Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 121^[a]

God, Guardian of His People

¹ A song of ascents.

³ When Jacob saw them he said, “This is the encampment of God,” and he called the place Mahanaim. ⁴ Then Jacob sent some messengers ahead to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. ⁵ He gave them this command, “Say to my lord Esau, ‘Thus says your servant Jacob, I have sojourned with Laban and I remained there until now. ⁶ I have come to own oxen, donkeys, flocks, male and female slaves. I am sending my lord this information to seek his favor.’ ”

⁷ The messengers returned to Jacob saying, “We went to your brother Esau. Now he is coming to meet you and he has four hundred men with him.” ⁸ Jacob was terribly afraid and filled with anxiety. He divided the men of his camp into two groups along with the flocks, the herds, and the camels. ⁹ He thought, “If Esau were to come to one group and destroy it, the other would be safe.”

¹⁰ Jacob said, “God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, Lord, who told me, ‘Return to your land, to your homeland, and I will bless you,’ ¹¹ I am not worthy of the goodness and faithfulness that you have shown your servant. When I passed over the Jordan I had nothing but my staff, and now I have become so rich that I could establish two camps. ¹² Save me from the hands of my brother Esau because I am afraid of him. Let him not come and kill all of us, even the mothers and children. ¹³ Besides, you said, ‘I will make you prosper and I will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, so numerous that you cannot count them.’ ”

¹⁴ Jacob spent the night there. Then he selected the following gifts from among his possessions for his brother Esau: ¹⁵ two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, ¹⁶ thirty nursing camels and their young, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. ¹⁷ He entrusted them to his servants, in separate groups, and told them, “Go ahead of me and leave some space between the groups.”

¹⁸ He gave this order to the first group, “When you meet Esau, my brother, and he asks you, ‘To whom do you belong? Where are you going? Who owns all these animals that you are driving?’ ¹⁹ you are to answer, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift for my lord Esau. And Jacob himself is behind us.’ ”

²⁰ He gave the same order to the second group and the third and all the other groups: “These are the words that you shall say to Esau when you meet him. ²¹ Tell him, ‘Your servant Jacob is coming behind us.’ ” He was thinking, “The gifts that I am sending will calm him down, and then I will come before him. Maybe he will greet me kindly.”

⁴⁶ Jesus Heals a Blind Man.^[a] Then they came to Jericho. And as Jesus, his disciples, and a huge crowd were leaving Jericho, a blind man, Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus,^[b] was sitting by the roadside asking for alms. ⁴⁷ When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!” ⁴⁸ Many rebuked him and told him to be silent, but he only shouted all the louder, “Son of David, have pity on me!”

⁴⁹ Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart! Stand up! He is calling you!” ⁵⁰ Casting aside his cloak, he jumped up and went to Jesus. ⁵¹ Then Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “Rabbi,^[c] let me receive my sight.” ⁵² Jesus said to him, “Go on your way! Your faith has made you well.” Immediately, he received his sight and followed him along the road.