Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A song of David.

¹² Then the Spirit^[a] lifted me up, and I heard a voice behind me. It was very loud, like thunder. It said, “Blessed is the Glory of the Lord!” ¹³ Then the wings of the living beings began moving. The wings made a very loud noise as they touched each other, and the wheels in front of them began making a noise as loud as thunder. ¹⁴ The Spirit lifted me and took me away. I was very sad and upset in my spirit, but I felt the Lord’s power in me. ¹⁵ I went to the people of Israel who were forced to live in Tel Aviv^[b] by the Kebar Canal. I sat there among them for seven days, shocked and silent.

The Watchman of Israel

¹⁶ After seven days, the word of the Lord came to me. He said, ¹⁷ “Son of man, I am making you a watchman for Israel. I will tell you about bad things that will happen to them, and you must warn Israel. ¹⁸ If I say, ‘These evil people will die!’ Then you must warn them. You must tell them to change their lives and stop doing evil. If you don’t warn them, they will die because they sinned. But I will also make you responsible for their death, because you did not go to them and save their lives.

¹⁹ “If you warn them and tell them to change their lives and stop doing evil, but they refuse to listen, they will die because they sinned. But since you warned them, you will have saved your own life.

²⁰ “If good people stop being good and begin to do evil, and I send something that makes them stumble and sin, they will die because they sinned. But since you did not warn them and remind them of the good things they had done, I will make you responsible for their death.

²¹ “But if you warn good people and tell them to stop sinning, and they listen to your warning and stop sinning, they will not die. In that way you will have saved your own life.”

Peter Says Jesus Is the Messiah^(A)

¹⁸ One time Jesus was praying alone. His followers came together there, and he asked them, “Who do the people say I am?”

¹⁹ They answered, “Some people say you are John the Baptizer. Others say you are Elijah. And some people say you are one of the prophets from long ago that has come back to life.”

²⁰ Then Jesus said to his followers, “And who do you say I am?”

Peter answered, “You are the Messiah from God.”

²¹ Jesus warned them not to tell anyone.

Jesus Says He Must Die^(B)

²² Then Jesus said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things. He will be rejected by the older Jewish leaders, the leading priests, and teachers of the law. And he will be killed. But after three days he will be raised from death.”

²³ Jesus continued to say to all of them, “Any of you who want to be my follower must stop thinking about yourself and what you want. You must be willing to carry the cross that is given to you every day for following me. ²⁴ Any of you who try to save the life you have will lose it. But you who give up your life for me will save it. ²⁵ It is worth nothing for you to have the whole world if you yourself are destroyed or lost. ²⁶ Don’t be ashamed of me and my teaching. If that happens, I^[a] will be ashamed of you when I come with my divine greatness and that of the Father and the holy angels. ²⁷ Believe me when I say that some of you people standing here will see God’s kingdom before you die.”