Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

מ Mem

Worship Only Where the Lord Wants You To

12 Here are the rules and laws you must obey. Be careful to obey them in the land the Lord has given you to take as your own. He’s the God of your people who lived long ago. Obey these rules and laws as long as you live in the land. ² You will soon drive the nations out of it. Completely destroy all the places where they worship their gods. Destroy them on the high mountains, on the hills and under every green tree. ³ Break down their altars. Smash their sacred stones. Burn up the poles they use to worship the female god named Asherah. Cut down the statues of their gods. Wipe out the names of their gods from those places.

⁴ You must not worship the Lord your God the way those nations worship their gods. ⁵ Instead, go to the special place he will choose from among all your tribes. He will put his Name there. That’s where you must go. ⁶ Take your burnt offerings and sacrifices to that place. Bring your special gifts and a tenth of everything you produce. Take with you what you have promised to give. Bring any other offerings you choose to give. And bring the male animals among your livestock that were born first to their mothers. ⁷ You and your families will eat at the place the Lord your God will choose. He will be with you there. You will find joy in everything you have done. That’s because he has blessed you.

⁸ You must not do as we’re doing here today. All of us are doing only what we think is right. ⁹ That’s because you haven’t yet reached the place the Lord is giving you. Your God will give you peace and rest there. ¹⁰ But first you will go across the Jordan River. You will settle in the land he’s giving you. It will belong to you as your share. He will give you peace and rest from all your enemies around you. You will live in safety. ¹¹ The Lord your God will choose a special place. He will put his Name there. That’s where you must bring everything I command you to bring. That includes your burnt offerings and sacrifices. It includes your special gifts and a tenth of everything you produce. It also includes all the things of value that you promised to give to the Lord. ¹² Be filled with joy there in the sight of the Lord your God. Your children should also be joyful. So should your male and female servants. And so should the Levites from your towns. The Levites won’t receive any part of the land as their share.

⁴¹ Then the Jews there began to complain about Jesus. That was because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” ⁴² They said, “Isn’t this Jesus, the son of Joseph? Don’t we know his father and mother? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”

⁴³ “Stop complaining among yourselves,” Jesus answered. ⁴⁴ “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me brings them. Then I will raise them up on the last day. ⁴⁵ It is written in the Prophets, ‘God will teach all of them.’ (Isaiah 54:13) Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me. ⁴⁶ No one has seen the Father except the one who has come from God. Only he has seen the Father. ⁴⁷ What I’m about to tell you is true. Everyone who believes has life forever. ⁴⁸ I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹ Long ago your people ate the manna in the desert, and they still died. ⁵⁰ But here is the bread that comes down from heaven. A person can eat it and not die. ⁵¹ I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Everyone who eats some of this bread will live forever. This bread is my body. I will give it for the life of the world.”