Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

The Lord's Servant

God saved me from death^[a]

Be careful how you speak

3 My Christian friends, not many of you should become teachers. We people who teach God's message must be very careful. When God judges everybody, he will demand more from us than from other people.^{[a] 2} We all make many mistakes. So, if someone never says anything that is bad, that person is completely good. It shows that he has authority over his whole body. ³ For example, think about how we make a horse go the right way. We put a small bit of metal in its mouth so that we can turn it. Then we can cause the horse's whole body to go where we want it to go. ⁴ Also, think about ships that sail on the sea. They are very large. Strong winds push them with great power. But we fix a piece of wood at the back of the ship. With this small piece of wood, the master can cause the ship to go anywhere that he wants it to go. ⁵ In the same way, our tongue is a very small part of our body. But it speaks as if it is very great.

Think about this. A very small fire can cause even a big forest to burn completely. ⁶ A person's tongue is like a fire. It has the power of everything in the world that is wrong. It is a small part of the body but it can spoil the whole person. Like a fire, it can destroy all of a person's life. It is a fire that comes from the fire of hell itself.

⁷ Remember this: People can cause all kinds of things to do what they want them to do. They have done this with wild animals, birds, snakes and things that live in the sea. ⁸ But no person can rule his tongue. It continues to say bad things. It is like a bad poison that can cause death. ⁹ We use our tongue to praise the Lord God who is our Father. But then we use it to curse other people. That is wrong, because God made those people to be like himself. ¹⁰ This shows that we use the same mouth to praise and also to curse. My Christian friends, we should not do this. ¹¹ Salty water and sweet water never come from the same spring. ¹² A fig tree cannot give olives, my friends. A vine for grapes cannot give figs. And a salty spring cannot give sweet water.

Peter says who Jesus is

²⁷ Then Jesus and his disciples went to visit some villages. They were near to the town of Caesarea Philippi. On the way, Jesus asked his disciples, ‘When people talk about me, who do they say that I am?’

²⁸ They replied, ‘Some people say that you are John the Baptist. Other people say that you are Elijah. And some other people say that you are one of God's prophets.’^[a]

²⁹ Jesus asked them, ‘But what do you think? Who do you say that I am?’

Peter answered him, ‘You are the Messiah.’^[b]

³⁰ Then Jesus warned his disciples that they must not tell anyone about him.

Jesus tells his disciples how he will die

³¹ Then Jesus began to teach his disciples about the things that must happen to the Son of Man.^[c] He would have to suffer in many ways. The important Jews, the leaders of the priests and the teachers of God's Law would turn against him. People would kill him. But after three days, he would become alive again.

³² What Jesus said was very clear. Then Peter took Jesus away from the other disciples. Peter began to tell Jesus that he must not say things like that.

³³ Jesus turned round and he looked at his disciples. He said that Peter was not saying good things. He said to Peter, ‘Satan, go away from me!^[d] Your thoughts do not come from God. Instead, you are thinking like men think.’

³⁴ Then Jesus asked the crowd and his disciples to come to him. He said to them, ‘A person who wants to come with me must not think about himself. He must decide that his own life is not important. He must be like someone who carries his own cross to go and die. Then he may come with me as my disciple. ³⁵ Whoever wants to keep his own life safe will lose it. But whoever gives his life to serve me and God's good news will have true life. ³⁶ A person may get everything in the whole world for himself. But if he loses his life, it will not be any good for him. ³⁷ There is nothing that a person can give to get back his life.

³⁸ People who are living today do not obey God. They are very bad. But you must not be ashamed of me or of my words. If you are, then the Son of Man will be ashamed of you. One day he will return and God's holy angels will be with him. He will have the bright glory of his Father. He will be ashamed of you on that day if you are ashamed of him now.’