Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
From Mount Sinai to Mount Zion
18 You haven’t come, after all, to something that can be touched—a blazing fire, darkness, gloom and whirlwind, 19 the sound of a trumpet and a voice speaking words which the hearers begged not to have to listen to anymore. 20 (They couldn’t bear the command that “if even a beast touches the mountain, it must be stoned.”) 21 The sight was so terrifying that even Moses said, “I’m trembling with fear.”
22 No: you have come to Mount Zion—to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to where thousands and thousands of angels are gathered for a festival; 23 to the assembly of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God the judge of all, to the spirits of righteous people who have been made perfect, 24 and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood which has better words to say than the blood of Abel.
The kingdom that cannot be shaken
25 Take care that you don’t refuse the one who is speaking. For if people didn’t escape when they rejected the one who gave them earthly warnings, how much more if we turn away from the one who speaks from heaven! 26 At that point, his voice shook the earth; but now he has issued a promise in the following words: “One more time I will shake not only the earth but heaven as well.” 27 The phrase “one more time” shows that the things that are to be shaken (that is, the created things) will be taken away, so that the things that cannot be shaken will remain.
28 Well, then: we are to receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken! This calls for gratitude! That’s how to offer God true and acceptable worship, reverently and with fear. 29 Our God, you see, is a devouring fire.
Jesus heals a crippled woman on the sabbath
10 One sabbath, Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues. 11 There was a woman there who had had a spirit of weakness for eighteen years. She was bent double, and couldn’t stand fully upright. 12 Jesus saw her and called to her.
13 “Woman,” he said, laying his hands on her, “you are freed from your affliction.” And at once she stood upright, and praised God.
14 The synagogue president was angry that Jesus had healed on the sabbath.
“Look here,” he said to the crowd, “there are six days for people to work! Come on one of those days and be healed, not on the sabbath day!”
15 “You bunch of hypocrites!” replied Jesus. “You would all be quite happy to untie an ox or a donkey from its stall on the sabbath day and lead it out for a drink! 16 And isn’t it right that this daughter of Abraham, tied up by the satan for these eighteen years, should be untied from her chains on the sabbath day?”
17 At that, all the people who had been opposing him were ashamed. The whole crowd was overjoyed at all the splendid things he was doing.
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.