Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

A psalm of David.

¹² Then the Spirit of the Lord lifted me up. I heard a loud rumbling sound behind me. The sound was made when the glory of the Lord rose up. It rose up from the place it had been standing. ¹³ The sound was made by the wings of the living creatures. They were brushing against one another. The sound was also made by the wheels beside them. It was a loud rumbling sound. ¹⁴ Then the Spirit lifted me up and took me away. My spirit was bitter. I was very angry. The power of the Lord was on me. ¹⁵ I came to my people who had been brought as prisoners to Tel Aviv. It was near the Kebar River. I went to where they were living. There I sat among them for seven days. I was very sad and scared about everything that had happened.

The Lord Has Appointed Ezekiel to Warn Israel

¹⁶ After seven days, a message from the Lord came to me. ¹⁷ The Lord said, “Son of man, I have appointed you as a prophet to warn the people of Israel. So listen to my message. Give them a warning from me. ¹⁸ Suppose I say to a sinful person, ‘You can be sure you will die.’ And you do not warn them. You do not try to get them to change their evil ways in order to save their life. Then that sinful person will die because they have sinned. And I will hold you responsible for their death. ¹⁹ But suppose you do warn that sinful person. And they do not turn away from their sin or their evil ways. Then they will die because they have sinned. But you will have saved yourself.

²⁰ “Or suppose a godly person turns away from their godliness and does what is evil. And suppose I put something in their way that will trip them up. Then they will die. Since you did not warn them, they will die for their sin. The godly things that person did will not be remembered. And I will hold you responsible for their death. ²¹ But suppose you do warn a godly person not to sin. And they do not sin. Then you can be sure that they will live because they listened to your warning. And you will have saved yourself.”

Peter Says That Jesus Is the Messiah

¹⁸ One day Jesus was praying alone. Only his disciples were with him. He asked them, “Who do the crowds say I am?”

¹⁹ They replied, “Some say John the Baptist. Others say Elijah. Still others say that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.”

²⁰ “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

Peter answered, “God’s Messiah.”

Jesus Speaks About His Coming Death

²¹ Jesus strongly warned them not to tell this to anyone. ²² He said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things. The elders will not accept him. The chief priests and the teachers of the law will not accept him either. He must be killed and on the third day rise from the dead.”

²³ Then he said to all of them, “Whoever wants to follow me must say no to themselves. They must pick up their cross every day and follow me. ²⁴ Whoever wants to save their life will lose it. But whoever loses their life for me will save it. ²⁵ What good is it if someone gains the whole world but loses or gives up their very self? ²⁶ Suppose someone is ashamed of me and my words. The Son of Man will come in his glory and in the glory of the Father and the holy angels. Then he will be ashamed of that person.

²⁷ “What I’m about to tell you is true. Some who are standing here will not die before they see God’s kingdom.”