Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

God Calls Abram

12 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Leave your country, your relatives and your father’s family. Go to the land I will show you.

⁴ So Abram left Haran as the Lord had told him. And Lot went with him. At this time Abram was 75 years old. ⁵ Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot and everything they owned. They took all the servants they had gotten in Haran. They set out from Haran, planning to go to the land of Canaan. In time they arrived there.

⁶ Abram traveled through that land. He went as far as the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. The Canaanites were living in the land at that time. ⁷ The Lord appeared to Abram. The Lord said, “I will give this land to your descendants.” So Abram built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him. ⁸ Then Abram traveled from Shechem to the mountain east of Bethel. And he set up his tent there. Bethel was to the west, and Ai was to the east. There Abram built another altar to the Lord and worshiped him. ⁹ After this, he traveled on toward southern Canaan.

Praise God Who Creates and Saves

God Keeps His Promise

¹³ Abraham^[a] and his descendants received the promise that they would get the whole world. But Abraham did not receive that promise through the law. He received it because he was right with God through his faith. ¹⁴ If people could receive what God promised by following the law, then faith is worthless. And God’s promise to Abraham is worthless, ¹⁵ because the law can only bring God’s anger. But if there is no law, then there is nothing to disobey.

¹⁶ So people receive God’s promise by having faith. This happens so that the promise can be a free gift. And if the promise is a free gift, then all of Abraham’s children can have that promise. The promise is not only for those people that live under the law of Moses. It is for anyone who lives with faith like Abraham. He is the father of us all. ¹⁷ As it is written in the Scriptures: “I am making you a father of many nations.”^[b] This is true before God. Abraham believed in God—the God who gives life to the dead and decides that things will happen that have not yet happened.

¹⁸ There was no hope that Abraham would have children. But Abraham believed God and continued hoping. And that is why he became the father of many nations. As God told him, “Your descendants will also be too many to count.”^{[c] 19} Abraham was almost 100 years old, much past the age for having children. Also, Sarah could not have children. Abraham thought about all this. But his faith in God did not become weak. ²⁰ He never doubted that God would keep his promise. Abraham never stopped believing. He grew stronger in his faith and gave praise to God. ²¹ Abraham felt sure that God was able to do the thing that God promised. ²² So, “God accepted Abraham’s faith, and that made him right with God.”^{[d] 23} Those words (“God accepted Abraham’s faith”) were written not only for Abraham. ²⁴ They were written also for us. God will accept us also because we believe. We believe in the One who raised Jesus our Lord from death. ²⁵ Jesus was given to die for our sins. And he was raised from death to make us right with God.

Jesus Chooses Matthew

⁹ When Jesus was leaving, he saw a man named Matthew. Matthew was sitting in the tax office. Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” And Matthew stood up and followed Jesus.

¹⁰ Jesus had dinner at Matthew’s house. Many tax collectors and “sinners” came and ate with Jesus and his followers. ¹¹ The Pharisees saw this and asked Jesus’ followers, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?”

¹² Jesus heard the Pharisees ask this. So he said, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor. Only the sick need a doctor. ¹³ Go and learn what this means: ‘I want faithful love more than I want animal sacrifices.’^[a] I did not come to invite good people. I came to invite sinners.”

Jesus Gives Life to a Dead Girl and Heals a Sick Woman

¹⁸ While Jesus was saying these things, a ruler of the synagogue came to him. The ruler bowed down before Jesus and said, “My daughter has just died. But come and touch her with your hand, and she will live again.”

¹⁹ So Jesus stood up and went with the ruler. Jesus’ followers went too.

²⁰ Then a woman who had been bleeding for 12 years came behind Jesus and touched the edge of his coat. ²¹ She was thinking, “If I can touch his coat, then I will be healed.”

²² Jesus turned and saw the woman. He said, “Be happy, dear woman. You are made well because you believed.” And the woman was healed at once.

²³ Jesus continued along with the ruler and went into the ruler’s house. Jesus saw people there who play music for funerals. And he saw many people there crying. ²⁴ Jesus said, “Go away. The girl is not dead. She is only asleep.” But the people laughed at Jesus. ²⁵ After the crowd had been put outside, Jesus went into the girl’s room. He took her hand, and she stood up. ²⁶ The news about this spread all around the area.