Tuesday 27 March 2007 DAILY LECTIONARY

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Tuesday 27 March 2007
DAILY LECTIONARY

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Jeremiah 25:8-17

Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Because you have not obeyed my
words, I am going to send for all the tribes of the north, says the
Lord, even for King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, my servant, and I will
bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these
nations around; I will utterly destroy them, and make them an object of
horror and of hissing, and an everlasting disgrace. And I will banish
from them the sound of mirth and the sound of gladness, the voice of
the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones
and the light of the lamp. This whole land shall become a ruin and a
waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon for seventy
years. Then after seventy years are completed, I will punish the king
of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their
iniquity, says the Lord, making the land an everlasting waste. I will
bring upon that land all the words that I have uttered against it,
everything written in this book, which Jeremiah prophesied against all
the nations. For many nations and great kings shall make slaves of them
also; and I will repay them according to their deeds and the work of
their hands. 
For thus the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: Take from my hand this
cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you
drink it. They shall drink and stagger and go out of their minds
because of the sword that I am sending among them. 
So I took the cup from the Lord’s hand, and made all the nations to whom
the Lord sent me drink it:
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Romans 10:1-13

Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is
that they may be saved. I can testify that they have a zeal for God,
but it is not enlightened. For, being ignorant of the righteousness
that comes from God, and seeking to establish their own, they have not
submitted to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law so
that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. 
Moses writes concerning the righteousness that comes from the law, that
‘the person who does these things will live by them.’ But the
righteousness that comes from faith says, ‘Do not say in your heart,
“Who will ascend into heaven?” ’ (that is, to bring Christ down) ‘or
“Who will descend into the abyss?” ’ (that is, to bring Christ up from
the dead). But what does it say?
‘The word is near you,
   on your lips and in your heart’
(that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because if you confess
with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God
raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the
heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is
saved. The scripture says, ‘No one who believes in him will be put to
shame.’ For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same
Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. For,
‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
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John 9:18-41

The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his
sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his
sight and asked them, ‘Is this your son, who you say was born blind?
How then does he now see?’ His parents answered, ‘We know that this is
our son, and that he was born blind; but we do not know how it is that
now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age.
He will speak for himself.’ His parents said this because they were
afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who
confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue.
Therefore his parents said, ‘He is of age; ask him.’ 
So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they
said to him, ‘Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.’ He
answered, ‘I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know,
that though I was blind, now I see.’ They said to him, ‘What did he do
to you? How did he open your eyes?’ He answered them, ‘I have told you
already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do
you also want to become his disciples?’ Then they reviled him, saying,
‘You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God
has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes
from.’ The man answered, ‘Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know
where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does
not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and
obeys his will. Never since the world began has it been heard that
anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not
from God, he could do nothing.’ They answered him, ‘You were born
entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?’ And they drove him
out. 
Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he
said, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’ He answered, ‘And who is he,
sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.’ Jesus said to him, ‘You
have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.’ He said, ‘Lord, I
believe.’ And he worshipped him. Jesus said, ‘I came into this world
for judgement so that those who do not see may see, and those who do
see may become blind.’ Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and
said to him, ‘Surely we are not blind, are we?’ Jesus said to them, ‘If
you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, “We see”,
your sin remains.
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Morning Psalms:  Psalm 120, 121, 122, 123

Psalm 120

In my distress I cry to the Lord,
   that he may answer me: 
‘Deliver me, O Lord,
   from lying lips,
   from a deceitful tongue.’ 


What shall be given to you?
   And what more shall be done to you,
   you deceitful tongue? 
A warrior’s sharp arrows,
   with glowing coals of the broom tree! 


Woe is me, that I am an alien in Meshech,
   that I must live among the tents of Kedar. 
Too long have I had my dwelling
   among those who hate peace. 
I am for peace;
   but when I speak,
   they are for war.



Psalm 121

I lift up my eyes to the hills—
   from where will my help come? 
My help comes from the Lord,
   who made heaven and earth. 


He will not let your foot be moved;
   he who keeps you will not slumber. 
He who keeps Israel
   will neither slumber nor sleep. 


The Lord is your keeper;
   the Lord is your shade at your right hand. 
The sun shall not strike you by day,
   nor the moon by night. 


The Lord will keep you from all evil;
   he will keep your life. 
The Lord will keep
   your going out and your coming in
   from this time on and for evermore.



Psalm 122

I was glad when they said to me,
   ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord!’ 
Our feet are standing
   within your gates, O Jerusalem. 


Jerusalem—built as a city
   that is bound firmly together. 
To it the tribes go up,
   the tribes of the Lord,
as was decreed for Israel,
   to give thanks to the name of the Lord. 
For there the thrones for judgement were set up,
   the thrones of the house of David. 


Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
   ‘May they prosper who love you. 
Peace be within your walls,
   and security within your towers.’ 
For the sake of my relatives and friends
   I will say, ‘Peace be within you.’ 
For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
   I will seek your good.



Psalm 123

To you I lift up my eyes,
   O you who are enthroned in the heavens! 
As the eyes of servants
   look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maid
   to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord our God,
   until he has mercy upon us. 


Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us,
   for we have had more than enough of contempt. 
Our soul has had more than its fill
   of the scorn of those who are at ease,
   of the contempt of the proud.
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Evening Psalms: Psalm 124, 125, 126, 127

Psalm 124

If it had not been the Lord who was on our side
   —let Israel now say— 
if it had not been the Lord who was on our side,
   when our enemies attacked us, 
then they would have swallowed us up alive,
   when their anger was kindled against us; 
then the flood would have swept us away,
   the torrent would have gone over us; 
then over us would have gone
   the raging waters. 


Blessed be the Lord,
   who has not given us
   as prey to their teeth. 
We have escaped like a bird
   from the snare of the fowlers;
the snare is broken,
   and we have escaped. 


Our help is in the name of the Lord,
   who made heaven and earth.



Psalm 125

Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion,
   which cannot be moved, but abides for ever. 
As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
   so the Lord surrounds his people,
   from this time on and for evermore. 
For the sceptre of wickedness shall not rest
   on the land allotted to the righteous,
so that the righteous may not stretch out
   their hands to do wrong. 
Do good, O Lord, to those who are good,
   and to those who are upright in their hearts. 
But those who turn aside to their own crooked ways
   the Lord will lead away with evildoers.
   Peace be upon Israel!



Psalm 126

When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,
   we were like those who dream. 
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.’ 
The Lord has done great things for us,
   and we rejoiced. 


Restore our fortunes, O Lord,
   like the watercourses in the Negeb. 
May those who sow in tears
   reap with shouts of joy. 
Those who go out weeping,
   bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
   carrying their sheaves.



Psalm 127

Unless the Lord builds the house,
   those who build it labour in vain.
Unless the Lord guards the city,
   the guard keeps watch in vain. 
It is in vain that you rise up early
   and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;
   for he gives sleep to his beloved. 


Sons are indeed a heritage from the Lord,
   the fruit of the womb a reward. 
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
   are the sons of one’s youth. 
Happy is the man who has
   his quiver full of them.
He shall not be put to shame
   when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.
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