Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

1 I am Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ. God wanted me to be an apostle.

² Timothy our brother, and I are writing this letter to God's people, the Christian brothers in the city of Colossae. May the kindness of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ bless you and give you peace.

³ We give thanks to God. He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. When we ask God to bless you, we always thank him for you.

⁴ We have heard that you believe in Christ Jesus and love all of God's people.

⁵ And also, you are looking ahead to what you will have in heaven. You have heard about it already when the good news was told to you.

⁶ That message has reached you. It is doing good and it is spreading everywhere in the world. It is doing the same among you. It began the day you heard and understood God's blessing, which came to you in a clear way.

⁷ Epaphras taught you the truth. He is Christ's servant, as we are also, and we love him. He is a good worker to help you.

⁸ Also, it is he who told us of your love in the Spirit.

⁹ That is why we keep on talking to God about you since the day we heard about you. We ask him that you may know everything he wants you to do. We ask him that you may be very wise and that the Spirit will help you to understand.

¹⁰ We ask him that you will live the way the Lord wants you to live, so that you will please him in everything you do. We ask that you will do everything that is good. We ask that you will see the fruit from what you do. We ask that you will know more and more about God.

¹¹ God has wonderful power. And we ask him to give you all the strength you need to go through all your troubles, to be very patient in them, and to be happy.

¹² Thank the Father who has made us ready to be with the people of God who live in his light.

¹³ He has set us free from the kingdom where it is dark. And he has put us into the kingdom where his dear Son rules.

¹⁴ Because of his Son, we are set free and the wrong things we have done are forgiven.

²⁵ A man who taught God's law stood up and asked Jesus a question to try him out. `Teacher,' he said. `What must I do so that I will live for ever?'

²⁶ Jesus said to him, `What does the law say? What do you read there?'

²⁷ The man answered, `You must love the Lord your God with all your heart. Love him with all your soul. Love him with all your power, and love him with all your mind. And you must love your neighbour as you love yourself.'

²⁸ Jesus said, `That is the right answer. Do that and you will live for ever.'

²⁹ But the man wanted to prove that he was all right. So he said to Jesus, `Who is my neighbour?'

³⁰ Jesus answered, `A man was going from Jerusalem to Jericho. Bad men caught him on the road. They took his clothes and beat him. Then they went away and left him half dead.

³¹ A priest happened to be going down that road. He saw the man but he passed by on the other side of the road.

³² `A man who worked in the temple came along to that place also. He saw the man but he passed by on the other side.

³³ `A man from the country of Samaria was going on that road also, and came to the place. He saw the man and wanted to share in his troubles.

³⁴ He went to him and tied up the sores he had from the beating. He washed them with oil and wine. Then he lifted the man up and set him on his own animal to ride. He took him to the house for strangers. And he cared for him.

³⁵ `The next day he gave two pieces of money to the man who was in charge of the house for strangers. He said, "Take care of this man. If it costs you more than this, I will pay you when I come back.'' '

³⁶ Jesus said to the teacher of the law, `What do you think? Which of these three was a neighbour to the man who was caught by the bad men?'

³⁷ He said, `The man who was kind to him.' Jesus said, `Go and do as he did.'