Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
The Lord’s Vineyard
5 I will sing[a] for my beloved
my love-song concerning his vineyard:
“The one I love had a vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
2 He plowed its land[b] and cleared it of stones.
Then he planted it with the choicest vines,
built a watchtower in the middle of it,
and dug a wine vat in it;
He expected[c] it to produce good[d] grapes,
but it produced only wild ones.”[e]
3 “So now, you inhabitants[f] of Jerusalem
and men of Judah,
judge, won’t you please,
between me and my vineyard.
4 What more could I do in[g] my vineyard,
that I haven’t already done?
When I expected it to produce good[h] grapes,
why did it yield[i] wild ones?[j]
5 “Now, let me tell you, won’t you please,
what I’m going to do to my vineyard.
“I’m going to take away its protective hedge,
and it will be devoured;[k]
I’ll break down its wall,
and it will be trampled.
6 I’ll make it a wasteland,
and it won’t be pruned or cultivated.
Instead, briers and thorns will grow up.
I’ll also issue commands to the clouds,
that they drop no rain upon it.”
7 God of the Heavenly Armies, restore us
and show your favor,[a]
so we may be delivered.
8 You uprooted a vine from Egypt,
and drove out nations to transplant it.
9 You cleared the ground[b] so that its roots grew
and filled the land.
10 Mountains were covered by its shadows,
and the mighty cedars by its branches.
11 Its branches spread out to the Mediterranean[c] Sea
and its shoots to the Euphrates[d] River.
12 Why did you break down its walls
so that those who pass by pluck its fruits?[e]
13 Wild boars of the forest gnaw at it,
and creatures of the field feed on it.
4 although I could have confidence in the flesh. If anyone thinks he can place confidence in the flesh, I have more reason to think so.[a] 5 Having been circumcised on the eighth day, I am of the nation of Israel, from the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. As far as the Law is concerned, I was a Pharisee. 6 As for my zeal, I was a persecutor of the church. As far as righteousness in the Law is concerned, I was blameless.
7 But whatever things were assets to me, these I now consider a loss for the sake of the Messiah.[b] 8 What is more, I continue to consider all these things to be a loss for the sake of what is far more valuable, knowing the Messiah[c] Jesus, my Lord. It is because of him that I have experienced the loss of all those things. Indeed, I consider them rubbish[d] in order to gain the Messiah[e] 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the Law, but one that comes through the faithfulness[f] of the Messiah,[g] the righteousness that comes from God and that depends on faith. 10 I want to know the Messiah[h]—what his resurrection power is like and what it means to share in his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, 11 though I hope to experience the resurrection from the dead.
Pursuing the Goal
12 It’s not that I have already reached this goal or have already become perfect. But I keep pursuing it, hoping somehow to embrace it just as I have been embraced by the Messiah[i] Jesus. 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself to have embraced it yet.[j] But this one thing I do: Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I keep pursuing the goal to win the prize[k] of God’s heavenly call in the Messiah[l] Jesus.
The Parable about the Tenant Farmers(A)
33 “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a wall around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and went abroad. 34 When harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenant farmers to collect his produce. 35 But the farmers took his servants and beat one, killed another, and attacked another with stones. 36 Again, he sent other servants to them, a greater number than the first, but the tenant farmers[a] treated them the same way. 37 Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 But when the tenant farmers saw his son, they told one another, ‘This is the heir. Come on, let’s kill him and get his inheritance!’ 39 So they grabbed him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. 40 Now when the owner of the vineyard returns, what will he do to those farmers?”
41 They told him, “He will put those horrible men to a horrible death. Then he will lease the vineyard to other farmers who will give him his produce at harvest time.”
42 Jesus asked them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures,
‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.[b]
This was the Lord’s[c] doing,
and it is amazing in our eyes.’?[d]
43 That is why I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce fruit for it. 44 The person who falls over this stone will be broken to pieces, but it will crush anyone on whom it falls.”[e]
45 When the high priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they knew that he was talking about them. 46 Although they wanted to arrest him, they were afraid of the crowds, who considered Jesus[f] to be a prophet.
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