Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Joy Comes in the Morning

Psalm 30

¹⁸ Now when the child was grown, one day he went out to his father among the reapers. ¹⁹ Then he said to his father, “My head, my head!” So he said to his servant, “Carry him to his mother.” ²⁰ So he picked him up and brought him to his mother. The child sat on her lap until noon, and then died. ²¹ She then went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, shut the door on him and went out. ²² Then she called to her husband, and said, “Please send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys that I may run to the man of God and come back.”

²³ But he said, “Why are you going to him today? It is neither New Moon nor Shabbat.”

But she said, “It will be well.”

²⁴ Then she saddled the donkey and said to her servant, “Move on! Don’t slow down riding unless I tell you.”

²⁵ So she set out and came near the man of God at Mount Carmel. Upon seeing her from a distance, the man of God said to his servant Gehazi, “Look! There’s the Shunammite. ²⁶ Please, run now to meet her and ask her: ‘Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with the boy?’”

She answered, “It is well.” ²⁷ But when she arrived at the mountain, up to the man of God, she caught hold of his feet.

Then Gehazi stepped forward to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone, for her soul is bitter within her, yet Adonai has hid it from me and has not told me.”

²⁸ “Did I ask my lord for a son?” she said. “Didn’t I say, ‘Don’t deceive me’?”

²⁹ Then he said to Gehazi, “Gird up your loins and take my staff in your hand and go. If you meet anyone, don’t greet him. Or if anyone greets you, don’t answer him; and lay my staff on the face of the child.”

³⁰ But the mother of the child said, “As Adonai lives and as you live, I won’t leave you.” So he arose and followed her. ³¹ Gehazi passed on ahead of them and laid the staff on the face of the child, but there was no sound or response. So he returned to meet him and told him, saying, “The boy has not awakened.”

Eagerness to Give

8 Now we make known to you, brothers and sisters, the grace God has given to Messiah’s communities in Macedonia— ² that in much testing by affliction, the abundance of their joy and their extreme poverty overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. ³ For I testify that according to their ability, and even beyond their ability, they gave of their own free will— ⁴ begging us with much urging for the favor of sharing in the relief of the kedoshim. ⁵ Moreover, it was not just as we had hoped, but they gave of themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God’s will. ⁶ So we urged Titus that, just as he had made a start before, so he should also complete this gracious service for you. ⁷ But as you excel in everything—in faith and speech and knowledge and all diligence, and in your love for us—also excel in this grace.