Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Living with Your Neighbor

A song for going up to worship.

Don’t Favor Rich People over Poor People

2 My brothers and sisters, practice your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ by not favoring one person over another. ² For example, two men come to your worship service. One man is wearing gold rings and fine clothes; the other man, who is poor, is wearing shabby clothes. ³ Suppose you give special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say to him, “Please have a seat.” But you say to the poor man, “Stand over there,” or “Sit on the floor at my feet.” ⁴ Aren’t you discriminating against people and using a corrupt standard to make judgments?

⁵ Listen, my dear brothers and sisters! Didn’t God choose poor people in the world to become rich in faith and to receive the kingdom that he promised to those who love him? ⁶ Yet, you show no respect to poor people. Don’t rich people oppress you and drag you into court? ⁷ Don’t they curse the good name ⌞of Jesus⌟, the name that was used to bless you?

⁸ You are doing right if you obey this law from the highest authority: “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” ⁹ If you favor one person over another, you’re sinning, and this law convicts you of being disobedient. ¹⁰ If someone obeys all of God’s laws except one, that person is guilty of breaking all of them.

¹¹ After all, the one who said, “Never commit adultery,” is the same one who said, “Never murder.” If you do not commit adultery but you murder, you become a person who disobeys God’s laws.

¹² Talk and act as people who are going to be judged by laws that bring freedom. ¹³ No mercy will be shown to those who show no mercy to others. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

We Show Our Faith by What We Do

¹⁴ My brothers and sisters, what good does it do if someone claims to have faith but doesn’t do any good things? Can this kind of faith save him? ¹⁵ Suppose a believer, whether a man or a woman, needs clothes or food ¹⁶ and one of you tells that person, “God be with you! Stay warm, and make sure you eat enough.” If you don’t provide for that person’s physical needs, what good does it do? ¹⁷ In the same way, faith by itself is dead if it doesn’t cause you to do any good things.

The Faith of a Greek Woman^(A)

²⁴ Jesus left that place and went to the territory of Tyre. He didn’t want anyone to know that he was staying in a house there. However, it couldn’t be kept a secret.

²⁵ A woman whose little daughter had an evil spirit heard about Jesus. She went to him and bowed down. ²⁶ The woman happened to be Greek, born in Phoenicia in Syria. She asked him to force the demon out of her daughter.

²⁷ Jesus said to her, “First, let the children eat all they want. It’s not right to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”

²⁸ She answered him, “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat some of the children’s scraps.”

²⁹ Jesus said to her, “Because you have said this, go! The demon has left your daughter.”

³⁰ The woman went home and found the little child lying on her bed, and the demon was gone.

Jesus Cures a Deaf Man

³¹ Jesus then left the neighborhood of Tyre. He went through Sidon and the territory of the Ten Cities ^[a] to the Sea of Galilee.

³² Some people brought to him a man who was deaf and who also had a speech defect. They begged Jesus to lay his hand on him. ³³ Jesus took him away from the crowd to be alone with him. He put his fingers into the man’s ears, and after spitting, he touched the man’s tongue. ³⁴ Then he looked up to heaven, sighed, and said to the man, “Ephphatha!” which means, “Be opened!” ³⁵ At once the man could hear and talk normally.

³⁶ Jesus ordered the people not to tell anyone. But the more he ordered them, the more they spread the news. ³⁷ Jesus completely amazed the people. They said, “He has done everything well. He makes the deaf hear and the mute talk.”