Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
15 Then I will return to my place.
I will leave them to receive their full punishment.
When they have suffered enough, they will turn back to me.
They will want to serve me again.’
The people say that they are sorry
6 ‘Listen! We should return to serve the Lord.
He has torn us to pieces, but now he will make us well again.
He has hurt us, but now he will make our wounds better.[a]
2 He will soon make us strong again.
After three days, we will have new lives.
Then we can live together with him.
3 We should respect the Lord's authority.
We must try to know him better.
Then he will certainly come to rescue us.
He will come to us as surely as the sun appears each morning.
He will help us as surely as the rain comes in spring
and it makes the ground wet for plants to grow.’
The Lord replies
4 ‘People of Ephraim and Judah, can I forgive you so easily?
Your love for me soon disappears.
It goes away as quickly as mist or dew in the morning.[b]
5 I sent my prophets to warn you.
They gave you my messages that I would punish you.
Now that punishment will certainly happen to you!
I will suddenly come to judge you,
like the sun that rises at dawn.
6 It is faithful love that makes me happy.
That would be better than your sacrifices to me.
You should know me as your God.
That would be better than your burnt offerings.
7 He says, ‘Listen to me, my people,
and I will speak to you.
I have something to say against you, Israel.
I am God, your God.
8 You offer sacrifices and burnt offerings to me all the time
but that is not why I speak against you.
9 I do not need a bull from your farm,
or goats from your fields.
10 All the wild animals of the forest belong to me!
All the cows on a thousand hills belong to me!
11 I know every bird in the mountains,
as well as all the insects.
12 Even if I did become hungry,
I would not tell you.
All the world belongs to me,
and everything that is in it.
13 Do I eat the meat of bulls? No!
Do I drink the blood of goats? No!
14 Say “thank you” to me as your offering.
Do whatever you have promised to do for me,
the Most High God.
15 Pray to me when you are in trouble.
Then I will rescue you,
and you will praise me.’[a]
13 God promised to Abraham, and to his descendants, that the world would belong to them one day.[a] God did not promise that because Abraham obeyed any rules. God promised it because Abraham believed in him. That is why God accepted Abraham as right with him. 14 People cannot get what God promised because they obey rules. If they could get it like that, then faith in God would be worth nothing. And what God promised would be worth nothing. 15 The rules in Moses' Law say that God will punish people who do not obey those rules. But without any rules, there is nothing for people to obey.
16 So God gives us his promise as a gift, because he is very kind. We receive it when we trust him. If we believe in God like Abraham did, then God accepts us. That is God's promise to all of Abraham's family. If we believe in God, we can call Abraham our ancestor. We can all receive what God has promised. It is not only for those who have Moses' Law to obey. 17 In the Bible, God said to Abraham, ‘I have chosen you to become the ancestor of many different people.’[b] That is what God himself promises, because Abraham believed in him. God is the one who causes dead people to become alive again. He speaks about things that are not yet there as if they were already there.
18 Abraham continued to trust God. He hoped to receive what God had promised. He continued to hope even when he had no good reason to hope. That is why he became the ancestor of many different people. It happened just like God had said: ‘You will have very many descendants.’[c]
19 Abraham was about 100 years old. His body was already so old that it was nearly dead. His wife, Sarah, was unable to have children. Abraham understood all that, but he did not stop trusting God. 20 He never stopped believing what God had promised. Instead, he believed in God more strongly. He trusted God's great power. 21 Abraham was sure that God was able to do what he had promised to do. 22 So we see that it is true: Because Abraham believed God, God accepted Abraham as right with him.[d]
23 Think about those words, ‘God accepted him as right.’ They are not only speaking about Abraham. 24 They are written in the Bible to help us too. If we believe in God, he will accept us as right with him. God raised our Lord Jesus, so that he became alive again after his death. 25 God let people kill Jesus on the cross because of the wrong things that we have done. Then God raised Jesus from death, to show that he would accept us as right with him.
Jesus asks Matthew to come with him
9 Jesus went away from that place. While he walked, he saw a man called Matthew. Matthew's job was to take taxes from people. He was sitting in his office. Jesus said to him, ‘Come with me and be my disciple.’ So Matthew stood up and he went with Jesus.
10 Later, Jesus went to eat a meal in Matthew's house. Many bad people and men who took taxes also came to the house.[a] They came to eat there with Jesus and his disciples.
11 Some Pharisees saw what was happening. They said to Jesus' disciples, ‘Your teacher is eating a meal with these bad people. That is not right. They are people who do not obey God, and some of them take taxes from people.’
12 Jesus heard what the Pharisees were saying. He said to them, ‘People who are well do not need a doctor. It is people who are ill that need a doctor. 13 Go and study what it says in the Bible. God says there, “I want people to be kind to each other. I do not want them only to offer sacrifices to me.” Some people think that they always obey God. I did not come to help people like that. Some people know that they have done wrong things. I am asking those people to come to me for help.’
Jesus causes a dead girl to become alive again
18 While Jesus was saying these things to the people, a leader at the Jewish meeting place came to him. The man went down on his knees in front of Jesus and said to him, ‘My daughter has just died. Come to my house. Put your hand on her and then she will live again.’ 19 So Jesus went with the man. His disciples also went with them.
20 There was a sick woman in the crowd. She had been losing blood for 12 years. She came near to Jesus, behind him. She touched the edge of his coat. 21 The woman thought, ‘Even if I only touch his coat, I will become well again.’
22 Jesus turned round and he saw the woman. He said to her, ‘Young woman, do not be afraid. You are now well again because you believed in me.’ And immediately the woman became well again.
23 Then Jesus arrived at the Jewish leader's house. Some people there were making sad music and the crowd was making a loud noise.[a]
24 When Jesus saw this, he said to everybody in the house, ‘Go outside. This girl is not dead. She is only sleeping.’ The people laughed at Jesus when he said that. 25 The family sent all the people out of the house. Jesus went inside and he held the girl's hand. Immediately she stood up. 26 People in all that part of the country heard about what had happened.
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