Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁸ That evening they heard the Lord God walking in the garden, and they hid from him among the trees. ⁹ But the Lord God called out to the man, “Where are you?”

¹⁰ He answered, “I heard you in the garden; I was afraid and hid from you, because I was naked.”

¹¹ “Who told you that you were naked?” God asked. “Did you eat the fruit that I told you not to eat?”

¹² The man answered, “The woman you put here with me gave me the fruit, and I ate it.”

^13 (A)The Lord God asked the woman, “Why did you do this?”

She replied, “The snake tricked me into eating it.”

God Pronounces Judgment

¹⁴ Then the Lord God said to the snake, “You will be punished for this; you alone of all the animals must bear this curse: From now on you will crawl on your belly, and you will have to eat dust as long as you live. ^15 (B)I will make you and the woman hate each other; her offspring and yours will always be enemies. Her offspring will crush your head, and you will bite her offspring's^[a] heel.”

A Prayer for Help

^13 (A)The scripture says, “I spoke because I believed.” In the same spirit of faith we also speak because we believe. ¹⁴ We know that God, who raised the Lord Jesus to life, will also raise us up with Jesus and take us, together with you, into his presence. ¹⁵ All this is for your sake; and as God's grace reaches more and more people, they will offer to the glory of God more prayers of thanksgiving.

Living by Faith

¹⁶ For this reason we never become discouraged. Even though our physical being is gradually decaying, yet our spiritual being is renewed day after day. ¹⁷ And this small and temporary trouble we suffer will bring us a tremendous and eternal glory, much greater than the trouble. ¹⁸ For we fix our attention, not on things that are seen, but on things that are unseen. What can be seen lasts only for a time, but what cannot be seen lasts forever.

5 ^(B)For we know that when this tent we live in—our body here on earth—is torn down, God will have a house in heaven for us to live in, a home he himself has made, which will last forever.

Jesus and Beelzebul^(A)

²⁰ Then Jesus went home. Again such a large crowd gathered that Jesus and his disciples had no time to eat. ²¹ When his family heard about it, they set out to take charge of him, because people were saying, “He's gone mad!”

^22 (B)Some teachers of the Law who had come from Jerusalem were saying, “He has Beelzebul in him! It is the chief of the demons who gives him the power to drive them out.”

²³ So Jesus called them to him and spoke to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan? ²⁴ If a country divides itself into groups which fight each other, that country will fall apart. ²⁵ If a family divides itself into groups which fight each other, that family will fall apart. ²⁶ So if Satan's kingdom divides into groups, it cannot last, but will fall apart and come to an end.

²⁷ “No one can break into a strong man's house and take away his belongings unless he first ties up the strong man; then he can plunder his house.

²⁸ “I assure you that people can be forgiven all their sins and all the evil things they may say.^{[a] 29 (C)}But whoever says evil things against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, because he has committed an eternal sin.” (³⁰ Jesus said this because some people were saying, “He has an evil spirit in him.”)

Jesus' Mother and Brothers^(D)

³¹ Then Jesus' mother and brothers arrived. They stood outside the house and sent in a message, asking for him. ³² A crowd was sitting around Jesus, and they said to him, “Look, your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, and they want you.”

³³ Jesus answered, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” ³⁴ He looked at the people sitting around him and said, “Look! Here are my mother and my brothers! ³⁵ Whoever does what God wants is my brother, my sister, my mother.”