Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

God Accepts the Priests

9 On the eighth day, Moses called for Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel. ² He said to Aaron, “Take a bull and a ram. There must be nothing wrong with them. The bull will be a sin offering, and the ram will be a burnt offering. Offer these animals to the Lord. ³ Tell the Israelites, ‘Take a male goat for a sin offering, and take a calf and a lamb for a burnt offering. The calf and the lamb must each be one year old. There must be nothing wrong with them. ⁴ Take a bull and a ram for fellowship offerings. Take these animals and a grain offering mixed with oil for an offering to the Lord. Do this because the Lord will appear to you today.’”

⁵ So all the people came to the Meeting Tent. They all brought the things that Moses had commanded. All the people stood before the Lord. ⁶ Moses said, “You must do what the Lord commanded. Then the Glory of the Lord will appear to you.”

⁷ Then Moses told Aaron: “Go do what the Lord commanded. Go to the altar and offer sin offerings and burnt offerings. Do what will make you and the people pure. Take the people’s sacrifices and make them pure.”

⁸ So Aaron went to the altar. He killed the bull for the sin offering. This sin offering was for himself. ⁹ Then the sons of Aaron brought the blood to Aaron. Aaron put his finger in the blood and put it on the corners of the altar. Then he poured out the blood at the base of the altar. ¹⁰ He took the fat, the kidneys, and the fat part of the liver from the sin offering. He burned them on the altar just as the Lord had commanded Moses. ¹¹ Then Aaron burned the meat and skin on a fire outside the camp.

²² Then Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them. After he finished offering the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the fellowship offerings, he came down from the altar.

²³ Moses and Aaron went into the Meeting Tent. They came out and blessed the people. Then the Glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. ²⁴ Fire came out from the Lord and burned the burnt offering and fat on the altar. When all the people saw this, they shouted with joy and then bowed to the ground to show their respect.

Changed Lives

4 Christ suffered while he was in his body. So you should strengthen yourselves with the same kind of thinking Christ had. The one who accepts suffering in this life has clearly decided to stop sinning. ² Strengthen yourselves so that you will live your lives here on earth doing what God wants, not the evil things that people want to do. ³ In the past you wasted too much time doing what those who don’t know God like to do. You were living immoral lives, doing the evil things you wanted to do. You were always getting drunk, having wild drinking parties, and doing shameful things in your worship of idols.

⁴ Now those “friends” think it is strange that you no longer join them in all the wild and wasteful things they do. And so they say bad things about you. ⁵ But they will have to face God to explain what they have done. He is the one who will soon judge everyone—those who are still living and those who have died. ⁶ Some were told the Good News before they died. They were criticized by others in their life here on earth. But it was God’s plan that they hear the Good News so that they could have a new life through the Spirit.^[a]