Friday 3 April 2015 (GOOD FRIDAY) DAILY LECTIONARY

[Daily Lectionary]

Friday 3 April 2015  (GOOD FRIDAY)
DAILY LECTIONARY

Email Evangelism, forward to a friend: http://www.dailylectionary.org
******************************************************************
Wisdom 1:16-2:1,12-22

But the ungodly by their words and deeds summoned death;*
considering him a friend, they pined away
and made a covenant with him,
because they are fit to belong to his company.

For they reasoned unsoundly, saying to themselves,
‘Short and sorrowful is our life,
and there is no remedy when a life comes to its end,
and no one has been known to return from Hades. 
‘Let us lie in wait for the righteous man,
because he is inconvenient to us and opposes our actions;
he reproaches us for sins against the law,
and accuses us of sins against our training. 
He professes to have knowledge of God,
and calls himself a child* of the Lord. 
He became to us a reproof of our thoughts; 
the very sight of him is a burden to us,
because his manner of life is unlike that of others,
and his ways are strange. 
We are considered by him as something base,
and he avoids our ways as unclean;
he calls the last end of the righteous happy,
and boasts that God is his father. 
Let us see if his words are true,
and let us test what will happen at the end of his life; 
for if the righteous man is God’s child, he will help him,
and will deliver him from the hand of his adversaries. 
Let us test him with insult and torture,
so that we may find out how gentle he is,
and make trial of his forbearance. 
Let us condemn him to a shameful death,
for, according to what he says, he will be protected.’ 


Thus they reasoned, but they were led astray,
for their wickedness blinded them, 
and they did not know the secret purposes of God,
nor hoped for the wages of holiness,
nor discerned the prize for blameless souls;
******************************************************************
1 Peter 1:10-20

Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that was to be yours made careful search and inquiry, inquiring about the person or time that the Spirit of Christ within them indicated, when it testified in advance to the sufferings destined for Christ and the subsequent glory. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in regard to the things that have now been announced to you through those who brought you good news by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things into which angels long to look!
 Therefore prepare your minds for action;* discipline yourselves; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed. Like obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance. Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; for it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’

 If you invoke as Father the one who judges all people impartially according to their deeds, live in reverent fear during the time of your exile. You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish. He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake. ******************************************************************
John 13:36-38
 
Simon Peter said to him, ‘Lord, where are you going?’ Jesus answered, ‘Where I am going, you cannot follow me now; but you will follow afterwards.’ Peter said to him, ‘Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.’ Jesus answered, ‘Will you lay down your life for me? Very truly, I tell you, before the cock crows, you will have denied me three times.
******************************************************************
John 19:38-42 (evening reading)
 
After these things, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, though a secret one because of his fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to let him take away the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission; so he came and removed his body. Nicodemus, who had at first come to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews. Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation, and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
******************************************************************
Morning Psalms: Psalm 95, 22

Psalm 95

O come, let us sing to the Lord;
   let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! 
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
   let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! 
For the Lord is a great God,
   and a great King above all gods. 
In his hand are the depths of the earth;
   the heights of the mountains are his also. 
The sea is his, for he made it,
   and the dry land, which his hands have formed. 


O come, let us worship and bow down,
   let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! 
For he is our God,
   and we are the people of his pasture,
   and the sheep of his hand. 


O that today you would listen to his voice! 
   Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
   as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, 
when your ancestors tested me,
   and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. 
For forty years I loathed that generation
   and said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray,
   and they do not regard my ways.’ 
Therefore in my anger I swore,
   ‘They shall not enter my rest.’


Psalm 22

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
   Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning? 
O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer;
   and by night, but find no rest. 


Yet you are holy,
   enthroned on the praises of Israel. 
In you our ancestors trusted;
   they trusted, and you delivered them. 
To you they cried, and were saved;
   in you they trusted, and were not put to shame. 


But I am a worm, and not human;
   scorned by others, and despised by the people. 
All who see me mock at me;
   they make mouths at me, they shake their heads; 
‘Commit your cause to the Lord; let him deliver—
   let him rescue the one in whom he delights!’ 


Yet it was you who took me from the womb;
   you kept me safe on my mother’s breast. 
On you I was cast from my birth,
   and since my mother bore me you have been my God. 
Do not be far from me,
   for trouble is near
   and there is no one to help. 


Many bulls encircle me,
   strong bulls of Bashan surround me; 
they open wide their mouths at me,
   like a ravening and roaring lion. 


I am poured out like water,
   and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like wax;
   it is melted within my breast; 
my mouth* is dried up like a potsherd,
   and my tongue sticks to my jaws;
   you lay me in the dust of death. 


For dogs are all around me;
   a company of evildoers encircles me.
My hands and feet have shrivelled;* 
I can count all my bones.
They stare and gloat over me; 
they divide my clothes among themselves,
   and for my clothing they cast lots. 


But you, O Lord, do not be far away!
   O my help, come quickly to my aid! 
Deliver my soul from the sword,
   my life* from the power of the dog! 
   Save me from the mouth of the lion! 


From the horns of the wild oxen you have rescued* me. 
I will tell of your name to my brothers and sisters;*
   in the midst of the congregation I will praise you: 
You who fear the Lord, praise him!
   All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him;
   stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel! 
For he did not despise or abhor
   the affliction of the afflicted;
he did not hide his face from me,*
   but heard when I* cried to him. 


From you comes my praise in the great congregation;
   my vows I will pay before those who fear him. 
The poor* shall eat and be satisfied;
   those who seek him shall praise the Lord.
   May your hearts live for ever! 


All the ends of the earth shall remember
   and turn to the Lord;
and all the families of the nations
   shall worship before him.* 
For dominion belongs to the Lord,
   and he rules over the nations. 


To him,* indeed, shall all who sleep in* the earth bow down;
   before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,
   and I shall live for him.* 
Posterity will serve him;
   future generations will be told about the Lord, 
and* proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn,
   saying that he has done it.
******************************************************************
Evening Psalms: Psalm 40:1-19, 54

Psalm 40:1-19

I waited patiently for the Lord;
   he inclined to me and heard my cry. 
He drew me up from the desolate pit,*
   out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
   making my steps secure. 
He put a new song in my mouth,
   a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
   and put their trust in the Lord. 


Happy are those who make
   the Lord their trust,
who do not turn to the proud,
   to those who go astray after false gods. 
You have multiplied, O Lord my God,
   your wondrous deeds and your thoughts towards us;
   none can compare with you.
Were I to proclaim and tell of them,
   they would be more than can be counted. 


Sacrifice and offering you do not desire,
   but you have given me an open ear.*
Burnt-offering and sin-offering
   you have not required. 
Then I said, ‘Here I am;
   in the scroll of the book it is written of me.* 
I delight to do your will, O my God;
   your law is within my heart.’ 


I have told the glad news of deliverance
   in the great congregation;
see, I have not restrained my lips,
   as you know, O Lord. 
I have not hidden your saving help within my heart,
   I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation;
I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness
   from the great congregation. 


Do not, O Lord, withhold
   your mercy from me;
let your steadfast love and your faithfulness
   keep me safe for ever. 
For evils have encompassed me
   without number;
my iniquities have overtaken me,
   until I cannot see;
they are more than the hairs of my head,
   and my heart fails me. 


Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me;
   O Lord, make haste to help me. 
Let all those be put to shame and confusion
   who seek to snatch away my life;
let those be turned back and brought to dishonour
   who desire my hurt. 
Let those be appalled because of their shame
   who say to me, ‘Aha, Aha!’ 


But may all who seek you
   rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who love your salvation
   say continually, ‘Great is the Lord!’ 
As for me, I am poor and needy,
   but the Lord takes thought for me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
   do not delay, O my God.


Psalm 54

Save me, O God, by your name,
   and vindicate me by your might. 
Hear my prayer, O God;
   give ear to the words of my mouth. 


For the insolent have risen against me,
   the ruthless seek my life;
   they do not set God before them.
          Selah 


But surely, God is my helper;
   the Lord is the upholder of* my life. 
He will repay my enemies for their evil.
   In your faithfulness, put an end to them. 


With a freewill-offering I will sacrifice to you;
   I will give thanks to your name, O Lord, for it is good. 
For he has delivered me from every trouble,
   and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies.
******************************************************************