Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A song to sing as we climb.

I have great trouble

¹⁶ Pharaoh then heard that Joseph's brothers had arrived in Egypt. Pharaoh and his officers were happy to know that. ¹⁷ Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘Tell your brothers to do this. Say to them, “Put food on your donkeys and return home to Canaan. ¹⁸ Then bring your father and your families to come here to me. I will give you the best land in Egypt to live on. You will have all the best things that the land gives to you.”  ¹⁹ You must also tell your brothers, “Take some carts from here in Egypt. Your wives and children can ride in them to come back here. Bring your father and come quickly. ²⁰ Do not worry. You do not have to bring all your things from your own country. The best things of Egypt will belong to you.” ’

²¹ So Jacob's sons did what Pharaoh said. Joseph gave them carts as Pharaoh had told him to do. He also gave them food for their journey. ²² Joseph gave new clothes to each of his brothers. But he gave 300 silver coins and five sets of clothes to Benjamin. ²³ Joseph also sent these things to his father:

²⁴ Then Joseph sent his brothers to start their journey. As they left, he said to them, ‘Do not argue with each other on your way home!’

²⁵ The brothers left Egypt and they returned home to their father Jacob in Canaan. ²⁶ They told him, ‘Joseph is still alive! He rules over all of Egypt!’ Jacob was so surprised that he did not believe what they said. ²⁷ So Jacob's sons told him everything that Joseph had said to them. Jacob saw the carts that Joseph had sent to carry him back to Egypt. Then Jacob felt stronger again. ²⁸ Jacob said, ‘Now I believe you! My son Joseph is still alive! I will go and see him before I die.’

A man who had a disease of the skin comes to meet Jesus

8 Jesus came down from the hill and a large crowd followed him. ² A man with a bad disease of the skin came to meet him. He went down on his knees in front of Jesus and he said, ‘Sir, if you want, you can make me well again. Please do it.’

³ Jesus put out his hand towards him and he touched him. ‘I do want to help you. Be clean again,’ Jesus said. Immediately, the man's skin was clean again. ⁴ Jesus said to the man, ‘Listen. You must not tell anyone about this. Instead, go and show yourself to the priest. Take a gift to him for God. Moses taught the people what gift to take to God after this kind of disease. This will show everyone that you are now well again.’

An officer in the army believes that Jesus can help him

⁵ Jesus went into Capernaum. An officer in the Roman army came to meet him. He asked Jesus to help him.^{[a] 6} ‘Sir,’ he said, ‘My servant is lying in bed at home. He cannot move his legs and he has a lot of pain.’

⁷ Jesus said to the officer, ‘I will go with you to your house and I will make your servant well again.’

⁸ But the officer answered, ‘Sir, I am not good enough for you to come into my house. Instead, just say that my servant will get better. I know that he will then be well again. ⁹ In my work, someone has authority over me. I also have authority over other soldiers. I say to one soldier, “Go!” and he goes. I say to another one, “Come!” and he comes. I say to my servant, “Do this!” and he does it.’

¹⁰ Jesus heard what the officer said. He was very surprised. He spoke to the crowd that was following him. ‘I tell you this: I have never found anyone like this man in all of Israel. Nobody else believes in me as well as he does. ¹¹ I tell you, many people will come from all over the world to take their place in the kingdom of heaven. There they will sit down to eat with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. ¹² But other people who think that God's kingdom belongs to them will not be there. God's angels will throw them into the dark places that are far away from God. There those people will weep very much. They will bite their teeth together.’^[b]

¹³ Then Jesus said to the officer, ‘Go home. You believed that I would make your servant well again. So I will do it for you.’ At that moment, the servant did become well again.