Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Joseph says who he is
45 After Judah said this, Joseph could not control himself. He did not want to cry in front of all his servants. So he shouted, ‘Make everyone go away from me!’ So there was no one still there with Joseph, except his brothers. Then he told his brothers who he was. 2 Joseph wept loudly, so that the Egyptians heard him. All the people in Pharaoh's house knew about it.
3 Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?’ But his brothers could not answer him because they were too frightened. They could see Joseph was there in front of them![a]
4 Then Joseph said to them, ‘Come near to me.’ So they did that. He said, ‘I am your brother Joseph. I am the one that you sold to become a slave in Egypt! 5 But do not be upset. Do not be angry with yourselves because you sold me like that. No! It was God who sent me here! He sent me here before you came. He did that so that I could save people's lives. 6 There has been a famine for two years already. No food will grow for another five years. 7 But God sent me to come here before you. Because of that, your family would stay alive. God would do a great thing to save you and your descendants. 8 So you did not really send me here. It was God who did that! He made me Pharaoh's most important officer, as if I am his father. I take care of everything in Pharaoh's palace. I have authority to rule over all of Egypt.[b] 9 Now hurry back to my father. Say to him, “This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord over all Egypt. Come here to me. Come now. 10 You can live in the region called Goshen. You, your children and your grandchildren can live there. You can bring your sheep, goats and cows, together with everything that you have. In Goshen you will all be near me. 11 I will take care of you there. I will give food to you, because there will be five more years of famine. If you do not come here, you and all your family and servants will become very poor.” ’
12 Joseph continued to say to his brothers, ‘As I speak to you now, you can all see clearly that I really am Joseph. My brother Benjamin also knows that. 13 Tell my father about the authority that I have here in Egypt. Tell him about everything that you have seen here. Then bring my father here quickly.’
14 Then Joseph hugged his brother Benjamin and he wept. Benjamin hugged Joseph and he also wept. 15 Joseph continued to weep as he kissed each of his other brothers too. After this, his brothers began to talk to Joseph.
A song to sing as we climb.
David wrote this song.
133 It is good for a family of God's people to live together in peace.
Yes! It brings great pleasure!
2 It brings pleasure like valuable olive oil
that is poured on your head,
and it goes down onto your beard.
They poured it onto Aaron's head and his beard,
and it went down onto his clothes.[a]
3 It brings pleasure like the dew on Hermon.[b]
It makes the mountains of Zion become wet.[c]
That is the place where the Lord has promised to bless his people.
He blesses them with life for ever.
Some of the Jews do trust God
11 So I ask this: ‘Has God turned away from his people?’ No, certainly, he has not done that! I myself belong to Israel's people. I am a descendant of Abraham and I belong to Benjamin's tribe. 2 God chose who would be his people from the beginning. He has not turned against them now. Remember what the Bible tells us about Elijah. He wanted God to punish Israel's people. Elijah said:
29 God's thoughts about his people cannot change. He has blessed them with gifts and he has chosen them to belong to him.
30 In past times, you Gentiles did not obey God. But now God has been very kind to you, because Israel's people refused to obey him. 31 They do not obey God now. As a result God has been very kind to you. That has happened so that God may now be very kind to them too. 32 God says that everyone is guilty because they do not obey him. He says that so that he can be kind and he can forgive everyone.
Jesus talks about the wrong things that people do
10 Jesus asked the crowd of people to come to him. He said to them, ‘Listen to me, so that you can understand my message. 11 It is not food that goes into people's mouths that makes them unclean. Instead, what comes out of people's mouths is important. It may show that what is inside them is unclean.’
12 Then Jesus' disciples went to him, and they said, ‘The Pharisees heard what you said. They did not agree with what you said. Do you know that?’
13 Jesus replied, ‘Those Pharisees are like plants that my Father God did not put in the ground. Like a farmer, he will completely pull all those plants out of the ground. 14 Do not listen to what the Pharisees say. They are blind, but they try to show people which way to go. A blind person cannot lead another blind person. If he does, then both of them will fall into a deep hole.’
15 Peter said to Jesus, ‘Explain to us what you mean.’
16 Jesus replied, ‘I am surprised that you still do not understand what I am saying. 17 You should understand that food first goes into people's mouths. Then it goes into their stomach, and then it passes out of their body. 18 The words that people speak come from their thoughts. It is what comes out of their mouths that makes them unclean. 19 Evil thoughts come out from people's minds. As a result, they do wrong things. They murder people. They have sex with another man's wife. They have sex in other wrong ways. They rob people. They tell lies about other people. They insult people.
20 It is these bad things that make people unclean. But if people eat food when they have not washed their hands in the right way, that will not make them unclean.’
Jesus makes a girl well again
21 Then, Jesus left that place. He went away to some places near to the cities called Tyre and Sidon.
22 A woman was living in this part of the country. She was one of the Canaanite people. She came to see Jesus. She was shouting with a loud voice, ‘Son of David, help me, sir! A bad spirit is living inside my daughter. It is giving her much pain.’
23 Jesus did not say anything to the woman. So his disciples came to him. They said, ‘Please, send this woman away. She is following us and she is making a lot of noise.’
24 Jesus replied to his disciples, ‘God has sent me to help only the people of Israel. They are like sheep that have lost their way.’
25 Then the woman came to Jesus and she went down on her knees in front of him. ‘Sir, please help me,’ she said.
26 Jesus did answer the woman this time. He said, ‘It is not right to take food from the children and then throw it to the dogs.’
27 The woman replied to Jesus. ‘Yes sir, that is true. But even the dogs eat the small pieces of food that fall from their master's table.’
28 Jesus answered her, ‘Woman, you show clearly that you believe in God. God will do what you have asked.’
At that moment the woman's daughter became well again.
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