Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

¹⁶ This is what the Lord says,

Thanksgiving for Return from Captivity.

A Song of ^[a]Ascents.

⁴ though I myself might have [some grounds for] confidence in the flesh [if I were pursuing salvation by works]. If anyone else thinks that he has reason to be confident in the flesh [that is, in his own efforts to achieve salvation], I have far more: ⁵ circumcised when I was eight days old, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews [an exemplary Hebrew]; as to the [observance of the] Law, a Pharisee; ⁶ as to my zeal [for Jewish tradition], a persecutor of the church; and as to righteousness [supposed right living] which [my fellow Jews believe] is in the Law, I proved myself blameless.

⁷ But whatever former things were gains to me [as I thought then], these things [once regarded as advancements in merit] I have come to consider as loss [absolutely worthless] for the sake of Christ [and the purpose which He has given my life]. ⁸ But more than that, I count everything as loss compared to the priceless privilege and supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord [and of growing more deeply and thoroughly acquainted with Him—a joy unequaled]. For His sake I have lost everything, and I consider it all garbage, so that I may gain Christ, ⁹ and may be found in Him [believing and relying on Him], not having any righteousness of my own derived from [my obedience to] the Law and its rituals, but [possessing] that [genuine righteousness] which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith. ¹⁰ And this, so that I may know Him [experientially, becoming more thoroughly acquainted with Him, understanding the remarkable wonders of His Person more completely] and [in that same way experience] the power of His resurrection [which overflows and is active in believers], and [that I may share] the fellowship of His sufferings, by being continually conformed [inwardly into His likeness even] to His death [dying as He did]; ^11 [a]so that I may attain to the resurrection [that will raise me] from the dead.

¹² Not that I have already obtained it [this goal of being Christlike] or have already been made perfect, but I actively press on ^[b]so that I may take hold of that [perfection] for which Christ Jesus took hold of me and made me His own.^{(A) 13 [c]}Brothers and sisters, I do not consider that I have made it my own yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the [heavenly] prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Mary Anoints Jesus

12 Six days before the Passover, Jesus went to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom He had raised from the dead.^{(A) 2} So they gave a supper for Him there. Martha was serving, and Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with Him. ³ Then ^[a]Mary took a pound of very expensive perfume of pure ^[b]nard, and she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. ⁴ But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, the one who was going to betray Him, said, ⁵ “Why was this perfume not sold for ^[c]three hundred denarii and [the money] given to the poor?” ⁶ Now he said this, not because he cared about the poor [for he had never cared about them], but because he was a thief; and since he had the money box [serving as treasurer for the twelve disciples], he used to pilfer what was put into it. ⁷ So Jesus said, “Let her alone, so that she may keep [the rest of] it for the day of My burial. ⁸ You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have Me.”