Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

A song to sing as we climb.

I have great trouble

God makes a man and a woman

⁴ This is what happened when God made the heavens and the earth.

When the Lord God made the heavens and the earth, ⁵ there were no plants or grasses growing on the earth.^[a] That was because the Lord God had not sent any rain on the earth. Also, there was nobody to dig the soil so that plants would grow. ⁶ But streams of water were coming up from the earth. The water made all the top of the ground wet.

⁷ Then the Lord God took some soil from the ground and he made a man. He breathed air into the nose of the man to give him life. So the man became alive.

⁸ The Lord God planted a garden. It was in the east, in a place called Eden.^[b] God took the man that he had made and he put him in the garden. ⁹ The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow from the ground there. The trees were beautiful to look at. The fruit from the trees was good for people to eat.^[c] In the middle of the garden were two special trees. One was the tree that gives life. The other was the tree that gives knowledge of what is good and what is evil.^[d]

¹⁰ A river began in Eden. It went through the garden and it gave water for the ground. After that, it became four separate rivers. ¹¹ The name of the first river is the Pishon. It goes through the whole land of Havilah. There is gold in that land. ¹² The gold there is very good. Bdellium and onyx stone are also in Havilah.^[e]

¹³ The name of the second river is the Gihon. It goes through the whole land of Cush. ¹⁴ The third river is called the Tigris. It goes along the east side of Assyria. The fourth river is called the Euphrates.

A story about a farmer that planted seeds

⁴ Lots of people were coming to Jesus from many towns. A large crowd had already come together when Jesus told this story:

⁵ ‘A farmer went out to plant seeds in his field. While he was throwing the seeds, some of them fell on the path. Then people walked on them. Birds came down and they ate those seeds. ⁶ Some seeds fell on ground which had rocks. The seeds started to grow. But the young plants died because the ground was not wet enough in that place. ⁷ Some seeds fell among thorn bushes. Those bushes grew up with the young plants. They stopped the seeds from growing into strong plants. ⁸ But some seeds fell on good soil. Strong plants grew from those seeds. Each of these plants made 100 seeds.’

When Jesus finished the story, he said, ‘You have ears, so listen well to what I say!’

Jesus explains why he tells stories

⁹ Jesus' disciples asked him about this story. They asked him what it meant. ¹⁰ Jesus replied, ‘God has let you know what these stories mean. You understand how God rules in the lives of his people. But other people only listen to my stories. They look, but they do not really see clearly. They hear the words, but they do not really understand.’

Jesus explains the story about the seeds

¹¹ Jesus then said, ‘This is what the story means: The seeds are like the message from God. ¹² Some seeds fell on the path. That is like some people who hear the message, but they do not think about it. The Devil comes and he takes the message away from their minds. He takes it away so that they cannot believe it. Because they do not believe the message, God does not save them.

¹³ Some seeds fell on ground with rocks in it. This is like people who hear the message from God and they are very happy for a time. But they are like plants that have not grown down well into the soil. They believe in God for a short time. But when they have problems, they stop believing.

¹⁴ Some seeds fell among thorn bushes. This is like some other people who hear the message from God. But they start to have many troubles in their minds about how they will live. They want to get more money and more things. They think that this will make them happy. So they do not let God's message change them. They are like plants that do not grow into strong plants.

¹⁵ But some seed fell on good soil. This is like other people that hear the message from God. They understand the message and they keep it in their minds. They are good and honest. They continue to believe. These people are like a good plant that grows well and makes lots of new seeds.’