Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Worship the Lord as He Wants to Be Worshiped
58 Cry aloud! Don’t hold back!
Raise your voice like a ram’s horn.
Tell my people about their rebellion
and the descendants of Jacob about their sins.
2 They look for me every day and want to know my ways.
They act as if they were a nation that has done what is right
and as if they haven’t disregarded God’s judgment ⌞on them⌟.
They ask me for just decrees.
They want God to be near them.
3 Why have we fasted if you are not aware of it?
Why have we inflicted pain on ourselves if you don’t pay attention?
Don’t you see that on the days you fast,
you do what you want to do?
You mistreat all your workers.
4 Don’t you see that when you fast,
you quarrel and fight and beat your workers?
The way you fast today keeps you from being heard in heaven.
5 Is this the kind of fasting I have chosen?
Should people humble themselves for ⌞only⌟ a day?
Is fasting just bowing your head like a cattail
and making your bed from sackcloth and ashes?
Is this what you call fasting?
Is this an acceptable day to the Lord?
6 This is the kind of fasting I have chosen:
Loosen the chains of wickedness,
untie the straps of the yoke,[a]
let the oppressed go free,
and break every yoke.
7 Share your food with the hungry,
take the poor and homeless into your house,
and cover them with clothes when you see ⌞them⌟ naked.
Don’t refuse to help your relatives.
8 Then your light will break through like the dawn,
and you will heal quickly.
Your righteousness will go ahead of you,
and the glory of the Lord will guard you from behind.
9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer.
You will cry for help, and he will say, “Here I am!”
Get rid of that yoke.
Don’t point your finger and say wicked things.
9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer.
You will cry for help, and he will say, “Here I am!”
Get rid of that yoke.
Don’t point your finger and say wicked things.
10 If you give some of your own food to ⌞feed⌟ those who are hungry
and to satisfy ⌞the needs of⌟ those who are humble,
then your light will rise in the dark,
and your darkness will become as bright as the noonday sun.
11 The Lord will continually guide you
and satisfy you even in sun-baked places.
He will strengthen your bones.
You will become like a watered garden
and like a spring whose water does not stop flowing.
12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and restore the foundations of past generations.
You will be called the Rebuilder of Broken Walls
and the Restorer of Streets Where People Live.
112 Hallelujah!
Blessed is the person who fears the Lord
and is happy to obey his commands.
2 His descendants will grow strong on the earth.
The family of a decent person will be blessed.
3 Wealth and riches will be in his home.
His righteousness continues forever.
4 Light will shine in the dark for a decent person.
He is merciful, compassionate, and fair.
5 All goes well for the person who is generous and lends willingly.
He earns an honest living.
6 He will never fail.
A righteous person will always be remembered.
7 He is not afraid of bad news.
His heart remains secure, full of confidence in the Lord.
8 His heart is steady, and he is not afraid.
In the end he will look triumphantly at his enemies.
9 He gives freely to poor people.
His righteousness continues forever.
His head is raised in honor.
10 The wicked person sees this and becomes angry.
He angrily grits his teeth and disappears.
The hope that wicked people have will vanish.
2 Brothers and sisters, when I came to you, I didn’t speak about God’s mystery [a] as if it were some kind of brilliant message or wisdom. 2 While I was with you, I decided to deal with only one subject—Jesus Christ, who was crucified. 3 When I came to you, I was weak. I was afraid and very nervous. 4 I didn’t speak my message with persuasive intellectual arguments. I spoke my message with a show of spiritual power 5 so that your faith would not be based on human wisdom but on God’s power.
6 However, we do use wisdom to speak to those who are mature. It is a wisdom that doesn’t belong to this world or to the rulers of this world who are in power today and gone tomorrow. 7 We speak about the mystery of God’s wisdom. It is a wisdom that has been hidden, which God had planned for our glory before the world began. 8 Not one of the rulers of this world has known it. If they had, they wouldn’t have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But as Scripture says:
“No eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
and no mind has imagined
the things that God has prepared
for those who love him.”
10 God has revealed those things to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches everything, especially the deep things of God. 11 After all, who knows everything about a person except that person’s own spirit? In the same way, no one has known everything about God except God’s Spirit. 12 Now, we didn’t receive the spirit that belongs to the world. Instead, we received the Spirit who comes from God so that we could know the things which God has freely given us.
13 We don’t speak about these things using teachings that are based on intellectual arguments like people do. Instead, we use the Spirit’s teachings. We explain spiritual things to those who have the Spirit.[a]
14 A person who isn’t spiritual doesn’t accept the teachings of God’s Spirit. He thinks they’re nonsense. He can’t understand them because a person must be spiritual to evaluate them. 15 Spiritual people evaluate everything but are subject to no one’s evaluation.
16 “Who has known the mind of the Lord
so that he can teach him?”
However, we have the mind of Christ.
God’s People Make a Difference in the World(A)
13 “You are salt for the earth. But if salt loses its taste, how will it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled on by people.
14 “You are light for the world. A city cannot be hidden when it is located on a hill. 15 No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket. Instead, everyone who lights a lamp puts it on a lamp stand. Then its light shines on everyone in the house. 16 In the same way let your light shine in front of people. Then they will see the good that you do and praise your Father in heaven.
Jesus Fulfills the Old Testament Scriptures
17 “Don’t ever think that I came to set aside Moses’ Teachings or the Prophets. I didn’t come to set them aside but to make them come true. 18 I can guarantee this truth: Until the earth and the heavens disappear, neither a period nor a comma will disappear from the Scriptures before everything has come true. 19 So whoever sets aside any command that seems unimportant and teaches others to do the same will be unimportant in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does and teaches what the commands say will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 I can guarantee that unless you live a life that has God’s approval and do it more faithfully than the experts in Moses’ Teachings and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
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