Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

¹⁵ The Lord your God will raise up a prophet like me from your community, from your fellow Israelites. He’s the one you must listen to. ¹⁶ That’s exactly what you requested from the Lord your God at Horeb, on the day of the assembly, when you said, “I can’t listen to the Lord my God’s voice anymore or look at this great fire any longer. I don’t want to die!”

¹⁷ The Lord said to me: What they’ve said is right. ¹⁸ I’ll raise up a prophet for them from among their fellow Israelites—one just like you. I’ll put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. ¹⁹ I myself will hold accountable anyone who doesn’t listen to my words, which that prophet will speak in my name. ²⁰ However, any prophet who arrogantly speaks a word in my name that I haven’t commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods—that prophet must die.

Psalm 111^[a]

Meat sacrificed to false gods

8 Now concerning meat that has been sacrificed to a false god: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes people arrogant, but love builds people up. ² If anyone thinks they know something, they don’t yet know as much as they should know. ³ But if someone loves God, then they are known by God.

⁴ So concerning the actual food involved in these sacrifices to false gods, we know that a false god isn’t anything in this world, and that there is no God except for the one God. ⁵ Granted, there are so-called “gods,” in heaven and on the earth, as there are many gods and many lords. ⁶ However, for us believers,

⁷ But not everybody knows this. Some are eating this food as though it really is food sacrificed to a real idol, because they were used to idol worship until now. Their conscience is weak because it has been damaged. ⁸ Food won’t bring us close to God. We’re not missing out if we don’t eat, and we don’t have any advantage if we do eat. ⁹ But watch out or else this freedom of yours might be a problem for those who are weak. ¹⁰ Suppose someone sees you (the person who has knowledge) eating in an idol’s temple. Won’t the person with a weak conscience be encouraged to eat the meat sacrificed to false gods? ¹¹ The weak brother or sister for whom Christ died is destroyed by your knowledge. ¹² You sin against Christ if you sin against your brothers and sisters and hurt their weak consciences this way. ¹³ This is why, if food causes the downfall of my brother or sister, I won’t eat meat ever again, or else I may cause my brother or sister to fall.

Jesus throws a demon out

²¹ Jesus and his followers went into Capernaum. Immediately on the Sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and started teaching. ²² The people were amazed by his teaching, for he was teaching them with authority, not like the legal experts. ²³ Suddenly, there in the synagogue, a person with an evil spirit screamed, ²⁴ “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are. You are the holy one from God.”

²⁵ “Silence!” Jesus said, speaking harshly to the demon. “Come out of him!” ²⁶ The unclean spirit shook him and screamed, then it came out.

²⁷ Everyone was shaken and questioned among themselves, “What’s this? A new teaching with authority! He even commands unclean spirits and they obey him!” ²⁸ Right away the news about him spread throughout the entire region of Galilee.