Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

²² Eli was very old. He kept hearing about everything his sons were doing to all the Israelites. He also heard how his sons were sleeping with the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ²³ So Eli said to his sons, “Why are you doing these things? All the people are telling me about the evil things you are doing. ²⁴ No, my sons. The report I hear isn’t good. And it’s spreading among the Lord’s people. ²⁵ If a person sins against someone else, God can help that sinner. But if anyone sins against the Lord, who can help them?” In spite of what their father Eli said, his sons didn’t pay any attention to his warning. That’s because the Lord had already decided to put them to death.

²⁶ The boy Samuel continued to grow stronger. He also became more and more pleasing to the Lord and to people.

Prophecy Against Eli’s Family

²⁷ A man of God came to Eli. He told him, “The Lord says, ‘I made myself clearly known to your relatives who lived long ago. I did it when they were in Egypt under Pharaoh’s rule. ²⁸ At that time, I chose Aaron from your family line to be my priest. I chose him out of all the tribes of Israel. I told him to go up to my altar. I told him to burn incense. I chose him to wear a linen apron when he served me. I also gave his family all the food offerings presented by the Israelites. ²⁹ Why don’t you treat my sacrifices and offerings with respect? I require them to be brought to the house where I live. Why do you honor your sons more than me? Why do you fatten yourselves on the best parts of every offering that is made by my people Israel?’

³⁰ “The Lord is the God of Israel. He announced, ‘I promised that members of your family line would serve me as priests forever.’ But now the Lord announces, ‘I will not let that happen! I will honor those who honor me. But I will turn away from those who look down on me. ³¹ The time is coming when I will cut your life short. I will also cut short the lives of those in your family line of priests. No one in your family line will grow old. ³² You will see nothing but trouble in the house where I live. Good things will still happen to Israel. But no one in your family line will ever grow old. ³³ I will prevent the members of your family from serving me at my altar. I will destroy the eyesight of all of you I allow to live. I will also cause you to lose your strength. And everyone in your family line will die while they are still young.

³⁴ “ ‘Something is going to happen to your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas. When it does, it will show you that what I am saying is true. They will both die on the same day. ³⁵ I will raise up for myself a faithful priest. He will do what my heart and mind want him to do. I will make his family line of priests very secure. They will always serve as priests to my anointed king. ³⁶ Everyone left in your family line will come and bow down to him. They will beg him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread. They will say, “Please give me a place to serve among the priests. Then I can have food to eat.” ’ ”

Jesus Heals a Man at the Pool

5 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish feasts. ² In Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate is a pool. In the Aramaic language it is called Bethesda. It is surrounded by five rows of columns with a roof over them. ^3-4 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie down. Among them were those who were blind, those who could not walk, and those who could hardly move. ⁵ One person was there who had not been able to walk for 38 years. ⁶ Jesus saw him lying there. He knew that the man had been in that condition for a long time. So he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

⁷ “Sir,” the disabled man replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when an angel stirs up the water. I try to get in, but someone else always goes down ahead of me.”

⁸ Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” ⁹ The man was healed right away. He picked up his mat and walked.

This happened on a Sabbath day. ¹⁰ So the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath day. The law does not allow you to carry your mat.”

¹¹ But he replied, “The one who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”

¹² They asked him, “Who is this fellow? Who told you to pick it up and walk?”

¹³ The one who was healed had no idea who it was. Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.

¹⁴ Later Jesus found him at the temple. Jesus said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you.” ¹⁵ The man went away. He told the Jewish leaders it was Jesus who had made him well.

The Authority of the Son

¹⁶ Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath day. So the Jewish leaders began to oppose him. ¹⁷ Jesus defended himself. He said to them, “My Father is always doing his work. He is working right up to this day. I am working too.” ¹⁸ For this reason the Jewish leaders tried even harder to kill him. According to them, Jesus was not only breaking the law of the Sabbath day. He was even calling God his own Father. He was making himself equal with God.