Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

The Believers Share Their Property

³² The whole group of believers lived in harmony. No one called any of his possessions his own. Instead, they shared everything.

³³ With great power the apostles continued to testify that the Lord Jesus had come back to life. ⌞God’s⌟ abundant good will ^[a] was with all of them. ³⁴ None of them needed anything. From time to time, people sold land or houses and brought the money ³⁵ to the apostles. Then the money was distributed to anyone who needed it.

A song by David for going up to worship.

John’s Reason for Writing

1 The Word of life existed from the beginning. We have heard it. We have seen it. We observed and touched it. ² This life was revealed to us. We have seen it, and we testify about it. We are reporting to you about this eternal life that was in the presence of the Father and was revealed to us. ³ This is the life we have seen and heard. We are reporting about it to you also so that you, too, can have a relationship with us. Our relationship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. ⁴ We are writing this so that we can be completely filled with joy.

Through Jesus We Have a Relationship with God

⁵ This is the message we heard from Christ and are reporting to you: God is light, and there isn’t any darkness in him. ⁶ If we say, “We have a relationship with God” and yet live in the dark, we’re lying. We aren’t being truthful.

⁷ But if we live in the light in the same way that God is in the light, we have a relationship with each other. And the blood of his Son Jesus cleanses us from every sin. ⁸ If we say, “We aren’t sinful” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹ God is faithful and reliable. If we confess our sins, he forgives them and cleanses us from everything we’ve done wrong. ¹⁰ If we say, “We have never sinned,” we turn God into a liar and his Word is not in us.

2 My dear children, I’m writing this to you so that you will not sin. Yet, if anyone does sin, we have Jesus Christ, who has God’s full approval. He speaks on our behalf when we come into the presence of the Father. ² He is the payment for our sins, and not only for our sins, but also for the sins of the whole world.

Jesus Appears to the Disciples^(A)

¹⁹ That Sunday evening, the disciples were together behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jews. Jesus stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you!” ²⁰ When he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were glad to see the Lord.

²¹ Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” ²² After he had said this, he breathed on the disciples and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³ Whenever you forgive sins, they are forgiven. Whenever you don’t forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Jesus Appears to Thomas

²⁴ Thomas, one of the twelve apostles, who was called Didymus, wasn’t with them when Jesus came. ²⁵ The other disciples told him, “We’ve seen the Lord.”

Thomas told them, “I refuse to believe this unless I see the nail marks in his hands, put my fingers into them, and put my hand into his side.”

²⁶ A week later Jesus’ disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Even though the doors were locked, Jesus stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” ²⁷ Then Jesus said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Take your hand, and put it into my side. Stop doubting, and believe.”

²⁸ Thomas responded to Jesus, “My Lord and my God!”

²⁹ Jesus said to Thomas, “You believe because you’ve seen me. Blessed are those who haven’t seen me but believe.”

³⁰ Jesus performed many other miracles that his disciples saw. Those miracles are not written in this book. ³¹ But these miracles have been written so that you will believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and so that you will have life by believing in him.