Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

God’s action in Messiah and spirit

8 So, therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in the Messiah, Jesus! ² Why not? Because the law of the spirit of life in the Messiah, Jesus, released you from the law of sin and death.

³ For God has done what the law (being weak because of human flesh) was incapable of doing. God sent his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and as a sin-offering; and, right there in the flesh, he condemned sin. ⁴ This was in order that the right and proper verdict of the law could be fulfilled in us, as we live not according to the flesh but according to the spirit.

The work of the spirit

⁵ Look at it like this. People whose lives are determined by human flesh focus their minds on matters to do with the flesh, but people whose lives are determined by the spirit focus their minds on matters to do with the spirit. ⁶ Focus the mind on the flesh, and you’ll die; but focus it on the spirit, and you’ll have life, and peace. ⁷ The mind focused on the flesh, you see, is hostile to God. It doesn’t submit to God’s law; in fact, it can’t. ⁸ Those who are determined by the flesh can’t please God.

⁹ But you’re not people of flesh; you’re people of the spirit (if indeed God’s spirit lives within you; note that anyone who doesn’t have the spirit of the Messiah doesn’t belong to him). ¹⁰ But if the Messiah is in you, the body is indeed dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of covenant justice. ¹¹ So, then, if the spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead lives within you, the one who raised the Messiah from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies, too, through his spirit who lives within you.

The parable of the sower

13 That very day Jesus went out of the house and sat down beside the sea. ² Large crowds gathered around him, so he got into a boat and sat down. The whole crowd was standing on the shore.

³ He had much to say to them, and he said it all in parables.

“Listen!” he said. “Once there was a sower who went out to sow. ⁴ As he sowed, some seed fell beside the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Some seed fell on rocky soil, where it didn’t have much earth. It sprang up at once because it had no depth of soil. ⁶ But when the sun was high it got scorched, and it withered because it didn’t have any root. ⁷ Other seed fell in among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. ⁸ Other seed fell into good soil, and produced a crop, some a hundred times over, some sixty, and some thirty times over. ⁹ If you’ve got ears, then listen!”

The parable of the sower explained

¹⁸ “All right, then,” Jesus continued, “this is what the sower story is all about. ¹⁹ When someone hears the word of the kingdom and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This corresponds to what was sown beside the path. ²⁰ What was sown on rocky ground is the person who hears the word and immediately receives it with delight, ²¹ but doesn’t have any root of their own. Someone like that only lasts a short time; as soon as there’s any trouble or persecution because of the word, they trip up at once. ²² The one sown among thorns is the one who hears the word, but the world’s worries and the seduction of wealth choke the word and it doesn’t bear fruit. ²³ But the one sown on good soil is the one who hears the word and understands it. Someone like that will bear fruit: one will produce a hundred times over, another sixty, and another thirty times over.”