Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Peter Preaches in Cornelius’ House

³⁴ Then Peter said, “I can see, for sure, that God does not respect one person more than another. ³⁵ He is pleased with any man in any nation who honors Him and does what is right. ³⁶ He has sent His Word to the Jews. He told them the Good News of peace through Jesus Christ. Jesus is Lord of All. ³⁷ You know the story yourselves. It was told in all the country of Judea. It began in the country of Galilee after the preaching of John the Baptist. ³⁸ God gave Jesus of Nazareth the Holy Spirit and power. He went around doing good and healing all who were troubled by the devil because God was with Him. ³⁹ We have seen and heard everything He did in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. And yet they killed Him by nailing Him to a cross. ⁴⁰ God raised Him to life on the third day and made Him to be seen. ⁴¹ Not all the people saw Him but those who were chosen to see Him. We saw Him. We ate and drank with Him after He was raised from the dead. ⁴² He told us to preach to the people and tell them that God gave Christ the right to be the One Who says who is guilty of the living and the dead. ⁴³ All the early preachers spoke of this. Everyone who puts his trust in Christ will have his sins forgiven through His name.”

A Supper for All People

⁶ On this mountain the Lord of All will make a supper of good things ready for all people. It will be a supper of good wine, of the best foods, and of fine wine. ⁷ And on this mountain He will destroy the covering which is over all people, the covering which is spread over all nations. ⁸ He will take away death for all time. The Lord God will dry tears from all faces. He will take away the shame of His people from all the earth. For the Lord has spoken. ⁹ It will be said in that day, “See, this is our God. We have waited for Him, that He might save us. This is the Lord for Whom we have waited. Let us be glad and full of joy because He saves us.”

A Prayer of Thanks

118 Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His loving-kindness lasts forever. ² Let Israel say, “His loving-kindness lasts forever.”

¹⁴ The Lord is my strength and my song. He is the One Who saves me.

¹⁵ The joy of being saved is being heard in the tents of those who are right and good. The right hand of the Lord does powerful things. ¹⁶ The Lord’s right hand is lifted high. The right hand of the Lord does powerful things. ¹⁷ I will not die but live. And I will tell of what the Lord has done. ¹⁸ The Lord has punished me but He has not given me over to death.

¹⁹ Open to me the gates of what is right and good. I will go through them and give thanks to the Lord. ²⁰ This is the gate of the Lord. Those who are right with God will pass through it. ²¹ I will give thanks to You, for You have answered me. And You are the One Who saves me.

²² The stone that was put aside by the workmen has become the most important stone in the building. ²³ The Lord has done this. We think it is great! ²⁴ This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us be full of joy and be glad in it.

Jesus Christ Was Raised from the Dead

15 Christian brothers, I want to tell the Good News to you again. It is the same as I preached to you before. You received it and your faith has been made strong by it. ² This is what I preached to you. You are saved from the punishment of sin by the Good News if you keep hold of it, unless your faith was worth nothing.

³ First of all, I taught you what I had received. It was this: Christ died for our sins as the Holy Writings said He would. ^{(A) 4} Christ was buried. He was raised from the dead three days later as the Holy Writings said He would. ^{(B) 5} Christ was seen by Peter. After that, the twelve followers saw Him. ⁶ After that, more than 500 of His followers saw Him at one time. Most of them are still here, but some have died. ⁷ After that, James saw Christ. Then all the missionaries saw Him. ⁸ Last of all, Christ showed Himself to me as if I had been born too late. ⁹ For I am the least important of all the missionaries. I should not be called a missionary because I made it so hard for God’s church. ¹⁰ I am different now. It is all because of what God did for me by His loving-favor. His loving-favor was not wasted. I worked harder than all the other missionaries. But it was not I who worked. It was God’s loving-favor working through me. ¹¹ It makes no difference how you heard the Good News. It could have been through the other missionaries or through me. The important thing is this: We preached the Good News to you and you believed it.

Peter Preaches in Cornelius’ House

³⁴ Then Peter said, “I can see, for sure, that God does not respect one person more than another. ³⁵ He is pleased with any man in any nation who honors Him and does what is right. ³⁶ He has sent His Word to the Jews. He told them the Good News of peace through Jesus Christ. Jesus is Lord of All. ³⁷ You know the story yourselves. It was told in all the country of Judea. It began in the country of Galilee after the preaching of John the Baptist. ³⁸ God gave Jesus of Nazareth the Holy Spirit and power. He went around doing good and healing all who were troubled by the devil because God was with Him. ³⁹ We have seen and heard everything He did in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. And yet they killed Him by nailing Him to a cross. ⁴⁰ God raised Him to life on the third day and made Him to be seen. ⁴¹ Not all the people saw Him but those who were chosen to see Him. We saw Him. We ate and drank with Him after He was raised from the dead. ⁴² He told us to preach to the people and tell them that God gave Christ the right to be the One Who says who is guilty of the living and the dead. ⁴³ All the early preachers spoke of this. Everyone who puts his trust in Christ will have his sins forgiven through His name.”

Jesus Is Raised from the Grave ^(A)

20 It was the first day of the week. Mary Magdalene came to the grave early in the morning while it was still dark. She saw that the stone had been pushed away from the grave. ² She ran to Simon Peter and the other follower whom Jesus loved. She said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the grave. We do not know where they have put Him.”

³ Then Peter and the other follower went to the grave. ⁴ They ran but the other follower ran faster than Peter and came to the grave first. ⁵ He got down and looked in and saw the linen cloths but did not go in. ⁶ Then Simon Peter came and went into the grave. He saw the linen cloths lying there. ⁷ The white cloth that had been around the head of Jesus was not lying with the other linen cloths. It was rolled up and lying apart by itself. ⁸ Then the other follower, who had come first, went in also. He saw and believed. ⁹ They still did not understand what the Holy Writings meant when they said that He must rise again from the dead. ¹⁰ Then the followers went back again to their homes.

¹¹ Mary stood outside the grave crying. As she cried, she got down and looked inside the grave. ¹² She saw two angels dressed in white clothes. They were sitting where the body of Jesus had lain. One angel was where His head had lain and one angel was where His feet had lain. ¹³ They said to her, “Woman, why are you crying?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord. I do not know where they have put Him.”

¹⁴ After saying this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there. But she did not know that it was Jesus. ¹⁵ He said to her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who are you looking for?” She thought He was the man who cared for the garden. She said to Him, “Sir, if you have taken Jesus from here, tell me where you have put Him. I will take Him away.” ¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned around and said to Him, “Teacher!” ¹⁷ Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to Me. I have not yet gone up to My Father. But go to My brothers. Tell them that I will go up to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God!” ¹⁸ Mary Magdalene went and told the followers that she had seen the Lord. She told them the things He had said to her.

Jesus Is Raised from the Dead ^(A)

16 The Day of Rest was over. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices. They wanted to put the spices on Jesus’ body. ² Very early in the morning on the first day of the week, they came to the grave. The sun had come up. ³ They said to themselves, “Who will roll the stone away from the door of the grave for us?” ⁴ But when they looked, they saw the very large stone had been rolled away.

⁵ They went into the grave. There they saw a young man with a long white coat sitting on the right side. They were afraid. ⁶ He said, “Do not be afraid. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth Who was nailed to a cross. He is risen! He is not here! See, here is the place where they laid Him. ⁷ Go and tell His followers and Peter that He is going ahead of you into Galilee. You will see Him there as He told you.” ⁸ They ran from the grave shaking and were surprised. They did not say anything to anyone because they were afraid.