Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
God’s one and only son
1 In many ways and by many means God spoke in ancient times to our ancestors in the prophets; 2 but at the end of these days he spoke to us in a son.
He appointed this son to be heir of all things;
through him, in addition, he created the worlds.
3 He is the shining reflection of God’s own glory,
the precise expression of his own very being;
he sustains all things through his powerful word.
He accomplished the cleansing needed for sins,
and sat down at the right of the Majesty Supreme.
4 See how much greater he is than the angels:
the name he is granted is finer than theirs.
Jesus as the truly human being
5 You see, God didn’t place the world to come (which is what I’m writing about) under the control of angels. 6 Someone has spoken of it somewhere in these terms:
What are humans, that you should remember them?
What is the son of man, that you should take thought for him?
7 You made him a little lower than the angels,
you crowned him with glory and honor,
8 and you placed everything under his feet.
When it speaks of everything being subjected to him, it leaves nothing that is not subjected to him. As things are at present, we don’t see everything subjected to him. 9 What we do see is the one who was, for a little while, made lower than the angels—that is, Jesus—crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by God’s grace he might taste death on behalf of everyone.
The Messiah and his brothers and sisters
10 This is how it works out. Everything exists for the sake of God and because of him; and it was appropriate that, in bringing many children to glory, he should make perfect, through suffering, the one who leads the way to salvation. 11 For the one who makes others holy, and the ones who are made holy, all belong to a single family.
This is why he isn’t ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters, 12 when he says,
I will announce your name to my brothers and sisters;
I will sing your praise in the midst of the assembly,
2 Some Pharisees approached him with a question. “Is it permitted,” they asked, “for a man to divorce his wife?” They said this to trap him.
3 “Well,” answered Jesus, “what did Moses command you?”
4 “Moses permitted us,” they replied, “to write a notice of separation and so to complete the divorce.”
5 “He gave you that command,” said Jesus, “because you are hardhearted. 6 But from the beginning of creation
male and female he made them; 7 and that’s why the man must leave his father and his mother and cleave unto his wife; 8 so that the two become one flesh.
“There you are, then: they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9 What God has joined, humans must not split up.”
10 When they were back indoors, the disciples asked him about this.
11 “Anyone who divorces his wife,” said Jesus, “and marries someone else commits adultery against her. 12 And if she divorces her husband and marries someone else she commits adultery.”
13 People brought children to Jesus for him to touch them. The disciples reprimanded them. 14 But Jesus was angry when he saw it, and said to them, “Let the children come to me! Don’t stop them! The kingdom of God belongs to people like that. 15 I’m telling you the truth: anyone who doesn’t receive the kingdom of God like a child will never get into it.”
16 And he hugged them, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.