they have not received any land for themselves, as you have.

⁴¹ Jesus had said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.’ When he said this, the Jewish leaders there did not like it. So they started to say bad things about Jesus. ⁴² They said, ‘This is Jesus, the son of Joseph. We know his father and his mother. He should not say that he came down from heaven.’

⁴³ Jesus answered, ‘Stop saying these bad things about me to each other. ⁴⁴ The Father has sent me. Nobody can come to me unless the Father brings them to me. I will raise those people up on the last day, so that they have life for ever. ⁴⁵ The prophets wrote in the Bible, “God will teach all the people.” Everyone who hears the Father's message and learns from him will come to me.^{[a] 46} I came from God and I am the only one who has seen the Father. Nobody else has seen him. ⁴⁷ I tell you this: The person who believes my message has life for ever. ⁴⁸ I am the bread that causes you to live. ⁴⁹ Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, but they died. ⁵⁰ This bread that comes down from heaven is different. Anyone who eats this bread will not die. ⁵¹ I am the bread that gives life to people. This bread came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live for ever. The bread that I will give is my own body. I will give it so that all people in the world may have life with God.’