Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁹ The Lord said to Joshua, ‘This shows that you are no longer ashamed to be slaves, as you were in Egypt. Today I have taken away your shame.’

So they called that place Gilgal, and it still has that name.^[a]

¹⁰ The Israelite people ate the Passover meal on the evening of the 14th day of that month.^[b] They did this while they were at Gilgal, near Jericho city. ¹¹ The next day they ate food that had grown in Canaan. For the first time, they ate flat bread and grain that they cooked on a fire. ¹² The manna that they had been eating no longer appeared. The Israelite people never ate manna again.^[c] Now they could eat the food that was grown in Canaan.

This is a special song that David wrote.

Tell God about your sins^[a]

¹⁶ So that changes how we think about people. We no longer use human ideas to think what they are like. At one time, we thought about Christ as humans think. But now we think about him very differently! ¹⁷ When anyone belongs to Christ, they become a new person. Their old way of life has gone. Their new life has begun!

¹⁸ All this is what God does for us. Because of what Christ has done, God has brought us back to himself, as his friends. Now he wants us to bring other people to be his friends too. That is the job that he has given to us. ¹⁹ God's message is this: By Christ's death, God was bringing people of the world back to himself, as his friends. He would no longer keep their sins in his thoughts. This is the message that God wants us to tell people.

²⁰ So we speak to people on behalf of Christ. It is like this: When we speak, God himself is speaking to you. On behalf of Christ, we say to you, ‘Please come back to God, as his friends!’ ²¹ Christ never did any wrong thing, but God punished him as if he had. He died as punishment for our sins. As a result, we become right with God when we belong to Christ. We become right, because he is right.

15 One day, many bad people and men who took taxes from people were coming round Jesus. They all wanted to hear what Jesus was saying. ² The Pharisees and teachers of God's Law did not like this. ‘This man is friendly with people that do not obey God,’ they said. ‘He even eats with them in their homes.’

A story about a sheep that a man has lost^[a]

³ So Jesus told them this story:

A story about two sons

¹¹ Jesus then told another story: ‘There was a man that had two sons.^{[a] 12} The younger son went to his father and said to him, “Father, please give me now my part of your things.” So the father gave both sons the part of his things that each of them should have. ¹³ After a few days, the younger son sold what his father had given to him. Then he took all the money and left home. He went on a long journey to a country far away. There, he did whatever he wanted to do and wasted all his money. ¹⁴ After he had spent everything, there was no rain in that country. There was almost no food anywhere. So the young man had nothing to eat. ¹⁵ He went to a man who lived in that country. He asked to work for him. So the man sent him into his fields to give food to his pigs. ¹⁶ Nobody gave him anything to eat. He even wanted to eat the food that the pigs were eating. But he had nothing.

¹⁷ Then the son began to think about what he had done. He said to himself, “My father has many servants, and they have plenty of food to eat. They even have more food than they need. But I will die here because I do not have any food. ¹⁸ So I will go to my father and tell him, ‘I have done bad things against God, and I have done bad things against you. ¹⁹ So I am not good enough for you to call me your son any longer. Instead, please accept me as one of your servants.’ ”

²⁰ So he went off to return to his father. But he was still a long way from the house when his father saw him. He felt very sorry for his son and he ran towards him. Then he put his arms round his son and he kissed him. ²¹ “Father,” the son said, “I have done bad things against God and against you. So I am not good enough for you to call me your son.” ²² But the father shouted to his servants. “Hurry!” he said. “Fetch the most beautiful coat that we have. Put it on him and also put a ring on his finger. Put shoes on his feet. ²³ Fetch the young cow that we keep ready to eat on a special day. It is already fat. Kill it and prepare it. We will eat a big meal and we will be happy together. ²⁴ I thought that my son here was dead. But now he has returned to me and he is alive! I thought that he had left me for all time. But now he has come home.” Then they all began to be happy together.

²⁵ While these things were happening, the older son was working in the field.^[b] On his way back to the house, he heard music. People were dancing. ²⁶ So he asked one of the servants, “What is happening?” ²⁷ The servant replied, “Your brother has returned home. Your father has killed the fat young cow for him. He did this because your brother is alive and he is well.” ²⁸ When the older brother heard this, he was very angry. He would not go into the house. So his father came out. “Please come in to be happy with us,” he said. ²⁹ “Listen,” the older son replied, “I have worked a lot for you for many years. I have always obeyed you. But you never even killed a young goat for me so that I could be happy with my friends. We could have had a meal together. ³⁰ But now this other son of yours has returned. He has wasted all the money that you gave to him. He has spent it on prostitutes. But you have even killed the fat young cow for him.” ³¹ “My son,” his father said, “you are always with me. All the things that I have are yours. ³² We thought that your brother was dead. But now he has returned to us alive. We thought that he had left us for all time. But now he has come home. So we must all be happy together.” ’