Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Peter’s Report to the Church in Jerusalem

11 The apostles and the brothers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. ² So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, those who were circumcised disputed with him, ³ saying, “You went in and ate with uncircumcised men!”

⁴ Peter began explaining it to them in order, saying, ⁵ “I was in the city of Joppa praying. And in a trance I saw a vision: A vessel like a great sheet was descending, let down from heaven by four corners, and it came to me. ⁶ I considered what I had observed and saw four-footed creatures and wild beasts and reptiles and birds of the air. ⁷ Then I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’

⁸ “I said, ‘Not at all, Lord. For nothing common or unclean has at any time entered my mouth.’

⁹ “The voice answered from heaven a second time, ‘What God has cleansed, do not call common.’ ¹⁰ This happened three times. And again everything was taken up into heaven.

¹¹ “And immediately three men sent from Caesarea to me came to the house where I was. ¹² The Spirit told me to go with them without hesitation. Moreover these six brothers came with me, and we entered the man’s house. ¹³ He told us how he had seen an angel in his house, who stood and said to him, ‘Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon whose surname is Peter. ¹⁴ He will speak words to you by which you and all your household will be saved.’

¹⁵ “As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them, as He fell on us at the beginning. ¹⁶ Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, ‘John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’^{[a] 17} If then God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to be able to hinder God?”

¹⁸ When they heard these things, they were silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then God has granted to the Gentiles also repentance unto life.”

Psalm 148

The New Heaven and the New Earth

21 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth.”^[a] For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no more sea. ² I, John, saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from heaven, saying, “Look! The tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them. They shall be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴ ‘God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. There shall be no more death.’^[b] Neither shall there be any more sorrow nor crying nor pain, for the former things have passed away.”

⁵ He who was seated on the throne said, “Look! I am making all things new.” Then He said to me, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.”

⁶ He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the spring of the water of life to him who thirsts.

The New Commandment

³¹ When he had gone out, Jesus then said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and in Him God is glorified. ³² If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself and will immediately glorify Him.

³³ “Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek Me. And as I said to the Jews, so now I tell you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’

³⁴ “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. ³⁵ By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”