Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
15 Now Jacob was dead and Joseph's brothers became frightened. They said to each other, ‘We did a bad thing to Joseph. Now he will be angry and he will punish us for what we did.’ 16 So they sent a message to Joseph. They said, ‘Your father said this to us before he died. 17 He told us to say to you, “Please forgive your brothers for the very bad thing that they did against you. They did a very cruel thing to you.” So please forgive our sin. We are servants of your father's God.’
When Joseph received their message, he was very upset and he wept. 18 His brothers came to see him. They bent down low to the ground in front of Joseph. They said to him, ‘We are your slaves.’ 19 But Joseph said to them, ‘Do not be afraid of me. It is God who has the authority to punish people. I am not God! 20 You decided to hurt me. But God caused a good thing to happen because of that. God brought me here to save the lives of many people. You can see how that has really happened! 21 So do not be afraid. I will continue to take care of you. You and your children will receive what you need.’ In this way Joseph comforted them and he spoke kind words to them.
This is a song that David wrote.
The love of God[a]
103 I say to myself, ‘Praise the Lord!’
Everything that is in me, praise his holy name!
2 I say to myself, ‘Praise the Lord!’
Never forget all the good things that he has done for you!
3 He forgives all my sins.
He makes me well again when I am ill.
4 He saves me from the deep hole of death's power.
He always loves me and he is kind to me.
That is how he blesses me so much!
5 He gives me many good things for my life here.
So I become strong again, with the strength of a young eagle.
6 The Lord does what is right and fair.
He helps poor people who suffer.
7 He showed Moses how he works to help his people.
He showed the Israelites the great things that he could do.
8 The Lord is kind to people and he forgives them.
He is slow to get angry and his love always continues.
9 He will not always tell us that we are wrong.
He will not always continue to be angry.
10 We should receive much punishment for the bad things that we do.
But the Lord does not punish us so much.
11 For people who worship him, his faithful love is very great.
How far is the sky above the earth? His love is greater than that!
12 How far is the east from the west?
The Lord has taken our sins further away than that!
He no longer says that we are guilty.
13 As a father is kind to his children, the Lord is kind to us.
He is kind to people who worship him.
Accept all Christians
14 It is difficult for some Christians to trust God completely about everything. You should accept people like that as your friends. Do not argue with them about what they think is right or wrong. 2 Some people believe that they may eat all kinds of food. But other people are not so sure, so they eat only vegetables. 3 People who eat anything must not think that they are better than people who eat only vegetables. Also, people who eat only vegetables must not judge other people who eat anything. They are not doing anything wrong, because God himself has accepted them.
4 God is the master of all believers and they are his servants. You do not have authority to judge someone else's servant. The servant's own master will decide if he has done well or he has done something wrong. And he will serve his master well, because the Lord is able to help him to do that.
5 Some people think that certain days are special and more important than other days. Other people think that all days are the same. Each person should decide what seems right to him. 6 A person who makes a certain day special does that so that he can respect the Lord. A person who eats all kinds of food does that so that he can respect the Lord. He thanks God for the food that he eats. A person who refuses to eat certain foods also does that so that he can respect the Lord. And he also thanks God.
7 None of us lives only to please ourselves. And we do not die to please ourselves. 8 While we live, we want to please the Lord. And when we die, we want that to please the Lord too. So, while we live, or if we die, we continue to belong to the Lord. 9 Christ died and then he became alive again. That happened so that he could be the Lord of all people, those who have died and those who are still alive.
10 So then, if you eat only vegetables, you must not judge other believers. Also, if you eat anything, you must not think that you are better than other believers. Remember that all of us will have to stand in front of God. He will decide whether we have done what is right or wrong. 11 This is written in the Bible:
‘The Lord God says,
“As surely as I live, this will certainly happen:
Everyone will go down on their knees in front of me.
Everyone will praise me that I am God.” ’[a]
12 So each of us will have to explain to God about the things that we have done.
Jesus tells the people about the servant who did not forgive
21 Then Peter came to talk to Jesus. He asked, ‘Lord, if my friend does wrong things against me many times, how many times should I forgive him? Must I forgive him as many as seven times for the wrong things that he has done against me?’
22 Jesus replied, ‘I do not say only seven times. I say you should forgive him 77 times!’[a]
23 Jesus then said, ‘I will tell you a story to show what the kingdom of heaven is like. A king wanted to check how much money his servants should give to him because of their debts. 24 So the king began to check. His men led a servant to him who had a big debt. He must pay back 10,000 gold coins to the king.[b]
25 The servant could not pay his big debt to the king. So the king said to his men, “Sell the servant and his wife and his children and all his things. Then I will keep the money to pay his debt.”
26 Then the servant went down on his knees in front of the king. He said to the king, “Please, please give me some more time, then I will pay you everything.” 27 The king felt sorry for his servant. He forgave him for all the debt and let him go free.
28 But then that same servant went away and he met another servant of the king. This other servant had to pay back a debt of 100 silver coins to the first servant. The first servant took hold of the neck of the other servant to hurt him. He said, “Give me the money that is mine.”
29 The other servant went down on his knees in front of the first servant. He said, “Please, please give me some more time, then I will give you the money.”
30 But the first servant would not agree. He put the other servant in prison until he could pay his debt to him. 31 The other servants of the king saw what had happened. They were very upset about it. So they went to see the king. They told him about everything that had happened.
32 When the king heard this, he told the first servant to come to him. “You are a very bad person,” the king said to the servant. “I forgave you the whole of your big debt to me. I did this because you asked me very strongly. 33 I was kind to you. You should have been kind to that other servant in the same way.” 34 The king was very angry with the first servant. He told his men to put him in prison. They punished the servant there very much, until he could pay all his debt to the king.’
35 Then Jesus finished the story and he said, ‘You must forgive your friends completely. If you do not agree to forgive them, then my Father in heaven will do like that king did. He will not forgive you.’
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