Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 146

Warning Against Partiality

2 My brothers, have faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, without partiality. ² For if a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, comes into your assembly, and also a poor man in ragged clothing comes in, ³ and you have respect for him who wears the fine clothing and say to him, “Sit here in a good place,” and say to the poor, “Stand there,” or “Sit here under my footstool,” ⁴ have you not then become partial among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

⁵ Listen, my beloved brothers. Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He has promised to those who love Him? ⁶ But you have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you and drag you before the judgment seats? ⁷ Do they not blaspheme that worthy name by which you are called?

⁸ If you fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,”^[a] you are doing well. ⁹ But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as sinners. ¹⁰ For whoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point is guilty of breaking the whole law.

¹¹ For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,”^[a] also said, “Do not kill.”^[b] Now if you do not commit adultery, yet you kill, you have become a lawbreaker.

¹² So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. ¹³ For he who has shown no mercy will have judgment without mercy, for mercy triumphs over judgment.

Faith and Works

¹⁴ What does it profit, my brothers, if a man says he has faith but has no works? Can faith save him? ¹⁵ If a brother or sister is naked and lacking daily food, ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” and yet you give them nothing that the body needs, what does it profit? ¹⁷ So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.

The Syrophoenician Woman’s Faith^(A)

²⁴ From there He arose and went to the region of Tyre and Sidon. He entered a house and would have no one know it. Yet He could not be hidden. ²⁵ For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of Him, and came and fell at His feet. ²⁶ The woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by race. And she begged Him to cast the demon out of her daughter.

²⁷ Jesus said to her, “Let the children first be filled. For it is not fitting to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

²⁸ She answered, “Yes, Lord. Yet the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

²⁹ Then He said to her, “For this answer, go your way. The demon has gone out of your daughter.”

³⁰ When she had come to her house, she found the demon had gone out, and her daughter lying on the bed.

The Deaf and Mute Man Healed

³¹ Again, departing from the region of Tyre and Sidon, He came to the Sea of Galilee, through the region of the Decapolis. ³² They brought to Him one who was deaf and had difficulty speaking. And they pleaded with Him to put His hand on him.

³³ He took him aside from the crowd, and put His fingers into his ears, and spat and touched his tongue. ³⁴ Looking up to heaven, He sighed, and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” ³⁵ Immediately his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was loosened, and he spoke correctly.

³⁶ He ordered them to tell no one. But the more He ordered them, the more they greatly proclaimed it. ³⁷ They were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”