Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Cutting a Covenant

² But Abram said, “My Lord Adonai, what will You give me, since I am living without children, and the heir of my household is Eliezer of Damascus?” ³ Then Abram said, “Look! You have given me no seed, so a house-born servant is my heir.”

⁴ Then behold, the word of Adonai came to him saying, “This one will not be your heir, but in fact, one who will come from your own body will be your heir. ⁵ He took him outside and said, “Look up now, at the sky, and count the stars—if you are able to count them.” Then He said to him, “So shall your seed be.”

⁶ Then he believed in Adonai and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.

The Faithful See from Afar

11 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of realities not seen. ² For by it the elders received commendation. ³ By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen did not come from anything visible.

⁸ By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place he was to receive as an inheritance. He went out, not knowing where he was going. ⁹ By faith he migrated to the land of promise as if it were foreign, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob—fellow heirs of the same promise. ¹⁰ For he was waiting for the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

¹¹ By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive^[a] when she was barren and past the age, since she considered the One who had made the promise to be faithful. ¹² So from one—and him as good as dead—were fathered offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven, and as uncountable as the sand on the seashore.^[b]

¹³ These all died in faith without receiving the things promised—but they saw them and welcomed them from afar, and they confessed that they were strangers and sojourners on the earth. ^{[c] 14} For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. ¹⁵ If indeed they had been thinking about where they had come from, they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶ But as it is, they yearn for a better land—that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

³² Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father chose to give you the kingdom.

³³ “Sell your possessions and do tzedakah. Make money pouches for yourselves that do not get old—a treasure in the heavens that never runs out, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. ³⁴ For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

³⁵ “Have your belt strapped on and lamps burning. ³⁶ Be like people waiting for their master to return from a wedding feast, so that when he comes and knocks, they may open to him immediately.

³⁷ “Happy are those slaves whose master finds them alert when he comes. Amen, I tell you, he will prepare himself and have them recline at table, and will come and serve them.

³⁸ “And if he comes in the second or even the third watch^[a] and finds them so, they will be happy. ³⁹ But understand this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into. ⁴⁰ You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you don’t expect.”