Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

The Lord appears to Elijah

⁹ Elijah went into a cave on Sinai mountain and he stayed there all night. Suddenly, the Lord spoke to Elijah. He asked Elijah, ‘Elijah, why have you come here?’ ¹⁰ Elijah replied, ‘The Israelites have turned away from the covenant that you made with them. They have destroyed your altars.^[a] They have killed your prophets with swords. But I have always served the Lord God Almighty faithfully. Now I am the only prophet that is still alive and they are trying to kill me too.’ ¹¹ The Lord said, ‘Go out from the cave and stand on the mountain, in front of me. I, the Lord, will pass in front of you.’

Then a very strong wind broke the mountain apart. It broke the rocks into pieces as the Lord came near. But the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind, there was an earthquake. But the Lord was not in the earthquake. ¹² After the earthquake, there was a fire. But the Lord was not in the fire. After the fire, there was a very quiet voice. ¹³ When Elijah heard that, he covered his face with his robe. He went out and he stood at the entrance of the cave. Then a voice said to him, ‘Elijah, why have you come here?’^{[b] 14} Elijah said, ‘The Israelites have turned away from the covenant that you made with them. They have destroyed your altars. They have killed your prophets with swords. But I have always served the Lord God Almighty faithfully. Now I am the only prophet that is still alive and they are trying to kill me too.’

¹⁵ The Lord said to Elijah, ‘Go back again along the way that you came. Go to the desert which is near Damascus. When you arrive there, anoint Hazael to make him king of Syria. ¹⁶ You must also anoint Nimshi's grandson Jehu to make him king of Israel. Then anoint Shapat's son Elisha from Abel Meholah to be my prophet after you. ¹⁷ Jehu's army will kill anyone that Hazael's army does not kill. Then Elisha will kill anyone who escapes from Jehu. ¹⁸ But remember this: I still have 7,000 people in Israel who have not worshipped Baal. They have not kissed his idols.’

God wants to save everyone

⁵ Moses wrote about how God's Law could help people to be right with God. He said, ‘If a person obeys the rules in God's Law, then he will live by them.’^{[a] 6} But the Bible speaks also about another way. It shows how to become right with God because you trust him. It says: ‘Do not say to yourself, “Someone will have to go up into heaven.” ’ (That means: ‘Someone will have to bring Christ down from up there.’) ⁷ ‘Do not say to yourself either, “Someone will have to go down into the world below.” ’ (That means: ‘Someone will have to bring Christ up from the place where dead people are.’) ⁸ But the Bible says: ‘God's message is near you. You can talk about it, and you can think about it.’^[b] That is the same message that we are teaching to people. We tell people to believe in Jesus Christ.

⁹ The message is this: You must say clearly that Jesus is the Lord. Also, you must believe deep inside yourself that God raised him to life again after his death. Then God will save you. ¹⁰ God accepts people as right with him when they believe like that, deep inside themselves. And when people say clearly that Jesus is Lord, God saves them. ¹¹ It says in the Bible:

¹² It says ‘everyone’. There is no difference between Jews and Gentiles. There is the same Lord for all of them. He helps everyone who asks him with many good things. ¹³ As it says in the Bible: ‘The Lord God will save everyone who asks him for help.’^[d]

¹⁴ But people will never ask Christ to help them if they have not believed in him. And they will never believe in him if they have not heard about him. And they will not hear about him unless somebody tells God's message to them. ¹⁵ And nobody can go to tell God's message to people unless God sends them. This is written in the Bible: ‘When people arrive to tell us good news, we say “welcome!” ’^[e]

Jesus walks on the water

²² Immediately after this, Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Get in the boat and sail across to the other side of the lake.’ Jesus said that he would first send the crowd away. Then he would also leave. ²³ So Jesus sent the crowd away. After they had gone, he went up on a mountain alone to pray. When it became dark, he was still there alone. ²⁴ At this time the boat with the disciples in it was in the middle of the lake. It was a long way from the land. The wind was blowing against the boat and the water was hitting it.

²⁵ Then, when it was nearly dawn, Jesus walked on the water towards his disciples. ²⁶ The disciples saw him walking on the water. They were very frightened. ‘It is a spirit,’ they said. They screamed loudly because they were afraid.

²⁷ But immediately Jesus said to them. ‘Be brave! It is I. Do not be afraid.’

²⁸ Peter replied, ‘Lord, is it really you? If it is you, say to me, “Come here! Walk to me on the water.” ’

²⁹ Jesus said to him, ‘Come to me.’

So Peter got down out of the boat. He walked on the water and he came towards Jesus. ³⁰ But then Peter saw that the wind was still blowing strongly. He became afraid and he began to go down into the water. He shouted to Jesus, ‘Lord, save me!’

³¹ Immediately, Jesus put out his hand and he took hold of Peter. He said to Peter, ‘You should trust me more than you do. Why did you not believe that I could help you?’

³² Jesus and Peter climbed up into the boat. Then the strong wind stopped. ³³ The disciples who were in the boat went down on their knees. They praised Jesus and they said to him, ‘It is true. You are really the Son of God.’