Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
The Call of Elisha
19 Elijah left and found Elisha plowing with a team of oxen; there were eleven teams ahead of him, and he was plowing with the last one. Elijah took off his cloak and put it on Elisha. 20 Elisha then left his oxen, ran after Elijah, and said, “Let me kiss my father and mother good-bye, and then I will go with you.”
Elijah answered, “All right, go back. I'm not stopping you!”[a]
21 Then Elisha went to his team of oxen, killed them, and cooked the meat, using the yoke as fuel for the fire. He gave the meat to the people, and they ate it. Then he went and followed Elijah as his helper.
A Prayer of Confidence[a]
16 Protect me, O God; I trust in you for safety.
2 I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
all the good things I have come from you.”
3 How excellent are the Lord's faithful people!
My greatest pleasure is to be with them.
4 Those who rush to other gods
bring many troubles on themselves.[b]
I will not take part in their sacrifices;
I will not worship their gods.
5 You, Lord, are all I have,
and you give me all I need;
my future is in your hands.
6 How wonderful are your gifts to me;
how good they are!
7 I praise the Lord, because he guides me,
and in the night my conscience warns me.
8 I am always aware of the Lord's presence;
he is near, and nothing can shake me.
9 And so I am thankful and glad,
and I feel completely secure,
10 (A)because you protect me from the power of death.
I have served you faithfully,
and you will not abandon me to the world of the dead.
11 (B)You will show me the path that leads to life;
your presence fills me with joy
and brings me pleasure forever.
Preserve Your Freedom
5 Freedom is what we have—Christ has set us free! Stand, then, as free people, and do not allow yourselves to become slaves again.
13 As for you, my friends, you were called to be free. But do not let this freedom become an excuse for letting your physical desires control you. Instead, let love make you serve one another. 14 (A)For the whole Law is summed up in one commandment: “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” 15 But if you act like wild animals, hurting and harming each other, then watch out, or you will completely destroy one another.
The Spirit and Human Nature
16 What I say is this: let the Spirit direct your lives, and you will not satisfy the desires of the human nature. 17 (B)For what our human nature wants is opposed to what the Spirit wants, and what the Spirit wants is opposed to what our human nature wants. These two are enemies, and this means that you cannot do what you want to do. 18 If the Spirit leads you, then you are not subject to the Law.
19 What human nature does is quite plain. It shows itself in immoral, filthy, and indecent actions; 20 in worship of idols and witchcraft. People become enemies and they fight; they become jealous, angry, and ambitious. They separate into parties and groups; 21 they are envious, get drunk, have orgies, and do other things like these. I warn you now as I have before: those who do these things will not possess the Kingdom of God.
22 But the Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 humility, and self-control. There is no law against such things as these. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have put to death their human nature with all its passions and desires. 25 The Spirit has given us life; he must also control our lives.
A Samaritan Village Refuses to Receive Jesus
51 As the time drew near when Jesus would be taken up to heaven, he made up his mind and set out on his way to Jerusalem. 52 He sent messengers ahead of him, who went into a village in Samaria to get everything ready for him. 53 But the people there would not receive him, because it was clear that he was on his way to Jerusalem. 54 (A)When the disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?”[a]
55 Jesus turned and rebuked them.[b] 56 Then Jesus and his disciples went on to another village.
The Would-Be Followers of Jesus(B)
57 As they went on their way, a man said to Jesus, “I will follow you wherever you go.”
58 Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lie down and rest.”
59 He said to another man, “Follow me.”
But that man said, “Sir, first let me go back and bury my father.”
60 Jesus answered, “Let the dead bury their own dead. You go and proclaim the Kingdom of God.”
61 (C)Someone else said, “I will follow you, sir; but first let me go and say good-bye to my family.”
62 Jesus said to him, “Anyone who starts to plow and then keeps looking back is of no use for the Kingdom of God.”
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.