[Propertalk] READINGS for the FIFTH SUNDAY of LENT

[Charles Wohlers]

The following are the readings for the Fifth Sunday of Lent, March 21, 
according to the Revised Common (RCL), Episcopal (ECUSA), Roman Catholic, 
Canadian BAS, and the Church of England (Common Worship) lectionaries. All 
readings are taken from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the 
Bible. Unless noted otherwise, the ECUSA, Canadian and C of E lectionaries 
are identical to the RCL for this day.

The readings are posted on our web site: <<http://satucket.com/lectionary>>, 
in RTF format, which can be read by all word processors.



OLD TESTAMENT:  Isaiah 43: 16 - 21   (all)

Isai 43:16 (NRSV) Thus says the LORD,
who makes a way in the sea,
a path in the mighty waters,
17 who brings out chariot and horse,
army and warrior;
they lie down, they cannot rise,
they are extinguished, quenched like a wick:
18 Do not remember the former things,
or consider the things of old.
19 I am about to do a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.
20 The wild animals will honor me,
the jackals and the ostriches;
for I give water in the wilderness,
rivers in the desert,
to give drink to my chosen people,
21 the people whom I formed for myself
so that they might declare my praise.


PSALM 126   (all)

Psal 126:1 (NRSV) When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion,
we were like those who dream.
2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with shouts of joy;
then it was said among the nations,
"The LORD has done great things for them."
3 The LORD has done great things for us,
and we rejoiced.
4 Restore our fortunes, O LORD,
like the watercourses in the Neg'eb.
5 May those who sow in tears
reap with shouts of joy.
6 Those who go out weeping,
bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
carrying their sheaves.


NEW TESTAMENT:  Philippians 3: 4b - 14   (RCL)
                                     Philippians 3: 8 - 14   (Roman 
Catholic, Can. BAS)

Phil 3:4 (NRSV) If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I 
have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of 
Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a 
Phar'isee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness 
under the law, blameless.
7 Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of 
Christ. 8 More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the 
surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have 
suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that 
I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my 
own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the 
righteousness from God based on faith. 10 I want to know Christ and the 
power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like 
him in his death, 11 if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; 
but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 
13 Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing 
I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 
14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in 
Christ Jesus.


GOSPEL:   John 12: 1 - 8   (RCL)

John 12:1 (NRSV) Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Beth'any, the 
home of Laz'arus, whom he had raised from the dead. 2 There they gave a 
dinner for him. Martha served, and Laz'arus was one of those at the table 
with him. 3 Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed 
Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the 
fragrance of the perfume. 4 But Judas Iscar'iot, one of his disciples (the 
one who was about to betray him), said, 5 "Why was this perfume not sold for 
three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?" 6 (He said this not 
because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the 
common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) 7 Jesus said, "Leave 
her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. 
8 You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me."


John 8: 1 - 11   (Roman Catholic)

John 8:1 (NRSV) while Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the 
morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat 
down and began to teach them. 3 The scribes and the Phar'isees brought a 
woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of 
them, 4 they said to him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of 
committing adultery. 5 Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such 
women. Now what do you say?" 6 They said this to test him, so that they 
might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with 
his finger on the ground. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he 
straightened up and said to them, "Let anyone among you who is without sin 
be the first to throw a stone at her." 8 And once again he bent down and 
wrote on the ground. 9 When they heard it, they went away, one by one, 
beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing 
before him. 10 Jesus straightened up and said to her, "Woman, where are 
they? Has no one condemned you?" 11 She said, "No one, sir." And Jesus said, 
"Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again."



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