Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
It’s all coming true at last!
14 Then Peter got up, with the eleven. He spoke to them in a loud voice.
“People of Judaea!” he began. “All of you staying here in Jerusalem! There’s something you have to know! Listen to what I’m saying!
36 “So the whole house of Israel must know this for a fact: God has made him Lord and Messiah—this Jesus, the one you crucified.”
God’s rescue plan
37 When they heard this, the people in the crowd were cut to the heart.
“Brothers,” they said to Peter and the other apostles, “what shall we do?”
38 “Turn back!” replied Peter. “Be baptized—every single one of you—in the name of Jesus the Messiah, so that your sins can be forgiven, and you will receive the gift of the holy spirit. 39 The promise is for you and for your children, and for everyone who is far away, as many as the Lord our God will call.”
40 He carried on explaining things to them with many other words.
“Let God rescue you,” he was urging them, “from this wicked generation!”
41 Those who welcomed his word were baptized. About three thousand people were added to the community that day.
17 If you call on God as “Father”—the God, that is, who judges everyone impartially according to their work—behave with holy fear throughout the time in which you are resident here.
18 You know, after all, that you were ransomed from the futile practices inherited from your ancestors, and that this ransom came not through perishable things like gold or silver, 19 but through the precious blood of the Messiah, like a lamb without spot or blemish. 20 He was destined for this from before the foundation of the world, and appeared at the end of the times for your sake, 21 for you (that is) who through him believe in the God who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
Newborn babies
22 Once your lives have been purified by obeying the truth, resulting in a sincere love for all your fellow believers, love one another eagerly, from a pure heart. 23 You have been born again, not from seed which decays but from seed which does not—through the living and abiding word of God.
On the road to Emmaus
13 That very day, two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, which lay about seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 They were discussing with each other all the various things that had taken place. 15 As they were discussing, and arguing with each other, Jesus himself approached and walked with them. 16 Their eyes, though, were prevented from recognizing him.
17 “You’re obviously having a very important discussion on your walk,” he said; “what’s it all about?”
They stood still, a picture of gloom. 18 Then one of them, Cleopas by name, answered him.
“You must be the only person around Jerusalem,” he said, “who doesn’t know what’s been going on there these last few days.”
19 “What things?” he asked.
“To do with Jesus of Nazareth,” they said to him. “He was a prophet. He acted with power and he spoke with power, before God and all the people. 20 Our chief priests and rulers handed him over to be condemned to death, and they crucified him. 21 But we were hoping that he was going to redeem Israel!
“And now, what with all this, it’s the third day since it happened. 22 But some women from our group have astonished us. They went to his tomb very early this morning, 23 and didn’t find his body. They came back saying they’d seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. 24 Some of the folk with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they didn’t see him.”
25 “You are so senseless!” he said to them. “So slow in your hearts to believe all the things the prophets said to you! Don’t you see? 26 This is what had to happen: the Messiah had to suffer, and then come into his glory!”
27 So he began with Moses, and with all the prophets, and explained to them the things about himself throughout the whole Bible.
Jesus revealed at Emmaus
28 They drew near to the village where they were heading. Jesus gave the impression that he was going further, 29 but they urged him strongly not to.
“Stay with us,” they said. “It’s nearly evening; the day is almost gone.” And he went in to stay with them.
30 As he was sitting at table with them he took the bread and gave thanks. He broke it and gave it to them. 31 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight.
32 Then they said to each other, “Don’t you remember how our hearts were burning inside us, as he talked to us on the road, as he opened up the Bible for us?”
33 And they got up then and there and went back to Jerusalem. There they found the eleven gathered together, and the people with them.
34 They were saying, “The Lord really has been raised! He’s appeared to Simon!” 35 Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.