Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁷ The Lord said to Moses, “Leave, go down, because your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, have become perverse. ⁸ They have quickly departed from the way that I have commanded them. They have made a molten calf for themselves, and have bowed down before it. They have offered sacrifices and said, ‘Behold your God, Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.’ ”

⁹ The Lord also said to Moses, “I have observed this people, and I have seen that it is a stubborn people. ¹⁰ Now let me be, so that my rage can blaze out against them and destroy them. I will then make you a great nation.”

¹¹ The Prayer of Moses. But Moses entreated the Lord, his God, and said, “Why, O Lord, will you let your rage blaze out against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? ¹² Why should the Egyptians be able to say about them, ‘He brought them out for evil purposes, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn back your wrath and change your mind about harming your people. ¹³ Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by yourself and said, ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars of the heavens. All this land, of which I have spoken, I will give to your descendants as their possession forever.’ ” ¹⁴ Then the Lord changed his mind and decided not to harm his people.

Psalm 51^[a]

The “Miserere”: Repentance for Sin

¹ For the director.^[b] A psalm of David. ² When Nathan the prophet came to him after he had sinned with Bathsheba.

¹² Called To Preach the Gospel. I am grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord who has given me strength, because he judged me trustworthy and appointed me to his service, ¹³ even though in the past I was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man. However, I have been treated with mercy because I had acted out of ignorance and unbelief. ¹⁴ As a result, the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and the love that are in Christ Jesus.

¹⁵ This saying can be trusted and merits complete acceptance:^[a] Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. I myself am the greatest of these. ¹⁶ But for that very reason I was treated mercifully, so that in me Jesus Christ might exhibit his inexhaustible patience, making me an example for those who would come to believe in him for eternal life. ¹⁷ To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God,^[b] be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

Salvation—Joy and Torment of God^[a]

Chapter 15

This Man Receives Sinners.^{[b] 1} Now the tax collectors and sinners were all crowding around to listen to Jesus, ² and the Pharisees and the scribes began to complain, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

The Parable of the Lost Sheep.^{[c] 3} Therefore, he told them this parable: ⁴ “Which one of you, if you have a hundred sheep and lose one of them, will not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? ⁵ And when he does find it, he lays it on his shoulders joyfully. ⁶ Then, when he returns home, he calls together his friends and neighbors and says to them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost.’ ⁷ In the same way, I tell you, there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.

The Parable of the Lost Coin.^{[d] 8} “Or again, what woman who has ten silver coins^[e] and loses one will not light a lamp and sweep the house, searching thoroughly until she finds it? ⁹ And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors and says to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I lost.’ ¹⁰ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing among the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”