Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

An Old Prophet from Bethel

¹¹ At that time an old prophet lived in Bethel, and one of his sons told him what the prophet from Judah had said and done.

¹² “Show me which way he went,” the old prophet said, and his sons pointed out the road. ¹³ “Put a saddle on my donkey,” he told them. After they did, he got on the donkey ¹⁴ and rode off to look for the prophet from Judah.

The old prophet found him sitting under an oak tree and asked, “Are you the prophet from Judah?”

“Yes, I am.”

¹⁵ “Come home with me,” the old prophet said, “and have something to eat.”

¹⁶ “I can't go back with you,” the prophet replied, “and I can't eat or drink anything with you. ¹⁷ The Lord warned me not to eat or drink or to go home the same way I came.”

¹⁸ The old prophet said, “I'm a prophet too. One of the Lord's angels told me to take you to my house and give you something to eat and drink.”

The prophet from Judah did not know that the old prophet was lying, ¹⁹ so he went home with him and ate and drank.

²⁰ During the meal the Lord gave the old prophet ²¹ a message for the prophet from Judah:

Listen to the Lord's message. You have disobeyed the Lord your God. ²² He told you not to eat or drink anything here, but you came home and ate with me. And so, when you die, your body won't be buried in your family tomb.

²³ After the meal the old prophet got a donkey ready, ²⁴ and the prophet from Judah left. Along the way, a lion attacked and killed him, and the donkey and the lion stood there beside his dead body.

²⁵ Some people walked by and saw the body with the lion standing there. They ran into Bethel, telling everyone what they had seen.

3 ^(A) You have been raised to life with Christ. Now set your heart on what is in heaven, where Christ rules at God's right side.^{[a] 2} Think about what is up there, not about what is here on earth. ³ You died, which means that your life is hidden with Christ, who sits beside God. ⁴ Christ gives meaning to your^[b] life, and when he appears, you will also appear with him in glory.

⁵ Don't be controlled by your body. Kill every desire for the wrong kind of sex. Don't be immoral or indecent or have evil thoughts. Don't be greedy, which is the same as worshiping idols. ⁶ God is angry with people who disobey him by doing^[c] these things. ⁷ And this is exactly what you did, when you lived among people who behaved in this way. ⁸ But now you must stop doing such things. You must quit being angry, hateful, and evil. You must no longer say insulting or cruel things about others. ^9 (B) And stop lying to each other. You have given up your old way of life with its habits.

^10 (C) Each of you is now a new person. You are becoming more and more like your Creator, and you will understand him better. ¹¹ It doesn't matter if you are a Greek or a Jew, or if you are circumcised or not. You may even be a barbarian or a Scythian,^[d] and you may be a slave or a free person. Yet Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.