Tuesday 26 December 2023 (St. Stephen) DAILY LECTIONARY

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Tuesday 26 December 2023 (St. Stephen)
DAILY LECTIONARY

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Morning Psalms: Psalm 31

Psalm 31

In you, O Lord, I seek refuge;
   do not let me ever be put to shame;
   in your righteousness deliver me. 
Incline your ear to me;
   rescue me speedily.
Be a rock of refuge for me,
   a strong fortress to save me. 

You are indeed my rock and my fortress;
   for your name’s sake lead me and guide me, 
take me out of the net that is hidden for me,
   for you are my refuge. 
Into your hand I commit my spirit;
   you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God. 

You hate* those who pay regard to worthless idols,
   but I trust in the Lord. 
I will exult and rejoice in your steadfast love,
   because you have seen my affliction;
   you have taken heed of my adversities, 
and have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy;
   you have set my feet in a broad place. 

Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress;
   my eye wastes away from grief,
   my soul and body also. 
For my life is spent with sorrow,
   and my years with sighing;
my strength fails because of my misery,*
   and my bones waste away. 

I am the scorn of all my adversaries,
   a horror* to my neighbours,
an object of dread to my acquaintances;
   those who see me in the street flee from me. 
I have passed out of mind like one who is dead;
   I have become like a broken vessel. 
For I hear the whispering of many—
   terror all around!—
as they scheme together against me,
   as they plot to take my life. 

But I trust in you, O Lord;
   I say, ‘You are my God.’ 
My times are in your hand;
   deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors. 
Let your face shine upon your servant;
   save me in your steadfast love. 
Do not let me be put to shame, O Lord,
   for I call on you;
let the wicked be put to shame;
   let them go dumbfounded to Sheol. 
Let the lying lips be stilled
   that speak insolently against the righteous
   with pride and contempt. 

O how abundant is your goodness
   that you have laid up for those who fear you,
and accomplished for those who take refuge in you,
   in the sight of everyone! 
In the shelter of your presence you hide them
   from human plots;
you hold them safe under your shelter
   from contentious tongues. 

Blessed be the Lord,
   for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me
   when I was beset as a city under siege. 
I had said in my alarm,
   ‘I am driven far* from your sight.’
But you heard my supplications
   when I cried out to you for help. 

Love the Lord, all you his saints.
   The Lord preserves the faithful,
   but abundantly repays the one who acts haughtily. 
Be strong, and let your heart take courage,
   all you who wait for the Lord.
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Jeremiah 26:1-9,12-15

At the beginning of the reign of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of
Judah, this word came from the Lord: Thus says the Lord: Stand in the
court of the Lord’s house, and speak to all the cities of Judah that
come to worship in the house of the Lord; speak to them all the words
that I command you; do not hold back a word. It may be that they will
listen, all of them, and will turn from their evil way, that I may
change my mind about the disaster that I intend to bring on them
because of their evil doings. You shall say to them: Thus says the
Lord: If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law that I have set
before you, and to heed the words of my servants the prophets whom I
send to you urgently—though you have not heeded— then I will make
this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city a curse for all the
nations of the earth.

 The priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah
speaking these words in the house of the Lord. And when Jeremiah had
finished speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all
the people, then the priests and the prophets and all the people laid
hold of him, saying, ‘You shall die! Why have you prophesied in the
name of the Lord, saying, “This house shall be like Shiloh, and this
city shall be desolate, without inhabitant”?’ And all the people
gathered around Jeremiah in the house of the Lord.

 Then Jeremiah spoke to all the officials and all the people, saying,
‘It is the Lord who sent me to prophesy against this house and this
city all the words you have heard. Now therefore amend your ways and
your doings, and obey the voice of the Lord your God, and the Lord
will change his mind about the disaster that he has pronounced against
you. But as for me, here I am in your hands. Do with me as seems good
and right to you. Only know for certain that if you put me to death,
you will be bringing innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city
and its inhabitants, for in truth the Lord sent me to you to speak all
these words in your ears.’
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Acts 6:8-7:2a,51c-60

Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and signs among
the people. Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the
Freedmen (as it was called), Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and others of
those from Cilicia and Asia, stood up and argued with Stephen. But
they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit* with which he
spoke. Then they secretly instigated some men to say, ‘We have heard
him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.’ They stirred up
the people as well as the elders and the scribes; then they suddenly
confronted him, seized him, and brought him before the council. They
set up false witnesses who said, ‘This man never stops saying things
against this holy place and the law; for we have heard him say that
this Jesus of Nazareth* will destroy this place and will change the
customs that Moses handed on to us.’ And all who sat in the council
looked intently at him, and they saw that his face was like the face
of an angel.
Then the high priest asked him, ‘Are these things so?’ And Stephen
replied:

‘Brothers* and fathers, listen to me. The God of glory appeared to
our ancestor Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in
Haran,

 ‘You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you are
for ever opposing the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors used to do.
Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They killed
those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, and now you have
become his betrayers and murderers. You are the ones that received the
law as ordained by angels, and yet you have not kept it.’
 When they heard these things, they became enraged and ground their
teeth at Stephen.* But filled with the Holy Spirit, he gazed into
heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand
of God. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I see the heavens opened and the Son
of Man standing at the right hand of God!’ But they covered their
ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against him. Then they
dragged him out of the city and began to stone him; and the witnesses
laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. While they
were stoning Stephen, he prayed, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’
Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not hold
this sin against them.’ When he had said this, he died.
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Matthew 23:34-39

Therefore I send you prophets, sages, and scribes, some of whom you
will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and
pursue from town to town, so that upon you may come all the righteous
blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of
Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary
and the altar. Truly I tell you, all this will come upon this
generation.
 ‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones
those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your
children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you
were not willing! See, your house is left to you, desolate.* For I
tell you, you will not see me again until you say, “Blessed is the
one who comes in the name of the Lord.” ’
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