Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Good news for God's people

9 But the darkness will not continue for ever. Those who had no hope will no longer be afraid. In past times, God let trouble happen to the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali.^[a] But in future years, he will cause the people of that region to be great. Those are the places near the sea, and those beyond the Jordan River, and Galilee region where people from other nations live.

² The people who walk in the dark now see a bright light! Light is shining on those people who live in a land of complete darkness.

³ You, Lord, will make your nation stronger. You will cause your people to be very happy. They will be happy because you are with them. They will be like people who are happy at the time of harvest. They will be happy like soldiers who have won a battle, and who share their enemy's valuable things among themselves.

⁴ They are happy because you have removed the power of their cruel enemies. They no longer have to carry a heavy load, as slaves. You have rescued them from their enemies, in the same way that you won against Midian's army.^[b]

This is a song that David wrote.

I trust God to keep me safe

Christians must not quarrel

¹⁰ My Christian friends, I tell you this with the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ: ‘Please agree with each other. Do not become separate groups. Be united and think about things in the same way.’

¹¹ Some people from Chloe's house have told me news about you. My friends, they say that you are quarrelling among yourselves. ¹² It happens like this: One of you says, ‘I belong to Paul's group.’ Another person says, ‘I belong to Apollos's group.’ Another person says, ‘I belong to Peter's group.’ And another person says, ‘I belong to Christ's group.’

¹³ You should not speak like that! It seems that you are breaking Christ into several parts. I, Paul, did not die on a cross to save you. When they baptized you, it was not on my behalf. ¹⁴ I thank God that I myself did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius. ¹⁵ So none of you can say, ‘I belong to Paul's group because he baptized me.’ ¹⁶ (Now I remember that I also baptized Stephanas and his family. I cannot remember that I baptized anyone else.) ¹⁷ Christ did not send me to baptize people. But he did send me to tell God's good news to people. When I speak his message, I do not use clever words. It is Christ's death on the cross that has power to save people. I do not want to spoil that power with clever words.

Christ's death on the cross

¹⁸ Some people think that the message about Christ's death on the cross is silly. Those people are destroying themselves. But it is different for us, the people that God is saving. The message about the cross shows us God's power to save us.

Jesus starts his work in Galilee

¹² Then Jesus heard that Herod had put John the Baptist in prison. So Jesus returned to Galilee.

¹³ But he did not stay in Nazareth. He went to live in Capernaum, which is a town on the shore of Lake Galilee. It was in the part of Israel called Zebulun and Naphtali.^[a]

¹⁴ This caused God's message to become true. Long ago God had said through his prophet Isaiah:^[b]

¹⁷ Then Jesus began to speak God's message to people. He said, ‘You have done many wrong things. You must turn away from them and change how you live. Do this now, because the kingdom of heaven has come very near.’

Jesus asks some men to become his disciples

¹⁸ One day, Jesus was walking along the shore of Lake Galilee. He saw two men who were brothers. One man was called Simon, and he was also called Peter. His brother's name was Andrew.^[d] Their job was to catch fish. They were throwing their nets into the lake to catch fish. ¹⁹ Jesus said to them, ‘Come with me and be my disciples. Then I will teach you how to catch people, instead of fish.’^[e]

²⁰ Simon and Andrew immediately put their nets down and they went with Jesus.

²¹ They continued to walk along the shore. Soon Jesus saw two more men who were brothers. They were called James and John. They were in their boat with their father, Zebedee. They were mending their nets. Jesus said to James and John, ‘Come with me.’ ²² The brothers immediately left the boat and their father behind. They went with Jesus to be his disciples.

Jesus teaches about God and he makes sick people well again

²³ Jesus travelled everywhere in Galilee. He taught the people in the Jewish meeting places. He told them the good news about God's kingdom. He also caused sick people to become well again from all their different pains and illnesses.