Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
God gives water out of a rock
17 Then all the Israelites continued to travel on from the desert called Sin. They moved from one place to another, as the Lord told them. When they arrived at Rephidim, they put up their tents there. But there was no water for the people to drink. 2 Because of this, the people quarrelled with Moses. They said, ‘Give us water to drink!’ Moses said to them, ‘You should not quarrel with me! You should not try to test the Lord!’
3 But the people needed water to drink. They complained against Moses. They said, ‘You should not have brought us out of Egypt! You will kill us and our children and our animals. We will all die, because we have no water to drink.’
4 Then Moses called to the Lord for help. He said, ‘What can I do with these people? They will soon be throwing stones at me to kill me.’
5 The Lord said to Moses, ‘Take some of the leaders of the Israelites with you and go in front of the people. Take your stick in your hand. Take the stick that you used to hit the Nile river. Now go! 6 I will stand there, in front of you, by the rock at Sinai. Hit the rock with your stick, and water will come out of it. Then the people can drink.’ So Moses did this, while the leaders of the Israelites watched him.
7 Moses called that place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarrelled there. They tried to test the Lord to see what he would do. They said, ‘Let us see if the Lord is really with us. Will he help us, or not?’[a]
Asaph wrote this special song.
God has been good to his people[a]
78 My people, listen to what I am teaching you.
Listen to the words that I speak.
2 I will tell you something to make you wise.
Then you will understand
things that happened long ago.
3 We have heard about these things
and we know them.
Our ancestors have told them to us,
4 and we will not hide them from our children.
We will tell our children and our grandchildren
why they should praise the Lord.
We will tell them about his strength,
and about the great things that he has done.
12 He did miracles for their ancestors to see,
in the region of Egypt that is called Zoan.
13 He cut the sea into two separate parts,
and he led them through it.
He made a path between two walls of water.[a]
14 He showed them the way with a cloud in the day
and with light from a fire all night.[b]
15 He broke rocks into pieces in the wilderness
so that his people had plenty of water.
Springs of water came from deep in the earth.
16 He caused streams to pour from the rocks
so that the waters ran like rivers.[c]
Be more like Christ
2 You belong to Christ, and he makes you brave. His love makes you strong. You are able to help one another because his Spirit is in you. You can be kind to each other, and you can forgive each other. 2 Because of that, this is how you can make me completely happy: In your mind, think about things in the same way as one another. Love one another completely. In your spirit, agree with one another. And work together for the same purpose. 3 In the way that you live, do not just try to help yourself. Do not be proud. Instead, respect other people. Think about other people as more important than yourself. 4 Do not think only about the things that you want to do for yourself. Each of you should think also about how you can help other people.
5 You should think about things in the same way that Christ Jesus thought:
6 Christ had the same nature as God.
He was completely equal with God.
But he did not try to keep hold of that.
7 Instead, he chose to leave heaven.
He took for himself the nature of a slave.
He became like a human.
8 And when he lived as a man,
he made himself even less important.
He obeyed God completely, so that he died.
He even died on a cross![a]
9 Because of that, God then raised Jesus Christ to the most important place.
God gave him the name that is greater than every other name.
10 As a result, when people hear Jesus' name, they must worship him.
Everyone will have to go down on their knees in front of him.
That includes everything that is in heaven,
everything on the earth and everything under the earth.
11 Everyone will have to agree that Jesus Christ is Lord.
When they say that aloud, they will show that God the Father is very great.[b]
Christians must be like lights in the world
12 So, my friends, you must continue to obey God.[c] When I was with you, you always obeyed. Now that I am not with you, that is even more important. God has saved you. You must always live in a way which shows that is true. Respect God and obey him. Remember that he is great and powerful. 13 It is God himself who is working in you. Now you want to obey him, and he makes you strong to do that. When you obey him, that makes him very happy.
23 Then Jesus returned to the yard of the temple. While he was teaching the people there, the leaders of the priests and important Jews went to him. They asked him, ‘What authority do you have to do these things? Tell us. Who gave you the authority to do them?’
24 Jesus replied, ‘I also will ask you one question. If you tell me the answer, then I will answer your question. I will tell you what authority I have to do these things. 25 John baptized people. Did God give him the authority to do this? Or did men tell him to do it?’ Then the Jewish leaders talked to each other about Jesus' question. They said, ‘We could say that God gave John his authority. But if we say that, Jesus will say to us, “Then you should have believed John.” 26 But we do not want to say that only men gave John his authority. All the people think that John was a prophet from God. We are afraid that the crowd might attack us.’
27 So the Jewish leaders answered Jesus: ‘We do not know who gave John his authority.’
Jesus said to them, ‘You will not answer my question. So I will not tell you what authority I have to do these things.’
Jesus tells a story about two sons
28 Jesus said to the Jewish leaders, ‘Tell me what you think about this story. A man had two sons. He went to the older son and said, “Son, go and work in my field today.”
29 The older son replied, “I do not want to go and work there today.” But after he had said that, he did go and work in the field.
30 The man went to his other son and he said the same thing to him. The second son replied, “Yes, father, I will go.” But then he did not go to work in the field.
31 Tell me, which of the man's sons did what his father wanted?’
The Jewish leaders replied, ‘The older son did what his father wanted.’
Jesus said to them, ‘I tell you this: The men who take taxes from people are going into the kingdom of God before you. It is the same with prostitutes. They also are going into the kingdom of God before you. 32 John the Baptist came to show you the right way to live. You did not believe him. But the men who take taxes did believe him. Prostitutes also believed him. Even after you saw this, you did not believe him. You did not change the way that you live.’
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