Monday 30 March 2015 DAILY LECTIONARY

[Daily Lectionary]

Monday 30 March 2015  
DAILY LECTIONARY

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Jeremiah 12:1-16

You will be in the right, O Lord,
   when I lay charges against you;
   but let me put my case to you.
Why does the way of the guilty prosper?
   Why do all who are treacherous thrive? 
You plant them, and they take root;
   they grow and bring forth fruit;
you are near in their mouths
   yet far from their hearts. 
But you, O Lord, know me;
   You see me and test me—my heart is with you.
Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter,
   and set them apart for the day of slaughter. 
How long will the land mourn,
   and the grass of every field wither?
For the wickedness of those who live in it
   the animals and the birds are swept away,
   and because people said, ‘He is blind to our ways.’* 


If you have raced with foot-runners and they have wearied you,
   how will you compete with horses?
And if in a safe land you fall down,
   how will you fare in the thickets of the Jordan? 
For even your kinsfolk and your own family,
   even they have dealt treacherously with you;
   they are in full cry after you;
do not believe them,
   though they speak friendly words to you. 


I have forsaken my house,
   I have abandoned my heritage;
I have given the beloved of my heart
   into the hands of her enemies. 
My heritage has become to me
   like a lion in the forest;
she has lifted up her voice against me—
   therefore I hate her. 
Is the hyena greedy* for my heritage at my command?
   Are the birds of prey all around her?
Go, assemble all the wild animals;
   bring them to devour her. 
Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard,
   they have trampled down my portion,
they have made my pleasant portion
   a desolate wilderness. 
They have made it a desolation;
   desolate, it mourns to me.
The whole land is made desolate,
   but no one lays it to heart. 
Upon all the bare heights* in the desert
   spoilers have come;
for the sword of the Lord devours
   from one end of the land to the other;
   no one shall be safe. 
They have sown wheat and have reaped thorns,
   they have tired themselves out but profit nothing.
They shall be ashamed of their* harvests
   because of the fierce anger of the Lord. 

 Thus says the Lord concerning all my evil neighbours who touch the heritage that I have given my people Israel to inherit: I am about to pluck them up from their land, and I will pluck up the house of Judah from among them. And after I have plucked them up, I will again have compassion on them, and I will bring them again to their heritage and to their land, every one of them. And then, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, ‘As the Lord lives’, as they taught my people to swear by Baal, then they shall be built up in the midst of my people.
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Philippians 3:1-14

Finally, my brothers and sisters,* rejoice* in the Lord. 

To write the same things to you is not troublesome to me, and for you it is a safeguard.

 Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of those who mutilate the flesh!* For it is we who are the circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God* and boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh— even though I, too, have reason for confidence in the flesh.

If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

 Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ,* the righteousness from God based on faith. I want to know Christ* and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
 Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal;* but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved,* I do not consider that I have made it my own;* but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the heavenly* call of God in Christ Jesus. ******************************************************************
John 12:9-19
 
When the great crowd of the Jews learned that he was there, they came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death as well, since it was on account of him that many of the Jews were deserting and were believing in Jesus.
 The next day the great crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting,
‘Hosanna!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord—
   the King of Israel!’ 
Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it; as it is written: 
‘Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion.
Look, your king is coming,
   sitting on a donkey’s colt!’ 
His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written of him and had been done to him. So the crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to testify.* It was also because they heard that he had performed this sign that the crowd went to meet him. The Pharisees then said to one another, ‘You see, you can do nothing. Look, the world has gone after him!’
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Morning Psalms: Psalm 51:1-20

Psalm 51:1-20

Have mercy on me, O God,
   according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
   blot out my transgressions. 
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
   and cleanse me from my sin. 


For I know my transgressions,
   and my sin is ever before me. 
Against you, you alone, have I sinned,
   and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are justified in your sentence
   and blameless when you pass judgement. 
Indeed, I was born guilty,
   a sinner when my mother conceived me. 


You desire truth in the inward being;*
   therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart. 
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
   wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 
Let me hear joy and gladness;
   let the bones that you have crushed rejoice. 
Hide your face from my sins,
   and blot out all my iniquities. 


Create in me a clean heart, O God,
   and put a new and right* spirit within me. 
Do not cast me away from your presence,
   and do not take your holy spirit from me. 
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
   and sustain in me a willing* spirit. 


Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
   and sinners will return to you. 
Deliver me from bloodshed, O God,
   O God of my salvation,
   and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance. 


O Lord, open my lips,
   and my mouth will declare your praise. 
For you have no delight in sacrifice;
   if I were to give a burnt-offering, you would not be pleased. 
The sacrifice acceptable to God* is a broken spirit;
   a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. 


Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;
   rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, 
then you will delight in right sacrifices,
   in burnt-offerings and whole burnt-offerings;
   then bulls will be offered on your altar.
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Evening Psalms: Psalm 69:1-23

Psalm 69:1-23

Save me, O God,
   for the waters have come up to my neck. 
I sink in deep mire,
   where there is no foothold;
I have come into deep waters,
   and the flood sweeps over me. 
I am weary with my crying;
   my throat is parched.
My eyes grow dim
   with waiting for my God. 


More in number than the hairs of my head
   are those who hate me without cause;
many are those who would destroy me,
   my enemies who accuse me falsely.
What I did not steal
   must I now restore? 
O God, you know my folly;
   the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you. 


Do not let those who hope in you be put to shame because of me,
   O Lord God of hosts;
do not let those who seek you be dishonoured because of me,
   O God of Israel. 
It is for your sake that I have borne reproach,
   that shame has covered my face. 
I have become a stranger to my kindred,
   an alien to my mother’s children. 


It is zeal for your house that has consumed me;
   the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me. 
When I humbled my soul with fasting,*
   they insulted me for doing so. 
When I made sackcloth my clothing,
   I became a byword to them. 
I am the subject of gossip for those who sit in the gate,
   and the drunkards make songs about me. 


But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord.
   At an acceptable time, O God,
   in the abundance of your steadfast love, answer me.
With your faithful help rescue me
   from sinking in the mire;
let me be delivered from my enemies
   and from the deep waters. 
Do not let the flood sweep over me,
   or the deep swallow me up,
   or the Pit close its mouth over me. 


Answer me, O Lord, for your steadfast love is good;
   according to your abundant mercy, turn to me. 
Do not hide your face from your servant,
   for I am in distress—make haste to answer me. 
Draw near to me, redeem me,
   set me free because of my enemies. 


You know the insults I receive,
   and my shame and dishonour;
   my foes are all known to you. 
Insults have broken my heart,
   so that I am in despair.
I looked for pity, but there was none;
   and for comforters, but I found none. 
They gave me poison for food,
   and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. 


Let their table be a trap for them,
   a snare for their allies. 
Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see,
   and make their loins tremble continually.
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