Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 114

God’s Deliverance of Israel

³⁶ Then Gideon said to God, “If you will deliver Israel by me, as you said, ³⁷ I will put a wool fleece here on the threshing floor. If dew is only on the fleece, and all the ground is dry, I will know that you will deliver Israel by me, as you said.” ³⁸ And that is what happened. When he got up early in the morning, he squeezed the fleece and wrung dew out of it, filling a bowl with water.

³⁹ Gideon then said to God, “Don’t be angry with me; let me speak one more time. Please allow me to make one more test with the fleece. Let it remain dry, and the dew be all over the ground.” ⁴⁰ That night God did as Gideon requested: only the fleece was dry, and dew was all over the ground.

Resurrection Essential to the Faith

¹² Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead,^(A) how can some of you say, “There is no resurrection of the dead”?^{(B) 13} If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised; ¹⁴ and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is in vain, and so is your faith.^{[a] 15} Moreover, we are found to be false witnesses^(C) about God, because we have testified^(D) wrongly about God that he raised up Christ—whom he did not raise up, if in fact the dead are not raised. ¹⁶ For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁷ And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. ¹⁸ Those, then, who have fallen asleep in Christ^(E) have also perished. ¹⁹ If we have put our hope in Christ for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone.

Christ’s Resurrection Guarantees Ours

²⁰ But as it is, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits^(F) of those who have fallen asleep.