Tuesday 1 July 2014 DAILY LECTIONARY

Tue Jul 1 01:00:12 EDT 2014

Tuesday 1 July 2014  
DAILY LECTIONARY

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Numbers 22:21-38

So Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey, and went with the officials of Moab.
 God’s anger was kindled because he was going, and the angel of the Lord took his stand in the road as his adversary. Now he was riding on the donkey, and his two servants were with him. The donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road, with a drawn sword in his hand; so the donkey turned off the road, and went into the field; and Balaam struck the donkey, to turn it back on to the road. Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on either side. When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it scraped against the wall, and scraped Balaam’s foot against the wall; so he struck it again. Then the angel of the Lord went ahead, and stood in a narrow place, where there was no way to turn either to the right or to the left. When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it lay down under Balaam; and Balaam’s anger was kindled, and he struck the donkey with his staff. Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and it said to Balaam, ‘What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?’ Balaam said to the donkey, ‘Because you have made a fool of me! I wish I had a sword in my hand! I would kill you right now!’ But the donkey said to Balaam, ‘Am I not your donkey, which you have ridden all your life to this day? Have I been in the habit of treating you in this way?’ And he said, ‘No.’

 Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road, with his drawn sword in his hand; and he bowed down, falling on his face. The angel of the Lord said to him, ‘Why have you struck your donkey these three times? I have come out as an adversary, because your way is perverse* before me. The donkey saw me, and turned away from me these three times. If it had not turned away from me, surely I would by now have killed you and let it live.’ Then Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, ‘I have sinned, for I did not know that you were standing in the road to oppose me. Now therefore, if it is displeasing to you, I will return home.’ The angel of the Lord said to Balaam, ‘Go with the men; but speak only what I tell you to speak.’ So Balaam went on with the officials of Balak.

 When Balak heard that Balaam had come, he went out to meet him at Ir-moab, on the boundary formed by the Arnon, at the farthest point of the boundary. Balak said to Balaam, ‘Did I not send to summon you? Why did you not come to me? Am I not able to honour you?’ Balaam said to Balak, ‘I have come to you now, but do I have power to say just anything? The word God puts in my mouth, that is what I must say.’
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Romans 7:1-12

Do you not know, brothers and sisters*—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only during that person’s lifetime? Thus a married woman is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives; but if her husband dies, she is discharged from the law concerning the husband. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man, she is not an adulteress.

 In the same way, my friends,* you have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God. While we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are discharged from the law, dead to that which held us captive, so that we are slaves not under the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit.
 What then should we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet, if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’ But sin, seizing an opportunity in the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. Apart from the law sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died, and the very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity in the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good.
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Matthew 21:23-32

When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, ‘By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?’ Jesus said to them, ‘I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?’ And they argued with one another, ‘If we say, “From heaven”, he will say to us, “Why then did you not believe him?” But if we say, “Of human origin”, we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a prophet.’ So they answered Jesus, ‘We do not know.’ And he said to them, ‘Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.
 ‘What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, “Son, go and work in the vineyard today.” He answered, “I will not”; but later he changed his mind and went. The father* went to the second and said the same; and he answered, “I go, sir”; but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?’ They said, ‘The first.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, the tax-collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax-collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him. ******************************************************************
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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