Readings for The Twenty-First Sunday After Pentecost October 13, 2024
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A Reading from the Book of the Prophet Amos (5:6-15).
Seek the Lord and live, lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, with none to quench it for Bethel, O you who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth! He who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns deep darkness into the morning and darkens the day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the Lord is his name; who makes destruction flash forth against the strong, so that destruction comes upon the fortress. They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks the truth. Therefore because you trample upon the poor and take from him exactions of wheat, you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not dwell in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine. For I know how many are your transgressions, and how great are your sins—you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe, and turn aside the needy in the gate. Therefore he who is prudent will keep silent in such a time; for it is an evil time. Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you, as you have said. Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
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Psalm 90.:(1-12) Domine, refugium.
Lord, thou hast been our refuge *
from one generation to another.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever the earth and the world were made, *
thou art God from everlasting,
and world without end.
3 Thou turnest man to destruction; *
again thou sayest, Come again,
ye children of men.*
4 For a thousand years in thy sight
are but as yesterday when it is past *
and as a watch in the night.
5 As soon as thou scatterest them
they are even as asleep; *
and fade away suddenly like the grass.
6 In the morning it is green and groweth up; *
but in the evening it is cut down,
dried up, and withered.
7 For we consume away in thy displeasure; *
and are afraid at thy wrathful indignation.
8 Thou hast set our misdeeds before thee; *
and our secret sins in the light of
thy countenance
9 For when thou art angry all our days are gone: *
we bring our years to an end,
as it were a tale that is told.
10 The days of our age are threescore years and ten;
and though men be so strong
that they come to fourscore years, *
yet is their strength then but labour and sorrow;
so soon passeth it away, and we are gone.
11 But who regardeth the power of thy wrath? *
or feareth aright thy indignation?
12 So teach us to number our days *
that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
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A Reading from the Epistle to the Hebrews (3:1-6).
Therefore, holy brethren, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession. who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in God’s house. For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. (For every house is built by some one, but the builder of all things is God.) Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.
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The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ According to St. Mark (10:17-31).
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A man ran up to Jesus and knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not kill, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’ ” And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have observed from my youth.” And Jesus looking upon him loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” At that saying his countenance fell, and he went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions. And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!” And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With men it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.” Peter began to say to him, “Lo, we have left everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. But many that are first will be last, and the last first.”
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