Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁵⁵ But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily upward into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at God’s right hand. ⁵⁶ And he told them, “Look, I see the heavens opened and Jesus the Messiah^[a] standing beside God, at his right hand!”

⁵⁷ Then they mobbed him, putting their hands over their ears, and drowning out his voice with their shouts, ⁵⁸ and dragged him out of the city to stone him. The official witnesses—the executioners—took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Paul.^[b]

⁵⁹ And as the murderous stones came hurtling at him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” ⁶⁰ And he fell to his knees, shouting, “Lord, don’t charge them with this sin!” and with that, he died.

31 Lord, I trust in you alone. Don’t let my enemies defeat me. Rescue me because you are the God who always does what is right. ² Answer quickly when I cry to you; bend low and hear my whispered plea.^[a] Be for me a great Rock of safety from my foes. ³ Yes, you are my Rock and my fortress; honor your name by leading me out of this peril. ⁴ Pull me from the trap my enemies have set for me. For you alone are strong enough.^{[b] 5-6} Into your hand I commit my spirit.

You have rescued me, O God who keeps his promises. I worship only you; how you hate all those who worship idols, those imitation gods.

^14-15 But I am trusting you, O Lord. I said, “You alone are my God; my times are in your hands. Rescue me from those who hunt me down relentlessly. ¹⁶ Let your favor shine again upon your servant; save me just because you are so kind!

^2-3 Now that you realize how kind the Lord has been to you, put away all evil, deception, envy, and fraud. Long to grow up into the fullness of your salvation; cry for this as a baby cries for his milk.^[a]

⁴ Come to Christ, who is the living Foundation of Rock upon which God builds; though men have spurned him, he is very precious to God who has chosen him above all others.

⁵ And now you have become living building-stones for God’s use in building his house. What’s more, you are his holy priests; so come to him—you who are acceptable to him because of Jesus Christ^[b]—and offer to God those things that please him. ⁶ As the Scriptures express it, “See, I am sending Christ to be the carefully chosen, precious Cornerstone of my church, and I will never disappoint those who trust in him.”

⁷ Yes, he is very precious to you who believe; and to those who reject him, well—“The same Stone that was rejected by the builders has become the Cornerstone, the most honored and important part of the building.” ⁸ And the Scriptures also say, “He is the Stone that some will stumble over, and the Rock that will make them fall.” They will stumble because they will not listen to God’s Word nor obey it, and so this punishment must follow—that they will fall.

⁹ But you are not like that, for you have been chosen by God himself—you are priests of the King, you are holy and pure, you are God’s very own—all this so that you may show to others how God called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. ¹⁰ Once you were less than nothing; now you are God’s own. Once you knew very little of God’s kindness; now your very lives have been changed by it.

14 “Let not your heart be troubled. You are trusting God, now trust in me. ^2-3 There are many homes up there where my Father lives, and I am going to prepare them for your coming. When everything is ready, then I will come and get you, so that you can always be with me where I am. If this weren’t so, I would tell you plainly. ⁴ And you know where I am going and how to get there.”

⁵ “No, we don’t,” Thomas said. “We haven’t any idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

⁶ Jesus told him, “I am the Way—yes, and the Truth and the Life. No one can get to the Father except by means of me. ⁷ If you had known who I am, then you would have known who my Father is. From now on you know him—and have seen him!”

⁸ Philip said, “Sir, show us the Father and we will be satisfied.”

⁹ Jesus replied, “Don’t you even yet know who I am, Philip, even after all this time I have been with you? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking to see him? ¹⁰ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I say are not my own but are from my Father who lives in me. And he does his work through me. ¹¹ Just believe it—that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or else believe it because of the mighty miracles you have seen me do.

^12-13 “In solemn truth I tell you, anyone believing in me shall do the same miracles I have done, and even greater ones, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask him for anything, using my name, and I will do it, for this will bring praise to the Father because of what I, the Son, will do for you. ¹⁴ Yes, ask anything, using my name, and I will do it!