Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Jacob and Esau

¹⁹ This is the report about Abraham's son, Isaac, and his family.

Abraham became the father of Isaac. ²⁰ When Isaac was 40 years old, he married Rebekah. Rebekah was the daughter of Bethuel. Bethuel was an Aramean from Paddan Aram. She was the sister of Laban the Aramean. ²¹ Rebekah could not have children. So Isaac prayed to the Lord for Rebekah. The Lord did as Isaac asked. And Isaac's wife, Rebekah, became pregnant. ²² The babies inside her were fighting with each other. Rebekah said, ‘Why is this happening to me?’ So Rebekah went to ask the Lord. ²³ The Lord said to Rebekah, ‘The two children who are in your body will become two separate nations of people. One group will be stronger than the other. The older son will become a servant to the younger son.’^[a]

²⁴ The time came for Rebekah to give birth. There were two babies inside her. ²⁵ The first baby to come out had a red body. Hair covered the whole of his body. They called him Esau. ²⁶ After this, his brother came out. His hand was holding the back of Esau's foot. They called him Jacob. Isaac was 60 years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.

²⁷ Time passed and the boys grew. Esau became a good hunter, out in the fields. Jacob was a quiet man. He stayed near to the tents. ²⁸ Isaac liked to eat the meat from the animals that Esau killed. So he loved Esau. But Rebekah loved Jacob.

²⁹ One day, Jacob was cooking a meal. Esau came back from the country. He was very hungry. ³⁰ He said to Jacob ‘Quick, let me have some of that red food! I am very hungry.’ (That is why he was also called Edom.)^{[b] 31} Jacob said, ‘You must first sell me your birthright.’^[c]

³² Esau said, ‘Look, I am so hungry that I will die. Then my birthright will not help me at all!’

³³ Jacob said, ‘First, make a serious promise to me.’ So Esau promised to sell his birthright to Jacob. ³⁴ Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and the soup made from grains. Esau ate the food and he drank. Then he got up and he left.

In that way, Esau showed that he did not think that his birthright was important.^[d]

NUN

We can live by God's Spirit

8 Now we know this: God has forgiven those people who are united with Christ Jesus. God will never say that they are guilty. ² If you belong to Christ Jesus, God's Spirit has given you a new life. God's Spirit now rules in your life and he has made you free. Sin and death no longer have authority over you.

³ The Law that God gave to Moses could not make us free like that. We were too weak to obey his Law because we are human. But God has done what his Law could not do. He sent his own Son to become a person like us. His human body was like the body of people who do wrong things. God's Son died as a sacrifice to take away the punishment for our sins. In that way, God destroyed the power of sin over people who are weak and human. ⁴ God did this so that we could become right with him. God's Law showed us how to be right with him. And now we can be right with God, if we live with God's Spirit as our guide. We do not do what our weak human thoughts want us to do.

⁵ Some people do what their weak human thoughts want them to do. They think about the things that will make themselves happy. But people who live with God's Spirit as their guide think about what will make God's Spirit happy. ⁶ People who let their human thoughts rule them will die. But people who think about what God's Spirit wants will have life with God. They will have peace inside themselves. ⁷ If our weak human thoughts rule us, we become God's enemies. People like that do not want to obey God's Law. They are not even able to obey it. ⁸ People who let their human thoughts rule them cannot make God happy.

⁹ But you are not like that. You no longer obey your weak human thoughts. Instead, you obey God's Spirit as your guide. That is true if God's Spirit is really living in you. But if anyone does not have Christ's Spirit in them, that person does not belong to Christ. ¹⁰ But, if Christ lives in you, you have a new life because of his Spirit. Your body will die one day because of the power of sin. But your spirit lives because Christ has made you right with God. ¹¹ God raised Jesus, to make him alive again after his death. Now God's Spirit lives in you. So God, who raised Christ from death, will also cause your human bodies to live again. He will do that by his Spirit who lives in you.

Jesus tells a story about a farmer who planted seeds

13 On that same day, Jesus left the house and he went to Lake Galilee. He sat down near the edge of the lake to teach people. ² The crowd that came to listen to him was very large. So he went and sat in a boat that was on the water. The big crowd of people stood on the shore. ³ Jesus used stories to teach them many things. He said to them: ‘Listen to me! A farmer went out to plant seeds in his field. ⁴ While he was throwing the seeds, some of them fell on the path. The birds came and they ate those seeds. ⁵ Other seeds fell on ground which had rocks. There was not much soil in that place. The seeds quickly began to grow, because the soil was not deep. ⁶ But when the sun rose, it burned the young plants. They soon died because they had not grown down well into the soil. ⁷ Some other seeds fell among thorn bushes. Those bushes grew up with the young plants. They stopped the seeds from growing into strong plants. ⁸ But some seeds fell on good soil and strong plants grew from those seeds. Some plants made 100 new seeds. Some plants made 60 new seeds and some plants made 30 new seeds.’ ⁹ Then Jesus said to the crowd, ‘You have ears, so listen well to what I say!’

Jesus explains the story about the farmer who planted his seeds

¹⁸ Jesus then said, ‘Listen to me now. I will tell you what this story about the farmer means. ¹⁹ Some people hear the message about God's kingdom but they do not understand it. Satan comes and he quickly takes the message away from their minds. The seeds that fell on the path show what those people are like. ²⁰ Other seeds fell on soil with rocks in it. This is like some people who hear God's message. These people are happy to believe it for a time. ²¹ But they are like plants that have not grown down well into the soil. So they only believe for a short time. They may have problems. Or other people may do bad things to them, because they obey God's message. When that happens, these people soon stop believing. ²² Some seeds fell among thorn bushes. This is like people who hear the message from God. But they have many troubles in their minds. They want to get more money and more things. They think that this will make them happy. So they do not let God's message change them. They are like plants that do not grow well and make new seeds. ²³ But some seeds fell on good soil. This is like other people who hear the message from God and they understand it. These people are like good plants that grow well. From one seed, some good plants make 100 new seeds. Other good plants make 60 new seeds, and some good plants make 30 new seeds.’^[a]