[Propertalk] READINGS for the FOURTH SUNDAY in LENT

[Charles Wohlers]

The following are the readings for the Fourth Sunday in Lent, March 18, 
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 otherwise noted, the ECUSA, Canadian and Common Worship 
readings are identical to the RCL this Sunday.

This is Mothering Sunday. If desired, the following alternatives may be used 
in the C of E:
OT: Exodus 2:1-10 or 1 Samuel 1:20-28
Psalm 34:11-20 or 127:1-4
NT: 2 Corinthians 1:3-7 or Colossians 3:12-17
Gospel: Luke 2:33-35 or John 19:25b-27


OLD TESTAMENT:  Numbers 21: 4 - 9   (RCL)

Numb 21:4 (NRSV) From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to 
go around the land of E'dom; but the people became impatient on the way. 5 
The people spoke against God and against Moses, "Why have you brought us up 
out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, 
and we detest this miserable food." 6 Then the LORD sent poisonous serpents 
among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died. 7 
The people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned by speaking against the 
LORD and against you; pray to the LORD to take away the serpents from us." 
So Moses prayed for the people. 8 And the LORD said to Moses, "Make a 
poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall 
look at it and live." 9 So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a 
pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the 
serpent of bronze and live.


2 Chronicles 36: 14 - 16, 19 - 23   (Roman Catholic)

2Chr 36:14 (NRSV) All the leading priests and the people also were 
exceedingly unfaithful, following all the abominations of the nations; and 
they polluted the house of the LORD that he had consecrated in Jerusalem.
15 The LORD, the God of their ancestors, sent persistently to them by his 
messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling 
place; 16 but they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words, 
and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD against his people 
became so great that there was no remedy.

19 They burned the house of God, broke down the wall of Jerusalem, burned 
all its palaces with fire, and destroyed all its precious vessels. 20 He 
took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, and they 
became servants to him and to his sons until the establishment of the 
kingdom of Persia, 21 to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of 
Jeremi'ah, until the land had made up for its sabbaths. All the days that it 
lay desolate it kept sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.
22 In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, in fulfillment of the word of 
the LORD spoken by Jeremi'ah, the LORD stirred up the spirit of King Cyrus 
of Persia so that he sent a herald throughout all his kingdom and also 
declared in a written edict: 23 "Thus says King Cyrus of Persia: The LORD, 
the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has 
charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is 
among you of all his people, may the LORD his God be with him! Let him go 
up."


PSALM 107: 1 - 3, 17 - 22   (RCL)

Psal 107:1 (NRSV) O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures forever.
2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say so,
those he redeemed from trouble
3 and gathered in from the lands,
from the east and from the west,
from the north and from the south.

17 Some were sick through their sinful ways,
and because of their iniquities endured affliction;
18 they loathed any kind of food,
and they drew near to the gates of death.
19 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,
and he saved them from their distress;
20 he sent out his word and healed them,
and delivered them from destruction.
21 Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love,
for his wonderful works to humankind.
22 And let them offer thanksgiving sacrifices,
and tell of his deeds with songs of joy.


Psalm 137: 1 - 6   (Roman Catholic)

Psal 137:1 (NRSV) By the rivers of Babylon-- 
there we sat down and there we wept
when we remembered Zion.
2 On the willows there
we hung up our harps.
3 For there our captors
asked us for songs,
and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying,
"Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"
4 How could we sing the LORD's song
in a foreign land?
5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand wither!
6 Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth,
if I do not remember you,
if I do not set Jerusalem
above my highest joy.


NEW TESTAMENT:  Ephesians 2: 1 - 10   (RCL)
                                     Ephesians 2: 4 - 10   (Roman Catholic)

Ephe 2:1 (NRSV) You were dead through the trespasses and sins 2 in which you 
once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the 
power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are 
disobedient. 3 All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, 
following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of 
wrath, like everyone else. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great 
love with which he loved us 5 even when we were dead through our trespasses, 
made us alive together with Christ --by grace you have been saved-- 6 and 
raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in 
Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable 
riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace 
you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the 
gift of God-- 9 not the result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we 
are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God 
prepared beforehand to be our way of life.


GOSPEL:  John 3: 14 - 21

John 3:14 (NRSV) And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, 
so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may 
have eternal life.
16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone 
who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
17 "Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, 
but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Those who believe 
in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned 
already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 
19 And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and 
people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. 20 
For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that 
their deeds may not be exposed. 21 But those who do what is true come to the 
light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in 
God."


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