[Propertalk] READINGS for the EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY after PENTECOST

[Charles Wohlers]

The following are the readings for the Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost, 
October 4, (Proper 22, ECUSA; Proper 27 Roman Catholic) according to the 
Revised Common (RCL), Episcopal (ECUSA), Roman Catholic, Church of England, 
and Canadian (BAS) Lectionaries. All readings are taken from the New Revised 
Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible. Unless noted otherwise, the 
lectionaries of ECUSA, Canada and England are identical to the RCL this 
Sunday.



OLD TESTAMENT:  Job 1: 1, 2: 1 - 10   (RCL)

Job  1:1 (NRSV) There was once a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. 
That man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from 
evil.

2:1 One day the heavenly beings came to present themselves before the LORD, 
and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD. 2 The 
LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Satan answered the LORD, 
"From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it." 3 
The LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one 
like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns 
away from evil. He still persists in his integrity, although you incited me 
against him, to destroy him for no reason." 4 Then Satan answered the LORD, 
"Skin for skin! All that people have they will give to save their lives. 5 
But stretch out your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will 
curse you to your face." 6 The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, he is in your 
power; only spare his life."
7 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD, and inflicted loathsome 
sores on Job from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 Job took 
a potsherd with which to scrape himself, and sat among the ashes.
9 Then his wife said to him, "Do you still persist in your integrity? Curse 
God, and die." 10 But he said to her, "You speak as any foolish woman would 
speak. Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the 
bad?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips.


Genesis 2: 18 - 24   (Can. BAS, Roman Catholic, alt. for RCL)

Gene 2:18 (NRSV) Then the LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should 
be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner." 19 So out of the ground 
the LORD God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and 
brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man 
called every living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to 
all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field; 
but for the man there was not found a helper as his partner. 21 So the LORD 
God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one 
of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the LORD 
God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 
23 Then the man said,
"This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
this one shall be called Woman,
for out of Man this one was taken."
24 Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, 
and they become one flesh.


PSALM 26   (RCL)

Psal 26:1 (NRSV) Vindicate me, O LORD,
for I have walked in my integrity,
and I have trusted in the LORD without wavering.
2 Prove me, O LORD, and try me;
test my heart and mind.
3 For your steadfast love is before my eyes,
and I walk in faithfulness to you.
4 I do not sit with the worthless,
nor do I consort with hypocrites;
5 I hate the company of evildoers,
and will not sit with the wicked.
6 I wash my hands in innocence,
and go around your altar, O LORD,
7 singing aloud a song of thanksgiving,
and telling all your wondrous deeds.
8 O LORD, I love the house in which you dwell,
and the place where your glory abides.
9 Do not sweep me away with sinners,
nor my life with the bloodthirsty,
10 those in whose hands are evil devices,
and whose right hands are full of bribes.
11 But as for me, I walk in my integrity;
redeem me, and be gracious to me.
12 My foot stands on level ground;
in the great congregation I will bless the LORD.


Psalm 8   (alt. for RCL)

Psal 8:1 (NRSV) O LORD, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
2 Out of the mouths of babes and infants
you have founded a bulwark because of your foes,
to silence the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you have established;
4 what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
mortals that you care for them?
5 Yet you have made them a little lower than God,
and crowned them with glory and honor.
6 You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under their feet,
7 all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
9 O LORD, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!


Psalm 128   (Can. BAS, Roman Catholic)

Psal 128:1 (NRSV) Happy is everyone who fears the LORD,
who walks in his ways.
2 You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands;
you shall be happy, and it shall go well with you.
3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
within your house;
your children will be like olive shoots
around your table.
4 Thus shall the man be blessed
who fears the LORD.
5 The LORD bless you from Zion.
May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
all the days of your life.
6 May you see your children's children.
Peace be upon Israel!


128   Beati omnes   (Can. BAS)

1   Happy are they all who fear the Lord, *
 and who follow in his ways!

2   You shall eat the fruit of your labor; *
 happiness and prosperity shall be yours.

3   Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine within your house, *
 your children like olive shoots round about your table.

4   The man who fears the Lord *
 shall thus indeed be blessed.

5   The Lord bless you from Zion, *
 and may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days
  of your life.

6   May you live to see your children's children; *
 may peace be upon Israel.


NEW TESTAMENT:   Hebrews 1: 1 - 4, 2: 5 - 12   (RCL)
                                      Hebrews 1: 1 - 4, 2: 9 - 11   (Can. 
BAS)
                                      Hebrews 2: 9 - 11   (Roman Catholic)

Hebr 1:1 (NRSV) Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways 
by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom 
he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. 3 
He is the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very 
being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made 
purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 
4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is 
more excellent than theirs.

2:5 Now God did not subject the coming world, about which we are speaking, 
to angels. 6 But someone has testified somewhere,
"What are human beings that you are mindful of them,
or mortals, that you care for them?
7 You have made them for a little while lower than the angels;
you have crowned them with glory and honor,
8 subjecting all things under their feet."
Now in subjecting all things to them, God left nothing outside their 
control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them, 9 but 
we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, now 
crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by 
the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
10 It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in 
bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation 
perfect through sufferings. 11 For the one who sanctifies and those who are 
sanctified all have one Father. For this reason Jesus is not ashamed to call 
them brothers and sisters, 12 saying,
"I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters,
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you."


GOSPEL:   Mark 10: 2 - 16   (RCL)
                   Mark 10: 2 - 12 (13 - 16)   (Roman Catholic)

Mark 10:2 (NRSV) Some Phar'isees came, and to test him they asked, "Is it 
lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" 3 He answered them, "What did Moses 
command you?" 4 They said, "Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of 
dismissal and to divorce her." 5 But Jesus said to them, "Because of your 
hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. 6 But from the 
beginning of creation, "God made them male and female.' 7 "For this reason a 
man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, 8 and the 
two shall become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9 
Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate."
10 Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. 11 He 
said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits 
adultery against her; 12 and if she divorces her husband and marries 
another, she commits adultery."
13 People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch 
them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. 14 But when Jesus saw this, 
he was indignant and said to them, "Let the little children come to me; do 
not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. 
15 Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little 
child will never enter it." 16 And he took them up in his arms, laid his 
hands on them, and blessed them.


Chad Wohlers
Woodbury, Vermont &
East Bridgewater, Mass.   USA
chadwohl at satucket.com
cwohlers at bridgew.edu