Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

¹⁰ All you people who love Jerusalem, join together with its people and be happy. You have been sad to see what has happened to the city, but now you should shout with joy! ¹¹ Jerusalem will take care of you like a mother. She will give you all that you need, like a mother that feeds her baby with milk. The great blessing that comes from her full breasts will make you very happy.

¹² The Lord says,

¹⁴ And when you see these things happen, you will feel very happy! You will become strong and healthy, like fresh grass. The Lord's servants will know that he is there to bless them. But his enemies will see that he is angry with them.

This psalm is a song for the music leader.

Praise God!^[a]

Be kind and good to each other

6 My friends, if you see that someone among you is doing a wrong thing, you must warn that person. Those of you who have help from God's Spirit should tell that person how to live in a good way. But you must be patient and respect him. Be very careful yourselves, so that you do not also want to do wrong things. ² When anyone among you has troubles, you must help each other. If you do that, you will be obeying Christ's rule.^{[a] 3} You must not think that you are too important to help other people. If you are not really so important, you are thinking a false thought. ⁴ Everyone should think carefully about the things that they themselves do. If those things are good, that is a reason to be proud. A person like that does not need to think about whether he is better than anyone else. ⁵ Each person must live in a way that they know is right for them.

⁶ Everyone who is learning about God's message from a teacher should help his teacher. The student should share all the good things that he has with his teacher.

⁷ Nobody can hide the things that he does from God. Do not think a false thought like that! It is like a farmer who plants seeds in his field. The same kind of crops will grow as the seeds which he plants. That will be his harvest. ⁸ A person may do things only to make himself happy. That person's harvest will be God's punishment and death. Or a person may do the things that God's Spirit wants. That person will receive a harvest from God's Spirit. The harvest will be life with God for ever. ⁹ We must continue to do things that are good and we should not get tired. If we do not feel weak and stop doing good things, then we will receive a good harvest at the proper time.

¹⁰ Because of all that, we must help everyone when we have the chance. Certainly we must do good things to help our friends who believe in Christ, as we do.

Paul finishes his letter

¹¹ Now I am writing these last words to you myself. You can see how large the letters are, when I write them with my own hand!

¹² Do not agree with those people who want to make you obey the Jewish rules. They say that you must let someone circumcise you. They want other people to think that they are important. They do not want to receive any trouble from others. They are afraid to teach that Christ's death on the cross is enough to save us. ¹³ Even those men that someone has circumcised do not obey all the Jewish rules. They want to circumcise you only to make themselves seem important. They want to show that they have authority over your bodies. ¹⁴ But I do not want to say any great things about myself. The only thing that makes me great is our Lord Jesus Christ's death on the cross. Because of Christ's sacrifice on the cross, it is like I have also died. The things that belong to this world have become dead to me, and I have become dead to them. ¹⁵ It does not matter whether anyone has circumcised you or not. What matters is that God has made you a new person.

¹⁶ I pray that God will bless everyone who lives by that rule. I pray that God will give them peace in their minds and that he will be kind to them. I pray this for all who belong to God's true people.

Jesus sends out 72 disciples

10 After this, Jesus chose another 72 disciples. He sent them out two by two, to every town and village that he would visit soon. ² Before they went, he said to them, ‘Many people are ready to believe God's message. They are like crops in a field at harvest time. But there are very few workers to bring in the crops. So pray to God to send out workers. The field and the plants belong to him.’^[a]

³ Jesus then said, ‘I am sending you out, so go! But listen! You will be like young sheep among wild animals. ⁴ Do not carry a purse or a bag. Do not take extra shoes. When you meet other people on the road, do not stop to say “hello”.^[b]

⁵ In each town, when you go into a house, first say to the people who live there, “We pray that all will be well with you!” ⁶ Someone in the house may accept what you say. If they do, God will bless them. But if nobody accepts your kind words, God will bless you instead of them. ⁷ Stay in the same house there until you leave that town. Accept the food and drink that the people in the house give to you. You are working to help them. So they should give you what you need to live. Do not visit different houses to get food. ⁸ The people may accept you well when you go into a town. Then eat the food that those people give to you. ⁹ Make the sick people well who are there. Give this message to all the people there: “The kingdom of God has now come near to you.” ¹⁰ Sometimes when you go into a town, the people will not accept you. You should then go into the streets of that town and you should say to the people, ¹¹ “There is dirt from your town on our feet. We will clean it off to show that you have not accepted us. God is not happy with you. But listen! You should know that the kingdom of God has come very near.”

¹⁶ Jesus then said to his disciples, ‘Whoever listens to you is also listening to me. Whoever does not accept you does not accept me. And whoever does not accept me does not accept my Father God, who sent me.’

The 72 disciples return

¹⁷ Later, the 72 disciples that Jesus had sent out returned to him. They were very happy. ‘Master,’ they said, ‘even bad spirits obey us. When we use your name, they do what we say.’

¹⁸ Jesus replied, ‘I saw the Devil himself fall from heaven like lightning. ¹⁹ Listen! I have given power to you. You will even stand on dangerous snakes and insects and you will have authority over all the power of the Devil. Nothing will hurt you. ²⁰ But do not be happy because you have authority over bad spirits. God has written your names in his book in heaven. That is why you should be happy.’