Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Prayer, sonship and the sovereignty of God
26 In the same way, too, the spirit comes alongside and helps us in our weakness. We don’t know what to pray for as we ought to; but that same spirit pleads on our behalf, with groanings too deep for words. 27 And the Searcher of Hearts knows what the spirit is thinking, because the spirit pleads for God’s people according to God’s will. 28 We know, in fact, that God works all things together for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. 29 Those he foreknew, you see, he also marked out in advance to be shaped according to the model of the image of his son, so that he might be the firstborn of a large family. 30 And those he marked out in advance, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
Nothing shall separate us from God’s love
31 What then shall we say to all this?
If God is for us, who is against us?
32 God, after all, did not spare his own son; he gave him up for us all!
How then will he not, with him, freely give all things to us?
33 Who will bring a charge against God’s chosen ones?
It is God who declares them in the right.
34 Who is going to condemn?
It is the Messiah, Jesus, who has died, or rather has been raised;
who is at God’s right hand, and who also prays on our behalf!
35 Who shall separate us from the Messiah’s love?
Suffering, or hardship, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As the Bible says,
Because of you we are being killed all day long; we are regarded as sheep destined for slaughter.
37 No: in all these things we are completely victorious through the one who loved us. 38 I am persuaded, you see, that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor the present, nor the future, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Messiah Jesus our Lord.
31 He put another parable to them.
“The kingdom of heaven,” he said, “is like a grain of mustard seed, which someone took and sowed in his field. 32 It’s the smallest of all the seeds, but when it grows it turns into the biggest of the shrubs. It becomes a tree, and the birds in the sky can then come and nest in its branches.”
33 He told them another parable.
“The kingdom of heaven is like leaven,” he said, “which a woman took and hid inside three measures of flour, until the whole thing was leavened.”
Other parables
44 “The kingdom of heaven,” Jesus continued, “is like treasure hidden in a field. Someone found it and hid it, and in great delight went off and sold everything he possessed, and bought that field.
45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a trader who was looking for fine pearls, 46 and who found one that was spectacularly valuable. He went off and sold everything he possessed, and bought it.
47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea, and collected every type of fish. 48 When it was full, the fishermen brought it to shore. They sat down and selected the good ones, which they put into a bucket; but they threw out the bad ones. 49 That’s what it will be like at the close of the age. The angels will go off and separate the wicked from the righteous, 50 and they will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
51 “Have you understood all this?” asked Jesus.
“Yes,” they answered.
52 “Well, then,” he said to them, “every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his storeroom some new things and some old things.”
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.