Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Telling the Gentiles about Jesus
34 Peter took a deep breath and began.
“It’s become clear to me,” he said, “that God really does show no favoritism. 35 No: in every race, people who fear him and do what is right are acceptable to him. 36 He sent his word to the children of Israel, announcing peace through Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all! 37 You know all about this, and how the word spread through all Judaea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism which John proclaimed.
38 “God anointed this man, Jesus of Nazareth, with the holy spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were overpowered by the devil, since God was with him. 39 We are witnesses of everything he did in the land of Judaea and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a tree; 40 but God raised him on the third day, and allowed him to be seen, 41 not indeed by all the people, but by those of us whom God had appointed beforehand. We ate and drank with him after he had been raised from the dead. 42 And he commanded us to announce to the people, and to bear testimony, that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. 43 All the prophets give their witness: he is the one! Everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his Name.”
The gospel of the Messiah, crucified, buried and risen
15 Let me remind you, brothers and sisters, about the good news which I announced to you. You received this good news, and you’re standing firm on it, 2 and you are saved through it, if you hold fast the message I announced to you—unless it was for nothing that you believed!
3 What I handed on to you at the beginning, you see, was what I received, namely this: “The Messiah died for our sins in accordance with the Bible; 4 he was buried; he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Bible; 5 he was seen by Cephas, then by the Twelve; 6 then he was seen by over five hundred brothers and sisters at once, most of whom are still with us, though some fell asleep; 7 then he was seen by James, then by all the apostles; 8 and, last of all, as to one ripped from the womb, he appeared even to me.”
9 I’m the least of the apostles, you see. In fact, I don’t really deserve to be called “apostle” at all, because I persecuted God’s church! 10 But I am what I am because of God’s grace, and his grace to me wasn’t wasted. On the contrary. I worked harder than all of them—though it wasn’t me, but God’s grace which was with me. 11 So whether it was me or them, that was the way we announced it, and that was the way you believed.
Telling the Gentiles about Jesus
34 Peter took a deep breath and began.
“It’s become clear to me,” he said, “that God really does show no favoritism. 35 No: in every race, people who fear him and do what is right are acceptable to him. 36 He sent his word to the children of Israel, announcing peace through Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all! 37 You know all about this, and how the word spread through all Judaea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism which John proclaimed.
38 “God anointed this man, Jesus of Nazareth, with the holy spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were overpowered by the devil, since God was with him. 39 We are witnesses of everything he did in the land of Judaea and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a tree; 40 but God raised him on the third day, and allowed him to be seen, 41 not indeed by all the people, but by those of us whom God had appointed beforehand. We ate and drank with him after he had been raised from the dead. 42 And he commanded us to announce to the people, and to bear testimony, that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. 43 All the prophets give their witness: he is the one! Everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his Name.”
The empty tomb
20 On the first day of the week, very early, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb while it was still dark.
She saw that the stone had been rolled away from the tomb. 2 So she ran off, and went to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, the one Jesus loved.
“They’ve taken the master out of the tomb!” she said. “We don’t know where they’ve put him!”
3 So Peter and the other disciple set off and went to the tomb. 4 Both of them ran together. The other disciple ran faster than Peter, and got to the tomb first. 5 He stooped down and saw the linen cloths lying there, but he didn’t go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came up, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, 7 and the napkin that had been around his head, not lying with the other cloths, but folded up in a place by itself.
8 Then the other disciple, who had arrived first at the tomb, went into the tomb as well. He saw, and he believed. 9 They did not yet know, you see, that the Bible had said he must rise again from the dead.
10 Then the disciples returned to their homes.
Mary Magdalene and the risen Jesus
11 But Mary stood outside the tomb, crying. As she wept, she stooped down to look into the tomb. 12 There she saw two angels, clothed in white, one at the head and one at the feet of where Jesus’ body had been lying.
13 “Woman,” they said to her, “why are you crying?”
“They’ve taken away my master,” she said, “and I don’t know where they’ve put him!”
14 As she said this she turned around, and saw Jesus standing there. She didn’t know it was Jesus.
15 “Woman,” Jesus said to her, “why are you crying? Who are you looking for?”
She guessed he must be the gardener.
“Sir,” she said, “if you’ve carried him off somewhere, tell me where you’ve put him, and I will take him away.”
16 “Mary!” said Jesus.
She turned and spoke in Aramaic.
“Rabbouni!” she said (which means “Teacher”).
17 “Don’t cling to me,” said Jesus. “I haven’t yet gone up to the father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I’m going up to my father and your father—to my God and your God.’ ”
18 Mary Magdalene went and told the disciples, “I’ve seen the master!” and that he had said these things to her.
The resurrection
16 When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome brought spices so that they could come and anoint Jesus. 2 Then, very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb, just at sunrise. 3 They were saying to one another, “There’s that stone at the door of the tomb—who’s going to roll it away for us?”
4 Then, when they looked up, they saw that it had been rolled away. (It was extremely large.)
5 So they went into the tomb, and there they saw a young man sitting on the right-hand side. He was wearing white. They were totally astonished.
6 “Don’t be astonished,” he said to them. “You’re looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has been raised! He isn’t here! Look—this is the place where they laid him.
7 “But go and tell his disciples—including Peter—that he is going ahead of you to Galilee. You’ll see him there, just like he told you.”
8 They went out, and fled from the tomb. Trembling and panic had seized them. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.
Two extra endings
[[They gave a brief account to the people around Peter of what they had been told. After this, Jesus himself sent out from East to West, through their work, the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation. Amen.]]
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.