Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Mem

The Place for Worshiping God

12 “These are the laws and rules that you must obey in your new land. You must carefully obey them as long as you live in this land. The Lord is the God of your ancestors, and he is giving this land to you. ² You will take that land from the nations that live there now. You must completely destroy all the places where the people of these nations worship their gods. These places are on high mountains, on hills, and under green trees. ³ You must smash their altars and break their memorial stones into pieces. You must burn their Asherah poles and cut down the statues of their gods. Wipe out everything that would remind you of those gods.

⁴ “You must not worship the Lord your God in the same way these people worship their gods. ⁵ The Lord your God will choose a special place among your tribes. That will be the home for his name. You must go to that place to worship him. ⁶ There you must bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, one-tenth of your crops and animals,^[a] your special gifts, any gifts you promised to him, any special gift you want to give, and the first animals born in your herds and flocks. ⁷ You and your families will eat together at that place, and the Lord your God will be there with you. You will enjoy sharing the things you worked for there. You will remember that the Lord your God blessed you and gave you these good things.

⁸ “You must not continue to worship the way we have been worshiping. Until now each of us has been worshiping God any way we wanted. ⁹ This is because we have not yet entered the peaceful land that the Lord your God is giving you. ¹⁰ But you will go across the Jordan River and live in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. There he will give you rest from all your enemies, and you will be safe. ¹¹ Then the Lord your God will choose a place that will be the home for his name. You must bring everything I command you to that place. Bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, one-tenth of your crops and animals, your special gifts, and any gifts that you promised to give to the Lord. ¹² Come to that place with all your people—your children, all your servants, and the Levites living in your towns. (These Levites will not have a share of the land for their own.) Enjoy yourselves together there with the Lord your God.

⁴¹ Some Jews began to complain about Jesus because he said, “I am the bread that comes down from heaven.” ⁴² They said, “This is Jesus. We know his father and mother. He is only Joseph’s son. How can he say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”

⁴³ But Jesus said, “Stop complaining to each other. ⁴⁴ The Father is the one who sent me, and he is the one who brings people to me. I will raise them up on the last day. Anyone the Father does not bring to me cannot come to me. ⁴⁵ It is written in the prophets: ‘God will teach them all.’^[a] People listen to the Father and learn from him. They are the ones who come to me. ⁴⁶ I don’t mean that there is anyone who has seen the Father. The only one who has ever seen the Father is the one who came from God. He has seen the Father.

⁴⁷ “I can assure you that anyone who believes has eternal life. ⁴⁸ I am the bread that gives life. ⁴⁹ Your ancestors ate the manna God gave them in the desert, but it didn’t keep them from dying. ⁵⁰ Here is the bread that comes down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will never die. ⁵¹ I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my body. I will give my body so that the people in the world can have life.”