Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁵⁵ But Stephen,^[a] filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ⁵⁶ He said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”

⁵⁷ But they shouted out loud, stopped listening, and together they all rushed at him, ⁵⁸ ran him outside of the city, and began to stone him to death. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. ⁵⁹ As they continued to stone Stephen, he kept praying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” ⁶⁰ Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, don’t hold this sin against them!” After he had said this, he died.^[b]

To the Director: A Davidic Psalm.

Prayer and Thanksgiving

² Like newborn babies, thirst for the pure milk of the word so that by it you may grow in your salvation. ³ Surely you have tasted that the Lord is good!

⁴ As you come to him, the living stone who was rejected by people but was chosen and precious in God’s sight, ⁵ you, too, as living stones, are building yourselves up into a spiritual house and a holy priesthood, so that you may offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus, the Messiah.^{[a] 6} This is why it says in Scripture:

⁷ Therefore he is precious to you who believe, but to those who do not believe,

They keep on stumbling because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

⁹ But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people to be his very own and to proclaim the wonderful deeds^[f] of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Jesus the Way to the Father

14 “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Believe^[a] in God, believe also in me. ² There are many rooms in my Father’s house. If there weren’t, I wouldn’t have told you that I am going away to prepare a place for you, would I? ³ And since^[b] I’m going away to prepare a place for you, I’ll come back again and welcome you into my presence, so that you may be where I am. ⁴ You know where I am going, and you know the way.”

⁵ Thomas asked him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

⁶ Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷ If you have known me, you will also know my Father. From now on you know him and have seen him.”

⁸ Philip told him, “Lord, show us the Father, and that will satisfy us.”

⁹ “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me?” Jesus asked him. “The person who has seen me has seen the Father. So how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰ You believe, don’t you, that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I don’t speak on my own. It is the Father who dwells in me and who carries out his work. ¹¹ Believe me, I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Otherwise, believe me^[c] because of what I’ve been doing.^{[d] 12} Truly, I tell all of you^[e] emphatically, the one who believes in me will also do what I’m doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I’m going to the Father. ¹³ I’ll do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ If you ask me^[f] for anything in my name, I will do it.”