Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁸ Now they heard the sound of ^(A)the Lord God walking in the garden in the ^[a]cool of the day, ^(B)and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “^(C)Where are you?” ¹⁰ He said, “^(D)I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” ¹¹ And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?” ^12 (E)The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me some of the fruit of the tree, and I ate.” ¹³ Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” And the woman said, “^(F)The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” ¹⁴ Then the Lord God said to the serpent,

Hope in the Lord’s Forgiving Love.

A Song of Ascents.

¹³ But having the same ^(A)spirit of faith, according to what is written: “^(B)I believed, therefore I spoke,” we also believe, therefore we also speak, ¹⁴ knowing that He who ^(C)raised the Lord Jesus ^(D)will also raise us with Jesus, and will ^(E)present us with you. ¹⁵ For all things are ^(F)for your sakes, so that grace, having ^[a](G)spread to more and more people, will cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.

¹⁶ Therefore we ^(H)do not lose heart, but though our outer person is decaying, yet our ^(I)inner person is ^(J)being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For our momentary, ^(K)light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, ¹⁸ while we ^(L)look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

The Temporal and Eternal

5 For we know that if our ^[b](M)earthly ^(N)tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house ^(O)not made by hands, eternal in the heavens.

²⁰ And He *came ^[a](A)home, and the ^(B)crowd *gathered again, ^(C)to such an extent that they could not even eat ^[b]a meal. ²¹ And when ^(D)His own ^[c]people heard about this, they came out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, “^(E)He has lost His senses.” ²² The scribes who came down ^(F)from Jerusalem were saying, “He ^[d]is possessed by ^[e](G)Beelzebul,” and “^(H)He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.” ^23 (I)And so He called them to Himself and began speaking to them in ^(J)parables: “How can ^(K)Satan cast out Satan? ²⁴ And if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ²⁵ If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. ²⁶ And if ^(L)Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but ^[f]he is finished! ^27 (M)But no one can enter the strong man’s house and plunder his property unless he first ties up the strong man, and then he will plunder his house.

²⁸ “^(N)Truly I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons and daughters of men, and whatever blasphemies they commit; ²⁹ but ^(O)whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— ³⁰ because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”

^31 (P)Then His mother and His brothers *came, and while standing outside they sent word to Him, calling for Him. ³² And a crowd was sitting around Him, and they *said to Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You.” ³³ Answering them, He *said, “Who are My mother and My brothers?” ³⁴ And looking around at those who were sitting around Him, He *said, “^(Q)Here are My mother and My brothers! ³⁵ For whoever ^(R)does the will of God, this is My brother, and sister, and mother.”