Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Song of Quiet Trust

A Song of Ascents. Of David.

The Linen Loincloth

13 Thus says the Lord to me, “Go and buy a linen waistcloth, and put it on your loins, and do not dip it in water.” ² So I bought a waistcloth according to the word of the Lord, and put it on my loins. ³ And the word of the Lord came to me a second time, ⁴ “Take the waistcloth which you have bought, which is upon your loins, and arise, go to the Euphra′tes, and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.” ⁵ So I went, and hid it by the Euphra′tes, as the Lord commanded me. ⁶ And after many days the Lord said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphra′tes, and take from there the waistcloth which I commanded you to hide there.” ⁷ Then I went to the Euphra′tes, and dug, and I took the waistcloth from the place where I had hidden it. And behold, the waistcloth was spoiled; it was good for nothing.

⁸ Then the word of the Lord came to me: ⁹ “Thus says the Lord: Even so will I spoil the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. ¹⁰ This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who stubbornly follow their own heart and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this waistcloth, which is good for nothing. ¹¹ For as the waistcloth clings to the loins of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, says the Lord, that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen.

Jesus Washes the Disciples’ Feet

13 Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. ² And during supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, ³ Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, ⁴ rose from supper, laid aside his garments, and girded himself with a towel. ⁵ Then he poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded. ⁶ He came to Simon Peter; and Peter said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” ⁷ Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not know now, but afterward you will understand.” ⁸ Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part in me.” ⁹ Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” ¹⁰ Jesus said to him, “He who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet,^[a] but he is clean all over; and you^[b] are clean, but not every one of you.” ¹¹ For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “You are not all clean.”

¹² When he had washed their feet, and taken his garments, and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? ¹³ You call me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. ¹⁴ If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵ For I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. ¹⁶ Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant^[c] is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. ¹⁷ If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.