Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The Lord still loves his people
11 The Lord says,
‘When Israel was a child, I loved him as my son.
I called my son to come out of Egypt.[a]
2 But the more I spoke to Israel's people,
the more they turned away from me.
They offered sacrifices to the images of Baal.
They burned incense to give honour to their idols.
3 I was the one who taught this child, Ephraim, to walk![b]
I held their hand and I led them.
I took care of them,
but they did not understand this.
4 I loved them and I was kind to them.
I led them as their guide.
I gave them rest from their hard work.
I bent down to feed them.
5 But they refuse to turn back to me.
So they must return to Egypt.
Assyria will rule over them.
6 War will come to their cities.
Enemies will break down the strong city gates.
War will destroy my people and all their wicked ideas.
7 My people have decided to turn away from me.
That is all that they can think about.
They call up to a God who rules above,
but he will not help them.
8 Israel, I cannot leave you alone.
I cannot let you belong to someone else.
I cannot destroy you, as I did to Admah and Zeboiim.[c]
I now realize that I love you too much.
I could never destroy you completely.
9 I am very angry with you,
but I will not punish you so much.
I will never destroy my people, Ephraim.
This is because I am God. I am not a human.
I am the Holy God who is with you.
I will not come to destroy you in my anger.
10 I will roar loudly like a lion,
so that my children come to follow me.
When I roar, my children will shake with fear,
as they come from the west.
11 They will return to me, like birds that fly from Egypt.
They will come like doves that fly from Assyria.
They will be afraid, as they return.
I will bring them back to live in their homes again.’
That is what the Lord says.
God takes care of his people[a]
107 Thank the Lord because he is good.
His faithful love for his people continues for ever.
2 Everyone that the Lord has rescued
should tell others.
Tell them how he has rescued you
from the enemy's power.
3 He brought his people from foreign countries.
He brought them together from the east and the west,
from the north, and from the south.[b]
4 Some of them travelled through the wilderness
on a road that went nowhere.
They did not find any city to live in.
5 They were hungry and thirsty.
They were very weak and nearly dead.
6 Because of their trouble,
they called to the Lord for help.
He rescued them from their troubles.
7 He led them along a straight road,
to arrive at a city where they could live.
8 So God's people should thank the Lord
because of his faithful love.
They should thank him for the great things
that he does for people.
9 He gives drink to people who are thirsty.
He gives plenty of good things to hungry people.
43 Wise people should think about these things.
They should understand the Lord's faithful love for his people.
The old life and the new life
3 God has raised you with Christ to a new life. So you should want more and more the things that belong to heaven. That is where Christ is now. He sits there at God's right side. 2 So think about the good things that are there in heaven above. Do not think only about things that are on the earth. 3 Remember that your old nature has died. God is keeping your new life safe with Christ. 4 You have that new life because you belong to Christ. One day, Christ will show himself clearly to everyone. Then everyone will see that you are with him. They will see that you also are great, like he is.
5 Your old nature likes to do bad things that belong to this earth. But your old nature is dead, so do not do these bad things any more. Do not have sex with someone that you are not married to. Do not think bad, disgusting thoughts. Do not want to have sex in a wrong way. Do not want to do any kinds of bad things. Do not want to have many things for yourselves. That shows that you worship those things as your idol. 6 God will certainly punish people who do those kinds of bad things.
7 At one time, you lived like that. You did those kinds of bad things. 8 But now you must refuse to do all kinds of things like that. Do not become angry with people or shout at them. Do not do anything or say anything that will hurt other people. Do not speak any bad or disgusting words. 9 Do not deceive each other with lies. Remember that you have taken off your old nature, like an old coat. As a result, you can stop doing all the bad things that you liked to do before.
10 Now you have received a new nature. It is God who made it for you so that you can become more and more like him. You will learn to know him better and better. 11 People have this new nature only because they belong to Christ. That is the important thing. Jews are not different from Gentiles. It does not matter whether someone has circumcised you or not. It does not matter which country you come from or how clever you are. It does not matter whether you are a slave or a free person. Christ is all that matters. He lives in every believer.
A story about a rich fool
13 Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, I have a problem with my brother. Our father has died. Tell my brother to give me my part of the things that our father left us.’[a]
14 Jesus replied, ‘It is not my job to say which of you is right or wrong. And it is not my job to say how much each of you should have.’ 15 Then he said to all the people, ‘Be very careful! Do not want more things than you really need. A person's life is worth more than the things that he has, even if he is very rich.’
16 Jesus then told them a story: ‘A man had some very good ground, where he planted seeds. The plants grew very well. When they became ripe, he had much more than he planted. 17 He thought about how much he would soon have. “I have nowhere to store all the food from my plants,” he said to himself. 18 But then he decided what to do. He thought, “I will pull down the building where I now store my food. Then I will build a bigger place to store it all, as well as everything else that is mine. 19 Then I will say to myself, ‘You have plenty of things stored safely. These will be enough for you for many years. Now you can live an easy life. Eat and drink as much as you want. Enjoy yourself.’ ”
20 But then God said to the man, “You are a fool! Tonight you will die. You will have to leave everything behind that you have stored. Somebody else will have them, but you will not!” ’
21 Then Jesus said, ‘Some people think only about having many things for themselves. This story shows how those people live. But God says about them, “They have nothing of value at all.” ’
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