Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

God the Fair and Holy King

²² Now Eli was very old. He heard about everything his sons were doing to all the Israelites. He also heard about how his sons had physical relations with the women who served at the entrance to the Meeting Tent. ²³ Eli said to his sons, “The people here tell me about the evil you do. Why do you do these evil things? ²⁴ No, my sons. The Lord’s people are saying bad things about you. ²⁵ If someone sins against another person, God can help him. But if he sins against the Lord himself, no one can help him!” But Eli’s sons would not listen to him. This was because the Lord had decided to put them to death.

²⁶ The boy Samuel kept growing. He pleased God and the people.

²⁷ A man of God came to Eli. He said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘I clearly showed myself to the family of your ancestor Aaron. This was when they were slaves to the king of Egypt. ²⁸ I chose them from all the tribes of Israel to be my priests. I wanted them to go up to my altar, to burn incense and to wear the holy vest. I also let the family of your ancestor have part of all the offerings sacrificed by the Israelites. ²⁹ So why don’t you respect the sacrifices and gifts? You honor your sons more than me. You become fat on the best parts of the meat the Israelites bring to me.’

³⁰ “Here’s what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I promised that your family and your ancestor’s family would serve me forever.’ But now the Lord says this: ‘That will never be! I will honor those who honor me. But I will take honor away from those who do not honor me. ³¹ The time is coming when I will destroy the descendants of both you and your ancestors. No man will grow old in your family. ³² You will see trouble in my house. Good things will be done to Israel. But there will never be an old man in your family. ³³ I will save one man to serve as priest at my altar. He will wear out his eyes and use up his strength. The rest of your descendants will die by the sword.

³⁴ “‘I will give you a sign. Both your sons, Hophni and Phinehas, will die on the same day. ³⁵ I will choose a loyal priest for myself. He will listen to me and do what I want. I will make his family strong. He will always serve before my appointed king. ³⁶ Then everyone left in your family will come and bow down before him. They will beg for a little money or a little food. They will say, “Please give me a job as priest so I can have food to eat.”’”

Jesus Heals a Man at a Pool

5 Later Jesus went to Jerusalem for a special Jewish feast. ² In Jerusalem there is a pool with five covered porches. In the Jewish language^[a] it is called Bethzatha.^[b] This pool is near the Sheep Gate. ³ Many sick people were lying on the porches beside the pool. Some were blind, some were crippled, and some were paralyzed [and they waited for the water to move. ⁴ Sometimes an angel of the Lord came down to the pool and stirred up the water. After the angel did this, the first person to go into the pool was healed from any sickness he had].^{[c] 5} There was a man lying there who had been sick for 38 years. ⁶ Jesus saw the man and knew that he had been sick for a very long time. So Jesus asked him, “Do you want to be well?”

⁷ The sick man answered, “Sir, there is no one to help me get into the pool when the water starts moving. I try to be the first one into the water. But when I try, someone else always goes in before I can.”

⁸ Then Jesus said, “Stand up. Pick up your mat and walk.” ⁹ And immediately the man was well. He picked up his mat and began to walk.

The day all this happened was a Sabbath day. ¹⁰ So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “Today is the Sabbath. It is against our law for you to carry your mat on the Sabbath day.”

¹¹ But he answered, “The man who made me well told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”

¹² Then they asked him, “Who is the man who told you to pick up your mat and walk?”

¹³ But the man who had been healed did not know who it was. There were many people in that place, and Jesus had left.

¹⁴ Later, Jesus found the man at the Temple. Jesus said to him, “See, you are well now. But stop sinning or something worse may happen to you!”

¹⁵ Then the man left and went back to the Jews. He told them that Jesus was the one who had made him well.

¹⁶ Jesus was doing this on the Sabbath day. So the Jews began to do bad things to him. ¹⁷ But Jesus said to them, “My Father never stops working. And so I work, too.”

¹⁸ This made the Jews try harder to kill him. They said, “First Jesus was breaking the law about the Sabbath day. Then he said that God is his own Father! He is making himself equal with God!”