Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

The Vision of Dry Bones

37 I felt the power of the Lord was on me. He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord. And he put me down in the middle of a valley. It was full of bones. ² The Lord led me around among the bones. There were many bones on the bottom of the valley. I saw the bones were very dry. ³ Then he asked me, “Human being, can these bones live?”

I answered, “Lord God, only you know.”

⁴ The Lord said to me, “Prophesy to these bones. Say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. ⁵ This is what the Lord God says to the bones: I will cause breath to enter you. Then you will live. ⁶ I will put muscles on you. I will put flesh on you. I will cover you with skin. Then I will put breath in you, and you will live. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

⁷ So I prophesied as I was commanded. While I prophesied, there was a noise and a rattling. The bones came together, bone to bone. ⁸ I looked and saw muscles come on the bones. Flesh grew, and skin covered the bones. But there was no breath in them.

⁹ Then the Lord said to me, “Prophesy to the wind.^[a] Prophesy, human being, and say to the wind: ‘This is what the Lord God says: Wind, come from the four winds. Breathe on these people who were killed so they can live again.’” ¹⁰ So I prophesied as the Lord commanded me. And the breath came into them, and they came to life. They stood on their feet. They were a very large army.

¹¹ Then the Lord said to me: “Human being, these bones are like all the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope has gone. We are destroyed.’ ¹² So, prophesy, and say to them: ‘This is what the Lord God says: My people, I will open your graves. And I will cause you to come up out of your graves. Then I will bring you into the land of Israel. ¹³ This is how you, my people, will know that I am the Lord. I will open your graves and cause you to come up from them. ¹⁴ And I will put my Spirit inside you. You will come to life. Then I will put you in your own land. And you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken and done it, says the Lord.’”

A Prayer for Mercy

A song for going up to worship.

⁶ If a person’s thinking is controlled by his sinful self, then there is death. But if his thinking is controlled by the Spirit, then there is life and peace. ⁷ This is true because if a person’s thinking is controlled by his sinful self, then he is against God. He refuses to obey God’s law. And really he is not able to obey God’s law. ⁸ Those people who are ruled by their sinful selves cannot please God.

⁹ But you are not ruled by your sinful selves. You are ruled by the Spirit, if that Spirit of God really lives in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, then he does not belong to Christ. ¹⁰ Your body will always be dead because of sin. But if Christ is in you, then the Spirit gives you life, because Christ made you right with God. ¹¹ God raised Jesus from death. And if God’s Spirit is living in you, then he will also give life to your bodies that die. God is the One who raised Christ from death. And he will give life through^[a] his Spirit that lives in you.

The Death of Lazarus

11 There was a man named Lazarus who was sick. He lived in the town of Bethany, where Mary and her sister Martha lived. ² Mary is the woman who later put perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. Mary’s brother was Lazarus, the man who was now sick. ³ So Mary and Martha sent someone to tell Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”

⁴ When Jesus heard this he said, “This sickness will not end in death. It is for the glory of God. This has happened to bring glory to the Son of God.” ⁵ Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶ But when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was for two more days. ⁷ Then Jesus said to his followers, “Let us go back to Judea.”

⁸ The followers said, “But Teacher, the Jews there tried to kill you with stones. That was only a short time ago. Now you want to go back there?”

⁹ Jesus answered, “Are there not 12 hours in the day? If anyone walks in the daylight, he will not stumble because he can see by this world’s light. ¹⁰ But if anyone walks at night he stumbles because there is no light to help him see.”

¹¹ After Jesus said this, he added, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep. But I am going there to wake him.”

¹² The followers said, “But Lord, if he can sleep, he will get well.”

¹³ Jesus meant that Lazarus was dead. But Jesus’ followers thought that he meant Lazarus was really sleeping. ¹⁴ So then Jesus said plainly, “Lazarus is dead. ¹⁵ And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there so that you may believe. But let us go to him now.”

¹⁶ Then Thomas (the one called Didymus) said to the other followers, “Let us go, too. We will die with him.”

Jesus in Bethany

¹⁷ Jesus arrived in Bethany. There he learned that Lazarus had already been dead and in the tomb for four days. ¹⁸ Bethany was about two miles from Jerusalem. ¹⁹ Many Jews had come there to comfort Martha and Mary about their brother.

²⁰ Martha heard that Jesus was coming, and she went out to meet him. But Mary stayed at home. ²¹ Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²² But I know that even now God will give you anything you ask.”

²³ Jesus said, “Your brother will rise and live again.”

²⁴ Martha answered, “I know that he will rise and live again in the resurrection^[a] on the last day.”

²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will have life even if he dies. ²⁶ And he who lives and believes in me will never die. Martha, do you believe this?”

²⁷ Martha answered, “Yes, Lord. I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God. You are the One who was coming to the world.”

Jesus Cries

²⁸ After Martha said this, she went back to her sister Mary. She talked to Mary alone. Martha said, “The Teacher is here and he is asking for you.” ²⁹ When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to Jesus. ³⁰ Jesus had not yet come into the town. He was still at the place where Martha had met him. ³¹ The Jews were with Mary in the house, comforting her. They saw Mary stand and leave quickly. They followed her, thinking that she was going to the tomb to cry there. ³² But Mary went to the place where Jesus was. When she saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

³³ Jesus saw that Mary was crying and that the Jews who came with her were crying, too. Jesus felt very sad in his heart and was deeply troubled. ³⁴ He asked, “Where did you bury him?”

“Come and see, Lord,” they said.

³⁵ Jesus cried.

³⁶ So the Jews said, “See how much he loved him.”

³⁷ But some of them said, “If Jesus healed the eyes of the blind man, why didn’t he keep Lazarus from dying?”

Jesus Raises Lazarus

³⁸ Again Jesus felt very sad in his heart. He came to the tomb. The tomb was a cave with a large stone covering the entrance. ³⁹ Jesus said, “Move the stone away.”

Martha said, “But, Lord, it has been four days since he died. There will be a bad smell.” Martha was the sister of the dead man.

⁴⁰ Then Jesus said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”

⁴¹ So they moved the stone away from the entrance. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you heard me. ⁴² I know that you always hear me. But I said these things because of the people here around me. I want them to believe that you sent me.” ⁴³ After Jesus said this, he cried out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” ⁴⁴ The dead man came out. His hands and feet were wrapped with pieces of cloth, and he had a cloth around his face.

Jesus said to them, “Take the cloth off of him and let him go.”

The Leaders Plan to Kill Jesus

⁴⁵ There were many Jews who had come to visit Mary. They saw what Jesus did. And many of them believed in him.