Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Chapter 15

The Covenant Guarantee of the Promise.^{[a] 1} Some time later the Lord communicated these words to Abram in a vision,

² Abram answered, “My Lord God, what will you give me? I will pass away without children and my heir will be Eliezer of Damascus.” ³ Abram continued, “Behold, you have not given me descendants, and my servant will be my heir.”

⁴ Then the word of the Lord came unto him, “He will not be your heir; your own child will be your heir.” ⁵ Then he led him outside and told him, “Look into the heavens and count the stars, if you can count them. Such,” he continued, “will your descendants be.”

⁶ Abraham believed the Lord, who credited it to him as righteousness.^[b]

The People of Faith^[a]

Chapter 11

What Faith Is. ¹ Faith is the assurance of what we hope for and the conviction about things that cannot be seen.^{[b] 2} Indeed, it was because of it that our ancestors were commended.

³ By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen came into being from the invisible.

The Faith of Abraham and His Descendants. ⁸ By faith Abraham^[a] obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. He went forth without knowing where he was going. ⁹ By faith he sojourned in the promised land as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. ¹⁰ For he was looking forward to a city with firm foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

¹¹ By faith Abraham also received the power of procreation, even though he was well past the age—and Sarah herself was barren^[b]—because he believed that the one who had made the promise would be faithful in fulfilling it. ¹² Therefore, from one man, himself as good as dead, came forth descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven and as innumerable as the grains of sand on the seashore.

¹³ All these died in faith without having received what had been promised, but from a distance they saw far ahead how those promises would be fulfilled and welcomed them, and acknowledged themselves to be strangers and foreigners on the earth. ¹⁴ People who speak in this way make it clear that they are looking for a country of their own. ¹⁵ If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had the opportunity to return. ¹⁶ But in fact they were longing for a better country, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

³² Treasure in Heaven.^[a]“Fear not, little flock, for your Father has chosen to give you the kingdom. ³³ Sell your possessions and give to those in need. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can come near and no moth can destroy. ³⁴ For where your treasure is, there will your heart also be.

Parables about Watchfulness^[b]

³⁵ The Parable of the Vigilant Steward.^[c]“Fasten your belts for service and have your lamps lit. ³⁶ Be like servants who are waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that they may open the door as soon as he comes and knocks. ³⁷ Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he arrives. Amen, I say to you, he will fasten his belt, have them recline to eat, and proceed to wait on them himself. ³⁸ If he comes in the second watch^[d] or in the third and finds them still awake, blessed are those servants.

³⁹ The Hour of the Son of Man.^[e]“But keep this in mind: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. ⁴⁰ So you must also be prepared, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”