Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A song to sing as we climb.

David wrote this song.^[a]

¹⁵ Now Jacob was dead and Joseph's brothers became frightened. They said to each other, ‘We did a bad thing to Joseph. Now he will be angry and he will punish us for what we did.’ ¹⁶ So they sent a message to Joseph. They said, ‘Your father said this to us before he died. ¹⁷ He told us to say to you, “Please forgive your brothers for the very bad thing that they did against you. They did a very cruel thing to you.” So please forgive our sin. We are servants of your father's God.’

When Joseph received their message, he was very upset and he wept. ¹⁸ His brothers came to see him. They bent down low to the ground in front of Joseph. They said to him, ‘We are your slaves.’ ¹⁹ But Joseph said to them, ‘Do not be afraid of me. It is God who has the authority to punish people. I am not God! ²⁰ You decided to hurt me. But God caused a good thing to happen because of that. God brought me here to save the lives of many people. You can see how that has really happened! ²¹ So do not be afraid. I will continue to take care of you. You and your children will receive what you need.’ In this way Joseph comforted them and he spoke kind words to them.

Joseph dies

²² Joseph lived in Egypt, together with his father's family. He lived for 110 years. ²³ And he was still alive to see Ephraim's children and grandchildren. He also saw Makir's children. Makir was Manasseh's son. Joseph took Makir's children to be his own children.^[a]

²⁴ Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I will soon die. But God will come to you and he will help you. He will take you out of Egypt. He will take you back to the land that he promised to give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’ ²⁵ He also said, ‘God will help you to leave Egypt. When that happens, you must carry my bones away from here.’ Joseph made the other sons of Israel promise that they would do that.

²⁶ So Joseph died when he was 110 years old. They put special oil on his body so that it would not become spoiled. Then they put his body in a box there in Egypt.^[b]

Jesus talks about the Pharisees and the Sadducees

⁵ Jesus and his disciples sailed over to the other side of the lake. His disciples forgot to take any bread with them. ⁶ Jesus said to them, ‘Be careful! Do not accept the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.’

⁷ The disciples began to talk to each other about this. ‘Jesus is saying this because we did not bring any bread with us,’ they said.

⁸ Jesus knew what they were talking about. So he said to them, ‘You should not be arguing with each other about the bread. You should trust me more than you do. ⁹ You still do not understand. You should remember that I used five loaves of bread to feed 5,000 men. Think about how many baskets you filled with pieces of food after the meal. ¹⁰ Also remember that I used seven loaves of bread to give food to 4,000 men. And think about how many baskets you filled with pieces of food then. ¹¹ I spoke to you about the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. I said that you must not accept it. You should understand now that I was not speaking about bread.’

¹² Then the disciples understood what Jesus was talking about. They did not need to be careful about the yeast that they used in their bread. Instead, they must be careful about what the Pharisees and Sadducees were teaching. They must not accept it.^[a]