Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A Davidic Song of Ascents
Hope in the Lord
131 Lord, my heart is not arrogant,
nor do I look haughty.
I do not aspire[a] to great things,
nor concern myself with things beyond my ability.
2 Instead, I have composed and quieted myself
like a weaned child with its mother;
I am like a weaned child.
3 Place your hope in the Lord, Israel,
both now and forever.
Jeremiah’s Linen Belt
13 This is what the Lord told me: “Go and buy a linen belt for yourself, and put it around your waist.[a] But don’t let it get wet.” 2 So I bought the belt according to the Lord’s instruction, and put it around my waist.
3 Then this message from the Lord came to me a second time: 4 Take the belt that you bought and that is around your waist. Get up and go to the Euphrates,[b] and hide it there in a crevice in the rock.” 5 So I went and hid it at the Euphrates,[c] just as the Lord had commanded me.
6 After a long time,[d] the Lord told me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates,[e] and get the belt that I commanded you to hide there.” 7 I went to the Euphrates and dug it up. I got the belt from the place where I had hidden it. The belt was ruined! It was not good for anything.
8 Then this message from the Lord came to me: 9 “This is what the Lord says: ‘In the same way I’ll ruin the pride of Judah and the pride of Jerusalem. 10 This evil people that refuses to listen to my words, that stubbornly pursues their own desires,[f] and that follows other gods to serve and worship them, will be like this belt that is not good for anything. 11 For just as the belt clings tightly to a person’s waist, so I’ve made all the people[g] of Israel and all the people[h] of Judah cling tightly to me,’ declares the Lord. ‘I did this[i] so that they would be my people, name, praise, and glory. But they wouldn’t listen.’
Jesus Washes the Disciples’ Feet
13 Now before the Passover Festival, Jesus realized that his hour had come to leave this world and return to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.[a] 2 By supper time, the Devil had already put it into the heart of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray him. 3 Because Jesus knew that the Father had given everything into his control,[b] that he had come from God, and that he was returning to God, 4 therefore he got up from the table, removed his outer robe, and took a towel and fastened it around his waist. 5 Then he poured some water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel that was tied around his waist.
6 Then he came to Simon Peter, who asked him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”
7 Jesus answered him, “You don’t realize now what I’m doing, but later on you’ll understand.”
8 Peter told him, “You must never wash my feet!”
Jesus answered him, “Unless I wash you, you cannot be involved with me.”
9 Simon Peter told him, “Lord, not just my feet, but my hands and my head as well!”
10 Jesus told him, “Whoever has bathed is entirely clean. He doesn’t need to wash himself further, except for his feet. And you men[c] are clean, though not all of you.” 11 For he knew who was going to betray him. That’s why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
12 When Jesus[d] had washed their feet and put on his outer robe, he sat down again and told them, “Do you realize what I’ve done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right[e] because that is what I am. 14 So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you must also wash one another’s feet. 15 I’ve set an example for you, so that you may do as I have done to you. 16 Truly, I tell all of you[f] emphatically, a servant isn’t greater than his master, and a messenger isn’t greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you understand these things, how blessed you are if you put them into practice!
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