Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Moral and Religious Laws
19 The Lord told Moses 2 (A) to say to the community of Israel:
I am the Lord your God. I am holy, and you must be holy too!
15 (A) Be fair, no matter who is on trial—don't favor either the poor or the rich.
16 Don't be a gossip, but never hesitate to speak up in court, especially if your testimony can save someone's life.[a]
17 (B) Don't hold grudges. On the other hand, it's wrong not to correct someone who needs correcting. 18 (C) Don't be angry or try to take revenge. I am the Lord, and I command you to love others as much as you love yourself.
BOOK I
(Psalms 1–41)
The Way to Happiness
1 God blesses those people
who refuse evil advice
and won't follow sinners
or join in sneering at God.
2 Instead, they find happiness
in the Teaching of the Lord,
and they think about it
day and night.
3 (A) They are like trees
growing beside a stream,
trees that produce
fruit in season
and always have leaves.
Those people succeed
in everything they do.
4 That isn't true of those
who are evil—
they are like straw
blown by the wind.
5 Sinners won't have an excuse
on the day of judgment,
and they won't have a place
with the people of God.
6 The Lord protects everyone
who follows him,
but the wicked follow a road
that leads to ruin.
Paul's Work in Thessalonica
2 My friends, you know our time with you wasn't wasted. 2 (A) As you remember, we had been mistreated and insulted at Philippi. But God gave us the courage to tell you the good news about him, even though many people caused us trouble. 3 We didn't have any hidden motives when we won you over, and we didn't try to fool or trick anyone. 4 God was pleased to trust us with his message. We didn't speak to please people, but to please God who knows our motives.
5 You also know we didn't try to flatter anyone. God himself knows what we did wasn't a cover-up for greed. 6 We were not trying to get you or anyone else to praise us. 7 But as apostles, we could have demanded help from you. After all, Christ is the one who sent us. We chose to be like children or like a mother[a] nursing her baby. 8 We cared so much for you, and you became so dear to us, that we were willing to give our lives for you when we gave you God's message.
The Most Important Commandment
(Mark 12.28-34; Luke 10.25-28)
34 After Jesus had made the Sadducees look foolish, the Pharisees heard about it and got together. 35 (A) One of them was an expert in the Jewish Law. So he tried to test Jesus by asking, 36 “Teacher, what is the most important commandment in the Law?”
37 (B) Jesus answered:
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. 38 This is the first and most important commandment. 39 (C) The second most important commandment is like this one. And it is, “Love others as much as you love yourself.” 40 All the Law of Moses and the Books of the Prophets[a] are based on these two commandments.
About David's Son
(Mark 12.35-37; Luke 20.41-44)
41 While the Pharisees were still there, Jesus asked them, 42 “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose family will he come from?”
They answered, “He will be a son of King David.”[b]
43 Jesus replied, “How then could the Spirit lead David to call the Messiah his Lord? David said,
44 (D) ‘The Lord said to my Lord:
Sit at my right side[c]
until I make your enemies
into a footstool for you.’
45 If David called the Messiah his Lord, how can the Messiah be a son of King David?” 46 No one was able to give Jesus an answer, and from that day on, no one dared ask him any more questions.
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