Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

¹⁵ Then Jeremiah replied, “Lord, you know it is for your sake that I am suffering. They are persecuting me because I have proclaimed your word to them. Don’t let them kill me! Rescue me from their clutches, and give them what they deserve! ¹⁶ Your words are what sustain me; they are food to my hungry soul. They bring joy to my sorrowing heart and delight me. How proud I am to bear your name, O Lord. ^17-18 I have not joined the people in their merry feasts. I sit alone beneath the hand of God. I burst with indignation at their sins. Yet you have failed me in my time of need! You have let them keep right on with all their persecutions. Will they never stop hurting me? Your help is as uncertain as a seasonal mountain brook—sometimes a flood, sometimes as dry as a bone.”

¹⁹ The Lord replied: “Stop this foolishness and talk some sense! Only if you return to trusting me will I let you continue as my spokesman. You are to influence them, not let them influence you! ²⁰ They will fight against you like a besieging army against a high city wall. But they will not conquer you, for I am with you to protect and deliver you, says the Lord. ²¹ Yes, I will certainly deliver you from these wicked men and rescue you from their ruthless hands.”

26 Dismiss all the charges against me, Lord, for I have tried to keep your laws and have trusted you without wavering. ² Cross-examine me, O Lord, and see that this is so; test my motives and affections too. ³ For I have taken your loving-kindness and your truth as my ideals. ⁴ I do not have fellowship with tricky, two-faced men; they are false and hypocritical. ⁵ I hate the sinners’ hangouts and refuse to enter them. ⁶ I wash my hands to prove my innocence and come before your altar, ⁷ singing a song of thanksgiving and telling about your miracles.

⁸ Lord, I love your home, this shrine where the brilliant, dazzling splendor of your presence lives.

⁹ Don’t just pretend that you love others: really love them. Hate what is wrong. Stand on the side of the good. ¹⁰ Love each other with brotherly affection and take delight in honoring each other. ¹¹ Never be lazy in your work, but serve the Lord enthusiastically.

¹² Be glad for all God is planning for you. Be patient in trouble, and prayerful always. ¹³ When God’s children are in need, you be the one to help them out. And get into the habit of inviting guests home for dinner or, if they need lodging, for the night.

¹⁴ If someone mistreats you because you are a Christian, don’t curse him; pray that God will bless him. ¹⁵ When others are happy, be happy with them. If they are sad, share their sorrow. ¹⁶ Work happily together. Don’t try to act big. Don’t try to get into the good graces of important people, but enjoy the company of ordinary folks. And don’t think you know it all!

¹⁷ Never pay back evil for evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honest clear through. ¹⁸ Don’t quarrel with anyone. Be at peace with everyone, just as much as possible.

¹⁹ Dear friends, never avenge yourselves. Leave that to God, for he has said that he will repay those who deserve it. Don’t take the law into your own hands.^{[a] 20} Instead, feed your enemy if he is hungry. If he is thirsty give him something to drink and you will be “heaping coals of fire on his head.” In other words, he will feel ashamed of himself for what he has done to you. ²¹ Don’t let evil get the upper hand, but conquer evil by doing good.

²¹ From then on Jesus began to speak plainly to his disciples about going to Jerusalem, and what would happen to him there—that he would suffer at the hands of the Jewish leaders,^[a] that he would be killed, and that three days later he would be raised to life again.

²² But Peter took him aside to remonstrate with him. “Heaven forbid, sir,” he said. “This is not going to happen to you!”

²³ Jesus turned on Peter and said, “Get away from me, you Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are thinking merely from a human point of view, and not from God’s.”

²⁴ Then Jesus said to the disciples, “If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. ²⁵ For anyone who keeps his life for himself shall lose it; and anyone who loses his life for me shall find it again. ²⁶ What profit is there if you gain the whole world—and lose eternal life? What can be compared with the value of eternal life? ²⁷ For I, the Son of Mankind, shall come with my angels in the glory of my Father and judge each person according to his deeds. ²⁸ And some of you standing right here now will certainly live to see me coming in my Kingdom.”