Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Instructions for the Passover

12 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: ² “This month is to be the beginning of months for you; it is the first month of your year.^{(A) 3} Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month they must each select an animal of the flock according to their fathers’ households, one animal per household. ⁴ If the household is too small for a whole animal, that person and the neighbor nearest his house are to select one based on the combined number of people; you should apportion the animal according to what each person^[a] will eat.

⁵ You must have an unblemished^(A) animal, a year-old male; you may take it from either the sheep or the goats. ⁶ You are to keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembly of the community of Israel will slaughter the animals at twilight.^{(B) 7} They must take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses where they eat them. ⁸ They are to eat the meat that night; they should eat it, roasted over the fire along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.^{(C) 9} Do not eat any of it raw or cooked in boiling^[a] water, but only roasted^(D) over fire—its head as well as its legs and inner organs. ¹⁰ Do not let any of it remain until morning;^(E) you must burn up any part of it that does remain before morning.

¹¹ Here is how you must eat it: you must be dressed for travel,^[a] your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You are to eat it in a hurry; it is the Lord’s Passover.^(A)

¹² “I will pass through^(B) the land of Egypt on that night and strike every firstborn male in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. I am Yahweh; I will execute judgments against all the gods of Egypt.^{(C) 13} The blood on the houses where you are staying will be a distinguishing mark for you; when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No plague will be among you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

¹⁴ “This day is to be a memorial for you, and you must celebrate it as a festival to the Lord. You are to celebrate it throughout your generations as a permanent statute.^(D)

Psalm 116

Thanks to God for Deliverance

²³ For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you:^(A) On the night when He was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread, ²⁴ gave thanks, broke it, and said,^[a] “This is My body, which is^[b] for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.”^(B)

²⁵ In the same way, after supper He also took the cup and said, “This cup is the new covenant^(C) established by My blood.^(D) Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” ²⁶ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death^(E) until He comes.^(F)

Jesus Washes His Disciples’ Feet

13 Before the Passover Festival, Jesus knew that His hour had come to depart from this world to the Father.^(A) Having loved His own who were in the world,^(B) He loved them to the end.^[a]

² Now by the time of supper, the Devil^(C) had already put it into the heart of Judas,^(D) Simon Iscariot’s son, to betray^(E) Him. ³ Jesus knew that the Father had given everything into His hands,^(F) that He had come from God,^(G) and that He was going back to God.^{(H) 4} So He got up from supper, laid aside His robe,^(I) took a towel, and tied it around Himself.^{(J) 5} Next, He poured water into a basin and began to wash His disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel tied around Him.

⁶ He came to Simon Peter,^(K) who asked Him, “Lord, are You going to wash my feet?”

⁷ Jesus answered him, “What I’m doing you don’t understand now, but afterward you will know.”^(L)

⁸ “You will never wash my feet—ever!” Peter said.

Jesus replied, “If I don’t wash you, you have no part with Me.”

⁹ Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.”

¹⁰ “One who has bathed,” Jesus told him, “doesn’t need to wash anything except his feet, but he is completely clean. You are clean, but not all of you.” ¹¹ For He knew who would betray Him. This is why He said, “You are not all clean.”

The Meaning of Footwashing

¹² When Jesus had washed their feet and put on His robe, He reclined^[b] again and said to them, “Do you know what I have done for you? ¹³ You call Me Teacher and Lord. This is well said, for I am. ¹⁴ So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.^{(M) 15} For I have given you an example^(N) that you also should do just as I have done for you.

¹⁶ “I assure you: A slave is not greater than his master,^[c](O) and a messenger is not greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷ If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.^(P)

The New Command

³¹ When^(A) he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man^(B) is glorified, and God is glorified^(C) in Him.^{(D) 32} If God is glorified in Him,^[a] God will also glorify Him in Himself and will glorify Him at once.

³³ “Children, I am with you a little while longer.^(E) You will look for Me, and just as I told the Jews, ‘Where I am going you cannot come,’^(F) so now I tell you.

³⁴ “I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another. ³⁵ By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love^(G) for one another.”