Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

(A psalm of praise.)

The Lord Is God

A Message of Hope

The Lord said:

23 ^(A) You leaders of my people are like shepherds that kill and scatter the sheep. ² You were supposed to take care of my people, but instead you chased them away. So now I'll punish you severely and make you pay for your crimes!

³ I will bring the rest of my people home from the lands where I have scattered them, and they will grow into a mighty nation. ⁴ I promise to choose leaders who will care for them like real shepherds. All of my people will be there, and they will never again be frightened.

⁷ A time will come when you will again worship me. But you will no longer call me the Living God who rescued Israel from Egypt. ⁸ Instead, you will call me the Living God who rescued you from the land in the north and from all the other countries where I had forced you to go. And you will once again live in your own land.

Jesus Again Tells about His Death

(Mark 10.32-34; Luke 18.31-34)

¹⁷ As Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, he took his twelve disciples aside and told them in private:

¹⁸ We are now on our way to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the teachers of the Law of Moses. They will sentence him to death, ¹⁹ and then they will hand him over to foreigners^[a] who will make fun of him. They will beat him and nail him to a cross. But on the third day he will rise from death.

A Mother's Request

(Mark 10.35-45)

²⁰ The mother of James and John^[b] came to Jesus with her two sons. She knelt down and started begging him to do something for her. ²¹ Jesus asked her what she wanted, and she said, “When you come into your kingdom, please let one of my sons sit at your right side and the other at your left.”^[c]

²² Jesus answered, “Not one of you knows what you are asking. Are you able to drink from the cup^[d] that I must soon drink from?”

James and John said, “Yes, we are!”

²³ Jesus replied, “You certainly will drink from my cup! But it isn't for me to say who will sit at my right side and at my left. This is for my Father to say.”

²⁴ When the ten other disciples heard this, they were angry with the two brothers. ^25 (A) But Jesus called the disciples together and said:

You know foreign rulers like to order their people around. And their great leaders have full power over everyone they rule. ^26 (B) But don't act like them. If you want to be great, you must be the servant of all the others. ²⁷ And if you want to be first, you must be the slave of the rest. ²⁸ The Son of Man did not come to be a slave master, but a slave who will give his life to rescue^[e] many people.