Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A song to sing as we climb.

Only God can keep me safe^[a]

Firstborn sons

13 The Lord spoke to Moses. ² He said, ‘Keep every firstborn male separate and special for me. Every male who is the first to be born of his mother is mine. He is mine, whether he is man or animal.’^[a]

³ Moses said to the people, ‘Remember this day, the day when you came out of Egypt. You left the place where you were slaves. The Lord brought you out with his powerful authority. Remember! Do not eat anything that has yeast in it on this day. ⁴ Today you are leaving Egypt. It is the first month of the year, called Abib. ⁵ The Lord will bring you to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites and the Jebusites. God promised your ancestors that he would give that land to you. The land will give you plenty of good food and drink, enough for everyone. When the Lord brings you into that place, you must eat the Passover meal to worship God in this month every year. ⁶ For seven days you must eat bread without yeast in it. Then on the seventh day you must have a festival for the Lord. ⁷ Eat bread without yeast during those seven days. There must not be any yeast left among you, in the whole of your land.

⁸ On that day, you must tell your children the reason for this festival. Tell them, “We do this because of what the Lord did for us. He brought us out of Egypt.” ⁹ This special time will be like a mark on your hand. It will be like something that you fix between your eyes. It will be a sign that causes you to remember what happened on this day. Then you will not forget to speak about the Law of the Lord. Remember this: The Lord brought you out of Egypt with his great power. ¹⁰ Every year, at the right time you must do what I have said.

Jesus causes a fruit tree to die

¹⁸ On the next day, early in the morning, Jesus left Bethany to return to Jerusalem. On the way there, he was hungry. ¹⁹ He saw a fig tree near to the road. He went to see if it had fruit on it. But there were only leaves on the tree, and no fruit. Jesus said to the tree, ‘No fruit will ever grow on you again!’ Then, immediately, the tree became dry and it died.

²⁰ The disciples saw it happen and they were very surprised. And they asked Jesus, ‘How did the tree die so quickly?’

²¹ Jesus said to them, ‘I tell you this: You must believe in God. You must not have other ideas in your mind. If you believe in God, then you could also do the same thing to this fig tree. You could even say to this mountain, “Move away and throw yourself into the sea!” Then it would really happen. ²² So when you pray to ask God for something, believe in him. Then God will give you whatever you ask for.’