Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

4 ‘The great day when I come to judge people will certainly happen. Punishment will come like the great fire of a hot oven. It will destroy all the proud people who do evil things. It will completely destroy them, like a fire that destroys dry grass. Nothing will remain.’

That is what the Lord Almighty says.

² ‘But it will be different for you who respect my name. My power to make you well again will come to you. It will be like the sun that rises to shine on you. When that happens, you will be very happy. You will jump up and down like young cows when someone lets them go free.^[a]

God rules the world^[a]

Believers must not refuse to work

⁶ Our friends, you must stay away from every believer who is living in a lazy way. We tell you this with the authority that the Lord Jesus Christ gives to us. Lazy people like that are not living in the way that we taught you. ⁷ You yourselves know that you ought to copy our example. You know that we were not lazy when we lived among you. ⁸ We always paid for the food that anyone gave to us. We worked hard all the time, during the day and at night. We did that so that we would not make trouble for any of you. ⁹ We could have told you to give us what we needed. We have authority to do that. But we wanted to show you how to live properly. Then you could copy our example. ¹⁰ Even when we were there with you, we told you this rule: ‘If anyone refuses to work, you should not give food to him.’^[a]

¹¹ We say this because someone has told us news about you. They have told us that some people among you are living in a lazy way.^[b] Those people do not work at their own jobs. Instead, they cause trouble to other people who are working. ¹² We have something to say to people who are lazy like that. We warn them with the authority that the Lord Jesus Christ gives to us. They must stop causing trouble. They must work properly, so that they get their own food to eat.

¹³ But you must never stop doing what is right, our Christian friends, even when it causes trouble for you.

Jesus talks about things that will happen

⁵ Some of Jesus' disciples were talking about the temple. They spoke about the many beautiful stones in the walls. They also spoke about the many gifts to God that people had put there. ⁶ Jesus said to them, ‘You can see all these beautiful things now. But a day is coming when enemies will completely destroy it all. Not even one stone will remain on top of another stone.’

⁷ ‘Teacher,’ they asked, ‘When will all these things happen? What will show us that they will soon happen?’

⁸ Jesus replied. ‘Be careful! Some people will tell you things that are not true. Do not believe them. Many people will say that they have come on my behalf. They will say, “I am the Messiah.” They will say, “Now is the time!” Do not agree with those people. ⁹ You will hear about wars and people fighting each other. Do not be afraid. Those things must happen first, but the end of everything will not happen immediately.’

¹⁰ Jesus then said to them, ‘People from one country will attack the people from another country. Kings and their armies will fight against other kings and their armies. ¹¹ The ground will shake, so that people will be afraid. In many different places, people will be hungry, with no food. Diseases will go from one person to another. Many people will die. Things will also happen in the sky that will frighten people.

¹² But before all those things happen, people will take hold of you. They will do bad things to you and give you pain. They will take you to the leaders in their meeting places and they will keep you in prisons. They will make you stand in front of kings and rulers. All this will happen because you are my disciples. ¹³ This will be the time to tell them the good news about me. ¹⁴ So prepare your minds. You must decide not to think about how to answer the questions of kings and rulers. Wait until that time comes. ¹⁵ I will give you the right words to speak at that time. I will help you to be wise. The people who are against you will not be able to argue with you. They will just be quiet. ¹⁶ Even your parents and other people in your family will take hold of you. They will make you stand in front of kings and rulers. They will even kill some of you. ¹⁷ Everybody will hate you because you are my disciples. ¹⁸ But your life will be safe with me. You will not lose even one hair from your head. ¹⁹ Yes, you will have true life, if you remain strong.