Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
The Coming of Zion’s King
9 “Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion;
cry out, daughter of Jerusalem!
Look! Your king is coming to you.
He is righteous,
and he is able to save.
He is humble,
and is riding on a colt,
the foal of a donkey.
10 I will banish[a] chariots from Ephraim
and horses from Jerusalem.
War weapons[b] will be banished,
and your king[c] will speak peace to the nations.
His dominion will extend from sea to sea,
and from the River to the farthest portion of the earth.
11 Now concerning you and my blood covenant with you,
I have liberated your prisoners
from a waterless pit.
12 Return to your fortress, you prisoners who have hope.
Even today I am telling you:
In return I will repay you double.
8 Gracious and merciful is the Lord,
slow to become angry,
and overflowing with gracious love.
9 The Lord is good to everyone
and his mercies extend to everything he does.
10 Lord, everything you have done will praise you,
and your holy ones will bless you.
11 They will speak about the glory of your kingdom,
and they will talk about your might,
12 in order to make known your mighty acts to mankind[a]
as well as the majestic splendor of your kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and your authority endures from one generation to another.
13b God[b] is faithful about everything he says
and merciful in everything he does.
14 The Lord supports everyone who falls
and raises up those who are bowed down.
15 I don’t understand what I am doing. For I don’t practice what I want to do, but instead do what I hate. 16 Now if I practice what I don’t want to do, I am admitting that the Law is good. 17 As it is, I am no longer the one who is doing it, but it is the sin that is living in me.
18 For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I don’t do the good I want to do, but instead do the evil that I don’t want to do. 20 But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am no longer the one who is doing it, but it is the sin that is living in me.
21 So I find this to be a principle:[a] when I want to do what is good, evil is right there with me. 22 For I delight in the Law of God in my inner being, 23 but I see in my body[b] a different principle[c] waging war with the Law in my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin that exists in my body.[d] 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is infected by[e] death? 25 Thank God through Jesus the Messiah,[f] our Lord, because with my mind I myself can serve the Law of God, even while with my human nature[g] I serve the law of sin.
16 “To what can I compare the people living today? They’re[a] like little children who sit in the marketplaces and shout to each other,
17 ‘A wedding song we played for you,
the dance you all did scorn.
A woeful dirge we chanted, too,
but then you would not mourn.’
18 Because John didn’t come eating or drinking, yet people[b] say, ‘He has a demon!’ 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunk, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’
Absolved from every act of sin,
is wisdom by her kith and kin.”[c]
Jesus Praises the Father and Invites the Disciples to Come to Him(A)
25 At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from wise and intelligent people and have revealed them to infants. 26 Yes, Father, because this is what was pleasing to you. 27 All things have been entrusted to me by my Father. No one fully knows the Son except the Father, and no one fully knows the Father except the Son and the person to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
28 “Come to me, all of you who are weary and loaded down with burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Place my yoke on you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble,[a] and you will find rest for your souls,[b] 30 because my yoke is pleasant,[c] and my burden is light.”
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