Scripture Readings

The Third Sunday in Lent
In Year C

Scripture readings are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® NIV® ©1973, 1978, 1984 by the International Bible Society, used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers. All rights reserved.

Old Testament
Psalm
Epistle Reading
Gospel Reading

Old Testament

“Come, all you who are thirsty,
     come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
     come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
     without money and without cost.
Why spend money on what is not bread,
     and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
     and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.
Give ear and come to me;
     hear me, that your soul may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
     my faithful love promised to David.
See, I have made him a witness to the peoples,
     a leader and commander of the peoples.
Surely you will summon nations you know not,
     and nations that do not know you will hasten to you,
because of the LORD your God,
     the Holy One of Israel,
     for he has endowed you with splendor.”
Seek the LORD while he may be found;
     call on him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way
     and the evil man his thoughts.
Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him,
     and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
     neither are your ways my ways,”
     declares the LORD.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
     so are my ways higher than your ways
     and my thoughts than your thoughts.
—Isaiah 55:1-9, NIV

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Psalm

O God, you are my God,
     earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you,
     my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land
     where there is no water.
I have seen you in the sanctuary
     and beheld your power and your glory.
Because your love is better than life,
     my lips will glorify you.
I will praise you as long as I live,
     and in your name I will lift up my hands.
My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods;
     with singing lips my mouth will praise you.
On my bed I remember you;
     I think of you through the watches of the night.
Because you are my help,
     I sing in the shadow of your wings.
My soul clings to you;
     your right hand upholds me.
—Psalm 63:1-8, NIV

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Epistle

I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness.
Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not become idolaters as some of them did; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play.” We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents. And do not complain as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come. So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall. No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.
—1 Corinthians 10:1-13, NIV

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Gospel

     Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”
     Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’
     “‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”
—Luke 13:1-9, NIV

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