Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Passover

12 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, ² “This month will be the very first month of the year for you. ³ Tell the whole community of Israel: On the tenth ⌞day⌟ of this month each man must take a lamb or a young goat for his family—one animal per household. ⁴ A household may be too small to eat a whole animal. That household and the one next door can share one animal. Choose your animal based on the number of people and what each person can eat.

⁵ Your animal must be a one-year-old male that has no defects. You may choose a lamb or a young goat. ⁶ Take care of it until the fourteenth ⌞day⌟ of this month.

“Then at dusk, all the assembled people from the community of Israel must slaughter their animals. ⁷ They must take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they will eat the animals. ⁸ The meat must be eaten that same night. It must be roasted over a fire and eaten with bitter herbs and unleavened bread. ⁹ Don’t eat any of it raw or boiled but roast the whole animal over a fire. ¹⁰ Don’t leave any of it until morning. Anything left over in the morning must be burned up.

¹¹ This is how ⌞you should be dressed when⌟ you eat it: with your belt on, your sandals on your feet, and your shepherd’s staff in your hand. You must eat it in a hurry. It is the Lord’s Passover.

¹² “On that same night I will go throughout Egypt and kill every firstborn male, both human and animal. I will severely punish all the gods of Egypt, ⌞because⌟ I am the Lord. ¹³ But the blood on your houses will be a sign for your protection. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. Nothing will touch or destroy you when I strike Egypt.

¹⁴ “This day will be one for you to remember. This is a permanent law for generations to come: You will celebrate this day as a pilgrimage festival in the Lord’s honor.

²³ After all, I passed on to you what I had received from the Lord.

On the night he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread ²⁴ and spoke a prayer of thanksgiving. He broke the bread and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this to remember me.” ²⁵ When supper was over, he did the same with the cup. He said, “This cup is the new promise ^[a] made with my blood. Every time you drink from it, do it to remember me.” ²⁶ Every time you eat this bread and drink from this cup, you tell about the Lord’s death until he comes.

Jesus Washes the Disciples’ Feet

13 Before the Passover festival, Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go back to the Father. Jesus loved his own who were in the world, and he loved them to the end.

² While supper was taking place, the devil had already put the idea of betraying Jesus into the mind of Judas, son of Simon Iscariot.

³ The Father had put everything in Jesus’ control. Jesus knew that. He also knew that he had come from God and was going back to God. ⁴ So he got up from the table, removed his outer clothes, took a towel, and tied it around his waist. ⁵ Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel that he had tied around his waist.

⁶ When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter asked him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

⁷ Jesus answered Peter, “You don’t know now what I’m doing. You will understand later.”

⁸ Peter told Jesus, “You will never wash my feet.”

Jesus replied to Peter, “If I don’t wash you, you don’t belong to me.”

⁹ Simon Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, don’t wash only my feet. Wash my hands and my head too!”

¹⁰ Jesus told Peter, “People who have washed are completely clean. They need to have only their feet washed. All of you, except for one, are clean.” ¹¹ (Jesus knew who was going to betray him. That’s why he said, “All of you, except for one, are clean.”)

¹² After Jesus had washed their feet and put on his outer clothes, he took his place at the table again. Then he asked his disciples, “Do you understand what I’ve done for you? ¹³ You call me teacher and Lord, and you’re right because that’s what I am. ¹⁴ So if I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you must wash each other’s feet. ¹⁵ I’ve given you an example that you should follow. ¹⁶ I can guarantee this truth: Slaves are not superior to their owners, and messengers are not superior to the people who send them. ¹⁷ If you understand all of this, you are blessed whenever you follow my example.

³¹ When Judas was gone, Jesus said, “The Son of Man is now glorified, and because of him God is glorified. ³² If God is glorified because of the Son of Man, God will glorify the Son of Man because of himself, and he will glorify the Son of Man at once.”

Jesus Predicts Peter’s Denial^(A)

³³ Jesus said, “Dear children, I will still be with you for a little while. I’m telling you what I told the Jews. You will look for me, but you can’t go where I’m going.

³⁴ “I’m giving you a new commandment: Love each other in the same way that I have loved you. ³⁵ Everyone will know that you are my disciples because of your love for each other.”