[Propertalk] READINGS for the THIRD SUNDAY after PENTECOST

[Charles Wohlers]

The following are the readings for the Third Sunday after Pentecost (Proper
8), June 29, 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. Throughout Pentecost the
alternate RCL Psalm would normally be used with the alternate RCL O. T.
reading. Note also that the Canadian RCL does not have the alternative
readings.



OLD TESTAMENT: Genesis 22: 1 - 14 (RCL)

Gene 22:1 (NRSV) After these things God tested Abraham. He said to him,
"Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." 2 He said, "Take your son, your only
son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Mori'ah, and offer him there
as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you." 3 So
Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his
young men with him, and his son Isaac; he cut the wood for the burnt
offering, and set out and went to the place in the distance that God had
shown him. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place far away.
5 Then Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey; the boy
and I will go over there; we will worship, and then we will come back to
you." 6 Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his son
Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. So the two of them
walked on together. 7 Isaac said to his father Abraham, "Father!" And he
said, "Here I am, my son." He said, "The fire and the wood are here, but
where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" 8 Abraham said, "God himself will
provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son." So the two of them walked on
together.
9 When they came to the place that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar
there and laid the wood in order. He bound his son Isaac, and laid him on
the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took
the knife to kill his son. 11 But the angel of the LORD called to him from
heaven, and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." 12 He said,
"Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that
you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me."
13 And Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns.
Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead
of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place "The LORD will provide"; as it
is said to this day, "On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided."


2 Kings 4: 8 - 11, 14 - 16a   (Roman Catholic)

2Kin 4:8 (NRSV) One day Eli'sha was passing through Shu'nem, where a wealthy
woman lived, who urged him to have a meal. So whenever he passed that way,
he would stop there for a meal. 9 She said to her husband, "Look, I am sure
that this man who regularly passes our way is a holy man of God. 10 Let us
make a small roof chamber with walls, and put there for him a bed, a table,
a chair, and a lamp, so that he can stay there whenever he comes to us."
11 One day when he came there, he went up to the chamber and lay down there.
14 [Later Elisha asked,] "What then may be done for her?" Geha'zi answered,
"Well, she has no son, and her husband is old." 15 He said, "Call her." When
he had called her, she stood at the door. 16 He said, "At this season, in
due time, you shall embrace a son."


Jeremiah 28: 5 - 9 (alt. for RCL)

Jere 28:5 (NRSV) Then the prophet Jeremi'ah spoke to the prophet Hanani'ah
in the presence of the priests and all the people who were standing in the
house of the LORD; 6 and the prophet Jeremi'ah said, "Amen! May the LORD do
so; may the LORD fulfill the words that you have prophesied, and bring back
to this place from Babylon the vessels of the house of the LORD, and all the
exiles. 7 But listen now to this word that I speak in your hearing and in
the hearing of all the people. 8 The prophets who preceded you and me from
ancient times prophesied war, famine, and pestilence against many countries
and great kingdoms. 9 As for the prophet who prophesies peace, when the word
of that prophet comes true, then it will be known that the LORD has truly
sent the prophet."


PSALM 13 (RCL)

Psal 13:1 (NRSV) How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I bear pain in my soul,
and have sorrow in my heart all day long?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
3 Consider and answer me, O LORD my God!
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
4 and my enemy will say, "I have prevailed";
my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.
5 But I trusted in your steadfast love;
my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
6 I will sing to the LORD,
because he has dealt bountifully with me.


Psalm 89: 1 - 4, 15 - 18 (alt. for RCL)
Psalm 89: 1 - 2, 15 - 18 (Roman Catholic)

Psal 89:1 (NRSV) I will sing of your steadfast love, O LORD, forever;
with my mouth I will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations.
2 I declare that your steadfast love is established forever;
your faithfulness is as firm as the heavens.
3 You said, "I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
I have sworn to my servant David:
4 "I will establish your descendants forever,
and build your throne for all generations.'" [Se'lah]
5 Let the heavens praise your wonders, O LORD,
your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones.

15 Happy are the people who know the festal shout,
who walk, O LORD, in the light of your countenance;
16 they exult in your name all day long,
and extol your righteousness.
17 For you are the glory of their strength;
by your favor our horn is exalted.
18 For our shield belongs to the LORD,
our king to the Holy One of Israel.

Note: Verse numbering in Roman Catholic bibles is one higher than the above.



NEW TESTAMENT: Romans 6: 12 - 23 (RCL)

Roma 6:12 (NRSV) Therefore, do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal
bodies, to make you obey their passions. 13 No longer present your members
to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those
who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as
instruments of righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you,
since you are not under law but under grace.
15 What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By
no means! 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as
obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin,
which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But
thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become
obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted,
18 and that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of
righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms because of your natural
limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to
impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now present your members as
slaves to righteousness for sanctification.
20 When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21
So what advantage did you then get from the things of which you now are
ashamed? The end of those things is death. 22 But now that you have been
freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification.
The end is eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift
of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.


Romans 6: 3 - 4, 8 - 11 (Roman Catholic)

Roma 6:3 (NRSV) Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into
Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we have been buried
with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the
dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

8 But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with
him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die
again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 The death he died, he died
to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 So you also
must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.


GOSPEL: Matthew 10: 40 - 42 (RCL)
                   Matthew 10: 37 - 42 (Roman Catholic)

Matt 10:37 (NRSV) Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy
of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;
38 and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
39 Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for
my sake will find it.
40 "Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the
one who sent me. 41 Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will
receive a prophet's reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the
name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; 42 and
whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the
name of a disciple--truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward."



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